Well I promised some pictures, so here they are!
7:00 AM on July 12th I left for Washington Dulles Airport to catch my flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania with Ethiopian Airlines. Unfortunately this meant that I spent only 36 hours at home before leaving yet again. This summer has been very busy for me trying to fit in my 9 week research commitment and my 5 week EWH commitment. While I can fit both into my summer, it's my family that suffers the most from my absence. I miss them very much! I love my family and thank them for being so supportive!
My brother, Alex, is seeing me off after I checked my backpack and got my boarding passes. Every time I come home I swear my brother grows another few inches. He's 5 years younger than me but look how much taller he is!
Once in the air, I tried to concentrate on sleeping. However, I have never been able to easily sleep on airplanes. On the bright side, I was able to catch a beautiful sunrise while we were over Egypt.
After 13 hours and 30 minutes, my Boeing 777 landed at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I had a 4 hour layover here and it was utterly uneventful. I took this opportunity to continue reading A Feast for Crows. I meant this book to last me the entire month but I'm already a quarter way through it. Oops!
Once I boarded my connecting flight to Kilimanjaro, a Boeing 737, I only had 2.5 hours left in my journey. This flight was not the smoothest flight I've ever taken to say the least. The turbulence was very bad and there were far too many instances where I felt my stomach drop.
Despite that, I was lucky enough to have a window seat facing Mt. Kilimanjaro as we approached the airport. When I first saw Kilimanjaro in my window, the feeling was surreal. Seeing it was not only awe-inspiring but also meant that, at last, I was here.
Below is a great shot of Kilimanjaro I got out the window of my plane. At 19,341 feet (5,895 m), Mt. Kilimanjaro, also known as the "Roof of Africa", is Africa's tallest mountain (technically volcano). The main peak is Kibo while the second, smaller peak (that you can also see in the picture) is Mawenzi at 16,893 ft (5,149 m).
A view from my plane of the mountains. The farther mountain is Kilimanjaro while the closer one is Mt. Meru, Kilimanjaro's sister. Mt. Meru reaches 14,977 ft (4,565 m) and is Africa's 5th tallest mountain. Climbing Mt. Meru can be done in 3-4 days while you need to dedicate 7-9 days to climb Kilimanjaro. One day I'll climb them both.
Another view of the mountains. This one is my favorite shot because it captures Kilimanjaro's Kibo and Mawenzi peaks and Mt. Meru together.
Mt. Kilimanjaro is closer to the city Moshi while Mt. Meru is closer to Arusha. The hospitals that the EWH-Tanzania program works with are in one of these two cities. As I flew over Arusha towards Kilimanjaro airport, I had great view of Mt. Meru's peak.
I landed safely at 12:55 PM East Africa time. By that point I had been awake for 27 hours (if my math is correct). I was exhausted. In the airport, I got my Visa with no problem and thankfully found my backpack immediately on the luggage carousel. I was out of the airport in a matter of 20 minutes!
At the airport, I had a car waiting for me from MS-TCDC - MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation. MS-TCDC is an institution originally built by Danes in 1976 to prepare Danish volunteers to work in the East African region. Since then, it has broadened its scope to teaching the Kiswahili language, African culture, and social development courses for Tanzanians and foreigners alike. It's here at TCDC where the EWH students take Swahili Classes and a Medical Instrumentation Class during their first month of the program. For my first week in Tanzania I will be staying at a home-stay on the TCDC campus. Where I'll be after that still needs to be worked out!
So after this update, I am about ready to head off to bed! East African time is 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard and my poor jet-lagged self is still tired. Good night!
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