The Last Chapter

Five years later and it is finally a new chapter....

I am generally very aware of dates that hold meaning for me, which is why I felt the need to blog one last time about my time post-Peace Corps.

Exactly five years ago my horrible headaches started in Newala. I had no idea that the headaches were the beginning of a five year journey that would test me physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I'm not the type of person who would call in sick or who would complain about little issues. I wrestled, played water polo, and was a gymnast amongst other things. Pain didn't scare me. Scrapes, bruises, and black eyes were normal. Honestly before the Peace Corps I really only remember being sick a handful of times-the stomach flu in 3rd grade, two weeks of a bad flu in 7th grade, and strep throat in college.

On the morning of February 13, 2013 I called Dr. S because of my headache for two reasons: One, it was the worst headache I had had in my life and it was originating from my eyes. Two, we had been instructed at the first sign of a headache to alert medical staff since it might be malaria. As a typical American, I was terrified of malaria. Ironically, malaria would most likely have been an easier illness to overcome.

I honestly can't even remember all the potentials they tested me for, but after about four months we (doctors in TZ, doctors in South Africa, doctors in Washington D.C., doctors in Modesto, family, friends, etc.) came to some conclusions. I had viral hepatitis, Giardia, and some viral illness.

I vividly remember Dr. S accusing me of being an alcoholic because I had hepatitis. I was so shocked that this was his assumption, as I hadn't even drank alcohol for a month because my stomach hurt so much. We ultimately concluded this was either drug-induced hepatitis (from the doxycycline used as a malaria prophylaxis) or viral hepatitis spurred from a yet to be determined viral infection. After all the "normal" viral tests came back negative, they decided it might be meningitis. By the time they did a lumbar puncture to test for meningitis it had already been 2.5 months since the onset of symptoms so the negative test left me wishing for more answers. If they had tested me sooner would I have been positive? Was the viral meningitis what caused the viral hepatitis? Back in America, I was also diagnosed with Giardia (assumed onset of August 2012) and continued to have stomach issues until late last year, which we just assumed was post-infection IBS.

My initial road to recovery lasted from February to June 2013. My general feeling from 20+ doctors I saw was that I was making the symptoms up, that this was my escape route from the Peace Corps. I looked well enough and for the most part, all of my tests were within the normal range. The symptoms were sporadic and ever changing. I would have pretty good days and other days be stuck in bed sleeping for 20 hours. My vision was blurry and almost black sometimes, it felt like I was being stabbed in the eyeballs with an ice pick, and my whole body was tired. Not to mention the stomach pains and constant diarrhea which I basically ignored because I couldn't spare the energy to focus on that too. My mom accompanied me to my doctors' visits and inevitably they would look at her and say "Mom what do you think?" She would rattle off our current assumptions but always end with "I believe her. Something is definitely not right."

I felt like I had let my students down, let my teachers down, let my fellow volunteers down, let my neighbors down, but most of all let myself down. I didn't want to leave Tanzania and I definitely didn't want to be bed-ridden in California.

I broke my wrist in January 2014. I had never broken a bone before. I cried happy tears a few days after the surgery because I had tangible pain. No one could discredit me. It was very obvious that it was broken and there should be pain associated with it.

Fast forward from July 2013 to January 2016...I kept having diarrhea, cramping, bloating, and just an uncomfortable stomach. I never knew what foods would cause me to react and I basically stopped drinking alcohol to avoid any other complications. I had been seeing Dr. B in Vallejo for about a year and had casually mentioned my stomach issues in my previous visits. Every time it was the same story. "Well women tend to carry stress in their stomachs. My ex-wife sure did! Are you stressed about anything?"

To be honest I was stressed about a lot! I had just turned 24. I had just graduated from grad school. I had moved in with my boyfriend. I had landed my first "real" job a few months prior. We adopted a dog. I had just bought my first car. And to top it all off I was having a lot of pain in my lower back that felt like it was somehow connecting to my stomach pain. (Turns out I also have severe arthritis in my lower two vertebrae!)

I had some weird dizzy spells and I was getting headaches again. I felt so nauseous I didn't want to move. I was wondering if the dizziness and stomach pains were still somehow related to my mysterious illness in TZ. I started asking Dr. B questions about what it could possibly be. Do you want to know his response?! He told me to go to a psychiatrist because I was obviously giving myself anxiety over my health. I fired him and never went back.

Those dizzy spells and nausea came and went on intermittently for the next year and a half. I tried to dismiss it that these were "normal". Everyone feels like this sometimes, right?

Fast forward again to October 2017. I had moved to Hawaii in July and was loving it so far! My boyfriend was traveling a lot for work, as was I. Our dog, Jack, had arrived in September and there were some issues with the roommates' dogs which made settling in a little difficult. Other than that, I was really enjoying Hawaii! That is, until I started throwing up and feeling nauseous every day. It started out one morning and I attributed it to food poisoning. I bounced back from it, went rock climbing that day, and overall just felt a little drained...until it hit me again the next day. This went on for about a week and then it just turned into non-stop intense nausea. I once again felt helpless and didn't know what to attribute this to.

Long story short, my symptoms persisted for about six weeks before I tested positive for H. Pylori and was given two weeks' worth of antibiotics. H. Pylori is a bacteria which can cause stomach ulcers. It is very possible that I had H. Pylori from TZ. False negatives are very common when trying to detect H. Pylori. This also could explain my bouts of nausea and dizziness! I felt so much better on the third day of taking the antibiotics and couldn't wait to resume my normal life after! So far my stomach is back to normal :)

I had seen a dermatologist right after being diagnosed with H. Pylori and she prescribed me low-dose minocycline for acne. She told me to start taking it as soon as I finished my other antibiotics. The very first day I took it I broke out in a weird rash and I immediately felt worse. My energy dropped and I was even more sluggish that when I had a stomach ulcer! We were also in the midst of moving into a new house so I just figured I was just processing everything. Mike started getting irritated with my clumsiness. I was running into walls and tipping over just while standing up. My brain felt really foggy at work and I started having some blurry vision. It wasn't until after the New Year that I started to get headaches almost every day. They weren't as bad as the ones from TZ but it was a familiar feeling in the place of origin and type of pain.

Thankfully I had a follow up with a GI specialist on January 15th. I mentioned my fatigue, the rash, and headaches to her. I laughed and said it was ironic I felt worse now without a stomach ulcer than I did before! She agreed and thought I might have post-infection lupus. Lupus seemed like such a scary thing so I started doing research online. My research on lupus led me to Intercranial Hypertension.

I guess I will never know 100% but deep down I am fairly certain I have Secondary Intercranial Hypertension. It is an invisible illness.

It seems I have a very rare reaction to "cycline" antibiotics, which causes the pressure of my cerebrospinal fluid to get too high. My symptoms basically ceased within days of stopping minocycline. From what little research which has been done it looks like I may have very slight lingering symptoms or even no symptoms at all! Thankfully I can just avoid "cycline" antibiotics from here on out. I am hoping this is the final answer, but I guess time will tell.

Just a few days after discovering this diagnosis, a fellow PCV wrote a blog post about her time in TZ. She is so beautifully articulate and captures the essence of her Peace Corps experience exquisitely. Her post allowed me to reflect on both good and bad experiences I had.

With all of the technology we have today, it baffles me that this took five years to figure out.  I feel validated that there are other people out there just like me. I feel like I finally have answers. And most of all, I feel like I finally have control over my body again.

Through this journey I have cried a lot. It is eerie to be a prisoner within your own body. I have looked beyond Western medicine because I felt dismissed and judged by most doctors. I have gained a greater understanding of the power of yoga, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, food as medicine, and aromatherapy. But most of all I have gained a greater understanding of myself.

Moja kwa Moja

Two days after I wrote my last blog I had my second day off. Melisa, a PCV in Konde (10km away) came with Justin and Ginger to the resort to go diving. We went out with the other two couples who remained as guests. I started my Advanced Open Water course, going down to 32m. We ate a tomato and cracked open eggs to prove visual distortion at that depth. We let feeder shrimp clean our mouths and swam through caves with schools of fish. We had some fun during our surface interval just relaxing on a beach. After being out all day I returned to Konde with the other Americans just to have some time away from the compound. I saw Melisa’s house, which used to be my friend Jack’s. I bought some voucher, watched Duck Dynasty and played with the girls.

When Ginger returned me to the compound our guard wasn’t there to let me in the gate. Weird. I snuck into the kitchen and took a plate up to my room to eat. I messed with the voucher on my phone and made some calls to America. While I was on the phone with my Mom I started hearing weird noises. I shut off the lights in my room to listen better and to hopefully see down to the dining area where the noise originated. Somewhere in this mess my door was jiggled, I hung up the phone, turned the lights on and then off again, realized the noise was gunshots and heard loud voices. My neighbor Nya, who was a marine biologist guest, came to our shared patio to ask what was going on. I let her into my room when we heard another gunshot go off. We quickly decided the best place to hide was in the bathroom because it provided the most concrete barriers between the outer walls and us. We sat shaking, holding hands wondering where her husband and the other guests were. Every time a shot went off I just imagined the worst. Since it had been my day off I felt guilty I didn’t know everyone’s whereabouts. We heard about 10-15 shots total, yells for help (that turned out to be our dive instructors running to the village for help), and watched three men rob the couple across the way at gunpoint. The whole ordeal lasted about 30 minutes, but we stayed in hiding for another half hour just to make sure the robbers had left.

We all congregated in the dining area: a PCV friend who had just COSed, me, four guests, our two dive instructors and the chef who had been walking home when the shots were first fired. The manager was missing. We eventually found him blood-soaked, with ten shotgun pellets imbedded in him and two lacerations in his ear. The events of the night are still unclear, but it seems the robbers entered by sea and went to the office. The manager heard the noise and locked his girlfriend in the office. The robbers were mad so they shot at him and dragged him up the hill to get the office keys. Before they arrived up the hill our two dive instructors had fled from their bunkhouses to try to get help from the village. One guest was on the patio by the ocean and never was sighted by the robbers; one was in my room; and two had gone to sleep for the night.  The robbers beat up the manager up top, but when he faked a faint they freaked out and assumed he was dead. They came back down the hill only to discover the couple who had gone to sleep were peeking out their door. They robbed them, then noticed Nya’s door had been left open when she came to my room. A gunshot went off in her room. They continued to the office and somehow got in. They never found the safe or much of value, but did kick the PCV in the head and steal her watch.

It took two hours for the police to arrive after being called. When they showed up there were about 15 of them being completely unproductive. They did find two shotgun shells and just noted the “disheveled” appearance of the rooms that had been ransacked. There had been a previous attack in December by Kenyan pirates who hit up about 20 other resorts. There is also a possibility this was an inside job because none of the staff had been paid for the month and there were other threats going on between staff members over personal issues. However, it is unlikely for villagers to own guns. I did find out it isn’t uncommon for police to rent out their guns for the night.

I stuck around the next day just to make sure the guests were fed. All activities were canceled because no one was in the proper state of mind. It was such a surreal experience. We were all half asleep, mortified, yet abnormally calm. I decided that I had better, safer things to be doing with my life. Although I feel guilty about leaving a job after only 18 days, I couldn’t justify risking my mental sanity just to have the experience of living on an island.

I headed to Dar for two days and finished up stuff with Peace Corps staff at the office. Then I flew to Mtwara and had a lovely two-day vacation all alone. As soon as I arrived in my familiar surroundings, my body finally let on to the fact that it was overwhelmed. I slept 14 hours each night I was at the beach house. I went diving with a different dive center. Next I went to Minh’s village and stayed with him a night. Then I went to Newala to buy my ticket to Dar and then hopped a piki to Deirdre’s village. The next day after coming to Newala for breakfast I took a piki to Kathryn’s old village. It was nice to stay true to my promise to visit my friends’ sites. I had so much fun being back in the real villages and seeing how well my friends have integrated. Newala grew up while I was gone and I didn’t feel like I belonged. I visited my school, coworkers, neighbors, market people, but things weren’t the same. I had been absent for eight long months. And what do you talk about? Yes, my health is fine…Yes, America is fine…Yes, my family is fine. How’s the village? Kama kawaida? I realized my life had moved on in America. A bunch of the new volunteers came into town and we had one last Dirty South Ed 2012 reunion with me and my boys. I took the new safi bus back to Dar and was treated to a free few hours at Econo and a small gifti from the owner. I was so touched. My taxi driver took me to the airport at 1am and asked when I would return. After I told him I was going moja kwa moja he left me with, “Weww ni vijana. Utarudi kutembelea. Una saa.” (You are a young adult. You will return to visit. You have time.)

I was in Tanzania for exactly one month, and have been home for exactly one month today. Tanzania will always be a part of who I am. I only felt threatened for one hour out of ten and a half months living there. I don’t think it was the robbery that made me want to leave. It was just the final straw. I don’t want to live overseas for the rest of my life. I love adventures, but I also like familiarity and security.  I realized I have to completely let go of Tanzania in order to move on with my life.

I got a job offer last week as a Counselor in Stockton, California. I’ll be mentoring and supervising teenage delinquents, fresh from juvenile hall who are now in a group home. Two-thirds of them are sex offenders and the others are emotionally disturbed. It will be a crazy yet rewarding learning experience. I’m also going to apply to be a one-on-one aide with autistic kids to change behaviors by using Applied Behavioral Analysis.

I just need structure in my life right now. I have had an easier time readjusting to America this time around. I finally visited a bunch of friends down South and visited Long Beach for the first time since graduating. I went to Las Vegas and am planning to visit another high school friend in Sacramento this weekend.

Although I’m happy for my fellow PCVs who are still in country safe and healthy, making a difference, I’m happy with my decision to return to America. Although the first time it was not my decision, I feel I made the right decision this time around. I’ve definitely experienced a lot in the past year and a half and it has made me the well-rounded person I am today.

 “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” –Anatole France

Swahili Time

I have still been busy, busy, busy since I arrived here. I absolutely love the people. The vast majority of our guests are very relaxed world travelers with awesome stories so it makes time spent with them not really seem like work.

I had the coolest dinner conversation with an Italian woman and a Masai (Tanzanian warrior tribe) man. He had been working as a beach boy in Zanzibar and apparently that is the most popular spot for Italian tourist in Tanzania, so they teach their employees Italian. She spoke I think 8 languages as well. And I only speak English and Swahili. So I would talk to her in English, she would talk to him in Italian and he would speak to me in Swahili. It was really cool. Swahili is also his second language, so he was actually the easiest person to talk Swahili to that I’ve met so far. He made me a pretty beaded bracelet.

Last Wednesday I had the day off and timing couldn’t have been more perfect. A father and daughter were leaving that day on the afternoon flight, but they had asked to leave earlier in the morning to get a tour of the island. I asked if I could hop in the car with them and thankfully they said yes! First we drove through the village of Makangale, which is about 1km from the resort. We continued through the village and turned left. We arrived at Vumawimbi Beach which is the whitest, most pristine beach I’d ever seen. There was absolutely no one around. In the left side of the cove there were all of these moored fishing ships, but then nothing in the water for about 300 yards. As soon as we got out of the car we were all squinting and trying to shield our faces. There have been times the sun was super kali (fierce) here, but this was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. I just thought my body was going to melt right there. Craig said one day I can try out his kite board there because there aren’t rocks and the low tide is much higher than our beach. Apparently Tanzanians go there on the weekends to relax, so there are daladalas that go that way. Good news for a meeting spot with the other PCVs! I think it is a 5km walk from the resort and generally people driving by offer rides-bicycle, pikipiki, ox cart, delivery truck, whatever. I’d almost forgotten that white people are incapable of walking…

Next we went to the Light House, which is at the most northern tip of Pemba. I couldn’t really hear the whole history because our driver was on the phone during the “history lesson” at the top, so everything was echoing. We did go all the way to the top (38 meters) and had a great view.

Then we went to Manta Reef Lodge. Swahili Divers is to the South, Kigomasha is in between, and Manta is the far North. It looks like about a mile walk on the beach. Manta is so beautiful and well kept. They have 16 rooms, all air conditioned, and it is all inclusive-breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks, one massage per day. Cheapest room is $490. The head Tanzanian manager is Mato’s uncle so he said he could give me a “resident rate”. Apparently our staff has good relations with the owners as well. So one day I may just walk down the beach and hang out there.

Next stop was the Ngezi Forest. It sounds kind of haunted when people say “once you go through the forest…” but it is actually just a smallish rainforest. We had a guided tour for about 45 minutes and he pointed out all the different trees and animals. The coolest thing was the Blood Tree, which looks like it is bleeding if you cut it. It also started raining while we were inside, but we didn’t get wet. We could hear the rain pounding down on the canopy, but only little drips would make it through.

We drove just a little further and we were at Justin and Shannon’s house. They have 3 girls- Hunter, almost 8; Braylen, almost 6; Avery, almost 4. They were so excited to show someone new their bunk beds and their drawings and Mommy and Daddy’s room. They have a TV, 2TB of movies and TV shows, an oven, fridge, and a TRAMPOLINE. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and Pringles for lunch. Apparently they go to Zanzibar with ice chests and empty suitcases to buy all this American food. After lunch I watched an episode of TV, jumped on the trampoline, was given American candy, and told I needed a pedicure. After the girls started the pedicure Justin asked if I wanted to go with him to their workshop. They rent a shop with 2 rooms. They teach English in one, computers in the other. Ginger was just finishing her English class when we got there so I went in to observe. They all freaked out that she didn’t introduce her friend. Then they found out I spoke better Swahili than Ginger and they told me this story about an incident that happened at Swahili Divers. The dogs had gotten out and eaten someone’s chickens so the manager had been taken to the police, but the students in Ginger’s class work for the police and they decided it was not a problem? Also, the magistrate went to the manager and demanded a bribe and so the manager took the magistrate to the police to report him? I think that’s what they were saying at least. Apparently a lot of the police are students at their workshop.

After class Ginger and I went on her pikipiki to check out the town. Umoja, the workshop is pretty close to the center of town. EVERYONE gave us weird looks because a) we’re white b) we’re young women c) we’re on a pikipiki d) a young white woman is driving a pikipiki e) I didn’t cover my hair. We got some gas and we greeted the man appropriately. Then these older men were standing behind us and started talking each other about if we knew Swahili or not. I turned around and Shikamoo-ed them and they all started laughing hysterically and then started talking to each other “wanajua, wanajua” (they know), but never actually acknowledged me directly. They we decided to check out the road on the way to Chake Chake. We drove for about 5 minutes before coming to a police checkpoint. Usually they just wave you on through as they open it, but for us they made us stop. I have NEVER seen any police check a driver’s license, but of course they asked for Ginger’s license. He was nice about it, but wasted our time. We continued a little and then returned to town and got juice and then wandered around the market.

When we got home Shannon had her “clinic” open for sick patients. I sat outside and observed for a while, which was a cool learning experience. Then we finished my pedicure and Ginger started dinner. We ate dinner and then watched Duck Dynasty. Ginger drove me home in the car and as we were driving we almost hit some guy who was sitting in the middle of the road! He was just hanging out and took his sweet time getting up. I arrived back to the lodge around 8pm, visited a little and then went to sleep early.

That was the main excitement for my week…

I did go snorkeling with a guest one day and ended up swimming through a field of jellyfish.

We had a romantic beach dinner for two guests and I babysat their one and a half year old kid.

The three girls came over to swim one day so I got in briefly and then we found a dead puffer fish on the beach.

Lisa, an RPCV who just COSed is staying here and I’m helping her through the paperwork of Peace Corps. She helped me review my resume and with my Description of Service, which I still need to submit to close things out with Peace Corps. It’s cool to be able to help each other through the process of ending PC, coming back to TZ, then returning again to the US again.

The dogs caught a bush baby one night.

I did a refresher course in the pool with another guest, so now I’m all set to go diving on days off.

I’m invited to Othman’s (kitchen crew) wedding. He is kind of like the village idiot (most likely autistic) so I’m really happy for him!

As I was trying to book a flight for guests, the guy just hung up on my and never called back. I don’t think that would work out so well in America.

I finally unpacked my suitcase yesterday because I don’t know when I’ll move into “my” bungalow.

Someone came from the government to tally how many people of which nationalities were here each day. Mato had just sat down to eat lunch so I decided to try to help this guy. I did it! I went through 2 months of the register with him.

These four older officials came from the Zanzibar Social Security Fund so I greeted them, sat them at a table with Mato and left. I was walking by while they were talking and they said they needed to talk to me too. They said it was some long-standing business issue, so I “wouldn’t understand”. I said “Ok, well thank you for discussing it with Mato” and started to walk away. Then one in particular just started harassing me that I needed to marry a Tanzanian. Two of the others joined in saying its better to marry a Mzungu for them and then I could stay here and have no problems in life. Then the instigator started saying “you need to give life to my babies” (literal translation). Ugh! After saying no multiple times and that I was already married they let up. By the way, Mato was just standing there laughing during all this. Then they decided they were finished so they said I was always welcome in their office and I needed to visit, blah, blah, blah. I was so happy when they left. First of all, why does it take four government officials to deliver one piece of paper two hours away from their office? And secondly, why do they think it’s okay to harass someone that they are doing business with?

It’s looking like I’ll be able to do my Advanced Open Water Certification on Friday and Saturday. Justin is going to do it too. Friday is my day off and we’re not very busy Saturday so hopefully I can just continue it then. Ginger and possibly Son will join us diving one or both of those days. 

I'm Back!

Things have been moving so quickly ever since I found out about this job. I finished up everything I needed to do in America, but things still felt rushed. I left Sunday morning around 10:30 to San Francisco. I arrived a little early because I was thinking I had to be there for 3 hours for an international departure, but it was actually just a connecting flight to LAX. When I arrived in LA it immediately just felt and smelled right. I hadn’t been back to LA since just after graduation last year. Anyway I walked about a quarter mile to the next terminal and got all my things situated again. I found a spot on the ground to give my laptop one last charge for the flight.

Turkish Air’s plane was a little less roomy than KLM but it was still fine. I watched The Great Gatsby, ate dinner, drugged myself with some Benadryl and woke up for breakfast an hour and a half before landing. Not too bad of a flight! When we got off in Istanbul it was a complete mess because we had to go back through security and into a different terminal with the passengers from about 10 other flights. The international terminal was crazy busy and totally designed to entice consumers to spend more money. I made my way to my gate and immediately felt welcomed to Africa.

As I sat down a Tanzanian man caught my eye and asked if I was going to Dar es Salaam. We had a brief conversation and then I pretended to be busy with something because we still had over an hour to wait. Then another man approached me a while later asking where I was going. When I told him Dar he told me already knew because he had been eavesdropping and just wanted to tell me the gate had changed. I was very thankful for that so talked with him while we waited at the other gate. As we boarded the plane he wanted to sit next to me and I kept trying to say that someone else was probably sitting there. Thankfully this British man approached with his ticket. It turns out this man, Ryan, actually dated a PCV extendee who was in Mtwara. I had only met her a few times, but in Peace Corps everyone is basically family. Ryan is one of the infamous “Helicopter Guys” (off-shore oil drilling search and rescue) who I’d heard so much about. I had gone to one of their big ex-pat parties in Mtwara, but apparently PCVs in general had been banned previously because of Mikey’s behavior one night. Anyway, Ryan and I talked for two hours and then we both went to sleep for about 4 hours. It was nice to stretch out for once and I didn’t feel weird because it felt like I knew him.

We arrived at the airport and it wasn’t as hot and humid as I had expected but it was definitely still a little sticky. Ryan helped me navigate my way through the Visa process since he does it every 6 weeks. I waited for about an hour and then finally grabbed my bags, exchanged money and got a cab. I approached 3 Wazee (old men) because I figured an old taxi driver would be safer in the middle of the night. This mid-thirties guy came up and I ignored him, but then the Wazee told me to go with him. As we walked out from the canopy he left part of his ID badge with a “taxi receptionist” so I actually felt safe. He took me straight to Econolodge and I arrived right at 4am. Everything was completely dark and empty but as soon as I walked inside I felt like I was home. I told him who I was and he told me which room Deirdre was in. I knocked on her door and she squealed in excitement and came into the hall to talk. We chatted until about 5:45 and then went for a nice long walk around Posta area in Dar. It was just the perfect time to go for a walk-not too many people, not too hot. As we walked I realized how sick I really was when I was there last. We walked for maybe 45 minutes and I probably had walked ¼ of the distance on my most “active” day. I felt so fresh and full of energy. I guess it was nice to have another reminder that I left Tanzania for a reason and I wasn’t just being a wimp.

Deirdre gave me a medical kit when we got back to Econo! Apparently Jen took most of my meds when I left TZ and now Jen is leaving TZ today, so she wanted to give me something useful. Maybe it’s just a Peace Corps thing but I felt like it was the sweetest gift anyone could ever give me! Now I have a malaria self-test kit, malaria treatment, gels, creams, antibiotics and other over the counter drugs. Then we had a PCV breakfast date at 7am. It was so nice to see everyone! Jen, Steph, Stevie, James, Kory, Deirdre, Pfaff, and 2 other volunteers I’d never met were all there. Then I ran into an older volunteer who had been in Dar for medical when I was sick and Anna was back in Deirdre’s room. To top it all off this Kenyan lady who had been so concerned about Drew’s back (as he was crawling to breakfast every morning), was at Econolodge again! Such crazy timing! She wanted to make sure Drew was alright now and said it was lovely to see me again. So odd, but karibu Tanzania. Pretty much everyone left after breakfast so I went to the room and tried to nap. I showered and then Anna had to change into a single room so I moved my stuff into Steph’s room. Surprise, there was Logan! Logan is the guy in charge of Zinduka, so pretty much knows everyone in country. We also discovered that Logan is a Downey High School graduate…what are the chances of finding another Modestan in TZ?!

Steph and Logan and I all went out to lunch (chipsi mayai) and we laughed the whole time, partially making fun of Tanzanian things. The mama was screaming “MtAAAmmuu” (tasty) about her homemade chili sauce, but refused to share the ingredients, so that turned into a Swahili PCV-Mama show down. They helped me negotiate with my Babu taxi driver who is always sleeping outside of Econo. When we started driving he was really chatty with me and remembered me and all of that, so I felt loved. He told me his son is 22 and going to university so he had to sell his old (crappy) car and is using his friends. I told him I was 22 too and he said “Wazungu wanakuwa haraka haraka” (white people become fast-AKA white people age quickly), which just made me feel great about myself. Steph also told me America had made me a Mnenepa (fat person) as she was trying to zip up my dress. I’d forgotten about all these well-meaning comments. 

I got myself in through security at the airport and couldn’t find Coastal Aviation’s desk. In America they surely wouldn’t allow you through security without a proper ticket right? Well it turns out even though I had flown domestically from that terminal with my parents, there is ANOTHER domestic terminal two kilometers down the road for “local” flights. Our plane was a 12 passenger Cessna, one propeller in the front. I usually don’t have a fear of flying, but we were up, down and side to side all the time. It is only about 20 minutes to Zanzibar and then 30 minutes to Pemba. The water was AMAZING to see from above. I arrived and waited about 2 minutes for my bag and walked 6 feet to the outside of the airport. Saidi, the driver met me and drove me an hour and a half to the lodge. He was a very good tour guide and told me interesting history about the island. I fell asleep towards the end and woke up to a cow screaming. He had run over the cow’s rope which was tied through its nose and jerked the cow around and somehow got the cow’s leg tied up in the rope. Then drove maybe one kilometer further and turned a corner and we were head on with Craig who was on a quad. Craig didn’t know how to reverse, so we had to reverse most of the way back to the cow.

I met everyone when I got to the resort and then went for a quick swim. I showered, took a quick nap, ate dinner and went back to sleep. Cisca is the owner, Craig dive instructor, Darren dive instructor, Issa native Dive Master student, Matt was the only “guest” but he is actually a dive instructor on a small island off Zanzibar.

The next morning I came down to breakfast and was immediately proposed to by Ali, the server. I also met Mato, who is basically also the Assistant Manager but in charge of more physical administration and translations (his English is amazing), whereas I’ll be more in the office and making things look presentable. Mato is probably the closest person I’ll be working with and we get along great. I followed him around all day and we helped the girls make the rooms and I learned where everything was.

I’ve been starting work around 7:30am, take a 45 minute lunch break, then get an hour or two break at the end of the day and have to return for dinner preparations around 6:30-7pm. I’m exhausted! During the day I run back and forth checking on food, laundry, workers, etc. I have only gone swimming once, which is a little disappointing. I have met many amazing people so it hasn’t really been all work “entertaining” them. We had a huge fire pit dinner the other night for 25 people and we were just running around like crazy people. I have met two VSO volunteers and one of the two PCVs who live on Pemba. I also met the Brown family and Ginger who live about 10km away. It’s nice to know so many other “foreigners” are here on the island. I have also bonded with the cleaning girls. One of them calls herself Mama Aly now. We laugh and joke all the time-in Swahili. Even though my Swahili is lacking I feel more confident using it here because the staff doesn’t laugh or judge me for mistakes. It makes me feel accomplished to have made such great relationships already, having only spoken 10 English words.

That is all for now! Hopefully I’ll have a day off soon so I can explore that island….

The address on the left (Chake Chake) is current if you’d like to send me mail. Emails are also awesome, although internet has been very unstable. I still don’t know my phone number here (I have 3 numbers though-1 Airtel, 1 “personal” but still an office phone, and 1 office phone) so stay tuned for that. Viber is an awesome app for anyone with a smartphone who wants to talk!

Here I come, Pemba

It has been quite awhile, but I’m finally up to blogging again. I was terminated from the Peace Corps on April 28, 2013 for medical purposes. The doctors still never found anything wrong with me except Giardia (that I had for almost a year by the time I finished treatment) and my elevated liver function tests which could have been caused from taking the anti-malarial pills or it is an indicator for a viral infection. The working theory is this: I developed Giardia in August 2012. My body continually got more and more run down. Two-thirds of your immune system is supposedly in your small intestine. In February 2013 I most likely developed viral meningitis, which usually takes a few weeks for your body to naturally fight off. Instead, it took me about 4 months because of my compromised immune system. I have been headache-free since the beginning of June. I’m still having some GI issues that may be related to thyroid or gluten intolerance. Compared to the pains of Giardia though I feel 110%.

This summer I worked up near Yosemite at Saddlebag Lake Resort. It was a nice relaxing time surrounded by many lakes and mountains. Surprisingly being at 10,000 ft elevation had no effect on my health. Our summer ended early due to the Rim Fire and the owner’s health, so I returned home on Labor Day to begin my job search.

My goal was to have a job by October 1^st. I had applied to a job in Oregon that I was anxiously waiting for a call back. Then on Friday I was online and saw a posting from Swahili Divers mentioning a job opening at the Kervan Saray Lodge. When I was in Tanzania I had gotten my SCUBA certification done through Swahili Divers and absolutely loved the lodge and overall atmosphere. So guess what?! I’m the Assistant Manager for the lodge!

I leave on Sunday the 15^th to move back to Tanzania! The job only goes until the end of April, so I will return to American on May 1, 2014. I will be living on the island of Pemba, at the very North end. It will be quite different from how I was living previously. There is a generator for power, hot running water, bottled water to drink, 3 prepared meals every day, unlimited SCUBA diving, my bungalow is about 200 yards from the Indian Ocean, there are 5 white staff members, there are nearby ex-pats and 3 Peace Corps Volunteers on the island, YET if I want to I can still wander out of the resort area and mingle with the villagers.

I am so excited for this amazing opportunity. I feel like maybe getting sick wasn’t so bad for me if it opened up this opportunity. I will update my contact information as soon as I get there.

Thank you all for all of your concern and support throughout this journey!

P.S. Here is a link to where I will be working.

http://www.kervansaraybeach.com/