Potential Projects?

Well I have less than a week left here before I go home for the holidays and I am still scrambling to find a project to do for next year. I've spoken with several 'higher-ups' here about prospects and think there's definitely things that could turn into a solid manuscript for me. The doc here that is in charge of the clinical microbiology has some ideas about analyzing the drug susceptibility of M tuberculosis strains over the past several years in Vitoria, so that might be it.

In other news, they have decided to move the Christmas extravaganza to next week, which means I will not be able to partake in the festivities. I still need to go buy some sort of wrapping for the gift I bought my 'secret friend' and also write a speech. It's unfortunate that I won't get to go, I've heard that it's a really good time. I'm still having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit here when I'm continually sweating like crazy under the intense heat, although there are a few houses that have put some lights up. There's also a quaint fake Christmas tree placed by the entrance to the 'Nucleo' that occasionally emits some cheer.

I have to mention something strange that happened last night. Some random guy with a gas mask was out spraying the sidewalks with some unknown chemical. Smoke filled the street and wafted into our apartment. Fearing a terrorist attack I ran to find my roommates to advise them of the threat. When they were nowhere to be found I ran outside, only to encounter the house owner lounging with her family while the smoke drifted overhead. So I guess it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Finally, there are only two days left to have the lab techs here become pros at the BioNumerics software, I've been working with them over the past week and they seem to be getting it quite quickly. Other than that things are slow and laid back around here as usual, I'm alone right now in my section of the lab. I have no idea where people sometimes disappear off to in the middle of the day. Until next time, wish me luck in the 100 degree heat!

Battle Wounds

Well not really, but I did scrape my knee. Paint ball was awesome, it took place on an old football field with abandoned cars and tires everywhere. The guys I played with were pretty intense and clearly came ready to go to war. My one big complaint is that the camo suits they had for us to wear were wet and smelled awful. I almost vomited when I caught a whiff of the vest as I pulled it over my head. The masks were disgusting as well, covered with old paint and sweat.

I had to carefully pay attention to the safety briefing as it was totally in Portuguese, and I didn't want to be that guy who pisses everyone off by doing something stupid. All in all it was a great experience, I got some really nice shots in, including nailing some people on their unprotected hands. Right now I'm about to go downtown to clear up some issues with my ticket from Victoria to Rio, need to sign off. Will put some more on later.

Doente

Doente means sick in Portuguese, and thanks to one of my roommates, is the state I currently find myself in. I knew I was in trouble as I heard him hacking up his lungs every night over the past week, and sure enough I too started to feel some gunk building up in my throat. Luckily it isn't too severe, and I'm already feeling my body process it.

In other news I showed some of the people from the lab here how to use a software package to analyze gel photos. I struggled through it in Portuguese but I think that they all got the gist of it. Over the next week I'm going to have to spend time with each person individually to make sure they understand all the nuances of the program. That was pretty much the big event of the week here. Other than that I've been going to some nice places for lunch, although the whole white rice thing here is getting on my nerves, I still don't want to see that stuff after my experience in the Philippines.

Today is a semi holiday here in the Nucleo, people are cleaning up their labs or just surfing the web. As such not too much for me to do, I'll probably go check out the hospital in the afternoon, wander around and see what's up. Tomorrow I'm going paintballing with some people from the lab. Apparently it's in a big warehouse, so I'm looking forward to that action. I'm off to go read some articles in the library, until next time.

Catch Up

How quickly I've managed to fall behind... So now the whole TB protocol is looking unlikely due to problems with NIH (National Institutes of Health) approval woes. This is unfortunate since it was looking like it was going to turn into some sort of deliverable for me by the end of my time here in Brasil. All hope is not lost, people are checking into it to see what could have gone wrong, we'll see.

The weekend went by quite slow. I made some plans with people to go out and play paintball, but since I don't have a phone they had no way of getting in touch with me. It rained all day Saturday, which meant I spent most of the day reading and perusing archaic web sites. Sunday I took my usual beach trip and stopped by the mall. I considered seeing a movie but I would have had to wait two hours, so I nixed that proposal. I'm starting to get pretty anxious about returning, less than 3 weeks to go.

This morning I passes by a stray dog on my way to the lab. After a few minutes of coaxing he finally came up to me and I scratched behind his ears for a while. I couldn't help but think of how here in Vitoria they pick up stray dogs and use them at the hospitals for the students to practice surgery on. Here was this cool dog that was going to be tortured by some clueless kid trying to take out his kidney. This practice has been phased out in some parts of Brasil, but not here. Then upon my arrival I watched while one of the technicians began to sacrifice some of the rats that were no longer needed. This consisted of dumping them into a jar filled with alcohol and watching them suffocate. Needless to say not the most pleasant way to start a week.

Right now I need to work on preparing a presentation to teach some of the people here how to use an analytical software package. It has to be in Portuguese, so wish me luck.