After a low-key New Year's eve involving watching Rockin' New Year's Eve (I don't know why I continue to watch that show, which is more annoying than entertaining) my best friend J and I were awake early this morning. We decided to venture out into the post-storm snowiness outside, accompanied by temperatures of 15 degrees Fahrenheit, but with wind chills of -1. As my face is finally thawing, I am thinking, what a perfect time to visit Zambia. I just checked Accuweather and when I arrive in 2 days it's expected to have a high of 80 with a heat index close to 90. Yeah for escaping Boston for the month of January!
Right, so I probably should tell you a little more about our upcoming trip. As part of the B-school experience at MIT Sloan, we have the option to take a class entitled Global-Lab Global Health Delivery where we travel to developing countries to help a company in need. We are working with a company with a focus on HIV/AIDS research and are very excited to meet our client after several discussions over Skype. The rest of my team includes Ron, an Aussie with a background in telecom and a runner extraordinaire. He has promised me that he will wake me up early each morning to go running in Africa, I'm not sure if I should be happy or hate him just a little bit. Our next teammate is Fernando, who is from Argentina and a veterinarian by training. He has promised to dazzle us with his cooking abilities (yeah, a designated chef!). And finally there's Beth, our finance guru from Ohio who has decided to bravely bike through Tanzania while we are all enjoying our safari. Isn't she courageous? Unfortunately we are traveling from different cities so I will have to entertain myself on the nearly 2 day voyage to Lusaka.
As I started my packing yesterday, I thought to myself, "do I really need those water purification tablets?" Luckily, J was looking out for me (and the whole team) and stopped by her local outdoors store to pick some up for me. "I definitely don't want you dying in Zambia, either by drinking the water, or getting eaten by a lion." Thanks J! (By the way, I have promised J to be careful while on safari, and not get too close to any hungry-looking lions)
I have somehow managed to fit all of my clothes for my month-long adventure in a modest carry-on luggage (we'll see if KLM considers it a carry-on). Not sure how long that 3 oz container of shampoo will last but thank goodness for those strip malls in Lusaka that everyone tells us about!
Well I'm signing off for now, hope to write more when I arrive in a few days and meet up with the rest of the team.
Happy New Year!
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