So a group of us went out last night to a club called The Living Room. It was the absolute coolest place I've ever been out to this far.. A guy we met at the jazz club told us about this place and was in fact performing there last night so he invited us to come along, picked us up to bring us there and got us in for free as well so this was all a great start to the night haha We got there and there was a red carpet and fancy entrance that you walk through to get in which was really exciting...the sign said "dress code-smart"...people say that a lot here..it basically means to dress up but not seriously fancy..I thought we all met the dress code quite nicely! So we walk in and there was a set of stairs going up and one going down..we went down first and immediately we were hit with a live band performing, tons of people of all ages dancing..mostly salsa dancing..it was such a cool vibe in the room..everyone was there to dance which I loved! the couples were absolutely fabulous dancers. I could've sat there for hours watching them..it's really amazing how good they were. The band was phenomenal and throughout the night they had different ones performing and eventually, at 12:30, Luke (our friend, who plays the keyboard by the way) and his band performed and were so so good! So after the initial entrance, we went to the bar, got drinks and stuff and then hung out downstairs for awhile, danced, observed, wished we could salsa dance....and then made our way upstairs...TOTALLY different scene!! It was a full out club upstairs with a bar that lined an entire wall of this huge room and it was filled with lots of people, cool chandeliers and lights, disco ball and such good dancing music! The DJ was really good and played mostly American music, breaking out the occassional Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson...loved it. We were probably embarrassing ourselves lip-syncing but we were completely happy in the moment. It was such a great time! The bartender gave us some good deals, though the drinks are dirt cheap to begin with, and we ended up dancing for awhile before we went down to watch Luke perform. Another cool thing about this place was the age range..mostly everyone upstairs was our age and up to about 30 and then downstairs were people our age and then a large amount of people my parent's age which I thought was so cool...they were still totally up for a good time and were dancing even up until we were leaving! I love the thought of being that age and still going out, staying out late, and dancing the night away! Not that it's not done at home but I think it's more common to like go out to dinner and have drinks and then go home, but here it's so much more common to go out to dinner, get drinks, and then go dancing for hours! I really like that! And let me tell you...that age group were the best dancers in the whole place! SO much fun!! Anyways, I wanted to tell everyone about my night! Oh yeah, the test that was supposed to be yesterday was postponed to this coming Thursday! Very happy about thatttt. Ok, I'll write again soon!
Love.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Gotta love a day off!
So today is my day off for the week! I have clinical Monday and Tuesday and classes Thursday and Friday. We changed things around a little bit because we all felt we needed a day off to give us some time to do work and catch up on stuff becuase our weekends are usually so busy trying to see and do more in Cape Town. I feel very relaxed today! It's an absolutely perfect day, 80 degrees, all sunshine and I've already been very productive!! I woke up early this morning and talked to Ian which was a nice way to start the day! (The now 7 hour difference makes it easy for him to call me before he's going to bed as I'm waking up for the day haha) So after that I told myself I would do online nclex quizzes (to study for our exam this Friday) until I couldn't look at the computer screen anymore. I definitely did this. I must've done 30 or maybe even more. Then I cleaned my room and had my laundry picked up to be done (30 rand, $3.00, per load, 2 loads, and no charge for pick up or drop off...seems like a no brainer to me). After that I took a taxi downtown to get groceries, cell phone rand and internet time..gotta love the prepaid world. I came home, made popcorn, and got a couple assignments done. It's always nice to get those out of the way. I have one more left to do for our cultural class this Friday. I'm really enjoying our cultural class. Our professor is so interesting and extremely knowledgable about South Africa and it's politics, people, and culture, including music...last week he was playing all different types of music from his laptop and explaining what the songs were about. I liked one of the bands in particular called Freshly Ground, definitely worth downloading some of their songs if you can! It's one of South Africa's hit bands right now which is why I was surprised when he played some of their songs. He also played a lot of jazz for us, his son plays the keyboard in a fantastic jazz band here, we were lucky enough to see him perform at the jazz club Swingers last week! Anyways, the class is definitely challenging (we have a 10 page paper due soon actually) but extremely interesting. I'm glad it's part of our curriculum.
Last night we found out we are going on another excursion next Friday to Sunday!! We are travelling the Garden Route along the southern coast of South Africa. We will be stopping at various places along the way but the drive itself is supposed to be absolutely breath-taking so I'm very excited! A couple of our stops are going to be the highest bungee jump in the world which I have no idea if I'm gonna do or not. I think I'll have to make the decision on the spot. It's something like 600 or 700 feet high and you jump off a bridge...kinda freaky but we'll see! We'll also be stopping at a bay, i forget the name, where you can get on a boat to do shark cage diving (which I didn't do last weekend like I thought), and other fun things! There's a chance we can do an elephant-back safari..meaning going on a safari on the back of an elephant which would be just about the coolest thing ever and I would pay serious rand to do it!! So, it's gonna be a very busy 3 days but I can't wait for it!
I have to get back to doing some work but I will write again soon!
Love,
ME
Last night we found out we are going on another excursion next Friday to Sunday!! We are travelling the Garden Route along the southern coast of South Africa. We will be stopping at various places along the way but the drive itself is supposed to be absolutely breath-taking so I'm very excited! A couple of our stops are going to be the highest bungee jump in the world which I have no idea if I'm gonna do or not. I think I'll have to make the decision on the spot. It's something like 600 or 700 feet high and you jump off a bridge...kinda freaky but we'll see! We'll also be stopping at a bay, i forget the name, where you can get on a boat to do shark cage diving (which I didn't do last weekend like I thought), and other fun things! There's a chance we can do an elephant-back safari..meaning going on a safari on the back of an elephant which would be just about the coolest thing ever and I would pay serious rand to do it!! So, it's gonna be a very busy 3 days but I can't wait for it!
I have to get back to doing some work but I will write again soon!
Love,
ME
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
wow i need to seriously update! sorry!
ok soo october has been a very crazy month! i will try my best to cover it all :) (i'm not capitalizing or using proper punctuation because i'm too lazy today haha)
one saturday a couple weeks ago we went to Kirstenbosch Gardens..beautiful botanical gardens unlike anything i've ever seen! it was a gorgeous day so once again i was practicing my photography skills for a couple hours (one of the pics is on my page, the rest will be put up on facebook maybe soon or maybe not til december haha) and then we put down a blanket and ended up laying out tanning and reading for awhile that afternoon..so relaxing and peaceful...a look in any direction was huge bunches of bright colored flowers and cloudless blue sky..so content in that moment.
so tuesday, the 14th, started our 6 day excursion to eastern south africa..a trip of a lifetime to say the least.
we had to wake up at 330am...i am so not a morning person so this was extra difficult and i was so tired i was nauseous..to help this, we had to get a on a plane and fly a couple hours to durban (no time change luckily!). that same day we drove a couple hours to hluhluwe (still not entirely sure how to pronouce this haha) and we did a river cruise up the st. lucia estuary and saws tons of hippos in and out of the water..absolutely enormous but at the same time really cute! haha they were bobbing around the water in huge groups and at times entertaining us by fighting (again, pics will possibly be up soon)..we also saw a couple of the hugest crocodiles about 10 feet from the boat!...then we drove to stay overnight in a bed and breakfast nearby where they had zebras and wildebeests casually hanging out about 50 feet from where we were eating dinner...really cool! zebras are really the coolest looking animal..not sure if everyone knows, but every zebra has different stripe patterns, like we all have different fingerprints. just a fun fact haha so we also found a couple lizards and frogs in our apartment that night too! haha anyway, it was a beautiful place with wonderful ppl working there and we had a really fun night with great food and great company! then the next morning we had to wake up at 430...another early morning. we got picked up in the coolest safari jeeps and all piled into two of them and headed out to hluhluwe game reserve for our 6 hour safari!! we saw giraffes, rhinos (my new fav animal btw), lions (which is extremely rare, and we saw 3!), and tons of buffalo, zebras, warthogs (pumba from lion king), waterbuck...aaand no elephants! :( the biggest animal and they are the best at hiding unfortunately! we had an awesome day though! it was so fun driving around seeing these animals out in the wild, early in the morning, being on their turf as opposed to seeing them in cages at the zoo. it was a really awesome experience! then we drove back to durban and stayed at a nice hotel on the beach! we hung out there for two nights..went out to eat at a restaurant bar/grill and then at an indian restaurant..then went to the casino (i lost 170 rand..right around 17 bucks) and even though i lost money, i loved ittt! i am definitely going to mohegan multiple times when i get home haha it won't be as fun with dollars cuz rand is like monopoly money, but i'll still give it a shot! we went to the beach one of the days in durban considering all we had to do was cross the street, and touched the indian ocean..it was surprisingly warm but not quite warm enough for me to swim yet haha then friday morning we woke up and drove a couple hours to the drakensberg mountains, largest mountain range in south africa...it was the nicest resort with the most stunning views i have ever seen! we all stayed in chalets (apartments) and ate 7 course buffet meals for breakfast lunch and dinner...heaven! it was such a serene place because it was in the middle of nowhere, no noise of the city, cars driving by, or any light pollution..it was just nature with gorgeous scenery. we went horseback riding saturday morning through the foothills...absolutely amazing. one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. it was just 3 of us at the time and it was so quiet and beautiful..sunny and warm..all you heard was a slight breeze rustling the fields and trees and the trotting of the horses hooves on the ground (also occassionally katie was freaking out when we started going too fast which led to her falling off the horse...funniest moment i've ever witnessed after i knew she was ok)..with all of that, it was a fantastic morning and i found a new love for horseback riding! we also did zip lining from soo high up (the stairs going up was the scariest part i think), and 4 wheeling through the foothills the next morning right as the sun was coming up..so freakin cool is all i can say! adrenaline rush. i was getting seriosuly into it thinking i was pro haha and then one of the days we spent relaxing by the pool tanning and reading! overall, absolutely amazing trip! i did so many new things and experienced so many new places...i could never replace it and can't wait to be able to put up pictures to show all of you just how spectacular it really was because words can't even describe!
back to cape town...this past saturday was our first day out at the beach!! it was an absolutely gorgeous day..right around 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky..we spent the day at Camp's Bay, lounging, tanning of course, reading, and a little bit of shopping! there were a bunch of guys in speedos, very normal here, and some topless women..apparently also very normal. very european feeling once again..heavy european influence in cape town because it was settled by the british and dutch.
sunday we took the pool cover off at our house yay!! needs a little vacuuming but overall its really really nice! can't wait to be able to swim! :)
last night was so cool...we went to a jazz club with our guide, vernon. it was AMAZING! there is a whole music genre we've been missing out on here in cape town. the jazz music is so great! the band was phenomenal! we got drinks and some appetizers and sat for hours listening to this band then there was a jam session where random ppl came with their instruments and all played together! it was so awesome because they obviously had never played together and didn't know each others styles or anything and it sounded so awesome..like they had been playing together for years! it was such good entertainment to say the least! we are all hooked now and plan to spend a lot more of our nights at jazz clubs because we have a lot of time to make up that we have been missing out on for the past 7 weeks haha
SOO that is my life this past month in a nutshell! there is a lot more in detail but i think i covered the important stuff :) it's been amazing so far and i'm happy the summer weather is here for more good times to come! :)
i will update again sooner rather than later this time!!
love you all! <3
one saturday a couple weeks ago we went to Kirstenbosch Gardens..beautiful botanical gardens unlike anything i've ever seen! it was a gorgeous day so once again i was practicing my photography skills for a couple hours (one of the pics is on my page, the rest will be put up on facebook maybe soon or maybe not til december haha) and then we put down a blanket and ended up laying out tanning and reading for awhile that afternoon..so relaxing and peaceful...a look in any direction was huge bunches of bright colored flowers and cloudless blue sky..so content in that moment.
so tuesday, the 14th, started our 6 day excursion to eastern south africa..a trip of a lifetime to say the least.
we had to wake up at 330am...i am so not a morning person so this was extra difficult and i was so tired i was nauseous..to help this, we had to get a on a plane and fly a couple hours to durban (no time change luckily!). that same day we drove a couple hours to hluhluwe (still not entirely sure how to pronouce this haha) and we did a river cruise up the st. lucia estuary and saws tons of hippos in and out of the water..absolutely enormous but at the same time really cute! haha they were bobbing around the water in huge groups and at times entertaining us by fighting (again, pics will possibly be up soon)..we also saw a couple of the hugest crocodiles about 10 feet from the boat!...then we drove to stay overnight in a bed and breakfast nearby where they had zebras and wildebeests casually hanging out about 50 feet from where we were eating dinner...really cool! zebras are really the coolest looking animal..not sure if everyone knows, but every zebra has different stripe patterns, like we all have different fingerprints. just a fun fact haha so we also found a couple lizards and frogs in our apartment that night too! haha anyway, it was a beautiful place with wonderful ppl working there and we had a really fun night with great food and great company! then the next morning we had to wake up at 430...another early morning. we got picked up in the coolest safari jeeps and all piled into two of them and headed out to hluhluwe game reserve for our 6 hour safari!! we saw giraffes, rhinos (my new fav animal btw), lions (which is extremely rare, and we saw 3!), and tons of buffalo, zebras, warthogs (pumba from lion king), waterbuck...aaand no elephants! :( the biggest animal and they are the best at hiding unfortunately! we had an awesome day though! it was so fun driving around seeing these animals out in the wild, early in the morning, being on their turf as opposed to seeing them in cages at the zoo. it was a really awesome experience! then we drove back to durban and stayed at a nice hotel on the beach! we hung out there for two nights..went out to eat at a restaurant bar/grill and then at an indian restaurant..then went to the casino (i lost 170 rand..right around 17 bucks) and even though i lost money, i loved ittt! i am definitely going to mohegan multiple times when i get home haha it won't be as fun with dollars cuz rand is like monopoly money, but i'll still give it a shot! we went to the beach one of the days in durban considering all we had to do was cross the street, and touched the indian ocean..it was surprisingly warm but not quite warm enough for me to swim yet haha then friday morning we woke up and drove a couple hours to the drakensberg mountains, largest mountain range in south africa...it was the nicest resort with the most stunning views i have ever seen! we all stayed in chalets (apartments) and ate 7 course buffet meals for breakfast lunch and dinner...heaven! it was such a serene place because it was in the middle of nowhere, no noise of the city, cars driving by, or any light pollution..it was just nature with gorgeous scenery. we went horseback riding saturday morning through the foothills...absolutely amazing. one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. it was just 3 of us at the time and it was so quiet and beautiful..sunny and warm..all you heard was a slight breeze rustling the fields and trees and the trotting of the horses hooves on the ground (also occassionally katie was freaking out when we started going too fast which led to her falling off the horse...funniest moment i've ever witnessed after i knew she was ok)..with all of that, it was a fantastic morning and i found a new love for horseback riding! we also did zip lining from soo high up (the stairs going up was the scariest part i think), and 4 wheeling through the foothills the next morning right as the sun was coming up..so freakin cool is all i can say! adrenaline rush. i was getting seriosuly into it thinking i was pro haha and then one of the days we spent relaxing by the pool tanning and reading! overall, absolutely amazing trip! i did so many new things and experienced so many new places...i could never replace it and can't wait to be able to put up pictures to show all of you just how spectacular it really was because words can't even describe!
back to cape town...this past saturday was our first day out at the beach!! it was an absolutely gorgeous day..right around 80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky..we spent the day at Camp's Bay, lounging, tanning of course, reading, and a little bit of shopping! there were a bunch of guys in speedos, very normal here, and some topless women..apparently also very normal. very european feeling once again..heavy european influence in cape town because it was settled by the british and dutch.
sunday we took the pool cover off at our house yay!! needs a little vacuuming but overall its really really nice! can't wait to be able to swim! :)
last night was so cool...we went to a jazz club with our guide, vernon. it was AMAZING! there is a whole music genre we've been missing out on here in cape town. the jazz music is so great! the band was phenomenal! we got drinks and some appetizers and sat for hours listening to this band then there was a jam session where random ppl came with their instruments and all played together! it was so awesome because they obviously had never played together and didn't know each others styles or anything and it sounded so awesome..like they had been playing together for years! it was such good entertainment to say the least! we are all hooked now and plan to spend a lot more of our nights at jazz clubs because we have a lot of time to make up that we have been missing out on for the past 7 weeks haha
SOO that is my life this past month in a nutshell! there is a lot more in detail but i think i covered the important stuff :) it's been amazing so far and i'm happy the summer weather is here for more good times to come! :)
i will update again sooner rather than later this time!!
love you all! <3
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Soo happy :)
So let's see where I left off...
Friday we had our first maternity exam which went well and our crazy cultural class that is confusing ALL of us because none of us understand anything about politics, especially politics here..what's cool is that a lot of stuff that is going on now (I don't know if anyone has been following SA's current chaotic political situation besides Maddie) is very relevant to our class and it's cool to be able to discuss a lot of it with our teacher, who seems to know everything about SA's history.
So on Saturday, Carolyn and I went into downtown Cape Town to Long Street to shop! It was so much fun! We both bought a couple things, but we found a lot of the stores were a little too crazy style for us but it was still really fun to window shop! Then we took a taxi to the Waterfront and we went to the two oceans aquarium which had some of the most different kinds of fish I've ever seen..definitely worth the trip! Actually we saw these crabs that were from the ocean off the coast of Japan taht had legs that were a couple meters in length...absolutely huge and I was fascinated by them and I think I stood at that tank for 20 minutes haha Then we continued shopping at the Waterfront mall cuz we didn't have enough yet for the day haha
Sunday was just a regular day spent at the house in the gorgeous weather just hangin out and then Monday was a boring day at clinical because noone decided to have a baby that day!
But it was made up for Tuesday and today because I saw 3 live natural births and a C-Section between the two days! We were again the cheering squad but one of the women today was SO sweet because she was so appreciative of our support in the delivery room. It was really nice to know she liked having us there and that we actually helped her through the process. Also, one of the deliveries I was allowed to cut the umbillical cord when the baby was born!! This was so cool to be a part of the delivery. I asked the Dad if he wanted to do it but he said he wanted me to so of course I took teh opportunity! After the birth, the Dad took a picture of me with the baby. It was definitely a memorable experience that I'm lucky to have been a part of! One of the nurse's said that some people believe cutting the cord makes you the godparent of the child haha I hope not in this case!
Now tonight we are going to our Professor's house for our weekly dinner with her. In fact, this is our last one with her because she leaves next week after our excursion.. It is one of the girls' birthdays today so we are celebrating tonight with dinner and cake then we'll take her out for drinks Friday night!
That's all for now!
I'll write again this week!
Friday we had our first maternity exam which went well and our crazy cultural class that is confusing ALL of us because none of us understand anything about politics, especially politics here..what's cool is that a lot of stuff that is going on now (I don't know if anyone has been following SA's current chaotic political situation besides Maddie) is very relevant to our class and it's cool to be able to discuss a lot of it with our teacher, who seems to know everything about SA's history.
So on Saturday, Carolyn and I went into downtown Cape Town to Long Street to shop! It was so much fun! We both bought a couple things, but we found a lot of the stores were a little too crazy style for us but it was still really fun to window shop! Then we took a taxi to the Waterfront and we went to the two oceans aquarium which had some of the most different kinds of fish I've ever seen..definitely worth the trip! Actually we saw these crabs that were from the ocean off the coast of Japan taht had legs that were a couple meters in length...absolutely huge and I was fascinated by them and I think I stood at that tank for 20 minutes haha Then we continued shopping at the Waterfront mall cuz we didn't have enough yet for the day haha
Sunday was just a regular day spent at the house in the gorgeous weather just hangin out and then Monday was a boring day at clinical because noone decided to have a baby that day!
But it was made up for Tuesday and today because I saw 3 live natural births and a C-Section between the two days! We were again the cheering squad but one of the women today was SO sweet because she was so appreciative of our support in the delivery room. It was really nice to know she liked having us there and that we actually helped her through the process. Also, one of the deliveries I was allowed to cut the umbillical cord when the baby was born!! This was so cool to be a part of the delivery. I asked the Dad if he wanted to do it but he said he wanted me to so of course I took teh opportunity! After the birth, the Dad took a picture of me with the baby. It was definitely a memorable experience that I'm lucky to have been a part of! One of the nurse's said that some people believe cutting the cord makes you the godparent of the child haha I hope not in this case!
Now tonight we are going to our Professor's house for our weekly dinner with her. In fact, this is our last one with her because she leaves next week after our excursion.. It is one of the girls' birthdays today so we are celebrating tonight with dinner and cake then we'll take her out for drinks Friday night!
That's all for now!
I'll write again this week!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Very exciting update...INTERNET IS HERE!!!!! +this past week
YAY! That's all I have to say...finally internet at our house!! Internet is different here though cuz it's prepaid
So...about the past week...
Friday night was a blast! The restaurant was so African themed and the food was amazing..we had so much fun being a big, loud group of American girls haha we enjoy making scenes wherever we go..and the ppl here like it actually haha..some were taking pictures...kind of awkward but you know me, I soaked it up! haha Dancing at the clubs after was sooo much fun...and let me tell you..these ppl here can dress and dance, girls AND the guys! So fashionable and a great love for music and rhythm..it's so awesome!
Saturday we saw whales!!! BLUE WHALES(biggest whale in the world) in fact (for you Hill) and they were so beautiful! They were jumping and splashing and basically showing off for us which was just fantastic cuz obviosuly that's what we were there for! We did a little shopping and had dinner overlooking the bay which was really nice!
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were clinicals!! I absolutely loved our facility and the staff was so welcoming! I felt at home within the first day. We saw two live births which were beautiful and we actually became the cheering squad for the unit haha We were helping to support the mothers during their deliveries and then afterwards we helped to take care of the newborn babies! They were SO tiny and the cutest things everrrr!
Last night we had a group dinner at our Professor's apartment--mexican. Delicious. Walking home we got caught in a hurricane storm aaaand we have funny pictures absolutely dripping, soaking wet..I had no umbrella but worse, I didn't even have a hood on my jacket. It was hilarious! All we could do was laugh hysterically as we trudged home (15 minute walk) in whipping winds and buckets of water falling out of the sky, completely unexpected haha
And today we had a very long day of class while it was beautiful outside :'( Oh and after class I was extremely motivated for some reason and took a pilates class then a spin class..just thought I'd let ppl know I'm actually using the gym membership I bought and it's not going to waste!
Tomorrow is our first exam.. And of course tonight we get the internet and now none of us can possibly study..way too excited!
I will definitely post pictures this weekend! I have about a thousand at this point sooo I probably won't do ALL of them obviously, but I will make a few good albums and put them up for everyone!
I will write again soon! xoxo
So...about the past week...
Friday night was a blast! The restaurant was so African themed and the food was amazing..we had so much fun being a big, loud group of American girls haha we enjoy making scenes wherever we go..and the ppl here like it actually haha..some were taking pictures...kind of awkward but you know me, I soaked it up! haha Dancing at the clubs after was sooo much fun...and let me tell you..these ppl here can dress and dance, girls AND the guys! So fashionable and a great love for music and rhythm..it's so awesome!
Saturday we saw whales!!! BLUE WHALES(biggest whale in the world) in fact (for you Hill) and they were so beautiful! They were jumping and splashing and basically showing off for us which was just fantastic cuz obviosuly that's what we were there for! We did a little shopping and had dinner overlooking the bay which was really nice!
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were clinicals!! I absolutely loved our facility and the staff was so welcoming! I felt at home within the first day. We saw two live births which were beautiful and we actually became the cheering squad for the unit haha We were helping to support the mothers during their deliveries and then afterwards we helped to take care of the newborn babies! They were SO tiny and the cutest things everrrr!
Last night we had a group dinner at our Professor's apartment--mexican. Delicious. Walking home we got caught in a hurricane storm aaaand we have funny pictures absolutely dripping, soaking wet..I had no umbrella but worse, I didn't even have a hood on my jacket. It was hilarious! All we could do was laugh hysterically as we trudged home (15 minute walk) in whipping winds and buckets of water falling out of the sky, completely unexpected haha
And today we had a very long day of class while it was beautiful outside :'( Oh and after class I was extremely motivated for some reason and took a pilates class then a spin class..just thought I'd let ppl know I'm actually using the gym membership I bought and it's not going to waste!
Tomorrow is our first exam.. And of course tonight we get the internet and now none of us can possibly study..way too excited!
I will definitely post pictures this weekend! I have about a thousand at this point sooo I probably won't do ALL of them obviously, but I will make a few good albums and put them up for everyone!
I will write again soon! xoxo
Friday, September 26, 2008
My first live birth! and more...
Well I'm getting yelled at for not posting often enough so here we go....
Clinicals start Monday!!! :) We are in two groups of 7 going to two big hospitals here in the city..I'm really excited! Oh and this past Tuesday I was fortunate enough to see my first live birth! It was absolutely beautiful. I was very emotional of course and so were the other girls.. It made me even more ready to start clinicals and get going with this rotation. What is interesting about things here is that the nurses deliver the babies..there wasn't even a doctor who worked at this clinic..the nurses and nursing students (so crazy) do everything in the labor and delivery ward..I like the independence that they have here.
So Wednesday was Heritage Day! Everything in the city closes down except for certain things like restaurants and museums...so we ventured out to a placed called the Company Gardens which were absolutely spectacular..so many gorgeous flowers and then we went into a couple of the free museums and saw an african band and dance group perform which was really awesome!
We have plans to go out for a big group dinner and then to a club called Tiger Tiger for Kristen's 21st birthday..I'm so pumped! It will be a blast with everyone! Then tomorrow we're going to Hermanus Bay for the whale festival..I'm crossing my fingers we see at least one whale and I'll be completely satisfied!
Anyways, Hill I hope this is good for you! haha and I will post again after this weekend to let you know how things turned out! I love everyone!
Love,
Me
Clinicals start Monday!!! :) We are in two groups of 7 going to two big hospitals here in the city..I'm really excited! Oh and this past Tuesday I was fortunate enough to see my first live birth! It was absolutely beautiful. I was very emotional of course and so were the other girls.. It made me even more ready to start clinicals and get going with this rotation. What is interesting about things here is that the nurses deliver the babies..there wasn't even a doctor who worked at this clinic..the nurses and nursing students (so crazy) do everything in the labor and delivery ward..I like the independence that they have here.
So Wednesday was Heritage Day! Everything in the city closes down except for certain things like restaurants and museums...so we ventured out to a placed called the Company Gardens which were absolutely spectacular..so many gorgeous flowers and then we went into a couple of the free museums and saw an african band and dance group perform which was really awesome!
We have plans to go out for a big group dinner and then to a club called Tiger Tiger for Kristen's 21st birthday..I'm so pumped! It will be a blast with everyone! Then tomorrow we're going to Hermanus Bay for the whale festival..I'm crossing my fingers we see at least one whale and I'll be completely satisfied!
Anyways, Hill I hope this is good for you! haha and I will post again after this weekend to let you know how things turned out! I love everyone!
Love,
Me
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Classes and clinical begin!
First off...what the heck is with all this rain here?? We've had one sunny day in the past week...very depressing..I can't wait for summer!! It needs to hurry up cuz I'm ready to go to the beach! :)
Secondly..we finally started class today...I've never been so happy to start school..I need routine in my life again. We took a taxi up to UCT (it cost each of us $1 including tip..I still can't get over how cheap everything is here) and had class all day. I'm really interested in this maternity rotation so I was very eager for the lecture today.
Also, we've visited a bunch of our clinical locations this week...We have a lot to look forward to starting next week. Yesterday we went to the Red Cross Pediatric Hospital, that we live across the street from, and were introduced to the pediatric burn unit where we will be working. Once again, a very tearful experience. It was absolutely heart-wrenching seeing these one and two year old babies who's faces, hands, and bodies were completely burned. Even more sad were the parents telling us the stories of how this happened to their children...Most of the people who were there currently live in the poor townships here and these accidents happen so easily in a house which consists of one or maybe two rooms so the children get to the stove or knock over the kettle of boiling water onto their heads and arms..It was really one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Dr. Rode, one of the best surgeons on the continent of Africa, who specializes in the care of burn victims and will be guiding our experience there. He is an amazing person to say the least..He has an amazing compassionate and non-judgemental approach to the children and families. I am very happy we will be working with him. He has a lot to teach us and I feel more than ready at this point to help as much as possible. We also were able to see siamese twin girls..They were so cute! They are 4 months old and should be separated in just a month or two which is exciting because we will be here for it! The only organ they share is the liver which is the best scenario because the liver is able to regenerate if they are successful is separating them...so that is very new and exciting for us to be a part of!
Tomorrow we have class again at the school and then it's the weekend!! We are going out tomorrow night in downtown Cape Town which will be a fantastic time (great music and dancing everywhere you go) and then Saturday I'm volunteering at one of the clinics. I'll be helping care for the babies by changing diapers, feeding and playing with them, etc. The babies at this clinic are all HIV positive and are there because their families don't have enough money for proper care and treatment of the disease. We toured the facility on Monday..it's very basic..a lot simpler then what we're used to at home in the States but I am still very excited to help out in any way possible.
I'll write again in a few days! Hopefully we will have some sunshine here by then! :)
Secondly..we finally started class today...I've never been so happy to start school..I need routine in my life again. We took a taxi up to UCT (it cost each of us $1 including tip..I still can't get over how cheap everything is here) and had class all day. I'm really interested in this maternity rotation so I was very eager for the lecture today.
Also, we've visited a bunch of our clinical locations this week...We have a lot to look forward to starting next week. Yesterday we went to the Red Cross Pediatric Hospital, that we live across the street from, and were introduced to the pediatric burn unit where we will be working. Once again, a very tearful experience. It was absolutely heart-wrenching seeing these one and two year old babies who's faces, hands, and bodies were completely burned. Even more sad were the parents telling us the stories of how this happened to their children...Most of the people who were there currently live in the poor townships here and these accidents happen so easily in a house which consists of one or maybe two rooms so the children get to the stove or knock over the kettle of boiling water onto their heads and arms..It was really one of the saddest things I've ever seen. Dr. Rode, one of the best surgeons on the continent of Africa, who specializes in the care of burn victims and will be guiding our experience there. He is an amazing person to say the least..He has an amazing compassionate and non-judgemental approach to the children and families. I am very happy we will be working with him. He has a lot to teach us and I feel more than ready at this point to help as much as possible. We also were able to see siamese twin girls..They were so cute! They are 4 months old and should be separated in just a month or two which is exciting because we will be here for it! The only organ they share is the liver which is the best scenario because the liver is able to regenerate if they are successful is separating them...so that is very new and exciting for us to be a part of!
Tomorrow we have class again at the school and then it's the weekend!! We are going out tomorrow night in downtown Cape Town which will be a fantastic time (great music and dancing everywhere you go) and then Saturday I'm volunteering at one of the clinics. I'll be helping care for the babies by changing diapers, feeding and playing with them, etc. The babies at this clinic are all HIV positive and are there because their families don't have enough money for proper care and treatment of the disease. We toured the facility on Monday..it's very basic..a lot simpler then what we're used to at home in the States but I am still very excited to help out in any way possible.
I'll write again in a few days! Hopefully we will have some sunshine here by then! :)
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