COLDPLAY IN AFRICAAAA

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, I’ve been so busy with finals coming up this Thursday and Friday!

I realized I never blogged about going to see Coldplay at the Cape Town Stadium where the World Cup was last year! The stadium holds up to 60,000 people and it was packed. We originally had seats up pretty much in the nosebleed area which wasn’t bad because we could really get a sense of just how huge the stadium is, but I have to say I was pretty jealous of everyone on the ground. While waiting for Coldplay to come on we met some other Americans who were from Utah and currently living in South Africa for an internship which was pretty cool and actually ended up meeting up with them to climb table mountain that weekend! Before the show came on we ended up going down to the ground floor to the merchandise tent and ended up being able to stay on the ground floor for the remainder of the show! Needless to say it was amazing. This was my second time seeing Coldplay and they were even better in Africa. There were fireworks for the opener and closer of the show, giant balloons bouncing through the crowd throughout the entire show and of course the band was flawless. Definitely worth the investment. I want to thank my dad for finding these tickets back in March when we bought them! ☺

CLIMBING TABLE MOUNTAIN!

10/10/11

So this weekend I accomplished the impossible. I, Kate Harris, climbed the giant-ass mountain outside my window, also known as TABLE MOUNTAIN!!! What does this entail you ask? Let me enlighten you! It consists of packing and drinking over 3 liters of water and hiking for 4.5 hours pretty much UP HILL for 7K. Not an easy task for me if you know me ☺. However I thought I kept up pretty well and have to say I was pretty impressed with my capability. So obviously table mountain is gigantic so there are many different trails you can take. As a rookie I wanted to take the beginner route of course, but ended up taking the “scenic route” by accident when we decided “that path looks good!” Note to self... don’t do that again! In the end I was glad we took that trail because we really got to see just how beautiful the area is and pretty much ended up climbing three mountains to get to the actual top!
Along the way, we climbed ladders attached to the mountain, scaled rocks, and drank juice boxes. All in all a fantastic time! I have to say getting to the top was one of the most rewarding things I have ever accomplished. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking and I could see both the Atlantic/Indian Ocean and all of downtown Cape Town. Such a beautiful view. After taking many pictures we ended up taking the cable car down which was awesome because it rotated 360 degrees while we were descending so we could get a full view of our surroundings.

All in all a great weekend, even though The Springboks lost in the world cup :(

miss you all!!

KAYAKING WITH WHALES??

Sunday, October 2nd


So I’ve officially been in Cape Town for a full month! I cannot believe how fast this trip is going by and I have to say I’m not too happy about that! I’ve still been doing lots of awesome things with my time including going to Hermanus Whale Festival yesterday, celebrating Jenn’s birthday, and going to Kirstenbosch Gardens today.

On Friday we celebrated Jenn’s birthday with a party at Cubanas a restaurant/bar that our new friend Bunny organized. It was so cool of her to show us a “real South African” birthday and we all had a lot of fun. On Saturday we went to Hermanus a town that is well known for having over 80 whales swimming along its shoreline. We got there at 8 in the morning and I had scheduled a kayaking trip in the ocean at 9. I was sooo nervous at first because the waves looked gigantic and I could not stop thinking that I was going to be eaten by a shark! Four of us from UConn joined a group where our instructor told us the basics of kayaking and that it is really very safe. Jenn and I shared a kayak and I took the front of it. Once we got out in the water, our instructor had a radio and any time there was a whale spotting he would hear about it and we would kayak over to near where it was. We ended up seeing a good amount of whales breaching but none were ever really scary close. We also saw penguins and a seal just chilling in the ocean, which was really neat!! I actually wasn’t terrible at kayaking in the middle of the ocean surprisingly and didn’t even get sea sick. There ended up being one girl that got sick and had to lie down in her kayak while the instructor attached her kayak to his and paddled her around for the remainder of the tour. Lucky that didn’t happen to me! Soo glad we ended up doing the kayaking trip because it really wasn’t that scary, and such an awesome experience!!

After kayaking we had lunch and then went over to “treetop canopy slides” in the middle of the woods where we paid to zip line from tree to tree. I had never done zip lining before but after kayaking in the Atlantic Ocean I wasn’t too nervous about it. Ended up being a lot of fun, even though one girl ripped her pants, and we made friends with the zipine instructors so that they played music while we ziplined. Pretty fun.


Today I was supposed to hike Table Mountain, that giant scary mountain that is pretty much the staple of Cape Town. However, we got to the base of the mountain and the workers there said it was soo windy and dangerous that if you were to try and hike the mountain you would get blown right off of it! Needless to say we ditched that idea and decided to go to Kirstenbosch Gardens instead! It was still cold, but the flowers were beautiful and we had a nice and relaxing walk around the area, which I really needed after a busy weekend!

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!

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!

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!

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!