God has been incredible, I feel like this year is continuing to fly by and I can barely keep up, but the last few months since I have blogged have been great :)A lot has happened, as usual, and I have barely had time to sit down and take it all in, let alone Blog! There have been many highlights, and of course some lowlights as well, and through it all God has continued to grow me as a therapist and a Christian. I think there are a few lessons I have learnt over the last bit: 1) It's worth really getting to know your collegues - especially if you are living within 100m of eachother 2) Never turn down an opportunity to get out of the Nurses Res (my 1 room palace) 3) When the opportunity arises to do something out of the ordinary at work, do it!
So, of course we have had our usual braais and cell group evenings, DVD nights and random dinner dates. We actually had a very entertaining braai at the Le Rouxs, which ended up being a house party with all of us eventually "Walking like a Egyptian" around the kitchen table before we all went off to bed and exchanged embarrassed looks the next morning at work! We have also had some great rugby and braai evenings - complete with locally bought lobster and chilled guitar vibes by moonlight (Bernard and Marlie make a great 2 person band).
The kitchen party crew - Liz, Jess, Kayleigh, Karl
We have the kewlest dance moves this part of the Transkei :)
Christening our newly bought "communal" DVD player - Ian (pharmacist), Jess (OT), Liz (Doctor), Gillian (Scottish Volunteer), Katie (Irish volunteer), Kate (project OT), Lisa (OT), Angela (Mthatha Doctor), Laura (volunteer PT)
I also took some leave at the beginning of August which was great as usual :) Linds met me and we drove down to East London to stay with Britni - a friend of ours who is doing her Internship there... she took us to a beautiful little spot called Lavender Blue for breakfast. It was so nice - it had a farmers market type of atmosphere! We then drove to PE, and I spent a week or so at home. It was my Birthday so it was good to spend it with my family. Me and Linds made a "Pink Hut" Birthday Cake - it was so kewl! Clearly I don't ever get enough of seeing those little houses spotting the hills surrounding me...
Us at Lavender Blue- we were excited about the cake!
Britni, Linds and Me
The most amazing birthday cake in the history of the WORLD!
It was Karen's Birthday at the end of August, so Rog organised for us to go to Hole in the Wall for a weekend, so off we went - about 12 of us; either walking, driving or cycling, to suprise an unsuspecting Karen! It was really an amazing weekend... Me and Laura (a physio who is volunteering for 3 months) rode there - it is a perfect ride, hilly but rideable (which is a novelty here). A whoe bunch walked along the coast, and a few drove so we would have cars to get back in! That evening Jack (Kate's canine companion and the resident Plaza guard dog) tried to eat a sheep, successfully breaking it's neck and thereby providing us with meet for a potjie the next day :) After getting there, we braaied and spent the evening laughing and enjoying eachothers company. We woke up early the next morning for a beach frisbee game, and then we spent the rest of the day lounging around in the sun, exploring, or doing pilates! We watched an exciting game of rugby, then ate the sheep - and it was goooooooood, thanks Jack! Apologies to the poor owner of the sheep - he did get reimbursed for the damage and trauma caused though. The next morning me and some friends woke up and sat on the hill to watch a beautiful sunrise, complete with dolphins and whales playing in the waves. After a lazy afternoon me, Laura, Karen and Lisa rode back to the Hospital, with the rest of the guys driving past hooting or stopping to chat before leaving us in their exhaust dust! All in all a great weekend... Good conversation, good memories, good food - The best weekend yet this year!
Karen, Emma and Gracie taking a ride on Anna
Jess, Sion, Liz and Kate chilling out, catching a tan
Sion, Me, Liz, Jess and Kate watching the sunrise... Laura is behind the camera :)
Karen with her Birthday Cupcakes - she is unscrabbling the conundrum "DRINK THY PAPAYA HERB" - HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN
Fun on the beach - the waves were HUGE, we nearly died!
Karl marking out our Ultimate Frisbee court :)
A hard ride back...
Since then me and Laura have gone on some great runs and rides :) On the note of exercise, I am proud to announce that our Wednesday running club has expanded! It is now 5 people strong, sometimes 6, and it's so nice to start off the middle of the week with a bang! On another exercise note, earlier this month I sort of impulsively decided to run White Clay - a 21km race over the hills around this area... it's VERY hilly, but it was so much fun! I was so lucky to have Lisa, Megan, Marlie, Shannon and Jess driving along encouraging me at every possible opportunity! They made a huge sign saying "Go JT" and stuck it on the back of their car, so by the end of the race I was pretty famous! Haha :)
I have been learning so much work-wise this past month. Despite the strike looming again and again Zithulele has continued to function (although somewhat stretched). This week I went to Mqhele Clinic. It's about 45-60 min away and is serviced by the therapy department in a neighbouring hospital, Madwaleni. They only have one physio though, so she is incredibly stretched, so I went to her clinic instead to help off-load her a bit, and it was great - it was refreshing to work with different therapists (even though I really enjoy my collegues)and see different patients! I have also gone on some fun home visits and outings, including one today. I drove a huge 4x4 bakkie over what can only be described as multiple goat paths :) It was fun, yip.
So, in summary, as I am sitting at the table in someone elses house, with Jess skyping in the room next door (we are house-sitting for Bernard and Sarah), and people constantly popping in and out to say HI or borrow margarine, I have realised again that despite the challenges and sometimes loneliness, I am continuing to learn a lot, laugh a lot, and grow a lot... I feel so lucky to be here at this time... GOD IS SOOOOOO GOOD!
To my Christian buddies: God has blessed me. He has provided me with amazing friendships and opportunities to speak with and learn from people. Cell group is so big now that it has split into 2, and it's been great! Laura and I have been forming a close friendship, we are trying to meet once a week during lunch time to have "Bible time" together. Asanda has also gotten a group of young singles who work at ARV Clinic together (4 or so) who are interested in doing bible studies, so we have started a bible talk on Tuesdays during lunch times... God continues to show me that He cares about Zithuele a whole lot, please keep this incredible hospital in your prayers!
