Vaccinations

Back in Sweden now! The last four days or so in Portland were crazy -- I had several nights where I only had time to sleep two or three hours -- but it was a lot of fun, and seems to have helped with jetlag, as my sleep schedule was already totally messed up when I got here. Dar es Salaam is only an hour ahead of Stockholm time, so I won't have to deal with jetlag arriving there either, which will make the transition easier.

I've finally gotten vaccinated against most of the things one can potentially get in Tanzania! It's a relief to have it done, but I ever do this again, I think it might be better to space it out more. I've never liked shots (who does?) but don't mind them terribly. Nonetheless, after the fourth one I actually fainted. It was a very odd experience. I felt faint and vaguely recall trying to tell the nurse, and the next thing I woke up utterly confused about where I was and what was going it. For some reason I was convinced that I was at home and trying to get my dog to stop jumping up, and it took a good twenty seconds to remember that I was at the vaccination clinic. At least that gave me a good excuse to head to the cafe next door and have coffee and a Swedish pastry. And now I am vaccinated against yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis A and hepatitis B! And this evening I'll start malaria pills and take the first of the drinkable cholera vaccination!

Six days until I leave for Tanzania. I still can't really believe it.