All things...

If anyone is a fan of irony, or fate, or coincidence, or cliche's, here you go.....
All things come to those who wait...well, wait I have.
Be careful what you wish for, you may get it....get it I did.
After 11 months of non-stop operations, I finally got cleared to go into Africa, to the Congo, and assist with the research going on out there.
The only time I have slowed down is when I had to have back surgery to fix a ruptured disc (I was still working from home!) and have so much going on, I haven't had a chance to take leave. With that in mind, I didn't think I'd ever get to go.
The irony is that I am currently scheduled to leave EXACTLY 1 year, to the day, from my last entry in this blog. Ok, it's not that that creepy.

So I feel the need to correct some technical errors from my last post, so I don't get slammed by any of the eggheads reading this. The title makes an incorrect reference, but I like it and refuse to correct it. Brazza actually refers to the other Congo, across the river, and the capital which bears the name. My bad.

If the Congo could be considered the middle of nowhere, I will be about 800 miles into the middle of nowhere for about 6 weeks. I will be living in a remote village assisting in a research project. The only way in or out is a very long flight in a very small prop plane.
During the last 11 months I have been helping out from this end preparing supplies and personnel to go out. It has been a little frustating watching everyone else go, but I had enough going on.

In preparation I am going to spend the next 2 months studying research protocols, refreshers on cell separation techniques, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), disease pathology, and epidemiology. I will also attempt to learn enough french to get around, since the colony was founded by Belgians. Don't I feel like a fool, I never paid attention in french class - "When the hell am I EVER going to need to speak french!" Jokes on me I guess (more irony, for those keeping track)

I am also going to take a tactical dirt bike course, as that is the only means of conveyance there, excluding my size 12 boots. And should I need to make a quick getaway (there is a bit of civil discontent down there) I will be on two wheels.

Off to another adventure!

Much more to follow....