Hapana umeme! (No power!)

That's right, 27 hours without electricity this week! I knew something was up when some of the compound houses were fine, others were on brown out (ie, ~20% power only), and only my house was dark. Apparently, our circuit breaker shorted (thanks for the fix, Jan and Bariki!). Although not before I took 1 cold shower yesterday (we also didn't have more than a trickle of water yesterday), and a second cold, cold shower today, since the hot water heater was definitely out. I survived and am currently writing with the aid of my precious nightstand lamp! Here's the problem: the transformer that caused the short has a beehive on it, so TANESCO (the national electricity company) has to smoke the bees out first before beginning to fix the problem. This could be days... but maybe we'll get some honey from TANESCO?

Lucky for me, I am leaving for Cape Town, South Africa, on Saturday, for a whole week -- and for work, too! I'm going to the international ob/gyn conference (FIGO), which has lots of super important people attending and great talks lined up, so it should be an amazing week. Not to mention exploring Cape Town in my free time... :)

Unluckily for my new roommate, the Medicine Global Health resident who arrives tomorrow night -- her first Moshi experience, brown-outs! On the bright side, at least it's better than no umeme, right?

Another crazy busy week in Moshi -- I had 2 presentations to start off the week. The first was our 'research methodology' series for the Ob/Gyn department, on critically reading and designing case-control studies. It was really interesting to put together, especially as our research group is just starting a similarly-designed study on stillbirths and perinatal deaths, so it was particularly helpful to us. One of the consultants (ie, attendings) here really liked it, apparently -- and asked if I could teach basic epi and biostats to the MPH students at KCMC! It turns out his wife is an instructor in the MPH program so he has some connection, but I won't hold my breath -- I doubt an MD or MPH would like an American med student to teach such a meaty subject! Nothing's 100% in Tanzania! :) Although it would be really fun...

In life outside of work, I've started horseback riding again!! Terrie, an American who is in charge of the horses at International School Moshi (ISM) and is super cool -- she used to exercise racehorses at Pimlico!!!! -- has 2 ponies, Mango and Storm, and 2 horses, Mr. Bean and R&B. Mr. Bean is pretty cool -- laid back, listens to pretty light commands, and has a really nice canter (well, when he is willing to pick up his left lead)! Though he doesn't know how to jump! :/ R&B is a former polo pony and has got a LOT of speed, especially on the straightaways -- which is really fun, although getting her to collect is pretty much the hardest thing I've ever done -- circles, here we come! I still kind of miss Beepers (the horse at Stanford I usually ride), and he's just so much prettier, but R&B and Mr. Bean are going to be great for me this year. And the best part is, riding is 10,000 shillings -- $8! Amazing -- where can you ride good horses in the U.S. for next-to-nothing??

This past Tuesday, my second time out, Terrie asked if I'd be interested in going to a horse show in Nairobi. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity, not realizing that what she meant was that I would be showing in a novice dressage class. So now I'm riding daily, working like I've never worked on showmanship, transitions between gaits, getting the horse to listen to me. Trust me, it all looks much easier than it is -- an amazing daily workout, which is exactly what I needed! And it's the best part of my day!

To top it all off, Terrie and Greg, who actually organizes the hashes, invited me for a viewing of Monday Night Football last night!! It was just like being back in the U.S.! They receive the majority of American sports through some ESPN international or ESPN Africa and DVR them, so my worries about missing March Madness were definitely unfounded! And the MNF weekly tradition will be a welcome addition to my quiet evenings in Moshi, in spite of gazelle being served for dinner... or was it impala? Don't worry, I had salad :)

So, life is fantabulous. :) Signing off until I return from Cape Town...