Fun with Radiation

About two months ago, while out on an awesome safari hike, I injured my toe.  I don't remember injuring it, I just remember it hurting.  It could have been from impact against my shoe, or it might have been from bracing myself as I descended into a creek bed.  Anyway, it hurt.  Not enough to cause me to stop doing anything, but enough to remind me it was there.

It never really got better.  Then, about two weeks ago, I stubbed this same toe HARD against my bed frame.  Enter blinding pain.  But once the initial shock wore off, I was back to a dull ache when I walked and some more throbbing pain when I manipulated said toe.

With my London trip looming, I decided to get it checked out.  Dr. Google told me it was most likely not broken (which I had guessed) but also said that sprains really shouldn't last that long.  Our health unit checked it out, said it probably wasn't broken, but that getting an x-ray wouldn't hurt.

I have been lucky in my FS overseas career so far, knock on wood.  The worst thing I ever had in Saudi was a possible case of strep throat and a boil that needed to be lanced.  I never had to go to a doctor or hospital.  Though now that I think about it, I did have a visitor who sprained her ankle, so I did take her to the hospital, but that's beside the point.

What would an x-ray be like in Kampala?  I was about to find out.  The health unit made an appointment for me, I booked a car (since I hadn't driven to work that day), and I braced my boss for the possibility that I might be out most of the afternoon.  Traffic wasn't bad, and we made it to the clinic in less than 15 minutes.  A nurse met me at the door, showed me where to pay my $24, and took me back right away.  No forms, no waiting!  The technician set up my scans, positioned my foot, reluctantly gave me a lead apron (he seemed very surprised when I asked for it), took the first scan, repositioned my foot, took the second scan, and then I was free to go.  Less than 15 minutes!  The longest part of the whole thing was the traffic back to the embassy - about 25 minutes. 

The radiologist sent an email the next day with the results - nothing broken, normal findings.  Which is good and what I expected, but it still left no answers.  And the pain hasn't gone away, but it's still not debilitating and doesn't interfere in daily activities. 

So, I don't have a broken toe!  That is the good news.  The bad news is, this is either the world's slowest-healing sprain, or I am constantly re-injuring said toe with no idea I'm doing it.  Anyway, a week of intense walking in London and it's not any worse, thankfully.  But it isn't better either.  But I did learn that x-rays in Kampala are easy and a bargain.  And I checked out the MRI prices while I was there - those too are a bargain.  Nice to have that nugget in my back pocket...

The Foreign Service Companion

This is a bit of a shameless plug, but a well-deserved one.  The Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW) has compiled a wonderful book written by Foreign Service community members about the realities of moving your household in this crazy lifestyle.  I contributed a chapter about Hattie - a story which will be very familiar for regular readers of this blog.

From AAFSW's website:

"We are pleased to announce that “The Foreign Service Companion: Moving Your Household Without Losing Your Mind” is now available for purchase in paperback or Kindle e-book format! Written and edited by members of the Foreign Service community, this anthology of advice and stories will be your “companion” as you navigate your next Foreign Service transfer.
Topics covered include:

• leaving the U.S. for an overseas post
• returning “home” to the Washington, D.C., area
• moving to other posts in the U.S.
• sorting and downsizing belongings before packout
• digitizing and backing up important household records
• creating a home inventory
• helping children of various ages deal with a move
• safely shipping pets
• packing for an ordered evacuation from an overseas post
• planning for an unaccompanied tour
• shopping for consumables for a hardship post
• special considerations for foreign-born spouses
• taking care of ourselves during a transfer
• and much more!

All profits from the sale of this book will benefit AAFSW and help fund our activities and services.  And it is just $8.99 from Amazon.com. Order your copy today!"


And now back to my Harry Potter marathon in preparation for London.  I promise to get more safari posts up soon!

Six Month Blues

Yesterday was my six month mark in Kampala.  This gave me some pause to think about being 25% done with my tour and to reflect on what the last few weeks have been like.  I am well-acquainted with the various phases of culture shock - I loved using the roller-coaster analogy and talking about this with Saudi students right before they left for studies in the U.S. since it gave us all a chance to laugh at cultural differences - and am not naive enough to think I am immune to the ups and downs.  But it still sometimes takes an external event or anniversary to make me think critically about how the length of time I've been in a place affects my mood and outlook.

I've traveled relatively little in the last six months, which is unusual for me.  And I haven't left this continent, which is even more unusual. Trips to Ghana and Kenya, while amazing and wonderful, didn't exactly give me the break I need from the few things that try my patience here.  And really there aren't too many of them.  But, right around the 4.5-5 month mark I started getting slightly more irritated with the little things.

You all know what I mean.  These are the things that you thought novel and quaint when you first arrived.  "Oh, isn't it sweet how the boda boda drivers weave their way in and out of traffic!"  "Oh, look at that perfectly-formed pothole!  Why it's big enough to swallow a car whole!"  "Oh look, there's no butter at the store for the third week in a row!"  "Oh, isn't it efficient for the cars, bodas, matatus, pedestrians, school children, goats, cows, and chickens all use the road at once in such a perfectly choreographed dance!" 

Right about now I would write those sentences quite differently.  And I think you can spot the pattern - my major frustrations come from driving and sitting in traffic.  I absolutely love driving in general, but I've grown to dread it here.  I really need to hire a driver.  This has been a terrible week for road accidents around Africa, and the dangers of the road are pretty apparent to me right now. 

On the other hand, there was butter and cream at the grocery store last weekend, so I count that as a win. 

I feel lucky that I don't have any big culture shock complaints, and I don't feel dreadfully homesick, as I sometimes do at this point in a tour.  That said, I was pretty disappointed to learn yesterday that I didn't get into a training class that would have brought me to DC for a week and then NH for a week of leave.  I'm consoling myself, though, in that I am now free to spend some time in London with one of my best friends and a whole host of other friends!  I booked the flights today and now have a light at the end of the tunnel.  The Tube.  Borough Market.  High tea.  Walking for hours and discovering amazing things.  Marks & Spencers food hall.  Orderly queues.  Museums and parks and monuments and more.  ATMs.  I can't wait!  It's not quite the same as going home, but it's a direct flight in premium economy class with wonderful people and one of my favorite cities at the other end.  And it's a chance to reset, regroup, and return with a fresh perspective.

Apoka Lodge - KVNP

Apoka Lodge is so nice it deserves a photo post all of its own!

Oh, that's just a waterbuck by the cabin. NBD.

Cabin 8, my home for the weekend

View from the dining hall to the pool area

Zebras! So close!

Mama and baby

Baby!

Waterbuck hanging out by the staff quarters

Oribi bounding by the cabin

Oribi - so sweet!

The reception building.

Lookout tower - we weren't able to use it due to needing repairs, but the staff stay there all night making sure no animals get into the cabins.

The cabins are spread out and accessed by stone pathways

The cabins use as many local and sustainable resources as possible

Baby elephant hanging out. I'm not sure this was actually near the lodge, though, now that I think about it.

Zebras considering soliciting the watering hole

Buffalo-a-wallowing

They turned down our beds each night when we returned from dinner/game drives

The main building

Approaching the lodge

Interior view

VERY comfortable chairs!

This is one of the nicest bathrooms ever

It may not look like much, but this is one of the better-designed showers I've ever used

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Outdoor bathtub - it wasn't sunny enough for an entire day to allow the water to heat enough

View from the bathtub

Our wonderful safari vehicle!

Kidepo Valley National Park - Day One

This week has pretty much sucked for much of the world.  In an effort to try and escape from reality for a bit, here is a long overdue recap of day one of my Easter weekend adventure.

In December a few friends and I schemed up a trip that is on many people's Uganda bucket list:  a trip to Kidepo Valley National Park (KVNP).  KVNP is the most isolated of Uganda's national parks and was, for years, very difficult to reach due to ongoing tensions in northern Uganda.  CNN named KVNP the third best park in Africa this year, in large part due to its isolation and the ability to be completely alone out there.  I really appreciated this aspect of the park!

Driving to KVNP is a long and difficult trip, so we opted to charter a flight and live out our fly-in luxury safari dreams.  One of the only options for lodging in the park is the ultra-luxurious Apoka Safari Lodge, which has ten very private cabins.  Our group reserved seven of the ten early on and got a fantastic tour price significantly below the rack rates of $570/night for lodging at $700/person for the flights.  Significantly lower, I promise.

We met at the airport, checked in, and were escorted to our gate.  The plane, a small Cessna, was very nice and had a pilot and co-pilot.  Neither of which helped ease my flight anxiety, but I made it through!  We flew over Lake Victoria, Kampala, the Nile, and Lake Kyoga before descending into KVNP.  There was a fair bit of turbulence as we cleared the mountains surrounding the Narus valley (one of two valleys making up KVNP, the second being Kidepo Valley), but we landed on the tidy dirt airstrip and were met by Julius, one of Apoka's phenomenal safari guides.  Julius piled our luggage into the vehicle, and we headed to the lodge, only a few km away. 

The lodge is unfenced and in the middle of the park, so it has lots of wildlife around.  The jackals hang out by the kitchen hoping for scraps, the warthogs dominate the watering hole, the zebra and antelope wander by several times a day, the giraffes frequent the acacia trees on the fringe of the property, the buffalo claim the mud puddles, and the waterbuck just plain hang out.  A few lions have been known to sleep under Cabin 2, but we weren't lucky enough to encounter them. 

We arrived at the lodge and were greeted with a welcome drink and an orientation.  The cabins are spread out to allow for maximum privacy, and we each were assigned our cabin and went to explore along with our personal housekeepers.  The cabins have luxurious beds with mosquito nets, couches and desks, a private veranda for game-watching, a huge and well-designed bathroom, and outdoor bathtubs.  The water is solar heated, and while there was plenty for showers, we had enough clouds while we were there that there wasn't enough to fill the tubs, sadly.  I settled in and headed up to the main building for lunch.  The main building, an open structure with a low-hanging thatched roof - perfect for watching the animals without scaring them off - has a bar, lots of super comfortable couches, and a huge wooden dining table where people eat family style. 

Lunches and dinners were three course affairs, and all the food was delicious.  We decided on the day's program - a safari walk in the afternoon and then a night drive.

We piled into our vehicle to drive to the start of our walk and set off with Julius, a ranger, and another guide.  We didn't see much game - a few assorted antelope and buffalo, but we had great fun exploring the micro world of a game park.  Luckily none of the aardvark holes were inhabited by pythons or angry warthogs!  We walked a few miles, forded a couple of streams, and met up with our vehicle at the end point.  We got back to the lodge in time for an early dinner and then headed back out on a night drive.

I love night drives, and they're hard to come by in many parks.  We saw phenomenally large herds of buffalo (for which KVNP is known), identifiable only by their glowing eyes, as well as hundreds of antelope.  We glimpsed a few giraffe, their eyes eerily far from the ground as they grazed.  We were also lucky enough to see two porcupines, one of which we were able to get quite close to.  What phenomenally interesting creatures they are!  The sound their quills make when they run is so interesting.

Rabbits, mongooses, and jackals made up the rest of our night sightings.  We looked, but no leopards stared back at us, sadly.  We got back to the lodge about 10:00 and were escorted to our rooms.  I showered in the heavenly stone shower and settled into bed.  I didn't sleep well, but it was wonderful to listen to the sounds of the night. 

Stay tuned for more!

Our plane's cabin

Lake Victoria and glimpses of Kampala

The Nile, in the top of the photo

Lake Kyoga

Descending into KVNP

Our adorable plane

The perfect safari vehicle - home for the next four days

South Sudan in the distance!

A beautiful kopje that became a landmark for us (the end point of our safari walk, too)

Sweet bird at the lodge

Warthogs at the watering hole

Aardvark hole - thankfully with no inhabitants

Lovely terrain for a walk

Amarula tree, I think

Fording a small stream.  Granted, with little water in it...

The last hill on the walk

Waterbuck and a buffalo at the lodge