TravelStream™ news feed for member tschwantz on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tschwantz en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:56:22 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/10/1207160220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/10/1207160220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/10/1207160220/tpod.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:56:22 -0400 Maple syrup...mmm.

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Maple Grove, Minnesota, United States

Kitt and her girls Abby and Brenna picked me up in the morning and we set out ready and willing to learn about maple syrup, enjoy the warmth of the sun that was melting the snow and shining in our faces and eating pancakes with (you guessed it) REAL maple syrup! Getting there was an adventure as it took us WAY longer than it should have to get there but thanks to Kitt's organized ways we had just enough time to spare. We entered the preserve and parked at the Eastman Nature Center where we saw other adults and children running to the door, excited for the maple syrup experience. We started by letting the children romp through a maze of taxidermy and terrariums shouting about snakes, turtles, bugs and various stuffed...er, ah...stuff and then headed into a room for our lesson in trees and sap. The kids were totally into it and I must admit, so was I. I found myself wanting to holler out the answers to the questions I knew but kept my composure due to the fact that this was not a program intended for adults. What can I say? I was a stellar girl scout. We then moved on to the grove of Maples that stood outside the nature center. We saw shiny silver buckets hanging from many trees and carrying our own sap buckets we were ready to unleash the sap collecting wrath. The buzz of tiny boots in the snow was great mixed with shouts from the kids about who had found the fullest cans of watery maple goodness. We were encouraged by the nature preserve staff to taste every tree (and we did) and I was surprised to find the sap wasn't sticky at all but just like water with a hint of sweetness. Abby was proud to carry her bucket full of sap but Brenna was more interested in the witche's brew of syrup that was being cooked over a massive fire. After we'd emptied our buckets it was over to the fire to see how the sap was converted into syrup. The sap is cooked for many hours over a large fire until it's the consistency of syrup. The syrup is then strained and placed into containers or cans where it is ready for use or stored for later consumption. Mmmm, pancakes. The tour/class included a large pancake brunch that was the biggest hit of the day. We covered ourselves in sticky mapleness eating cakes and having big glasses of milk...and no clean up! It was a great day and thanks to Kitt and the girls for making me a part of it!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/9/1203354120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/9/1203354120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/9/1203354120/tpod.html Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:31:16 -0500 Dar Es Salaam...Celebretyville

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Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Must get going for my flight but wanted to put something on for today. Breathing my last breaths of beautiful, balmy ocean air before bidding Tanzania farewell and will miss the fabulously kind, hospitable and patient (their tolerance to my inadequat Swahili has been amazing) people who have been so good to me. Hangin' out in the airport Internet place and you'd think there would be a lot of tourists here but there's not. I think I just helped the guy running the place choose an Internet girlfriend. I happened to be doing a little cyber spying from next cubicle and before you know it all his friends were gathered round and it was an all out My Space fest. Hysterical. Anyway, I've spent most of the day here at the airport because I was told (by more people than you could shake a stick at) that it's not safe for me to wander the streets of Dar alone. I know, mom, you told me that before I left and you don't need to tell me "I told you so". So, the title of this blog is: Celebrityville and here's why. Our very own George Bush is here in Dar Es Salaam evidently giving a bunch of money for poverty, AIDS/HIV campaign and Malaria relief. There are American flags everywhere and huge billboards with Pres. Bush's face on them. I even saw a woman walking down the street yesterday wearing a dress with George Bush's face screen printed on the fabric! I've spent most of my day being Tara Schwantz: American journalist, asking the locals what they make of our President's visit. Surprisingly, most people I talked today (and all week) are in a tizzy excited about his presence here. Just about an hour ago I had one guy say he was glad Bush was here but the Muslim's weren't so thrilled about his visit (hmmm...). Generally speaking, I think they are grateful for any assistance they can get at the moment and hope that any promises made on this journey will be kept. One celeb down... Number two: On the plane coming home from Zanzibar when I spotted none other than Ann Curry from the Today Show on our flight. Pondering what I should say I finally came up with "you must be exhausted". Afterthought: you idiot! "you must be exhausted"? Really? She probably thought I was trying to tell her she looked like crap and maybe she should have thought about bringing her make up crew along for the ride. Jeez. There's my brush with someone famous.

Will see you all very soon! Hugs.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/8/1202798160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/8/1202798160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/8/1202798160/tpod.html Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:56:13 -0500 Zanzibar Archipelago

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Zanzibar Town, Tanzania

In Zanzibar where the weather is balmy, beautiful and warm (sorry, ya'll, I don't miss the subzero temps). Palm trees and the Indian Ocean are right on my doorstep today and I am looking forward to a bit of a holiday. There's a big Indian influence here so last night's dinner was heavy on the Masala. My travel mate just spent 5 months in the south of India working and she says the food we had last night was every bit as good as she had in India. YUM. We will spend today gettling lost here (it's my favorite thing to do in a new place) and hope to find a good plenty of surprises. I think I'll also try and shop for more appropriate attire. The island is predominantly Muslim and many of the women are fully covered. I haven't been called a hussy yet today (sporting a tank top) but I'm not taking any chances. Tomorrow afternoon we head off to the east coast of the island for the beach for three days in the town of Paje. xoxo
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/7/1202464620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/7/1202464620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/7/1202464620/tpod.html Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:19:21 -0500 OOOooohhh, two days in a row.

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Iringa, Tanzania

I think everyone that travels probably has this experience but bear with me. I travel to experience another place...preferably one extremely different than my own comfortable backyard. I also travel hoping to learn everything I possibly can about a new culture, new food, new people and practices and hope that these things permeate my thick skull. However, I always find myself missing home and wishing I had one comfort from my familiar zone. This trip it happens to be ICE CREAM. Of course, I miss you all and love you very much but at the moment there's little I wouldn't give for the Grande Ole Creamery (mmm...coffee break). So, I've thought up a small list of things I'll miss about Ilula, what I won't miss about Ilula and the things I look forward to getting back to.
Things I'll miss about Ilula:
1. the mountains
2. the sound of cowbells and school children in the morning while I'm having my tea
3. the sound of the rain and frogs that sing me to sleep at night
4. the women at the vegetable market who laugh at my Swahili
5. the nurses at the hospital who laugh at my Swahili
6. cooking over a charcoal stove


Things I won't miss about Ilula:
1. cold showers
2. rice and beans
3. mosquitoes
4. very large creepy-crawly things


Things I look forward to getting back to:
1. ice cream
2. chico
3. my own bed and down pillows
4. my family and friends
5. my washing machine and clean clothes
6. and many other things...

I hope to be able to write again from Dar Es Salaam or Zanzibar but if I don't I'll see you all soon!

xoxo

Tara
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/6/1202369640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/6/1202369640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/6/1202369640/tpod.html Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:40:49 -0500 Some pics for you...

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Iringa, Tanzania

Not much to say but hopefully I've figured this computer thing out to give you a sneak peak at some of the photos I've taken here. I've had a week full of meetings and more hospital experiences not a lot unlike previously written. We've been dealing with many administrative difficulties in the last week and a half but I'm happy to say we've had many healthy babies this week. It's refreshing to have healthy ones after the first week. I needed that!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/5/1201607221/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/5/1201607221/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/5/1201607221/tpod.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:37:39 -0500 Back to work

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Iringa, Tanzania

Howdy. Just back from Ruaha National Park where we had a day of safari. Quite the change from Ilula and meals of rice and beans everyday (effective diet plan). We had three game drives and saw giraffe, lions, elephants, jackals, zebras...The accommodations were perfect complete with a view of the river where three giraffe were feeding on the trees across from our banda yesterday when I was resting in my hammock! I was definitely pinching myself and had a lovely time with the group. I'll be going back to Ilula tonight and heading right back to work for morning rounds at the hospital tomorrow morning. I imagine they've been busy without 12 extra bodies to help. The rest of the group leaves tomorrow and I'll be staying on in Ilula until about the 11th (I think). I'll be staying on with two doctors from Australia and a med student from Utah to conduct HIV classes in the village. I'll also continue to work with the midwives on the maternity unit and assist with any surgeries or minor procedures. I apologize for the lack of photos but the technology here doesn't allow me to download any photos...ooh, the suspense! I'll try to describe the conditions the best I can. I'm not even sure where to start. Women are having their babies on dirty tables and being transferred into a room with eight other mothers. There are no screens on the windows so there are flies everywhere. The mosquito nets have holes in them. There's no cafeteria and families are expected to cook for their sons, daughters, spouses etc. There is a common cooking area in the center of the hospital campus that has no seating, small concrete charcoal stoves and dirty water supply. I've cooked on similar stoves while I've been here and it takes hours just to prepare one meal. If a family cannot afford the treatment he or she has been given they are required to stay in the hospital until they can come up with the money, meanwhile occupying a bed that could be used for someone else. The first day I was at the hospital we met a woman who had had her baby at home and unfortunately the baby died. She needed medical attention she could only get at the hospital and was required to stay in the maternity unit for a month and a half with the other mothers and babies because she couldn't pay her bill. I found myself imagining losing a baby and then having to live with other mothers who had babies who were alive for a month. My heart hurts just being here.

I think that's all I'll write about that for now. I'm grateful for all I have and am gaining a new appreciation for many things. I am having a bit of fun here! The people I've met have been incredibly hospitable and I'm having a lot of fun with my medical cohorts playing childish card games in the evenings and going for walks in the village. I think the funniest thing so far are all the children on the street pointing at us and yelling WAZUNGU! This is the Swahili word for white people and the children are mesmerized by my skin and hair and want to touch it. I love seeing the beautiful smiles of people we meet on the roads and think they are some of the most gorgeous smiles I've ever seen with the drastic contrast between the dark skin and white teeth. We are also made fun of by locals when we are trying out our newly learned Swahili words and greetings. There's also a tribal dialect here so I get confused easily when I'm trying to speak! I wish I could talk to all of you on the phone to share more stuff but my time is running out here on the computer. I miss you all and hope you are all staying warm! Love from Tanzania!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/5/1201607220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/5/1201607220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/5/1201607220/tpod.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:34:12 -0500 Back to work

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Iringa, Tanzania

Howdy. Just back from Ruaha National Park where we had a day of safari. Quite the change from Ilula and meals of rice and beans everyday (effective diet plan). We had three game drives and saw giraffe, lions, elephants, jackals, zebras...The accommodations were perfect complete with a view of the river where three giraffe were feeding on the trees across from our banda yesterday when I was resting in my hammock! I was definitely pinching myself and had a lovely time with the group. I'll be going back to Ilula tonight and heading right back to work for morning rounds at the hospital tomorrow morning. I imagine they've been busy without 12 extra bodies to help. The rest of the group leaves tomorrow and I'll be staying on in Ilula until about the 11th (I think). I'll be staying on with two doctors from Australia and a med student from Utah to conduct HIV classes in the village. I'll also continue to work with the midwives on the maternity unit and assist with any surgeries or minor procedures. I apologize for the lack of photos but the technology here doesn't allow me to download any photos...ooh, the suspense! I'll try to describe the conditions the best I can. I'm not even sure where to start. Women are having their babies on dirty tables and being transferred into a room with eight other mothers. There are no screens on the windows so there are flies everywhere. The mosquito nets have holes in them. There's no cafeteria and families are expected to cook for their sons, daughters, spouses etc. There is a common cooking area in the center of the hospital campus that has no seating, small concrete charcoal stoves and dirty water supply. I've cooked on similar stoves while I've been here and it takes hours just to prepare one meal. If a family cannot afford the treatment he or she has been given they are required to stay in the hospital until they can come up with the money, meanwhile occupying a bed that could be used for someone else. The first day I was at the hospital we met a woman who had had her baby at home and unfortunately the baby died. She needed medical attention she could only get at the hospital and was required to stay in the maternity unit for a month and a half with the other mothers and babies because she couldn't pay her bill. I found myself imagining losing a baby and then having to live with other mothers who had babies who were alive for a month. My heart hurts just being here.

I think that's all I'll write about that for now. I'm grateful for all I have and am gaining a new appreciation for many things. I am having a bit of fun here! The people I've met have been incredibly hospitable and I'm having a lot of fun with my medical cohorts playing childish card games in the evenings and going for walks in the village. I think the funniest thing so far are all the children on the street pointing at us and yelling WAZUNGU! This is the Swahili word for white people and the children are mesmerized by my skin and hair and want to touch it. I love seeing the beautiful smiles of people we meet on the roads and think they are some of the most gorgeous smiles I've ever seen with the drastic contrast between the dark skin and white teeth. We are also made fun of by locals when we are trying out our newly learned Swahili words and greetings. There's also a tribal dialect here so I get confused easily when I'm trying to speak! I wish I could talk to all of you on the phone to share more stuff but my time is running out here on the computer. I miss you all and hope you are all staying warm! Love from Tanzania!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/4/1201267980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/4/1201267980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/4/1201267980/tpod.html Fri, 25 Jan 2008 08:45:20 -0500 Ilula Hospitali

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Iringa, Tanzania

Ok, I've got, like four minutes to tell you a couple of things and I promise to update with photos (if at all possible) as soon as I can. Right now the bus is waiting for me and I seem to be holding everyone up.

We are delivering babies like crazy so far here and I've been absolutely appalled by the conditions here. On our second day here we delivered three babies. Both were by C-section. Three girls as the second delivery was a set of twins! The maternity ward has 16 beds and most of them are full most of the time. Two room, 8 beds each and absolutely no privacy. They let me conduct a delivery the other day and it was really fun. Everything went well and mom and baby seem to be doing well. We round on all of the patients daily and there's a ton of malaria, HIV among many other things. We went out to a vaccination clinic yesterday and ended up seeing about 16 pregnant moms and doing three family planning consultations. Definitely in my element here but horrible to see the lack of resources. I'm well, miss you all and I will write more later!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/ilula/1197596340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/ilula/1197596340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tschwantz/ilula/1197596340/tpod.html Sat, 15 Dec 2007 09:03:10 -0500 Testing

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Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

I haven't left yet!
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