Strangest shopping trip ever...

Hi everybody,

I didn't post in the last few days, but if you're following me on twitter, you know that I've been enjoying a wonderful few days in Paris. What a contrast it will be when I get to Chad!!

Yesterday I went to the Embassy of Chad to request a visa, and lo and behold, they were closed! It was their independence day. Not very cool, because they say it takes 3 days to get the visa. My flight is on Thursday at 4pm...

So I went back today, and they said no problem, it would be done Thursday morning. I'm gonna trust them and hope for the best...

After the embassy, with the assurance of the visa, I went on the weirdest shopping trip ever. I had searched online to find a store that sold medical supplies. It's in the outskirts of Paris, "la banlieu" if you know the region. I got there and started grabbing boxes of latex gloves, bottles of hand-sanitizer, seringes, needles, gauze packages, surgical masks, alcohol wipes, desinfectant wipes, and of course, mosquito repellent.

This is the kind of stuff most people never ever get to buy. Even those of us in the medical professions, we (or at least I) just take it for granted, you show up at the hospital, there are gloves, alcohol, needles. Buying this stuff somehow brought it home to me: I'm going to Africa. In 2 days. A place where the simplest medical supplies are scarce at best, and they make do with what they've got.

I think it hasn't quite sinked in yet... but today it's started to...

Preparations...

If you know me at all, you know that I've moved around a lot. I have lived in 7 different countries, in 3 different continents, and we're not even talking about different cities in each country. I have to pack often. But I HATE DOING IT! It is the worst thing in the world for me...

Well, now I have less than 1 week to:
- Pack my entire house (not the furniture, luckily)
- Cancel all services, internet, phone, etc.
- Get all the necessary vaccines and medications to take to Chad
- Take all my things to a storage unit
- Meet with the owner of my apartment to inventory everything (it's their furniture) and give the keys
- Go to the bank with the owner to get my deposit back
- Spend a night in a hotel
- Fly to Paris

This might seem like not such a big deal... It might not seem like a lot. But it's very time consuming... specially the packing part. And the inventory. I would do it in 3 minutes, but the owner is very meticulous and when I got the apartment, it took 2 1/2hrs... this time it will probably take longer. So the part about the inventory and the bank will take all of Wednesday (banks here take forever). This means I have no more than 3 days to pack everything and take it to storage.

But today, when I went to get my vaccines (yellow fever, tetanus booster), the nurse asked where I was going, and when I said Chad, her first question was "hmmm... sorry, but where is that?" And when I showed her on the world map conveniently posted behind her desk, she asked me what I was going to do there. And I realized that very soon, I will get to poke people with sharp objects again. I will be involved in patient care again. I will be seeing blood and guts and everything in-between. It's been 6 months since I saw my last surgery, and you know what? I MISS IT!

So all the packing and drudgery involved in getting me to the Surgical Center of Moundou, Chad? -- it's worth it!!

And that makes all the difference in the world... :)