So it's been an exciting past few weeks :) Since I last blogged I have managed to swing a trip to East London and home (AGAIN) for a long weekend... That was really fun! Linds, Ken and I managed to meet with the Traditional Leaders of the East London area about working with them in the future, which was a great networking opportunity and experience. A friend from here, Asanda, came with to PE, and we went to a movie - which she has never done before. It's crazy how much us "city bred" kids take for granted. We watched Alice in Wonderland... it was such a fun movie to see with her - all colourful and exciting! Since then we have regularly and publically been calling eachother "fat boy" and "Queeny" :)
Last week a whole group of us from the hospital went to Coffee Bay for pizza at the local restuarant - Papazelas... we were a huge group! Well, about 17, which is big considering, hehe. The pizza was good and the company was great... I travelled with Shannon, Mhla, Asanda and Kayleigh, and we had a good time in the car taking pictures and singing (this is why I don't need alcohol), it was fun! The pizza evening sort of served as a "farewell" party for 2 British Students who had come down for 4 weeks to do their medical electives - Sarabi and Priya. We seem to have a quick turn-over of visiting staff here. In 2 weeks Megan and Joff (the doctor / physio couple who arrived a few weeks after me) will be leaving. But we should soon be joined by another couple and more students! Oh, speaking of work, we have a new pharmacist, which is really great for the Hospital, considering we haven't had one for about 3 months. And more great news... We have our Mobile Clinic back! So the therapy department is back doing clinic outreach - I went to Mapuzi Clinic to treat patients just yesterday in fact :)
Kayleigh, Asanda and I in the car to Papazelas... before I started feeling car sick!
Some of the staff at the pizza evening... Priya, Me, Bernard (Dr), Sarah, Jess S (OT), Shannon (OT), Megan (OT).
This past weekend was really great! Linds, Byron, Kuda and Nyasha decided to come visit my side of the world for the weekend seeing as Nyasha is heading off to Brazil. It was a long drive to come for the weekend (from PE), so I was very grateful. Jean and Don very generously let is use their holiday house, which is about 2 hours from my hospital and in a game reserve called Dwesa. What a great time we had! Getting there was quite eventful... wrong turns and poor cellphone reception make for a poor combo. We eventually got there on Friday after dark, and found that we couldn't start the generator, so we were without light or running water that evening. A lady who works there, Elsie, was incredibly helpful and showed us where everything was and prepared our beds etc :) Saturday was cold and rainy but it was great weather to just relax. We sat on the veranda, chatted, read, and just generally relaxed. Me and Linds went exploring for a bit too, which is always fun! The Lamberts have a beautiful spot on the coast. That evening us girls made a very nice candle-light dinner for us and the boys (and ate some very good home made bread thanks to Elsie), and just relaxed more otherwise. By this time we had both water and electricity, but the water was cold, so we still elected to boil water and bath out of a big bucket! Sunday morning me, Linds and Nyash woke up early to watch a beautiful sunrise, and after more relaxing we headed back to the hospital for a braai! On the way back my car got a flat tyre - it only took me 4 months hehe! The boys did a great job changing it, and then we were off again! As we were driving I realised again what a beautiful part of the country I live in and how lucky I am... God is so good.
Just chilling on the veranda, watching the kids play, the cows walk past and listening to the waves.
Linds feeling right at home with her beefy companions... on the beach!?
Our lovely little dinner - mood lighting was ruined by a very strong flash.
We watched a beautiful sunrise over a very powerful sea!
Anyway, so that has been the past month in a nutshell; minus the Ultimate Frisbee mishaps, Scottish dancing evening, home visit wanderings and Body school laughs :)
It was a hard day at the Mapuzi clinic. Must... have... food...
On a quick side note, I have been sick for the past week or so - I have a painful tooth infection and irritating sinus infection - please pray that I am back on top of my game soon! Have a great week... make footprints that matter!
