highlights of this week:

- working in clinic.
- seeing babies and kids in clinic.
- making a 4-year-old with a big sore bump on his head go from crying and scared and hiding under the bed, to laughing and happy - merely by playing in silence with him – by waving toilet paper in the air.
- going out to katete town on thurs night! this place called ‘kings’ was rocking! zambian music is fantastic – great beats and hip hops, and even remixes (one memorable one of four season’s ‘oh what a night’).
- drunken zambian ladies... *shiver*... hoon remember the ‘whale’ from 1st year? yepp...
- drunken zambian lady whale telling me that she ‘likes’ me. i screamed. then big d (coolest irosh doc, 7 feet tall and feet the size of small eastern european countries) saved me by intervening. then she kept hanging on this arm. and his way of getting rid of her – doing the ‘yawning’ trick – i.e. lifting his arms up so high she couldn’t hold on any more.
- zambian prostitute saying ‘hey sexy, come over here!’ while i walked back from the toilet. *eek*
- zambian beer! mosi!
- zambian beer called ‘shake shake’ or ‘chibuku’ – an alcoholic beverage made from maize which comes in a 1L milk carton. tastes like absolute shite. something hoon would have recommended. great fun drinking it though!
- drunk zambian guys on the dance floor.
- drunk zambian guy who came towards me, took his shirt off, grabbed my hand, and tried to put it to his abdomen... *eeeeeeeeeek*
- how all the guys in our group got harassed soo much by women and men, and how the two european girls in our group didn’t get hassled at allll.
- drunk zambian guys telling you all about their life stories and then asking you to sponsor them and take them back to your home country with you.
- playing stupid card games involving sticking cards on your head, slapping each other, slapping oneself etc., all night.
- finally watching ‘kiss kiss bang bang’ – i *loved* it! hilarious!
- telling the pink panther joke to a whole bunch of people. and absolutely no-one, i mean no-one, laughing.
- hearing tracy say ‘darling’ this morning. perfect way to start the day. pity the connection died before i could reciprocate properly :(
- walking to the computer room in the magnificent sun with finlay quaye’s ‘your love gets sweeter every day’ playing on my earphones, and kids running after me laughing. perfection.
- moving in to my new house with the two irish docs donal (big d) and ronan, and the dutch med student mohammed.
- using the ‘bucket’. there’s no hot water and only a bathtub. so this is how we have a ‘bath’, or rather – a bucket: heat up a kettle. pour into bucket. heat up another kettle. pour in bucket. fill to top with the cold water. for extra luxury one can add another kettle, but by that time the first kettle water is cold, so it’s a lot of effort for not much gain. then – sit in bathtub with bucket between ur legs. then use small bowl to pour the bucket water over you.
- the twenty-or-so owls that live above our room.
- finding out that apparently ‘dhamma’ means ‘adultery’ in zambian. :-S
- my yellow shirt and pants! brilliance!
- chief’s festival yesterday! food, drink, lots and lots of people. great culture – dancing, performances, music... and great souvenirs.
- driving on african roads at 120km/hr in a beat up toyota corolla with the windows down, under the magnificent sun, with keith sweat playing loud.

back to saint augustine (male medical ward) tomorrow. i’m nervous. i hope it doesn’t turn out to be a demoralising disaster like last time...
hope everyone is well!