This past week was a full and busy one.  Definitely starting to get very settled in and developing routine.  This week at the hospital tackled a few projects.  I gathered all the equipment and wrote policy and documentation to support a recovery room.  As we get started most of our OR's will be minor surgeries with local or spinal blocks but still need a recovery room for them and as we start to do general anesthesia as well.  Things feel abit mickey mouse as I figure out what supplies we have that have been donated and what we need to find and buy new.   Also struggling abit with some of the monitors ect as they are working, but donated (read from the 90's lol)

 

Nicole and I alternate bringing our lunch(read pitas and advacados.. and going for Ethiopian food. ...

Macchiatos here are the coffee of choice... small expresso size cups with some frothy milk... so good!!! and hard to beat the price... I don't think I will have the heart to buy starbucks when I get back when here I can get an amazing coffee for $.50

Nicole and I scoped out our local roadside garden center and came home with some rosemary and basil this week!!!!

Got them planted in our courtyard and they are so lovely!!!

These next two pics are just shots from the car window on our ride to work... I was talking to Elena at the time and she was asking what our ride looked like... its about 15mins depending on traffic...

One of the other projects we worked on one morning last week was setting up a Nursing Room in our outpatient department.  The nurses had been taking histories and doing vitals just in the waiting room which isn't great for patient confidentiality so we cleared out this storage room and scrounged up furniture from other areas of the hospital and made a room for them.

Here we are working with the nurses in the ER... make inventory lists for the meds and equipment to implement daily checks to make sure everything is ready to go.

Thursday night was fun.. I have really good friends from back home and their brother and sister-in-law are in Addis for a few weeks for a school exchange.. was so nice to meet up with them for dinner and a drink (had my first local beer here... not to bad)

Friday was the day we had kind of looked up against.. On Monday the 9th our work visa were going to expire and by Wednesday afternoon it became apparent that our work permits were not going to be ready on time.... of course Thursday was a national holiday of some sort so Friday we headed out to the Immigration Office to do our best to be renewed.. or else deported lol  The car ride there we prayed just for the will of God to be done... we really didn't have any control over this at all...   It was a bit of an ordeal... 8 lineups and 5 hours later we were approve (at least we think... we go today to get our passports back hopefully with extensions stamped in them. 

One of the lines we waited in... this was the ladies security line up for the inner courtyard

Interview room

Approved!!!

Outside while we waited for our ride there was some entertainment... there was a large hole in the road that we had noticed... apparently this poor driver didn't.. his entire front of his van was in the whole... 1 1/12 hours later he was still there... not to sure what exactly they were planning to do... The tan Jeep thing is the towtruck... but he was unsuccessful

Saturday I had the privialedge of visiting Tedessa (a young boy that I know) and his family in their home. When I was in Ethiopia in January his father had his leg amputated due to leprosy.  I had helped arrange to get a wheelchair and crutches in the home for him to mobilize with. His mom and dad wanted to have me for coffee.  

While the coffee was brewing Tedessa was showing me around their little neighbourhood...

This fire is cooking special bread for St Mary's Birthday (which was on Monday). Tradition says that Mary was born in the mountains out side of her home so they bake special bread in a fire for the birthday

Some of the kids

Ethiopian Traditional Coffee is amazing.. so good. But rather strong. And to be polite you need to drink three cups of it.... needless to say palpitations about 1 hour after like you would not believe

After my visit to Tedessa's home I walked up the hill into Korah.  The road here is being "improved" to put a new sewage system in.. but for right now.. its a bit of a nightmare!!

I love donkeys

Up in Korah its Girls Day in the Youth Complex.. Spent 4 hours there with the girls.  So nice that they have a safe space to play hangout

Once again I cooked lunch with them.  Tried to no avail to convince them that starting the fire with a plastic bag is not the best idea... . hard to argue in a different language to convince them that something is bad for the environment lol

After lunch I didn't have a translator today so instead of bible study the girls put on a bit of a talent show.. some singing, dancing, and play.  The longer I watched the play the sadder my heart was for them.. rather then a fairytale or light hearted play they acted out a sad drama.. one with abuse, pregnancyloss and death... it made my heart break for them... as this is a reality that they see everyday

This is just a small snapshot of the public transit we take multiple times a week... I can always tell if Nicole is still there... just look for the white arm =)