Well, well, well….May brought lots of goodies and the doom
and gloom of injury…again! Playing Frisbee…again!
I’ll enlighten you…SO my parents came to visit in May, how awesome! I met up with them after a road trip to Durban with Monique and her doggy Juno, lots of fun, with improvised music as her car stereo was broken. Monique, if I haven’t mentioned her before is our super, amazing life-saver of a Pharmacist, as well as being the only pharmacist in the hospital she is doing her master’s degree. She juggles all of this and still manages to be such a lovely, fun-loving person! She showed me the sights of Durbs, (well, the night life) and we met up with one of the British med students we had at ZLE a few weeks prior, lots of fun. So the time came, after almost 10 months I was to meet my parents, I saw their bus pull up and sprinted out of a (rather posh) hotel much to the great amusement of the staff and pounced on my Mam, closely followed by my Daddio, then it was back to normal, like I’d never been away! Lots of good food, drink and laughter followed, then on to Zithulele.
I’ll enlighten you…SO my parents came to visit in May, how awesome! I met up with them after a road trip to Durban with Monique and her doggy Juno, lots of fun, with improvised music as her car stereo was broken. Monique, if I haven’t mentioned her before is our super, amazing life-saver of a Pharmacist, as well as being the only pharmacist in the hospital she is doing her master’s degree. She juggles all of this and still manages to be such a lovely, fun-loving person! She showed me the sights of Durbs, (well, the night life) and we met up with one of the British med students we had at ZLE a few weeks prior, lots of fun. So the time came, after almost 10 months I was to meet my parents, I saw their bus pull up and sprinted out of a (rather posh) hotel much to the great amusement of the staff and pounced on my Mam, closely followed by my Daddio, then it was back to normal, like I’d never been away! Lots of good food, drink and laughter followed, then on to Zithulele.
Work-wise, Cath had her baby Calum (2 months early) in the
beginning of May, meaning she had obviously left a lot earlier than plans, so
things at first got a but crazy, but back into the swing of things J My huge clinics have
now split, so this means that they are all bi-weekly except one, although this
was initially a lot of extra work, it has worked beautifully in the grand
scheme of things and the work load is now a lot more evenly spread through the
months. It is a bit of a double edged sword, in the sense that one day the
programme is going to get too big to be managed the way it is now, but it is
amazing how accepting the country is becoming to HIV and epic by all
proportions how we have so many people now ARVs. Yippppeeee!
I guess this was the highlight of my trip as it made me realise how much I had taken for granted that I was living in one of THE most beautiful places in the world, thanks to my parents sat in awe, gawping at the country-side scenery. It gave me a renewed buzz for this awesome place! After a quick tour and an introduction to Ultimate Frisbee, we eventually let our bums touch the seats. Tuesday we did a bigger tour of the hospital showing off the wonderful ARV clinic that manages crazy numbers of incredibly needing patients. Wednesday brought a picnic on the cliffs looking over Lubanzi bay, our local beach; about 5km away. Not to brag (of course) but it is STUNNING! The day didn’t end well as I ended up hitting the deck during Frisbee that night resulting in torn ankle ligaments, a “pudding” foot that went bluer and bluer by the day. Sad times, maybe one day I’ll learn I’m just not cut out for Frisbee. We then spent a nice long weekend in East London with Cara, getting spoiled. We departed by bus on the Sunday, to meet again in 8 weeks!
We returned in time for Cara’s birthday and an en mass South African style jubilee party hosted by our fellow Brits, Tom and Becky. Fun times galoreee! Cucumber Sandwiches, Victoria Sponge, and all of the other bunting clad clichés. June was also the month of D-Day. The SA-England rugby game in Port Elizabeth. There were copious amounts of threats, bets, and general “banter” (bullying) surrounding the situation. Luckily, or maybe not so, it was a draw; so no humiliation to be had…to some extent. PE was a lot of fun, wow, what a city. We stayed with Pieter who spoilt us rotten and was an incredible host, whipping up some master meals, and sorting emergency pizzas when our braai was called off. Oh, the important things in life.
I guess this was the highlight of my trip as it made me realise how much I had taken for granted that I was living in one of THE most beautiful places in the world, thanks to my parents sat in awe, gawping at the country-side scenery. It gave me a renewed buzz for this awesome place! After a quick tour and an introduction to Ultimate Frisbee, we eventually let our bums touch the seats. Tuesday we did a bigger tour of the hospital showing off the wonderful ARV clinic that manages crazy numbers of incredibly needing patients. Wednesday brought a picnic on the cliffs looking over Lubanzi bay, our local beach; about 5km away. Not to brag (of course) but it is STUNNING! The day didn’t end well as I ended up hitting the deck during Frisbee that night resulting in torn ankle ligaments, a “pudding” foot that went bluer and bluer by the day. Sad times, maybe one day I’ll learn I’m just not cut out for Frisbee. We then spent a nice long weekend in East London with Cara, getting spoiled. We departed by bus on the Sunday, to meet again in 8 weeks!
We returned in time for Cara’s birthday and an en mass South African style jubilee party hosted by our fellow Brits, Tom and Becky. Fun times galoreee! Cucumber Sandwiches, Victoria Sponge, and all of the other bunting clad clichés. June was also the month of D-Day. The SA-England rugby game in Port Elizabeth. There were copious amounts of threats, bets, and general “banter” (bullying) surrounding the situation. Luckily, or maybe not so, it was a draw; so no humiliation to be had…to some extent. PE was a lot of fun, wow, what a city. We stayed with Pieter who spoilt us rotten and was an incredible host, whipping up some master meals, and sorting emergency pizzas when our braai was called off. Oh, the important things in life.
Onwards, and upwards…in to July with only 4 weeks, watch
this space for the tears and traumas that come with leaving this wonderful
place, Kleenex at the ready.
