En Route Adventures

Hello everyone! We just checked out our page views and are surprised by how many people are checking us out!

We have arrived at the UNC project housing, luggage and all! The past day has certainly been interesting, and we're starting to get our bearings on how to get around the compound, and what we need to do to get our ducks in a line to get in the maternity ward - still a work in progress.

This is the first sight after landing in Lilongwe. It's pretty ok, right? Not going to lie - this is not what we were expecting to see.

For the most part, all of our flights were easy going, but we do have a few little stories to share from the Dulles to Addis one in particular:
1 - There was a younger girl sitting across the aisle from us with her dad. She wasn't doing so hot and threw up shortly after we were airborne and looked completely miserable every time we glanced in her direction. Her dad was trying to handle the situation the best he could, but seemed to be a little lost as to what to do. Jenny and I encouraged her to go to the back of the plane because it was cooler there and offered her a wet cool napkin to put on her forehead and neck. (shout out to our incredible nursing skills - what what!!) We also encouraged her dad to have her sip ginger ale and maybe sprite to help settle her stomach. She started to come around a little and napped in her dad's lap. Our last nugget of nursing came at the end of the flight when Jenny gave her a piece of gum to chew during the descent to help her ears... then she thew up. Perhaps bubblegum mint wasn't the best choice. Her dad thanked us for helping, and said that we made him feel better, even though his daughter got sick again.

2 - There was an INCREDIBLY attractive, young, business-looking man in the back of the flight (ie between us and the bathroom), and since Jenny was worried about a DVT ( = deep vein thrombosis, shout out to Katie Myers for that worry) and convinced herself that sleeping was a bad idea, she took frequent laps around the plane.  However, at no time during the flight did either of us actually speak to said attractive man. After landing in Addis, there proceeded to be what Suz likes to call a "crap show" (this apparently is now a PG blog). There was a serious lack of information about what gate we were leaving from and a ton of people, and absolutely zero seating. Out of nowhere comes attractive business man from our flight from Dulles saying, "You're going to Nairobi, right?" First, why does he think we're going to Nairobi? WE DID NOT SPEAK TO HIM AT ALL. Were we giving off 'we're going to kenya' vibes? Second, why is he just now speaking to us? We just spent 12 hours making awkward eye contact. Sadly, his gate was on the opposite side of the airport, and we parted ways forever.

Mt Kilimanjaro from the air

Tomorrow should be a big day. We have a meeting at 9am with the Nurses and Midwives Council. Well, first we were told there would be a test, and then that was changed to needing to answer a few questions, so we're not completely sure what will happen. We are hoping to hear some good news about being able to work in the maternity ward. 

Hope you are doing well! More to come!!

Suzann & Jenny

note: all photos courtesy of Jscepan's iPhone.