Week 1: Dermatology

I started my first week of clinics on Dermatology, which is known mostly for it's super relaxed hours--on the first day, I worked 12:30 to 3 pm. The rest of the week picked up a little bit, and I took my first case on Tuesday morning. Both of my cases this week were dogs that were itchy and red, and we tentatively diagnosed either food allergies or atopy (environmental allergies) for both of them. It was interesting to see the difference in the approach for clients who have different outlooks on their dogs' care, and for dogs at different stages in their lives.

The main challenge so far starting out has been figuring out logistical things, like where blood draw equipment is, how to request drugs in UVIS, and what my role is exactly during appointments and rounds. It's also a little intimidating talking to clients, who are relying on you for almost all the information they'll get.

In Ithaca news, it's been snowing just a little bit nearly every day since I got back, so I wake up to a nice dusting on my car each morning. At least it keeps the snow looking fresh and not dirty, which makes Ithaca a much more beautiful place.

Aaaand, I'm back!

At the request of my dad, I'm starting up the blog again! After finishing up coursework for my third year, and then taking a nice long vacation, I'm finally starting my clinical rotations. I started on clinics a few days ago, meaning I'm working in the vet hospital at Cornell seeing patients, and I'll be there (mostly) until I graduate in May, 2012.

I'll try to post every week or so, and for the sake of client-patient confidentiality I'll change names and pertinent details so no one can be identified...hopefully I can still give you an idea of what life is like as a vet student at Cornell!

Zanzibar to New York (Monday - Tuesday, August 10-11)

We had to wake up early to pack this morning, and start our multi-part journey back to the US. A small propeller plane took us from the Zanzibar Airport back to the Dar airport pretty quickly.

Outside the Zanzibar Airport

Once in Dar, we had lots of time to kill before our flight to Dubai, and we said goodbye to a lot of the Envirovets who weren't continuing on to Dubai with us.

Me and Helen in the Dar Airport, feeling homeless and sad, and working on our crafting skills so we can learn how to live on the streets

The five hour flight to Dubai wasn't too bad, but getting on the thirteen hour flight from there to New York at around 1 am was pretty tough. I slept for a little while, and killed time watching terrible movies (Twilight, He's Just Not That Into You, and Confessions of a Shopaholic) and knitting.

We finally made it to JFK in New York, and said our final goodbyes. My dad was waiting at the airport to pick me up, bringing my journey--and Envirovet 2009--to an end.

Me and Val, the true Father of Envirovet

Last Day on Zanzibar (Sunday, August 9)

Today we got up early for our morning of snorkeling on reefs in the Indian Ocean off of Changu Island, which is a tiny uninhabited island off the west coast of Zanzibar.

The type of boats we took to our snorkeling site - I was in the orange topped one in the water

We collected a motley assortment of masks and flippers from a snorkeling shop and loaded onto small motorboats in the port. After about an hour on the boat, we reached the coral reef off of Changu Island.

Zanzibar style sailboat we saw on the way to snorkeling

Changu Island, where we went snorkeling

We hopped right in the water--which was a bit chilly at first but not bad once you got used to it--and went off looking at the huge assortment of corals and other invertebrates, and tropical fish. After a few minutes in the water, I noticed I was feeling really itchy all over my body. I ignored it, but a few minutes later it was definitely getting worse. I took a break to clean the condensation off my mask, and when I looked back in the water through the now-clear plastic, all I saw all around me was swarms of tiny jellyfish. Everyone else was starting to notice them too now, and we all swam back to our boats and clambered back in to find a better, more jelly-free, spot to snorkel.

We motored around to the other side of the island, and got back in the water. There were still a few jellies in the water, but they were tolerable especially considering how beautiful the coral reefs were. I've never snorkeled at a reef before, and it was amazing. We saw a spiny poisonous lionfish, and lots of huge blue starfish, in addition to tons of colorful corals and tropical fish. Too soon, we loaded back on the boats for our ride back to Stonetown. Helen and I spent the trip lying out in the sun on the front of the boat, taking a rare opportunity to tan our stomachs!

In the afternoon we drove south along the west coast to Bweleo village to visit a women's cooperative that raised and sold pearls and pearl jewelry. They talked to us about the farming process and the business practices they've learned, and had samples of their jewelry for us to buy.

Leader of the women's pearl cooperative, showing off her jewelry

Boy diving into the water in Stonetown Port at sunset

Since it was our last night, we had a special fancy dinner on the beach, complete with a huge and delicious seafood meal, and even dessert!

Stephen, Helen, Vanessa, Mike and I at the last night dinner

Afterwards, we went to a discotheque on the island. Being a Sunday night, there weren't too many people there, but we had fun dancing and drinking Kunyagi and Bitter Lemon cocktails. Back at the hotel, we hung out for a little while before turning in, much later than we should have with our early wake up time for the next day.

Dancing at the disco

Zanzibar (Saturday, August 8)

This morning we drove out to Paje village on the east coast of Zanzibar to visit the seaweed farms that are run by the women of the village. The village has a few tourist hotels that are really nice and perfect for the tropical setting.

Paje by Night, one of the hotels and restaurants in Paje

The ocean was like nothing I'd ever seen before. The tidal flats extended as far as the eye could see, just a few inches of water over white sand, and boats tethered there looking like they'd never make it out to sea.

Me in the Indian Ocean

Flower, from IMS, introduced us to one of the women planting seaweed. About half way through Flower's talk, it started pouring and we all huddled up until the shower passed.

We were this far from shore and the water was still only a few inches deep

The local woman showed us her technique for tying the seaweed onto lines that she tethers between stakes in about a foot of water. In about three weeks, she'll come back and collect the mature seaweed and sell it to international companies that extract the carrageenan for use as a thickener in everything from toothpaste to ice cream to shoe polish to pharmaceuticals. They also collect some for making seaweed soap and other cosmetics that they sell locally in markets and at the Paje hotels. I bought some to bring back as souvenirs for my housemates. Tanzanians don't really eat the seaweed, but we suggested that they start serving it as salads in the Paje tourist restaurants, since it actually tastes pretty good.

Flower demonstrating seaweed tied on lines

We ate lunch in one of the hotel restaurants in Paje, and they served us a specially made seaweed salad from their seaweed farms. After lunch we got back in the vans and drove back towards the middle of the island to Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park and Forest. Here we walked around through the tropical forest, mangrove forest, and through groups of habituated endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus monkeys.

Endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus monkeys, found only on Zanzibar

In the mangroves we actually got to walk off the raised platform and into the mangroves, over their raised roots and low-hanging branches.

Mangroves in Jozani-Chwaka National Park

Stephen, Mike, Helen, and I climbing on the mangroves

Back in Stonetown, we had dinner at Mercury's Restaurant, named for Freddie Mercury of Queen fame, who was actually born on Zanzibar.

Mercury's Restaurant, from the beach side

We went back to the Africa House after dinner to hang out and relax before bed.

Lounging at the Africa House hookah bar
(from L to R: Dee, Stephen, Fidy, Me, Mike, Reti, Vanessa, Boris, Jenny)

Zanzibar (Friday, August 7)

We had lectures at the Institute of Marine Sciences, part of University of Dar es Salaam, this morning, about the coastal ecosystems here in Stonetown, and the environmental problems they're facing. We did an exercise with Jonna to quickly develop project ideas tackling marine environmental issues, like the pumping of raw sewage directly into the ocean at the port in Stonetown. We also talked about the tragedy of the commons and the state of marine fisheries with John Erickson, Pat's husband and an environmental economist at UVM.

Old buildings along the road from IMS to our hotel

We got the afternoon off to explore Stonetown a bit more, which was really nice. Helen, Reti, Vannessa and I went off to the market in the Old Fort for jewelry, paintings, and scarves, and then wandered around the historic district, browsing the shops and bargaining for souvenirs.

Market inside the Old Fort

Kids diving off embankment into the water near the port

We met the group for dinner at Archipelago, where I got a delicious Zanzibar curried fish dish. A bunch of us were still up for hanging out after dinner, so we went to the Africa House Hotel, one of the few places that serves alcohol in mostly Muslim Stonetown. It was a beautiful old building--a remnant from colonial days no doubt--and had a hookah bar and great patio. We had a drink and lounged on the pillows, feeling very decadent after the surroundings we'd been in for the past couple weeks.

The Africa House hookah bar

Sokoine to Zanzibar (Thursday, August 6)

We packed up and left SUA first thing today, and drove to Dar. The trip was supposed to be about three hours, but with traffic ended up almost four, so we were a bit late getting to the Landmark Hotel for our lunch and lecture break. I had planned to meet up with my friend Cathy, who's here in Tanzania working on her Ph.D. on water issues in Saadani National Park, through the University of Rhode Island. She was really interested to meet Meing'Ataki, since Ruaha has been having similar water problems to Saadani, so she could compare the two. Although it was a hectic lunch, it was really nice to see her, and she met Meing'Ataki and Deanna and Liz, so I think it will be helpful for her research.

We left Dar in a hurry to get to the airport--or more realistically to sit in traffic on the road leading to the airport. But we made our flight on time, and the super short twenty minute plane flight made all the airport preparations--packing, weighing baggage, security, x-rays, the patting-down I received--seem somewhat pointless. Upon landing at the Zanzibar airport, we discovered that our luggage been loaded on to the plane in Dar, and then promptly removed from the plane, still in Dar, because the plane was overweight. So while we were in Zanzibar, our bags were still in Dar. Making the best of it, we loaded into buses to head to our hotel, happy that we had a little less to carry for the time being.

Our plane to Zanzibar

We're staying at the Abuso Inn in Stonetown for the four nights we're here--and sadly, the last four nights of Envirovet. The hotel is beautiful, and positively luxurious especially compared to the SUA dorms we came from. We have our own bathrooms with sit-down toilets, toilet paper, and showers with hot water, and the rooms are all really nice and historical, and look out over the Indian Ocean.

The inside of our room in the Abuso Inn

We had some down time before dinner, so a big group of us went out walking around Stonetown, exploring some markets, the Old Fort, and Forodhani Park on the water. The feel of Stonetown is really different from any of the places we've been in mainland Tanzania. Both the colonial and tourist influences are much stronger here. Most of the architecture in the historical district where we're staying is very reminiscent of European cities, and there are huge old buildings left from the days when Zanzibar was a slave trade island.

Nighttime food market in Forodhani Park

We met up again for dinner, and happily Liz and Deanna had figured out the luggage situation and our bags were all safe and sound in the hotel, with nothing even stolen from them. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and got to bed early in comfy, clean, and cozy beds.

Sunset in Stonetown over the Indian Ocean