6 Day Journey

So it took a while for me to get internet at the hospital and even then, it’s dodgy and hardly ever working. So this is chronicling the cities I travelled through to reach my destination:
After the 17 (or just 12 with the time change calculated in) hour flight (with a one hour stop in Senegal to refuel), I finally arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was hoping to get to do a little sightseeing; however, fate turned against me. I had met two very nice people from the states, Ryan from Kansas and Mary Ann from Charleston (people from Charleston are all over!), and we were planning to get our hotel vouchers and perhaps take a look around the city. Lucky I got my voucher back quickly; unluckily they did not, so we waited two hours until they received theirs. We found out we were in different hotels and had to get on different bus shuttles, which was sad and frightening for about 5 seconds when I realized the people on my shuttle were quite nice and chatty. I have already been invited to visit Cameroon, China, and Kinshasa, DRC. Travelers are quite friendly, but I’ll hold off on those visits for now. The Riviera hotel didn’t turn out to be all that bad…a large king bed and spacious rooms, but unfortunately shoddy internet access and an odd smell. However, the city is surrounded by a beautiful mountain landscape and lush greenery, helped I’m sure by it being the rainy season. The inner limits look much like I thought it might, yet different once witnessed, with the tin-walled shacks, roadside stands, pedestrians commuting on the sidewalks, and the occasional donkey hauling goods. The city looking impoverished from my outside eye looking in. Oh, and I gave up on the venturing out, considering I had been separated from my acquaintances, and kept to the dry comfort of the hotel.
And so it was after a 3 ½ hour flight to Kinshasa—which I passed out on; jet lag still had me—and then a ten minute flight over the Congo River, I arrived in Brazzaville. A bit more clean and developed than Ethiopia, but still dusty. But does the weather ever feel like home! Il fait chaud! It’s hot, and it’s humid. I was shown around the guest house I will be in until I leave for Impfondo, and then went to a Sunday night “sing and share” with some of the missionaries. After we had tea and homemade goodies (the best salsa!) and chatted for the remainder of the evening…it was quite lovely. As for my night—up went the mosquito net!
Impfondo! On final flight and I made it! And thankfully Sarah was there at the airport to greet me and orient me to what will be happening for the next four months. So happy to see her there just a year after we graduated from nursing school! We drove from the airport to the mission we are staying, which is, no joke, right across from the Oubangui River—a large branch off of the Congo River. And I do have to say it’s beautiful: the most trees I have ever seen in my life, a legit jungle, greenery all around, and fruit trees everywhere, not to mention that you just walk to the edge of the road and you can look across to the river. Sarah and I had lunch with Harveys in their house, which is right across the lawn from the house we are staying in. So with the first half day in Impfondo complete, I quite like it here. First thing in the morning is a 3 mile bike ride to the hospital. I will just have to see what my time at the hospital holds, and how my oh-so-lacking language skills hold up.