Although it's been scorching hot with high humidity, we really haven't suffered much. Our hotel accomodations are on constant AC and we find ourselves needing long sleeved shirts and a blanket at night. My walk to work is about 15 minutes. Just long enough to feel it but not quite long enough to build up a sweat. And it has cooled down some since our arrival. Yesterday, we got caught in a downpour thunderstorm.
My office overlooks the Kennedy Center. The people at MED have all been really nice. I have had meetings with different areas of the department such as overseas medivacs, medical records, computer training specific to patient care, as well as a meeting with the medical director, his assistant, and the department of psychology. We also had our immunizations started. Ouch! I took my valium to prevent my vasovagal swan dive off the table and don't remember most of the conversation we/I had with the nurse. All I remember is her name was Porche and she could have been a car for all I know. But at least I didn't pass out.
In addition to work, we have eaten out at some really good restaurants, shopped at bookstores, and went to a huge mall where we bought shoes and some clothes in preparation for Africa. We aslso walked to the mall to see the monuments and Dina took the kids to the Natural History Museum one day after visiting me at work where we had lunch together.
I was trying to coordinate their arrival and called the hotel. I asked for room "nine-thirteen."
The voice on the line sounded destinctly foreign. "There is no such room number here sir!"
"But that's the room my family is in!" I replied.
"I've been working here for over 10 years and I can assure you, there is no such room as nine-thirteen sir. How do you spell your last name?"
I spelled him my name and he said, "It's room nine-one-three for future reference sir! I will connect you." :—)
We are considering buying a car (not a Porche, my arm hurts everytime I see one). There are primarily Toyota and Nissans in Niger. We visited a large reputable new/used car dealership on line and sort of fell for a Nissan Xterra. This week we'll look into a car loan as well as diplomatic visas and passports.