Done with work... until I'm a real doctor! Yikes!

Last day of work today! All done. Pretty weird... as Jess pointed out, that was my last day of work until I'm an intern. Crazy. I took lots of pictures and left them with a few of the things I brought with me (scrubs and safety goggles). I gave the safety goggles to the doctor who is the head of ob/gyn because he was operating with these terrible glasses. They were this awful thick clear (well, used to be clear... now turning yellowish) plastic (picture super thick coke bottle glasses from the seventies), and get this... one the lenses was completely shattered into this star figure. And HE OPERATED WITH THEM! How in the world you could operate like that I don't know. So anyway, I handed him mine and said, "Please Dr. Marwa... please please take these." He was hesitant at first, not sure if they were good, he claimed. But then when he put them on he was convinced. It was sad though because two of the younger surgeons in the room got these wide eyes and looked at me hopefully and said, "Ohh... do you have any more?!" I didn't, but where I got mine in the anatomy lab there is a huge bin just full of glasses people have left behind. Such a simple thing, but I never thought to bring extra. Only one other doctor has his own glasses, and other than that they all just operate without any eye protection. Pretty scary. Everyone at the hospital also really wanted my shoes (crocs) and my purse (flowered, which I got at a resale shop and literally cost me negative 7 dollars). I felt bad about not giving these to them, but the shoes were not really that cheap (even though I got them at the outlet) and will be good for next year (plus, I couldn't decide which of the many nurses who requested them I should give them to), and it's the only purse I brought with me, so I need to have something to carry for the rest of the trip and home with me. (Plus, the purse if really dirty!) They also were requesting things of me like a doppler for the labor ward (to listen to the babies heart tones) and a watch (guess she just wanted one). It's easy to feel taken advantage of when you give them a few simple things and then just keep asking for more, but you can't really blame them. They just see white person who had enough money to fly across the world just to volunteer in a hospital, they can't really differentiate "student with a hundred thousand dollars in debt whose school and parents paid for the trip" from anyone else.

On a different note, getting very excited about the safari and then back to Zanzibar! When we were on Zanzibar before we stayed in a "town" called Jambiani on the east coast. We picked it because it is supposed to have the bluest water of anywhere on the island. This could definitely be true, it was gorgeous. The water is so blue because it is so shallow for SO far out. Which makes the tides pretty crazy too. When we first arrived the tide was out, and I remember being so disappointed at this beach! All there was was sand and beached boats (called daos) for hundreds of yards out... where was the ocean?! It was hard to believe that in a few hours all that water would be right up to us at the beach. But indeed it was, and when the water was in it really was extremely blue and pretty. You could walk out seemingly forever into the ocean too since it was so shallow. The hotel itself was very nice, small, with about 15 little bungalows and an open air restaurant perched right on an overhang above the ocean. Unfortunately it was also seaweed season, so the beach was sort of covered in dried seaweed, but it really didn't make too much of a difference as we mostly lay on the comfy lounge chairs near the small pool looking out at the sea. Also, we couldn't even lay in the sun for more than a few hours a day because it was so strong and we were just so darn white.

The town of Jambiani itself probably wouldn't really be considered a town anywhere else... more of a village/collection of mud homes with thached/corrogated metal roofs. There was a herd of goats that liked to sleep on the "street" (dirt) outside the gate to the hotel. Needless to say, we rarely left the grounds of the hotel, except occationally to buy bottled water (cheaper than at the hotel) from a TINY store front down the way, and one night to go to a bar (literally just a wooden bar with a few stools plopped right down in the sand on the beach covered by a thached hut) that was having a bonfire. So very quiet and relaxing. We ate all of our meals at the hotel (pretty good food, although I ate quite a bit of pizza) and the only other people to hang out with were a group of South Africans who came for a wedding. This time when we go back tO Zanzibar we are going to the northern part near Kendwa, which is supposed to be a pretty different experience. They don't get the severe tides, so the water is swimmable 24 hours a day. Kendwa is supposed to have the actual prettiest beaches, not just blue water. And the north is known more for being busy and crowded and having more night life. So although we are going back to the same small island, it's almost like visiting a different place.

Alright, have to fun. This afternoon we are going to visit a local school and then to the Paradiso orphanage to both pick a child to sponsor for Mom and Dad (not really pick... I think I'm just going to ask who is the oldest without a sponsor, cause really... how could you ever PICK?!) and to give them the money that Caroline's mom raised for them before she came. She even made a big check to give them, all publishers clearing house style. I'm quite excited, I have always wanted to be involved in a big check giving ceremony.