Some early observations on how things are different here

So, of course lots of stuff is different, like I expected. But there are some things that just kind of made my jaw drop. The casket sellers on the side of the road kind of took me off guard, even being the palliative care nurse that I am. But it was the guy selling rat poison that really got my attention. I have even jotted down a sketch of what he was doing in my journal and took a picture of the sketch, both so I would remember and you may get a clear vision of what I'm about to describe:

It was yesterday at the train station in Yaounde, which is absolutely crazy busy with hundreds of people  walking around selling their products and this one guy is walking with a stick with a string tied to it that has 4 or 5 dead rats and mice tied along the string. He was selling rat poison of course, and was demonstrating just how effective his product was. Now that's not something you see down at the Farmers Market!

One of the highlights of today was meeting Remi and William, the nurse and social worker on the Palliative Care team here at Protestant Hospital (take note my own team members--they have a social worker). They actually came down to the train station to welcome me--I was so touched.