running ruminations

Hello hello. A quick update and then a collection of thoughts from my run this morning.
Things here are going fine. The predicted power outages never arrived... amazing. Of course it has been off and on here and there, but overall, quite dependable. It is raining less now, and the tourism high season is gearing up.
I met up with a French couple vacationing on the island and it was so nice to speak French! I got some mental gymnastics in when I was translating directly between French and Swahili at the market when I was showing them around. I realized I've often done the switch between French and English, or Swahili and English, but never French-Swahili. I enjoyed it.
Still working on med school applications and the research project here. I've been here over a month already, and am feeling a bit stressed and disappointed that I only have a month and a half left. Of course I'm looking forward to the tail end of the Maine summer with my family and friends, but yikes, my time here is going by rapidly!

I'm running a 1/2 marathon next Saturday, so have been running more in general, especially with the weekly long runs. I did about 10 miles this morning, and here is some of what went through my head:

-I wonder if doing a long run today will help get rid of or will exacerbate this cold I have
-I wish I could keep the temperature and daylight level as it is now for the entirety of my run (I started just before 6am when the sky was ever so slightly pale, sun not yet up yet).
-why did I just dream about being in my high school locker room after swim practice?
-when people here say "mzungu" to me, is it the same as the impulse I have to say "mooooo" every time I pass a cow here?
-when I run in shorts here, are people offended? If so, does it bother them less if it's in the early morning, when perhaps they'll have some respect that I got my keister out of bed to pound the pavement? Do they even notice? Mind you, my shorts are far from being hot pants...they are legit soccer shorts that fall just above my knee.
-is it better for me to run in the early mornings when fewer people are up but I tend to run slower, or run in the afternoons just before sun down when there are more people and traffic but I tend to be able to push myself a bit more? What would make me have the same quality workouts in the morning as I do in the afternoons/evenings?
-why have all the ads that show up just above my gmail inbox are recipes featuring Spam? I've never eaten Spam. What else have I never eaten?
-how long will it take for my brain to forget the phone numbers of my childhood friends? (I still know a ton of them by heart)
-what does the organism that is causing my GI troubles look like? What food did I get it from- the fruit from the market that I didn't wash, the fresh sugar cane & lime juice, or the unripe mango soup whose meat/potato contents were placed in the broth by the hand of the vendor (who also takes the money)?
-what does my spine think of my running shoes?
-do running shoes really ever get worn out? Barring actual holes in them, is it bad to run on them past 500 miles of wear? I'm skeptical yet do notice how much it feels like gliding on cushions when I get new sneakers. What is this whole barefoot running movement? If my shoes already have 500 miles on them, and the experts say they're "worn out" how is that different than running barefoot but with some thick socks on? .... what the hell is my friend Sam Fox wearing for footwear during his trek across the Pacific Crest Trail? If he averages 40 miles/day for 60 days, he'll need new shoes about 5 times, if you believe the 500 mile thing. Does he have a shoe sponsor?
-will I ever have to have a knee replacement in the knee that has the cadaver's ACL? (replay vault at BU where I tore all those ligaments)
-remember what it's like to pole vault (correctly w/o getting injured). Wish I could do it right then and there
-what would it be like to run a 1/2 marathon in a burqa (most women here wear them during exercise, or at least long pants and shirts)
-should I run a marathon in October (with Mr. TD and Amber?!)?
-how much fluid do I lose from sweating when I run here in Zanzibar?
-how much of my hair has undoubtedly curled away from my head? Does it look like a mini halo yet?
-how many grains of gravel and sand are in my shoes?
-how big is the blister that is developing on the middle toe of my left foot? Why is it only there, and only has started developing since I got to Zanz? I never had one when I ran in Dunkerque. Did I change my running form in such a way that it only affects my middle toe on that foot? strange. What else is affected that doesn't present itself as visibly as a blister?
-is it bad to run in this heat for so long without drinking any water? should I stash a water bottle for myself somewhere along my running route? nah... someone would take it.
-what would happen if I collapsed during one of my runs? (this and other "what if I had a medical emergency" questions have been running through my head recently b/c a friend of a friend got into a motorcycle accident and smashed his head on a telephone pole... the care he received at the hospital here in Zanz was underwhelming. He has been transferred to Dar es Salaam, where they have recommended pressing charges against the hospital here in Zanz...)
-what would happen if they did press charges against the hospital? What would it take to get proper "emergency" care here on the island?
-is anyone from my family still awake right now?
-what is the Swahili word for _____(insert a variety of things that I saw on my run)___
-where did the rash/cut that has been on my right bicep for two weeks come from? It looks kind of badass, but I'd like it to go away.
-ugh, I need to finish my med school applications.... and find a job for post-August.
-are the cats that live at my flat aware of how much it annoys me that they meow incessantly when I'm getting their food ready, every morning, every evening? I wish I could put them on mute.
-why am I so annoyed by the cats? They're hungry.
-I still don't like them.
-what food do I have at home that I can eat once I'm back from this run?
-how does the kombucha tea culture really work? Who the heck figured that out?
-if I had to get 5 mosquito bites right now, where would I least mind getting them? 10 bites?
-why do pens always seem to run out even though you can still see ink in the cartridge?
-who is more annoyed: the bug that just flew into my throat or me? Would a bug prefer to die in my throat, my stomach, or my eye/tear duct?
-what are the ants communicating when they cross paths and briefly bump antennae?
-is it high tide? If so, should I go directly to the ocean after this run to swim, or should I stop by the apartment to drop off my sneakers?

I'm sure there were others that are eluding me at the moment. I'm not sure who would find this insight into my brain interesting, but there ya go. The quotidian and unformed results of proper synaptic cleft communication between my brain cells.
What do you think about during your workouts/commutes/grocery shopping/etc?
I hope all is well with you kiddos. I'll write again once I have news (or not, as was today's post!)

oh, hey, it's me again!

Thursday, May 19, 2011 9pm

Habari za siku nyingi? I’m writing just as the power has been cut off here in Zanzibar. Shocking, I know. There are scheduled 15-hour long power cuts in Dar es Salaam for the next week; time will tell what that means for Zanzibar. Lucky for me, the flat where I’m staying has a nifty solar powered back up system that allows us to run a few lights, charge a computer or phone, and even maintain our internet connection. The positives are obvious, the negatives include that I am now functioning as a homing device for all mosquitoes that are within any reasonable vicinity. So, here I write, from a warm and humid night on the Spice Island, with a long-sleeved shirt, pants, the thickest socks that remained in my luggage from France, and a scarf around my neck. Every so often I’m motivated enough to make an attempt at smashing the latest mosquito that crosses my line of vision in front of my computer screen. Current kill count is 4, plus a few that were trying to bite me through my pants and were swiftly snuffed out. As was the case last year, I’m not taking any anti-malaria pills so even though I never was graced with the parasite, I do know I need to be careful. A wise investment would be some insect repellant…

Zanzibar has welcomed me with an impressive amount of rain. It was so loud that it actually woke me up this morning around 6am. It turned out to be a nice sunny day, in contrast with the first few, which were gray, cloudy, and drenched.

I have committed to doing a 1/2 marathon at the end of June, called the "Lewa Sympathizers International Run" in honor of the Lewa, Kenya marathon (and 1/2 marathon) that I ran last year and that my friend is running this year. I don't have the $ to make it up to Kenya for the real event, so I emailed some other friends from Zbar who are back in the US and proposed that we each do a run on June 25^th wherever we are in the world. I went on a decently-long run Sunday after arriving/unpacking, and then went on another good one Tuesday. I forgot how long it took to complete a certain loop and ended up running for almost an hour and a half. Someone chucked a strawberry milk shake out of their car window and managed to aim it square at my left shoe and shin. That was a first. Good thing it has been SO rainy that there was no shortage of puddles for me to choose from to rinse my hands after doing a finger-squeegy move to get the melted (and surely synthetic) milk product off of my dusty and sweaty shin. I was partly annoyed, yet partly surprised because I didn't know milk shakes existed here. You learn something new every day, huh?

My left shoe still smelled of fake strawberries despite washing it until yesterday, when I jogged to ngazi mia (the old Hindu Crematorium with 100 stairs from the beach to the street level) and ran the stairs in the rain. I received a number of curious greetings and glances, but enjoyed the camaraderie despite the lop-sided gender composition of the other people working out there. A number of people had on these great bright yellow soccer jerseys that had “ngazi mia” screen printed on them in green. I’ll see if I can score myself one. I’d be stoked!

For my first blog posting in a long long while, I’ll try to answer some obvious questions you might have:

~Why am I back in Zanzibar?

I’m continuing work on the public health research project from last year, tying up loose ends and organizing dissemination materials. I’m also applying to medical school, but I could do that from anywhere with internet access. I’ll be here until the end of July, will then return to the US and continue searching for a job for the 2011-2012 academic year.

~Why haven’t I written anything since August of 2010?

Part 1: this blog is called “East African Adventures” which suggests that it takes place in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and maybe Rwanda, Burundi, or Ethiopia. I haven’t been here since then.

Part 2: I had many good ideas for blog entries while I was in France between September 2010 and April 2011, but I never actually finished them, and thus, didn’t post them. Why didn’t I finish them? Good question. Perhaps deep down it was because I hadn’t coordinated enough brain cells to click together and come up with an appropriate and broader title for my blog, so didn’t feel justified in posting my experiences from France in my EA blog. Should I pay less attention to such self-imposed and flexible parameters? Maybe.

~What have you been doing since you left TZ/KE last summer?

Well, I worked as a waitress in Maine to earn a bit of cash before spending 7 months in Dunkerque, France. I worked there as an English language assistant in two public middle schools, studied for and took the MCAT, and worked to improve my French skills.

I lived in a rented house with three French guys who were all master’s students at the university there. After taking the MCAT, I had more free time and spent it working on my French skills, doing a mini-internship at the local bakery and pastry shop, going to some hip hop and house dance classes, and occasionally offering my American accent to a R&B/soul radio show that a good friend of mine produces each Wednesday night.

In early April, the traveling & wrap up began. I went to Holland for a long weekend to visit a friend I had met in Iceland back in 2007. We had a good time catching up on the past four years, driving from Zwolle to The Hague, then across the Deltawerken to Antwerp, Belgium. We tried raw herring with minced onions on the pier in The Hague and had a nice cup of tea at a hotel overlooking the sea… it was at this hotel that I overheard a few people speaking Swahili a few tables away! I imagine they were certain there was no one outside of their group who could understand their conversation, but au contraire! There was also a Zanzibar restaurant nearby, with vaguely African-inspired décor. We went for a really great run along some trails and ended running in the surf on the beach once the sun came out. I caused some laughs with my butchered attempts at pronouncing all of the Dutch road signs.

My Dad came to Europe (for the first time!) in mid-April after lugging a suitcase full of my Zanzibar-appropriate clothing. As usual, his suitcases were searched by security agents and met with raised eyebrows as he replied that he was indeed traveling alone and had packed the suitcases himself. We had a great time in Dunkerque and Paris, then spent nearly a week driving around Ireland, which was really fun. We did get a flat tire due to a rock that had fallen off its stone wall. Some helpful soul told us that our tire was “only flat on the bottom- yer okay!” Gee, thanks. It gave us a moment to observe the happenings at a very very very small village gas station/post office.

We checked out the town where the Harrington relatives used to live, a small fishing village in the southwestern corner of the island. It surprised me how willing people were to help us try and find out more information about our ancestors. After saying that our last name is Harrington, one woman replied “well, that’s not much help in these parts!” She also said that the 1840s “wasn’t so long ago” when we showed her the names and birth dates of my father’s relatives. Quite a different perspective. I couldn’t tell you anything about anyone who lived in Belfast, Maine in 1840. I enjoyed having the Irish accent fall on my eardrums, although at some points, neither my father nor I were completely sure of what the person was saying.

We flew back to Brussels after seeing two cousins in their World Championship Irish Dancing competition in Dublin, and promptly took advantage of the chocolate and waffles. It was great to spend time with the Dadster and visit some new places. Unfortunately, my Mom was too sick to come :-( Next time…

I then had a few short days to finish moving out of my house in Dunkerque and say goodbye to my friends there before I took a train to Paris en route to Le Havre and met up with three dear friends from Yale. We rented a car and drove around Normandy, the Champagne region, and Strasbourg in France before heading to Switzerland. We touched down in all 3 linguistic regions of Switzerland (German, French & Italian), and I even ran into some Zanzibari friends on the street when I was in Bern! Small small world.

We stayed at my friend’s parents’ condo in Locarno, Switzerland and did some great hikes in the hills and mountains there, always with a lovely view of Lago Maggiore. It was so nice to stay in a “well prepared nest” after having moved from hotel to hotel during the French portion of our trip. I flew from Milan, Italy to Zanzibar after spending a day in Bergamo, Italy. I’m slightly in love with Italy, especially after feeling persecuted every single time I had to buy something in Switzerland with their Swiss Francs… while the franc is weaker than the euro, the prices of things in Switzerland are so.incredibly.expensive. The Italian gelato was even more delicious because it was half the price of what was available just across the border in Switz. I loved the traveling I did in the month prior to landing in Zanzibar (and reconnecting with my Dad and Yale friends was just so so nice), but it was nice to arrive and not have to live out of a suitcase for a change!

~What are the things you’re glad to get reacquainted with in Zanzibar?

BALUNGI (pommelo), mkate wa ufuta (sesame bread), and passion fruit. Those mini finger-sized bananas are much appreciated as well. So is the oh-so-refreshing and swimmable Indian Ocean. I’m a fan of the scratch-off pre-paid cell phone vouchers (France used these ridiculous receipts where you had to actually call a number, listen to the menu choices, push way too many buttons, then not even be sure you correctly updated your account… although I only did this a few times before I got my monthly phone subscription, I have never met a person who enjoyed the process).

I do enjoy hearing the call to prayer 5 times each day, visiting the market and buying from the same people I saw every day last year, and generally be back at my old stomping grounds. It’s a bit strange not to have some of my friends here (The McDows! Flore! Allison & Lillian! Marielle!)

~What are the things you miss from France?

My bakery and all of its daily bread and pastry goodness

Fromage blanc with crème de marrons SO good.

My android phone & internet service without counting megabyte usage

Hearing & speaking French!! (especially with my friends from there)

Running on the digue & beach in Dunkerque

Overall, it feels good to be back, although it is a bit of a mind bend to realize that in the past month or so I’ve been in 8 different countries, finished with my time in Dunkerque, and am already back in Zanzibar. When did this all happen? I sound like an old fogey. I do miss being in Dk. As with most wrap-ups, the last few weeks (months, even) went by in a flash. So full of good talks with friends, nice jogs on the beach, and on a most basic level, appreciating the place I was living in at the time. I look forward to returning, and in the mean time, keeping in touch with the friends I gained there.

I’ll stop here for the sake of saying I’m “done” and will therefore actually publish this post. Plus, now I get to check off a box on my long “to-do” list, which always gives me a healthy level of satisfaction.

I’ll try to write again soon. Until then, hope all is well with you all!