Hectic doesn't begin to describe my week

Jodie set off for Nairobi on Monday morning. Fortunately, in case anyone worries about my productivity going down when the boss is gone, I think I can assuage those fears.

Monday was a Tanzanian holiday. I had planned to open the office and get some work done (I had been in there for a couple of hours on Sunday too), but when I woke up, I was feeling pretty lightheaded. I actually took it easy so that I would be up for everything on my to-do list this week. I still wasn't feeling up to doing much, but unfortunately, work beckoned. My colleagues Reuben and Philemon were hitting the road the following day and they needed me to help them with putting together some materials for their trip. Reuben and I drove to the office to grab some things and do a bunch of printing. Moving around was doing some good for me, but I still was going pretty slowly. I was on my way back to the house, but as we were driving the truck up the hill, there was a wide safari vehicle driving down the hill. The road is pretty narrow, so I had to slow down. Unfortunately, that causes the truck to stall out when it's on the hill. I had to let it roll back down to the bottom to start on a flat surface. Right at that moment, Philemon called me to say that he needed to get his wife to the hospital. I tried to start the car again, but no luck. Philemon called me two more times and I kept trying to get the car working. Finally, he ran down the hill to get it running and then he went off to the hospital. I made it home and just watched a movie at the neighbor's house. I felt a lot better, so I went over to Philemon's to make sure that his wife was all right. He told me "amepata bebi." She had a baby. I congratulated him on being a father. He seemed pretty thrilled about his new daughter. He already has a 4 year old son.

On Tuesday, Reuben and Philemon delayed their trip so that Philemon could make sure everything was all right with his wife and daughter. Still, he told me that he would be on the road the next day. I knew how excited he was about the trip. I started figuring out the schedule and logistics for the trip and made some phone calls to iron out the details. Then in the afternoon, I had to fight with Skype a bit to talk to some of the GCS team in the States, and then a micro-finance guy in Vancouver who is doing research on appropriate technology. Before long, I realized that it was almost 7, and I was staying behind at the office that night for an IDDS meeting (regular time is 6:30 PM EDT, but that's 1:30 AM in Tanzania).

I didn't have any food or any money, so I had to run to the affluent part of town to find a store that takes credit cards. Fortunately, I had the bike, but I couldn't find a helmet. I never realized that the path towards that supermarket is on a long, very subtle slope. All of a sudden, I was going much too fast (the brakes aren't great on the bike) and there was a speed bump in front of me that I couldn't see until I was right on top of it (they have street lights along the road, but for some mysterious reason, they seem to be there as decorations, rather than to turn on the lights and illuminate the road). I dragged my feet on the ground a bit to slow down and keep balance. I managed to stay on the bike, but my heart was definitely racing after that. I vowed to find a helmet whatever it took (my current one was borrowed by Philemon's son, and I'm not sure I'm pretty sure he has hidden his "new hat"). I found food and made my way back to the office. I had my skype meeting at 1:30, but I mustered less than 2 hours of sleep before the meeting (Reuben called me at 10:45 because he thought he might have left something at the office before the trip), so I was pretty tired and not very vocal, so at 3:30 I decided to get some sleep. Unfortunately, sleep took a little while to come that night.

The next morning (Wednesday), I was woken up at 7 as Philemon grabbed some more things from the office for their trip. I couldn't really get back to sleep after that, so I was worried that I would be working slowly during the day. In fact, I found myself really focused as I was developing our sales strategy for the south (we only found out the schedule on Friday of last week, and I had to delay a bit as I wrapped up some loose ends with some work in Arusha). Also, since I was the only other person in the office, I was putting extra effort into making sure that Glady (our secretary) had enough work to keep her busy during the day. Philemon called me from the road to say that his meetings were going well, and asked me to buy some springs in town and take them to our manufacturer. He didn't actually tell me what kind of springs, and it took me a while to find out where and what type I needed to find. By that time, we were trying to have a skype meeting about sales, but with attempts to coordinate people in Boston, Belgium, Kenya and Tanzania, we spent a lot of time only to learn that we couldn't get the connection to work. I decided to leave the springs for the next day, since it was already the end of the day. I hurried home and started packing up the house.

Our lease ends in mid May, and since Jodie and I are both on the road until then, we decided that it made sense to shift our things into Reuben's house since we probably wouldn't be extending the lease. I had planned to get a chunk of this done on Monday, but I needed to rest that day, which meant I was facing quite an uphill task. The pickup truck had broken down in town (not my doing), so all the moving had to be done on foot, and since the only neighbor around was Philemon's wife who had just given birth, I was pretty much on my own. Fortunately, the houses are only about a quarter mile apart and it's a gentle downhill slope towards Reuben's. Unfortunately, it was starting to rain, and I didn't want to get our wood furniture soaked as I carried it. I love the rain, but this was not great timing. I managed two runs and settled in to write some work emails while waiting for the rain to let up. It never did, so I finally crashed at midnight with an alarm set for 5 AM.

When I woke up, it was only drizzling, but the mud was definitely a force to be reckoned with. I managed 4 trips before 7:00, but the rain was picking up, so I decided I'd earned a 30 minute nap. It was really hard to get back up, but I still had a bunch more to do. I had to make another 4 trips before I had enough of the stuff out of the house to call it done. I left the neighbor with a list of what needed to be packed up and driven over once the truck was working again (fridge, gas cylinder, etc). By that time, it was 11, so in spite of feeling pretty sore, I hurried to work. I made sure that Glady had enough work to keep her busy, and grabbed the bike (with a helmet) and headed into town. I didn't know where every place that I needed to visit was, but I was having pretty good luck finding things as I went through town, and managed to avoid lines in general. Unfortunately, I got to the manufacturing facilities just after they'd gone to lunch. I waited for an hour for them to reopen so I could deliver the springs and pick up one of our frames that they had just finished a slight redesign of (the springs were for our first bulk order of those frames). The technician told me to come back at 4 to pick up the frame. I biked back to the office and grabbed a quick lunch and checked in with Glady and got a quick lunch in before biking back to the manufacturer again (it's probably about 3 or 4 miles each way). When I got there, the manufacturer showed me that the paint was still wet and suggested that I come back at 6. I didn't really have a whole lot of choice, since I needed to bring it on my trip and my bus was leaving at 6 AM the next morning. I biked back to the office and took care of salaries for all the workers. That also required a trip further out of town to take care of two of our day laborers. Then I had enough time to catch my breath before heading back to the manufacturer and picking up the frame. The paint was still a little wet (and my hands turned a nice rich blue), but I headed back to the office with my prize.

I was feeling pretty exhausted, but I knew that I still had some tasks to take care of before I could leave. I did some printing, fixed up some documents and then, I settled in to square up the books. I managed to get all of the accounting squared away, right in time for another IDDS meeting (we're really ramping up at this point). Fortunately, I had transcended exhaustion at this point, and I was feeling pretty active in the meeting. My mic wasn't working, but mercifully, the committee was patient with me, and I gave my input through typing instead. I was definitely happy with the amount that got done at the meeting, and my hearts went out to the sub-committee that stayed atter to meet until past midnight (their time). When 4:30 rolled around, I packed up and headed to the bus station. There was no public transport at that hour, so I knew I would need to walk, just in case. Mercifully, some security guards picked me up in their truck just as I approached the most dangerous part of town (still before sunrise) and brought me to the station. The bus showed up after about 20 minutes, and I threw my bag underneath and climbed on board. I was asleep before it took off (I hadn't slept since my 30 minute nap nearly 23 hours before).

After a bit over 3 hours, I woke up. The bus ride was fairly uneventful. I alternated between reading The Economist on my phone and taking naps. Unfortunately, my battery is pretty weak, so the battery died before the ride finished, and I felt a bit disconnected. I tried to stay hydrated on the ride, but managed to spill 2 of the 3 (extortionately priced) drinks that I bought on the trip. The middle third of the ride was near the coast, and the humidity was pretty miserable. Fortunately, after a mere 19 1/2 hours, the bus rolled in to its final destination in Mbeya. Unfortunately, the comfortable hotel near the bus stop was full, so I had to go to its neighbor, which is both less pleasant and more expensive. I crashed, but found myself with a migraine midway through the night, so that wasn't my most restful night. (Hey, when you're on a roll, you're on a roll.)

Yesterday was a fairly easy day. I had to take care of a bunch of small errands, but I did move to the cheaper more comfortable hotel and I made sure to get plenty of protein and a good night's sleep. Well, mostly a good night's sleep. I'll let you tune in tomorrow for that story.