The Clinic and the Craft Market

This past Friday, I travelled with the mobile clinic to the town of Mandinary, located just North of Lamin, a village that borders Banjulunding. This clinic resembled the same rural and agrarian landscape as the clinic in Jambur, except this clinic hosted about four times as many patients. It was quite hectic, and the fact that there was no water provided for us at this clinic (Ramadan began that day) exacerbated the anxiety that comes with disarray. One of the bright moments, however, was that I was able to administer vaccines via syringe to a handful of babies and toddlers. It was not pleasant to hear them cry once the needle entered their leg or arm, but it was thrilling to give shots. I administered the Penta, pneumonia, and yellow fever vaccinations. The yellow fever vaccination was by far the most difficult to give because it required injection into the deltoid muscle (shoulder muscle), which in young children is quite small and underdeveloped. Plus, the children were much better at moving their arm than their leg during the vaccination. After the clinic finished and the last patients were attended to, we waited three hours for the ambulance to come pick us up. The delay was caused by the president, who requires the road to himself whenever he travels, thus causing traffic nightmares.

Friday evening I did some sprints on the beach along with some ladder agilities. On my final 40-yard sprint (which of course was run in record time), I ripped open a blister on my left big toe. The sand was simply too abrasive for my baby-soft skin. I suppose I will have to run in sneakers on the beach from now on.

Today I slept in and woke up at about 9:30am. After some breakfast and chocolate milk, I went to the craft market with Austin and Michelle. Austin bought an ornate mask that is quite scary and fascinatingly tribal. I set my sights on less expensive wooden things, and picked out perfect gifts for my friends and family. One of the shopkeepers wants to trade something for my old Nike trainers when I leave. I told him he was crazy to want these old pieces of crap, but I'd be happy to trade him for something small.

I took a nice run today back from the stadium, and felt really fast. It's a beautiful route along the coast, and the colorful scenery and ocean air certainly contributed to my willingness to run fast. When I got back I did the p90x ab ripper and hopped in the pool. Does life get any better than this?

I'll leave you all with a picture of a mask I bought myself at the craft market. It's a Monday mask, and I bought it over all the other days of the week because everyone needs some humor on Monday, right?