The reason I'm not at the office, besides the fact that the internet there is awful, is that this morning I had to renew my visa! That means I've been here three months. Which is ridiculous since, if you count the month or two I'll be in Scotland and other places, it means that I am a third of the way through my time in Kenya. Ahhh I'm scaring myself. But renewing the visa was thankfully painless, although I had to strike a delicate balance and make sure to emphasize that I am not working but just came here on holiday because I love Kenya. Which is pretty much true. I also had to give real ink fingerprints, and my hands are a bit stained now but presumably that won't last forever. And apparently in a month I can go back and pick up my Alien Registration acknowledgment, whatever that means.
So I decided to take this opportunity to use the fast internet and download all the programs I need to start setting up a data collection program on Android. And post a ton of pictures.
First, the house I live in:
The living room. Note the parquet floors and tasteful interior stone wall.
My backyard (there is a very noisy construction site on the other side of the wall).
The view of the sunset from my porch.
The view from the top of Mount Kisian (aka the hill near the CDC/KEMRI HQ)
A newborn calf reported and responded to.
Participants in our Participatory Epidemiology interviews participating by deciding how to divide buttons to indicate the causes of certain types of diarrhea.
My job as recorder mostly involved counting buttons and reminding the translator to tell me what was going on.
On Ndere Island, there are a ton of swallows.
Jo, Steph and Per walking ahead of me on the island.
This calf was the last one recruited to the IDEAL study that I talked about a few weeks ago. They get sampled every 5 weeks from birth to a year, so this calf, at the last visit, clearly knew what was in store for it.
What was in store for it involved being measured with a giant ruler. By the way, this calf, according to genetic markers, is 100% native African cattle with no European blood. They used it as a really prime example of why you can't tell the breed just by looking at color.
This is the view of the Kisumu skyline from the lake. The one relatively tall building that stands out is a 30 floor (ish) monstrosity that was built as the provincial headquarters. That's where I went to get my visa renewed this morning. Unfortunately, the building was ahead of its time, and they may have run out of money while building it, so it sat empty for a long time. Now the bottom 6 floors are in use, but none above that because there is no elevator.
I love your new haircut and the photos- especially the baby cow! I can't believe you too are a third of the way done out here. Can we catch up one of these days we aren't swamped with work? Miss you!
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, Have had a really interesting evening following the links in your bloggs, I'm really learning stuff I had no idea about. Hope you're keeping fit and healthy, your home looks lovely, you sound as if you're 'embracing the struggle' and really making a difference, well done!
ReplyDeleteWe think about you often, sending positive thoughts xx