Monday, July 20, 2009

A whirlwind weekend

The past 3 days I have had approximately 12 hours of sleep. Why? You may ask. This is the craziest group of intellectual people and I am currently their fearless leader.

We had our goodbye dinner on Thursday and went to a club and danced to Michael Jackson (among others) until 3am. Friday and Saturday we had to give presentations at 8am but that didn't stop the group from reliving the dance party from the night before after the Friday night baseball game.

Have you ever been to a baseball game with someone who has no idea how to play? My new friends from South Africa, Tanzania, Peru, and China went to a Washington Nationals baseball game for the first time and I spent most the time explaining the purpose: to eat hot dogs and drink beer and not really worry what the heck a strike or ball was... it was very entertaining! Cubs won 3-1.

Saturday morning attendance was sparse since most presentations were completed but I was giving our group's presentation (on 3 hours of sleep). My group was awesome and we were well prepared to discuss our proposed CIRKS study (Circumcision in Rural Kenya in Serodiscordant Couples).

Some of the ladies, including myself, went for pedicures to celebrate our completion of two intensive weeks of NIH training. A final goodbye dinner on Saturday lead to more dancing until 3 am and when our Super Shuttle arrived at 3:45am this morning I had had approximately 45 minutes of sleep. The 5+ hour flight arrived at 9:45 Western time and we've been sightseeing all day. I am exhausted!


The famous Pike Street Market with street artists, flying fish, fresh fruit, and beautiful flowers for $5-$10 a bouquet.


The Space Needle. 520 feet tall built in 1962 for the World's Fair.


The view from the top of the Space Needle of Mount Rainier, also known as Tahoma (or mother of waters) to the Native Americans and is an active volcano that towers 14,411 ft. It was a beautiful July afternoon.

1 comment:

  1. KTP, sounds like you're having an amazing time! I can't wait to keep reading your updates :)

    ReplyDelete