Today was a really good day at the hospital! After me and laura had changed into our scrubs we were told to make the beds...we double gloved as its not unusual to find used needles and cannulas hidden between the sheets, the nurses also instructed us to only change the beds that 'needed' changing-this is a very strict criteria and the beds soiled in sick, blood food and general bodily fluids only qualified to be changed if they only had a few of the above we would just straighten up the sheets. After this we had to clean with rags alongside a few birds, cockroaches, crickets and grasshoppers who had decided to join us on the ward...

After the ward was 'clean' we went to the pharmacy to collect some drugs for the ward (the few that were in stock) and met the hospitals favorite psychiatric patient who showed me his elbow, stroked my hand and sang and danced micheal jackson for us which was nice...to be honest he didnt seem that ill or more crazy than the rest of the locals here and is probably just trying to escape living in a massi village by acting mad. One of our house mates louise saw him on her ward (not the ward he belongs to) yesterday and he climbed into one of the empty beds but the doctors and nurses just acted as if this was the norm.

Back on the ward one of the nurses noticed my pen torch and was amazed by it and kept asking me how much it was (i got it free from a ward back in england for neuro obs) and she made me promise that i would give it to her when she left. i did and now im her new best friend.

We then got chatting to one of the doctors and he told us that european women shouldnt marry african men and live in africa as it would be 'tourture' for the women and he doesnt understand why european women do this sometimes, we said that maybe they did it because it was very sunny here and didnt rain much and he agreed. He also insisted that me and laura were doctors even when one of the nurses insisted we weren't and i told him that the doctors in the UK definitely wouldnt ever say that. He was also amazed that healthcare in the UK was free and how easy it was for us to see a doctor or nurse when we needed to.

Iv just realised iv forgotten to tell you about the legend that is Emmanuel who is employed by work the world to walk us up and down the steep muddy hill to our house whenever we go or come back from anywhere and make sure we cross the road at the bottom safley. He also flags down dala-dalas for us when we need them and somehow is always waiting there at the bottom when we return from anywhere to walk us back up. He calls the hill his 'office' and dresses in a massi man outfit. He has a really high pitched voice like micheal jackson and says he would love to go to england one day. Just thought i would share that with you.

I turn twenty tomorrow! Laura wouldn't let me forget this today as she was singing 'your not nineteen forever' at me throughout the ward round. Tomorrow after the hospital we are having a house BBQ and then heading to Via Via (the local club) for a night called 'the sound of the seringeti' so i should have quite a bit to write after that...

Oooo and we've also booked our 3 day camping safari for next weekend.Very exciting!!! Better go now as we have another swahili lesson to get to.

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