I get by with a little help from my friends

After two crazy weeks, I feel like I am finally climbing out from under a rock.

The insanity was set off by the realization that I really DID need to retake the GRE and the ensuing full-force math review that needed to happen.  Then I heard I was going to the field to help with data collection for November.  ALL of November.  And applications are due for some schools at the beginning of December.  Then the internet on my modem went out.  Then the power started routinely going out.  Then......you get the idea.

Trying to get all this done, needless to say, was kind of stressing me out and bringing out someone I like to refer to as "Intense Angie".  She's not really dangerous; I just wouldn't get in her way.  Ten hour days on an mind-numbingly slow internet connection was making even Intense Angie a little more grouchy than normal.

I could not have gotten through the last few weeks without some serious help, support and encouragement from my friends and family and I want to give them a special shout-out:  to my Mom for sifting through boxes and files to find transcripts and student loan info; to my brother who is entering all of my previous coursework for me into applications because it would literally take me two days here; to Ameet who tutored me in math over gchat; to my sister, who is 29 weeks pregnant and doing her residency, but told me she'd help out any way she could; to Andrew who thought he had malaria, but told me not to worry about it and just focus on getting ready for my test (thankfully, no malaria).

And to all the other friends who have sent packages and emails and talked over Skype and basically just been extremely awesome.

I think sometimes in the US we like to think that it is possible to only rely on ourselves to get things done; to make it through.  Tanzanians suffer no such delusions.  Here, life is often difficult enough that it is understood that it requires help from other people.  And you can accomplish relatively little entirely on your own.  While the resources found in the West do often make it feasible to accomplish more individually, complete self-reliance is obviously an illusion - yet one we Americans are strangely and ardently attached to.

For my part, I think the Beatles had it right.  I could not have gotten through the last two weeks & I definitely would not make it through this year without my friends and family.  Thanks everybody.