Soooo today I had my very first ostrich burger and I have to say it was extremely delicious! I'm absolutely obsessed with the food here and I'm loving trying new things each day. I had another 7 hours of class today which is what I do every Thursday, though this time it was a bit better because I was not sitting in soaking wet clothes the entire time! (Last week we had to brave a torrentially down pouring storm in order to get to school) not fun! After class I went to the library to do some studying for our exam. The library was amazing and actually quiet (unlike uconn). I got so into studying that when I looked up from my notes I had completely forgotten I was in Africa and not in Homer Babbige library at Uconn. Such a weird but cool feeling!
Tomorrow I have my exam and then most of the day free so I think we might be going to see LIon King 3D! How many people can say they've seen Lion King in theatres while in africa? Not many I'd say! Sooo pumped :)
Night!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Week 2 of Clinical: Tafelsig Clinic
So this past week I was at Tafelsig Clinic. This clinic is in the poorest of the poor area of Cape Town where people literally have nothing. People come to the clinic and will wait all day in a room with 100s of other sick people just to be seen or to get a medication they cannot afford otherwise. When you first walk in the clinic you are surrounded by a sea of sick people all waiting on benches rocking their sick babies or suppressing their own coughs. The first day at Tafelsig, I was placed in the immunization room with one of the Sisters. I watched her immunize the first bunch of kids and she showed me the different vaccines that were to be given at each age group. When I was finally comfortable it was my turn to give the immunizations and I have to say it was definitely not my favorite thing to do. Imagine an adorable 6 month old baby coming in smiling up at you wanting to trust you… and then having to stab them repeatedly in each appendage. Not a fun experience. The babies leave the room screaming and looking at you with these big tear-felt eyes that seem to say “how could you do that to me?? I trusted you!!” Needless to say immunizing kids was not my favorite task of the day. However, I know it’s in the best interest of these kids because they out of all people especially need these vaccines!
On the second day at Tafelsig I was placed in the “baby weighing area” so you can imagine what went on there. My day consisted of “triaging” patients or rather having baby after baby undress and lie on a scale while I get their weight and then take their temperature. I then asked the mother what symptoms or problems the baby was having and sent them on to the next room to be seen at. It was an extremely busy day and a lotta bit chaotic especially since everyone around me seemed to be shouting something in Afrikaans that I did not understand. However, for my first day in that area I think I did a pretty good job and pretty much kept my cool throughout the chaos. All in all definitely felt like I made a difference at the clinic and helped these sick babies get seen sooner by the Sisters so that they could get the medication they needed or further treatment if necessary.
This Wednesday I had the day off from clinical so I had a nice relaxing day to myself. I was sitting outside on a warm sunny day lounging by the pool and studying for my exam for most of the day. However, when I got up to bring my stuff inside my phone fell out of my grasp and bounced once dislodging the battery and the backcover and dropping the only important part of the phone into the pool. Of course right? Luckily Ben (the RA) was able to provide me with a new phone that worked with my SIM card!! Still owe him 350 rand though ☹. So after that chaos subsided another scary event occurred. I was sitting in the pool house minding my own business when one of the girls came running in saying that a man was at our front door (meaning that he had somehow made it through our front gate). We were all freaked out and decided to investigate to see if he was really there so we headed into the main house. One of the girls from the pool house grabbed a kitchen knife for back up and we snuck up to the front of the house. Sure enough there was a strange man at the door. We immediately panicked and called Ben (who clearly is a lifesaver) and Harry our landlord. Harry told us that his assistant did our laundry and should be there to drop it off so we went to the front and cracked the window to inquire as to who this strange man was. Sure enough it was the laundry-guy so we awkwardly opened all of the bolted doors and accepted our laundry. Moral of the story? Better safe than sorry when in Cape Town!
So tomorrow I have 7 hours of classes and then more study time for my exam on Friday! Good night!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Week 1 of Clinical Complete!
So I successfully completed my first week of clinicals in South Africa!! I spent this week at Gatesville Hospital which is a private muslim hospital. I was on the pediatric floor of course and each day I was on the same ward with the same 6 patients. Their ages ranged from 4 to 10 years old and for the most part they all spoke english. On the first day the sisters (nurses) were very welcoming to me and as soon as I asked what I could do to help they had me administering medication, charting, and managing IV pumps. It was really neat just to dive in and help out. The most confusing part about clinicals in South Africa is that none of the meds are the same. I have to ask and write down what every single medication is so I know what I'm giving the patients. I'm already starting to recognize the names from day to day so I think I'll catch on pretty quick!
I haven't had a chance to work with really young kids yet but I have to say I absolutely love working with the 4 to 10 year olds. There was an adorable 4 year old who barely spoke any English but did speak Xhosa (that language with impossible clicks) however we got past the language barrier and I took care of him and played with him with his stuffed bears that he had and just loved it! Then there was a boy next to him who was 10 and sort of translating for me as to what the little boy was saying. He was soo sweet and well behaved! I'm pretty sure that South African children are much more well-behaved that those in the US!
On Wednesday night we had a post-conference where we talk about our clinical week at our clinical professor's apartment where she made us homemade lasagna and pasta which was sooo nice of her!
On Thursday we had our first class at University of Cape Town, and me and a couple of the girls decided to try and take the "Jammie Shuttle" or public transportation for the university up to campus. Sounds easy right? Wrong. First of all it was down pouring out and the bus stop was around a 25 minute walk away. I had my rain jacket and umbrella but it literally did nothing. By the time we got to the bus stop all of our jeans were soaked. We caught the jammie just in time thankfully, and Jenn started chatting with the guy next to her who helped give her directions to where our classroom is. When we got off the bus and started walking up to where he had told her we realized that we were going totally in the wrong direction and this guy had tried to get us completely and utterly lost. Shows ya can't trust everyone you meet! However we figured it out and still made it to class on time! We had 8 hours of pediatric lecture and had to sit in our soaking jeans the entire time. Not a fun situation. As soon as we got out of class though the sun was shining and it turned into a much better day!
On Friday we only had 2 hours of lecture so our professor offered to come to our house to teach us rather than have all 15 of us make the 50 minute walk to campus or to take the shuttle. It was so laid back that we were all in sweatpants and pajamas sitting in the lounge, I loved it! Friday afternoon, I met up with some UCT students who Chioma had met last week and got to make some new friends! They were all really cool and we ended up going out with them Friday night and we are going to a 'braai' or BBQ later today at one of their houses! Now it's the weekend and I have some studying to do because we have an exam every week and I really don't want to get behind!
I haven't had a chance to work with really young kids yet but I have to say I absolutely love working with the 4 to 10 year olds. There was an adorable 4 year old who barely spoke any English but did speak Xhosa (that language with impossible clicks) however we got past the language barrier and I took care of him and played with him with his stuffed bears that he had and just loved it! Then there was a boy next to him who was 10 and sort of translating for me as to what the little boy was saying. He was soo sweet and well behaved! I'm pretty sure that South African children are much more well-behaved that those in the US!
On Wednesday night we had a post-conference where we talk about our clinical week at our clinical professor's apartment where she made us homemade lasagna and pasta which was sooo nice of her!
On Thursday we had our first class at University of Cape Town, and me and a couple of the girls decided to try and take the "Jammie Shuttle" or public transportation for the university up to campus. Sounds easy right? Wrong. First of all it was down pouring out and the bus stop was around a 25 minute walk away. I had my rain jacket and umbrella but it literally did nothing. By the time we got to the bus stop all of our jeans were soaked. We caught the jammie just in time thankfully, and Jenn started chatting with the guy next to her who helped give her directions to where our classroom is. When we got off the bus and started walking up to where he had told her we realized that we were going totally in the wrong direction and this guy had tried to get us completely and utterly lost. Shows ya can't trust everyone you meet! However we figured it out and still made it to class on time! We had 8 hours of pediatric lecture and had to sit in our soaking jeans the entire time. Not a fun situation. As soon as we got out of class though the sun was shining and it turned into a much better day!
On Friday we only had 2 hours of lecture so our professor offered to come to our house to teach us rather than have all 15 of us make the 50 minute walk to campus or to take the shuttle. It was so laid back that we were all in sweatpants and pajamas sitting in the lounge, I loved it! Friday afternoon, I met up with some UCT students who Chioma had met last week and got to make some new friends! They were all really cool and we ended up going out with them Friday night and we are going to a 'braai' or BBQ later today at one of their houses! Now it's the weekend and I have some studying to do because we have an exam every week and I really don't want to get behind!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Orientation to Clinical!
Monday September 12, 2011
First Day of Clinicals!!
So today was orientation of the 7 different clinical sites we will all be working at throughout the entire semester. Two of them are muslim hospitals called Gatesville Hospital and Mitchell’s Plain Hospital where we will be on their pediatric and maternity floors. For this first week I will be starting at Gatesville hospital which we had a full orientation of and I am very excited to begin my clinicals there! It was amazing to see the differences and similarities between their hospitals and the ones that I have worked at in the states. From what I could tell they definitely do not have as much state-of-the-art equipment as we do but they simply have what is needed to given a patient adequate care and nurturing love to help them get well. I will be excited to see many more differences between South African hospitals and the US.
We then went to the two clinical sites where we have the option to volunteer at on weekends and our days off. The first is The Red Cross Hospital for Pediatrics which is the largest hospital for kids in all of South Africa. It is also directly in front of our house and very convenient! The hospital was huge but the equipment and overall layout of the hospital was very dated. We got to walk through the wards and see all of the kids and I can tell you I have never seen so many sick kids in one area. It’s so heartbreaking to see a child less than a year old with an NG tube or a trach to help them breathe. The saddest thing I saw today was the burn unit where there were many children all bandaged up but still so full of life. They welcomed us with excitement and waved enthusiastically at us, it was so touching to see.
From there we also visited a Pediatric-Orthopedic clinic where children go for surgery and rehabilitation. We got to spend some time visiting with the kids and I noticed with the younger children it was a little bit harder to communicate because we had a bit of a lanaguage barrier. I was still able to chat with one boy about his batman sheets (I was pretty jealous) and give and receive a thumbs up and peace sign with a toddler. Quite adorable. Needless to say I cannot wait to learn how to communicate further with these kids and learn how to treat them for their many nursing needs.
We also went to a clinic called Themba Care which is a palliative care facility for children with HIV/AIDS. They receive nursing care, anti-retroviral treatment, and lots of love from the staff. I cannot wait to work there more and get to know each of the little ones. From what we saw there today there can be quite a range in the level of sickness in the children. Many of them ran straight up to us and gave us hugs and could be seen running around and so full of life. It is great to see that the medications for children with HIV are very effective and can give these children an extended and great quality of life.
Another clinic we went to is called Beautiful Gates and very similar to Themba Care except that the overall goal of the facility is to have the children go home to a safe environment.
We also went to Tafelsig (probably spelled that wrong), which is a walk-in clinic in the townships for the general population. We are going to be working primarily with the children and babies coming in weighing them and giving them immunizations which should be a lot of fun! The only frustrating thing about the clinic is that there are sooo many people there that can sometimes be stuck waiting all day just to be seen by a clinician. At least I definitely know I will be making a difference there!
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I’m sure I will updating you about each individual clinical site as I go there, but til then let me just say that these clinical sites are so much cooler than Connecticut! Til tomorrow!
First Day of Clinicals!!
So today was orientation of the 7 different clinical sites we will all be working at throughout the entire semester. Two of them are muslim hospitals called Gatesville Hospital and Mitchell’s Plain Hospital where we will be on their pediatric and maternity floors. For this first week I will be starting at Gatesville hospital which we had a full orientation of and I am very excited to begin my clinicals there! It was amazing to see the differences and similarities between their hospitals and the ones that I have worked at in the states. From what I could tell they definitely do not have as much state-of-the-art equipment as we do but they simply have what is needed to given a patient adequate care and nurturing love to help them get well. I will be excited to see many more differences between South African hospitals and the US.
We then went to the two clinical sites where we have the option to volunteer at on weekends and our days off. The first is The Red Cross Hospital for Pediatrics which is the largest hospital for kids in all of South Africa. It is also directly in front of our house and very convenient! The hospital was huge but the equipment and overall layout of the hospital was very dated. We got to walk through the wards and see all of the kids and I can tell you I have never seen so many sick kids in one area. It’s so heartbreaking to see a child less than a year old with an NG tube or a trach to help them breathe. The saddest thing I saw today was the burn unit where there were many children all bandaged up but still so full of life. They welcomed us with excitement and waved enthusiastically at us, it was so touching to see.
From there we also visited a Pediatric-Orthopedic clinic where children go for surgery and rehabilitation. We got to spend some time visiting with the kids and I noticed with the younger children it was a little bit harder to communicate because we had a bit of a lanaguage barrier. I was still able to chat with one boy about his batman sheets (I was pretty jealous) and give and receive a thumbs up and peace sign with a toddler. Quite adorable. Needless to say I cannot wait to learn how to communicate further with these kids and learn how to treat them for their many nursing needs.
We also went to a clinic called Themba Care which is a palliative care facility for children with HIV/AIDS. They receive nursing care, anti-retroviral treatment, and lots of love from the staff. I cannot wait to work there more and get to know each of the little ones. From what we saw there today there can be quite a range in the level of sickness in the children. Many of them ran straight up to us and gave us hugs and could be seen running around and so full of life. It is great to see that the medications for children with HIV are very effective and can give these children an extended and great quality of life.
Another clinic we went to is called Beautiful Gates and very similar to Themba Care except that the overall goal of the facility is to have the children go home to a safe environment.
We also went to Tafelsig (probably spelled that wrong), which is a walk-in clinic in the townships for the general population. We are going to be working primarily with the children and babies coming in weighing them and giving them immunizations which should be a lot of fun! The only frustrating thing about the clinic is that there are sooo many people there that can sometimes be stuck waiting all day just to be seen by a clinician. At least I definitely know I will be making a difference there!
.
I’m sure I will updating you about each individual clinical site as I go there, but til then let me just say that these clinical sites are so much cooler than Connecticut! Til tomorrow!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Cape Point and Penguins!
Sunday September 11th, 2011
So I didn’t think anything could top yesterday, but I was wrong. Today we took a trip around the entire Peninsula of South Africa and saw the gorgeous scenery of this beautiful country. We stopped at Fourth Beach first of all and got many gorgeous pictures on the rocks overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. After that we went to Hout Bay and walked around the craft market and practiced bartering with the shop owners. We then departed for Cape Point, which was abosolutely breath taking. We had lunch at Two Oceans Restaurant; which overlooked the bay and I was even able to see some whales while waiting for my lunch to arrive! After a delicious group meal, we hiked up to the lighthouse on the top of Cape Point where you could look out for miles and really soak in just how terrific this country is. While overlooking the ocean, myself and a few other girls noticed a path that led to an even further tip of the peninsula and realized we had to get there! WE were on a time constraint so we literally booked it to the tip of the peninsula (while being on the look out for baboons which are apparently very common in the area). We made it to the most southern point of South Africa and just took it all in. Words and pictures cannot describe how phenomenal that experience was. I definitely will be returning to Cape Point again to explore and soak in the serenity of that area… and maybe see a baboon or two!
We hurried back to the bus to head to Boulders Beach which is known for it’s Penguin Colony! We got there just while the park was closing but were able to convince the workers there to keep it open for ten more minutes. So the whole group of us ran like mad people down the boardwalk where we were welcomed with a colony of penguins! The penguins are called African Jackass Penguins and are soo cute! We were up on a boardwalk so I wasn’t able to pet/pat a penguin but I guess petting a cheetah will just have to do for now!
So that was my Sunday! I’m pretty exhausted and will be getting to bed soon because we have our first day of clinicals tomorrow and I am soo excited!! Night!
Winelands and Cheetah Petting
Saturday September 10, 2011
Today was by far one of my favorite days! It started out with a trip to Durbanville, where many of the winelands are! We headed to Altyd Gedacht Wine Estate where we were given a delicious wine tasting of their many varieties. The winery was very quaint because it is family run and the owner kindly told us the history of how it came to be and showed great pride in their wine! After the tasting the owner took us out on a vineyard tour! It was an absolutely gorgeous day out and I could not believe how beautiful the vineyard was! He took us straight into the vineyard and explained where each of the different grapes were grown. Along the tour we came across a wild ostrich in the distance (apparently very common in the area). Needless to say it was awesome!! Still kind of hitting me that I am in South Africa!
We then headed to Stellenbosch, another area filled with vineyards, to the Spier Wine Estate; which is more of a commercial winery. It was gorgeous but very touristy and we had a spectacular lunch at a restaurant called Moyo’s African Cuisine which I highly recommend! It was buffet style and they literally had every kind of amazing food you could imagine! I tried springbok (a sort of antelope type animal) and the other delicacies of African culture that I am in love with. During our meal the chef himself brought out a beautiful cake for Michelle, my lovely roommate, who celebrated her 21st birthday today!!
Me and Vernon (pretty much organized this entire study abroad program for us) with our tribal face paint!
After stuffing ourselves we headed across the winelands to have a CHEETAH ENCOUNTER!!! The estate is the home of 11 cheetahs which for a pretty decent price we could go into their home (with their keepers right next to us) and pet them! Sooo amazing!! Never thought I would be able to say that I pet a cheetah but there you go! It was pretty wild and I have to admit I was a bit nervous but the keepers there did not mess around and made sure that we were all safe and that none of the cheetahs were agitated.
After having hefty leftovers for dinner, the whole group of us went out to celebrate Michelle’s 21st! We went to a restaurant/bar called Cubanas which had very tasty drinks and hookah for a very reasonable price. Had a pretty fun night but didn’t stay out too late because we had to be up and out of the house by 9:30am the next day!
Today was by far one of my favorite days! It started out with a trip to Durbanville, where many of the winelands are! We headed to Altyd Gedacht Wine Estate where we were given a delicious wine tasting of their many varieties. The winery was very quaint because it is family run and the owner kindly told us the history of how it came to be and showed great pride in their wine! After the tasting the owner took us out on a vineyard tour! It was an absolutely gorgeous day out and I could not believe how beautiful the vineyard was! He took us straight into the vineyard and explained where each of the different grapes were grown. Along the tour we came across a wild ostrich in the distance (apparently very common in the area). Needless to say it was awesome!! Still kind of hitting me that I am in South Africa!
We then headed to Stellenbosch, another area filled with vineyards, to the Spier Wine Estate; which is more of a commercial winery. It was gorgeous but very touristy and we had a spectacular lunch at a restaurant called Moyo’s African Cuisine which I highly recommend! It was buffet style and they literally had every kind of amazing food you could imagine! I tried springbok (a sort of antelope type animal) and the other delicacies of African culture that I am in love with. During our meal the chef himself brought out a beautiful cake for Michelle, my lovely roommate, who celebrated her 21st birthday today!!
Me and Vernon (pretty much organized this entire study abroad program for us) with our tribal face paint!
After stuffing ourselves we headed across the winelands to have a CHEETAH ENCOUNTER!!! The estate is the home of 11 cheetahs which for a pretty decent price we could go into their home (with their keepers right next to us) and pet them! Sooo amazing!! Never thought I would be able to say that I pet a cheetah but there you go! It was pretty wild and I have to admit I was a bit nervous but the keepers there did not mess around and made sure that we were all safe and that none of the cheetahs were agitated.
After having hefty leftovers for dinner, the whole group of us went out to celebrate Michelle’s 21st! We went to a restaurant/bar called Cubanas which had very tasty drinks and hookah for a very reasonable price. Had a pretty fun night but didn’t stay out too late because we had to be up and out of the house by 9:30am the next day!
The Reality of Cape Town
Friday, September 9th 2011.
So as you probably know Cape Town has a lot of areas that are poverty stricken and people literally have nothing. Today we took a tour of the “townships” or areas where people live in pretty much whatever materials and scraps they can find to make a home for themselves and their family. On average around 6 people live in one of these homes which may or may not have electricity. We went to the different areas around Cape Town including Langa (one of the oldest townships), Gugulethu (where we had gone last Sunday for church), and Khayletsha; which is one of the largest townships in Cape Town. I had seen the townships from the highway when we were driven around the area but had never really gone through them before and saw just how they really were. It was very emotional and difficult to see just how little these people have ot live with and definitely made me upset. But we were able to go to one of the townships community center where people of the town sell goods that they have made so I was able to contribute to the community by purchasing a gorgeous sand painting of table mountain.
In Khaylethisa we visited TAC (treatment action campaign), an HIV/AIDS Advocacy Organization that provides education, testing and treatment for residents of the area poth HIV+ or not. It was great to see that so much was being done to educate and prevent further spread of the disease but still sad to see that 33% of the community is infected.
After that we visited Elonwabeni Project, a residential facility for vulnerable children who were taken away from their families for usually between 6 months – 2 years until they have a stable home life. The home also has a job creation facility for mothers and other members of the community. We were able to see the work that the mothers do and even purchase some of their wonderful crafts that they make daily. The woman who runs the facility was so very welcoming to us and had us all hold hands in a circle and introduce us to each of the woman and explain exactly what they do there. We then got to meet the adorable children staying at the facility and even got to listen to them sing a song for us! SOO CUTE ☺
After that crazy busy day, we relaxed at Chai Yo an absolutely delicious Thai restaurant right in my town that I definitely will be frequenting a lot!
Tour of the Slave Lodge and visit to the US Consulate
Thursday September 8th 2011
Today was another interesting day. Departed in the morning to downtown Cape Town to spend the morning touring the Slave Lodge. I didn’t know much about South Africa’s history but this tour and museum enlightened me on the subject. In the 1600s many slaves from western Africa and mostly across the Indian Ocean came to Cape Town and served the colonists there. It was really interesting to learn about because I had no idea that South Africans come from so diverse a background. The tour was given by a woman named Lucy who was soo passionate about the subject. She spoke about the importance of knowing ones background and how the majority of the people of Cape Town do not discuss or know about their true background. The museum we were in was literally a slave lodge which was a warehouse back in the 1600s used to store company slave workers.
After the Slave Lodge, we had lunch at Mariam’s Kitchen where I had delicious middle eastern food! I’m doing a really good job at trying new foods and usually eat whatever is suggested by the workers at restaurants as their staple food!
After Mariams we got on the bus and went to the American Consulate of South Africa. It was pretty intense and they wouldn’t even let us take any pictures, but pretty much we were sat down in a room and told that the best way to stay safe in this country is to get on a plane to the US. Very nice! After the “scaring” of us, the guy giving us the speech invited us to a marine farewell party next weekend! Should be fun!!
Later tonight we went to a restaurant called “Blue Chip” where there was a live jazz band. Joe, the man who had given us a tour of the District 6 museum earlier in the week, was there and even got up and sang “What a Wonderful World” to us! He was an excellent jazz singer and had us all swaying and singing along! The original jazz band was soo great and even got all of us up and dancing including Vernon and Parks (our driver/body guard who pretty much resembles Mike Tyson). Over all excellent night!
Today was another interesting day. Departed in the morning to downtown Cape Town to spend the morning touring the Slave Lodge. I didn’t know much about South Africa’s history but this tour and museum enlightened me on the subject. In the 1600s many slaves from western Africa and mostly across the Indian Ocean came to Cape Town and served the colonists there. It was really interesting to learn about because I had no idea that South Africans come from so diverse a background. The tour was given by a woman named Lucy who was soo passionate about the subject. She spoke about the importance of knowing ones background and how the majority of the people of Cape Town do not discuss or know about their true background. The museum we were in was literally a slave lodge which was a warehouse back in the 1600s used to store company slave workers.
After the Slave Lodge, we had lunch at Mariam’s Kitchen where I had delicious middle eastern food! I’m doing a really good job at trying new foods and usually eat whatever is suggested by the workers at restaurants as their staple food!
After Mariams we got on the bus and went to the American Consulate of South Africa. It was pretty intense and they wouldn’t even let us take any pictures, but pretty much we were sat down in a room and told that the best way to stay safe in this country is to get on a plane to the US. Very nice! After the “scaring” of us, the guy giving us the speech invited us to a marine farewell party next weekend! Should be fun!!
Later tonight we went to a restaurant called “Blue Chip” where there was a live jazz band. Joe, the man who had given us a tour of the District 6 museum earlier in the week, was there and even got up and sang “What a Wonderful World” to us! He was an excellent jazz singer and had us all swaying and singing along! The original jazz band was soo great and even got all of us up and dancing including Vernon and Parks (our driver/body guard who pretty much resembles Mike Tyson). Over all excellent night!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Robben Island Adventure!
Wednesday September 7th 2011.
Today we went to Robben Island, which I had been looking forward too ever since I read Nelson Mandela’s biography “A Long Walk To Freedom.” It was a gorgeous day and we hopped on a ferry on the waterfront of Cape Town and began our journey towards Robben Island. The ferry ride was absolutely breathtaking. We had seals swimming alongside the ferry and looking behind us could see the entire landscape of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background. I think I love my new home.
Robben Island is the place Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in for 18 years as a political prisoner. We were driven around the area and allowed to take pictures at places like the quarry where he would work during the day. We were then taken into the prison and allowed to see the exact cell that Mandela stayed in. It was pretty sad to see the living situation that these prisoners had but what touched me the most was that the tour guide was a former prisoner of Robben Island and because he could not find another job after granted his freedom, he was forced to come back and work at Robben Island as a guide.
After getting the full tour of Robben Island, we had a wonderfully delicious lunch on the waterfront at a reasonably priced restaurant. I had lobster bisque (actually crayfish bisque) but still tasty! Then we walked around the waterfront; which is an extremely touristy area which I’m not exactly a fan of but it was still nice. Very gorgeous and safe area to just walk around on a beautiful day!
After getting the full tour of the waterfront we came back to the house and met with our RA to go over some more legistics on safety in the city. Good times! ☺ Got to skype with my brother at night which was awesome!!! Love and miss you all!
What I did on Wednesday!
Old Parliament building where Nelson Mandela gave his first speech as a freed man!!
So today I got to learn a lot more about the history of Cape Town. Sounds like a boring day right? Wrong. Spent the morning exploring and touring the “District 6” museum in downtown Cape Town. In case you were wondering what District 6 is let me tell you! It’s one of the 9 districts in cape town that was established in the 1800s and for many years people of colour and whites both lived there if they could afford too. Then in the 1960s many new acts were established that determined that whites and coloured people should no longer live together and therefore forced the non-whites to leave their well established homes close to their jobs that many of them had lived in all their lives. They were forced to move to what is known as “the cape flats” a very under-developed area no where near their jobs and very impoverished. The abandoned homes in district 6 were then demolished in order to build up a “better” white area.
We toured a museum in memory of the district 6 before it got demolished and were given the tour by an amazing cape-townian named Joe who grew up in district 6 and had many great stories to share with us. He was actually at the jazz club last night and is a pretty ridiculously good jazz singer!
After the museum tour we went to Charly’s bakery for lunch. Charly’s is pretty much Willy Wonka’s factory in the heart of Cape Town. AKA paradise. We all had delicious quiches and pies for lunch but really it was all about the dessert!! Earlier this morning I had called Charly’s and organized to have two cakes (a wicked chocolate cake and double chocolate cheese cake) premade and decorated for Vernon (our wonderful guide/teacher) and his birthday we had just missed. He absolutely loved it!!! So glad we were able to do that for him because he is soooo great and good to us!
After a delicious binge lunch we spent the afternoon walking around downtown cape town and getting to know the area.(( There are so many options for transportation in Cape town and we were introduced to all of them. There are taxis, giant coach buses used to tranaport workers from the townships into the city, “mini-buses” or crazy bus-taxis that pack up with people and speed around the city (mildly terrifying). For the most part I’ll be using metered taxis to get into the city I think! The markets were amazing and I bought a South Africa flag that I hung in my room after bartering with the market worker!
For dinner we went to an Ethiopian restaurant, which we were told meant we definitely had to eat with our hands, but aside from that I did not know what to expect! The restaurant was beautiful and the food was amazing!!! We all sat around one communal table where they served us a sampler of Ethiopian food on a special kind of sour dough which we could end up eating as well. They poured the food out of the bowls so that we could all dig in together! We each had our own rolled up portion of sour dough that we used to pick up the different kinds of food and eat with our hands. SO GOOD. And not as messy as I expected actually!! All in all a great night!!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Attending a baptist church in south africa
Today it finally hit me. I’m really in South Africa… We spent the entire morning at Sivuyile First Baptist Church in Gugulethu for praise and worship and it was by far one of the more life changing experiences I have ever had. The town of Guglethu is quite impoverished and the people there literally have nothing. The cross in front of the church was literally two pieces of plywood, and the homes surrounding the church had tin roofs and barbed wire on the fences in front. Despite all of these hardships we were welcomed with open arms to a community filled with faith and joy. The name Sivuyile means “rejoice” which is exactly what I experienced today. The choir was a group of youth singing and harmonizing beautifully in Xhosa while dancing and swaying in jubilation. When the church filled up a group of men were gathered in one area, the youth choir in another and all of the women and children were situated in the pews behind us. When the first choir member opened her mouth to sing and worship, tears filled my eyes. The emotion and enthusiasm in the group of people around me was almost too much to handle. These people who have so many hardships and burdens put them all aside and come to the Lord for relief and strength.
As each hymn was sung the 15 of us became more and more comfortable with the congregation and started to get into the dancing and rejoicing that was happening around us. It was so amazing how welcoming the congregation was they started teaching me their sweet dance moves and welcomed me with many warm smiles.
Afterward, we got to chat with the Reverend and a sister (nurse) who helps run the church and gave us many helpful words of advice about nursing in South Africa.
The most touching part of the day was the fact that this church which had so little had started a fund to raise money for a school not too far away where children do not have shoes to wear. They asked for donations and I gladly donated. It’s so amazing to see the kindness and selflessness so apparent in this culture…
I know I’m gonna love it here.
SOOO I'M IN AFRICA
Officially made it to cape town safely!! Sorry for the delay in blogging I literally just got internet working today and it has been insanely slow! Also we are incredibly busy doing anything and everything available to us in the area!
I spent my first full day exploring the area around my new home and getting to know the area I have to say it is amazing! I am living in an absolutely gorgeous house with 14 other girls in the nursing program from Uconn. The house comes fully equipped with two kitchens, many bedrooms, lounges, a pool table, personal bar and an in the ground pool! Not too shabby! I am staying in the “pool house,” which is separate from the mainhouse but has a kitchen and four big double-bedrooms each with their own personal bathroom. I like the space though it is extremely cold here because there is no heat and South Africa is just coming out of their winter. Unfortunately I only brought a couple of sweaters but I’m making due and it actually warmed up quite nicely during the day!
So last night I got to meet our RA, Ben Brown, an extremely fabulous and energetic guy who welcomed us with open arms and made us feel very at home. That night Michelle (my roommate) and I went out with Ben to Main St and had the task of ordering pizza on our own for 17 people in a very strange land. It was fun but definitely had to think and be aware of our surroundings!
This morning we met with Reverend Vernon Rose who is one of the coordinators of the program, a lifelong resident of Cape Town, and actually flew to Uconn last October to interview all of us. He is going to be teaching us a class on the culture and history of Cape Town and I know I’m going to love it! He went over our agenda for the next 10 days which included activities such as going to the winelands in Stellenbosch, petting cheetahs, visiting Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years) and of course a safari. No biggggie!
So those are just a few things you will be hearing about over the next couple of weeks, and I cannot wait!!! It’s been tough not being able to get in touch with anyone back home, but I just got my terrible nokia phone set up which always me to send very expensive text messages home and communicate with people over here. Tomorrow I will have internet set up and running for good so I will try and skype and chat with everyone!! Miss everyone back home but am still digesting the idea that I am literally LIVING IN AFRICA and have a GIANT-ASS mountain right outside my window!! (see picture above) Many more pictures to come!!
Headed to bed so I can attend church at Reverend Rose’s Baptist church tomorrow! Should be adorable, cannot wait to sing with and meet the people of his community!
Love and miss you all!!
<3 Kate
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