Ouch!!!

One of the daunting tasks involved in traveling out of the country is the research. Once you start to do some research, you find all sorts of things that you need to do before you leave. Besides learning Swahili, I had to get some immunizations or shots to keep me healthy while I am away from home.

Sometimes countries require certain immunizations in order to enter the country and Tanzania is no exception. Yellow Fever is the one that I have to show proof of having, but like I said once you do some research, you find all kinds of other things to do. In my case, after visiting my doctor and the health department it was determined that I had to seek out a travel clinic. This place was great though, and if anyone is ever in need of any kind of travel medical info, find one in your area. They put together a folder of information about all of the possible diseases that I may encounter (really great bedtime reading! :oP ) and spent lots of time talking about all of the important things that I need to do to stay alive.

After a lovely conversation, three prescriptions, and 6 shots (three in each arm), I walked out to the desk to find the nurse distressed and hunched over her calculator. "This can't be right she mumbled. Did the doctor go over pricing with you?" I told her that I knew the damage, but she kept trying to make the amount go down. It ended up being.......drum roll please........$736!! And no, insurance doesn't cover things like this.

So now I have two very sore arms, but side effects have been minimal no organ failure here.

This week I am at the ASCD conference in town gaining all sorts of great information about helping Thacker go global!

My next big task to come, since I know you are all so excited about this, is making my appointment for my visa on July 1st. I have to go into New York City, so I am sure I will run into all sorts of things to write about. Stay tuned.......

Wild Goose Chase

The school year is officially over, so that means I am that much closer to my departure date. This also means I have about a million things to do before I leave. Luckily, Cheryl found me a great flight out of JFK with only one stop in Dubai. Yay hooray for Cheryl! It looks like this set of flights will be longer than traveling to Australia.

On to the wild goose chase. Today was the day for me to figure out how I was going to get the long list of vaccinations that I needed to enter Tanzania. I first tried my doctor, but to no avail. Because all of the things I need are not normal I needed to go to the health department. So that's where I went today, and boy was it crowded. Sadly, they were only able to tackle 2 of the shots I needed, so they gave me a shady looking scrap of paper with just a phone number on it saying it was the number for a travel clinic. I then called the shady number and left a message hoping for a reply. While waiting for the phone call back, I went to the bank to tell them that I would be leaving the country and to please let me use my debit card while I'm away. (I had an incident in Greece a few years back) After a strange look from my teller about where I would be going, I was on my way again.

A few hours later, it was determined that they were able to inflict all necessary pain that I would need for my adventure, but that it would cost me several hundred dollars. Awesome, I really wanted to pay more money for this trip. Oh well, it's all about the experience and part of the experience is all the stuff you have to handle before you go.

Flight Booking Fun

Today's task was to work on finding a flight that wasn't going to cost me a rediculous amount of money but also enable me to have a somewhat comfortable flight without sharing my seat with chickens. I think I have found one on Emirates Airlines which has a great reputation according to some people I know, and my flight attendant will not be a goat. I will only have to change planes once...victory. The ride home will be another story. It is looking like a 9 hour lay over in JFK before I can get back to Orlando booo!

My next big task is to start learning Swahili. So far I am doing great. I know hijambo, jambo, simba, asante sana, bia, and that's about it for now. I am doing great though because I have ordered a book, and my CCS coordinator has sent me a booklet of lessons and some flash cards for me to practice. Too bad Rosetta Stone doesn't have Swahili as one of their language options. I would be all over that.

Only 3 days left in the school year now, so I am that much closer to my African adventure!

She's going where?

Tanzania, that's right, I'm serious. I will be traveling to Bagamoyo, Tanzania with Cross Cultural Solutions on July 9th for 4 weeks! I have no idea what I will be doing while I'm there, but it is sure to be an adventure. Already I have found out that I should be aware of my hovercraft being full of eels. Yikes!

Here's some logistical information for all of you. Bagamoyo is located on the coast of Tanzania and about 70Km north of Dar es Salaam which is the capital city. I will also be a boat ride away from Zanzibar which was the original Spice Island. Check out the map below.  Kwaheri!


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