Dirty, Different, Spicy, and Green

Heidi and I headed up to OHSU yesterday to meet with Robin, one of the chief residents of internal medicine. Robin had traveled to Gondar almost two years ago to work at the hospital, and Heidi and I wanted to sit down with her to try to get a sense of what to expect.

She was very enthusiastic, animated, and generous with her time. It was truly a joy to experience a kind of 'real-world trailer' to the adventure upon which we are about to embark through Robin's memories and impressions!

She was also cool with me taking my first video for the blog... and for that I will always be grateful. Cheers to you, Robin! I hope to buy you at least a yard of beer when we get back...

At Robin's suggestion, we rounded out the evening perfectly with a traditional Ethiopian meal at 'Bete-Luka's' on 50th and Division to prime ourselves for the culinary dimension of our journey... a graceful shift from your traditional fare, both in flavor and technique. 

No silverware... One large plate... and a beautiful pinwheel palette of colorful dishes that you scoop with your right hand in pieces of bread called 'Injera', and deliver to your eager taste buds with glee and enthusiasm. The flavors are classic and new at the same time... onions, garlic, ginger, and chiles dancing together in bold rhythm! This cuisine is already a new love.

Thanks so much to Peter, the owner... Your warmth and kindness were received with equal satisfaction to your wonderful food!

Why?

Why Establish an Online Journal?

The loving encouragement of my friends and family led me to establish this online journal before traveling to Africa. My girlfriend, Heidi, is a third-year resident of internal medicine at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland. In finishing out her residency this year, she is afforded the wonderful opportunity to participate in an elective rotation, and accordingly, we decided to travel to Ethiopia. 

We will be travelling for a total of six weeks. After a week of trekking in the Simien Mountains, our trip will be anchored on a three-week period working in Gondar, a city of around 200,000 people in the north of Ethiopia. Heidi will be working at Gondar's teaching hospital, while I will be volunteering in the town. Heidi's mother, Joan, will then join us for a trip to Kenya and a safari in the Masai Mara with an outfit called Basecamp Explorer before returning to our home in Portland. 

An adventure of this scope seemed to deserve more than simply posting facebook updates along the way, and perhaps a slide show for friends upon our return. I am grateful for the gentle nudging I've received from friends and family to establish this online journal before departing. My hope is that in establishing this simple structure, the content will naturally flow into it as we travel... Hence, a journal with a 'Moving Title'. 

Inoculated

I just received my shots for yellow fever and hepatitis 'A' at a clinic in Portland. It seems like such an innocuous and inconsequential chore to a westerner like me nested in the modern medical system. But what a powerful notion... these small needles, mingling their noble scientific elixirs with my body, are like liquid space suits! It makes me wonder, "How do Ethiopians avoid getting yellow fever?" There in lies the question of what divides civilizations, I suppose.

I only hope that the protections I'm afforded (starting with these inoculations and undoubtedly extending to other dimensions of my westernized and privileged self) don't protect me so much that nothing sincere gets in. I certainly don't want yellow fever, but I want to be honestly touched by Africa. Not just by its beauty and charm either... but by all of the genuine things that make it real.