05. The Eldoret Club

After walking out of the hospital, we phoned Shah, another of the interns. Izzy had plans to go out to dinner with them and had invited me along. We eventually went out to the Eldoret Club. This used to be the white, British colonial gentleman’s club. Hanif, an Indian-Kenyan friend of the interns, who had drove us there said that there used to be a rule that, “no blacks, Indians, or dogs allowed.” Though I have no doubt it was expressed in even more racist terms than that by the colonials (if that’s possible). Now it is a relatively exclusive Kenyan club. One can apply for membership, but must be accepted unanimously by current members. If even one person casts a negative ballot, membership is denied. We arrived at around 8:00pm, ordered, and then sat and chatted and drank some beers waiting for our food…and chatted and drank…and chatted and I stopped drinking, but the interns and Hanif continued. We ended up waiting about 3 hours for the food! Finally it arrived at 11pm. Poor Izzy and I, who had not eaten prior to coming to the restaurant, were fairly ravenous. It ended up being fairly good Indian-style food, though they use a LOT of cheese here. I ordered a paneer dish, expecting some cheese and some vegetables. It turned out to just be chunks of cheese dipped in curry sauce. It was tasty, but a bit much, especially for my adjusting GI tract. No disastrous night of GI unhappiness ensued, though, for which I was grateful. 

Jet Lag and Sleeping Issues

I was not able to sleep well, however. It was my first real experience of disordered sleep due to time change. Even on my trans-Pacific trip, my sleep cycle did not seem to be all that affected. For the first 5 nights I would go to bed around 10pm and, without fail, would wake before 4am and be completely unable to sleep until around 6:45 (about 30 minutes before I had to wake up anyway).  In any case, I ended up using the time to finish “Les Miserables,” and to listen to the morning birds as they warbled outside my window. And to be grateful that I was alive and well.