day 1

i'm in London today, and have no idea what kind of internet access i'll have in Kenya so i thought i'd post somethin short.

I know this may be shocking, but it's gray and rainy here.  I made it to Haniya's mom's house and was greeted with a lovely cup of tea and a delicious plate of rice and meat with all kinds of interesting spices.

So tomorrow morning i'm off to Kenya.  We're going to be working in an area called Garissa, both in a refugee camp and in a hospital, and primarily with Somalis who are now living in Kenya.  I have to admit i'm a little nervous, having heard that the Somalis there aren't all that fond of "westerners..." so i'm sure it'll be a fascinating experience!

As a side note, I kind of realized that 2010 is the year of reunions for me...
- I haven't seen my Kenyan friends in almost 3 years
- I got to stay with my friend Svjetlana when I was interviewing in Brooklyn (she's an OB-Gyn intern there), I hadn't seen her in about 8 years, since we last volunteered together at the Global Children's Organization summer camp in Croatia (globalchild.org)
- I got to have dinner with half of my UC Davis postbac crew when I was in Brooklyn as well
- in Lebanon, i'll get to see another old Bosnian buddy, Vladan, whom I'm also haven't seen in about 8 years

figuring this blog thing out

my first blog entry. ever. weird.

Anyways, I finally got my ticket to leave the US on January 28th with Marika, Erin, and Josh! We're doing an "international comparative health" elective in our 4th year of med school, specifically focusing on delivery of care to different refugee populations (Somalis, Palestinians, and Burmese)...and we're gonna try to make a short video documentary about it, so anyone with editing skills is welcome to help out when we get back :))

Itinerary:

Jan 28th - SFO to Nairobi

Feb 17th - Nairobi to Beirut via Addis Ababa

Mar 17th - Beirut to Bangkok

April 19th - Bangkok to Kathmandu

And no, we know when we're coming home yet.....just some time before graduation on May 22nd!

I've been living out of my suitcase for the last few months already, between Berkeley, Sacramento, and recently on the road for pediatric residency interviews, but figuring out what to pack for a trip that long seems daunting. Especially since it's supposed to be cold in Lebanon and uncomfortably hot in Thailand! Good times...