Sunday, June 12, 2011

Busy Times!

Hello Everyone,
Sorry it's been a while since my last update, I've been crazy busy lately with all sorts of stuff! Everything in the hospital has been going really well. Last Tuesday I had an amazing opportunity to travel into one of the townships to help out at a free medi-clinic that is funded completely by the government. I travelled with one of the doctors that goes every Tuesday morning to see patients for various reasons. When I walked in, the room was literally filled to maximum capacity with mothers and children spread out all over and even sitting on the floors while they waited. Even though the services provided for the families cost them nothing, in most cases visiting this clinic turns into an all day affair that causes children to miss school and mothers to miss work. Many of the patients that I saw came in with various rashes and skin problems, I also saw many infants who were having feeding troubles, and then there were some more serious cases that clearly implied child abuse. But the Doctor was able to provide them all with free medication and advice. It was an amazing experience.
On a less serious note, last weekend I went on a trip with Connect called Wacky Wine. It was loads of fun! Pretty much we visited a bunch of wine farms enjoyed music and wine tastings, at one I even dove down a slide into a giant tub of cabernet. At the last stop we stayed up most of the night dancing to a popular South African band called Goldfish, and finally went to sleep in a bunch of little tents! It was all great (that is until the ride home when the bus broke down and we were stuck on the side of the road for 3 hours). Never the less, it was a lot of fun!
This weekend we watched the sunset from Signal Hill, and the next day went to a gourmet food market with the most delicious homemade treats ever! (Abby I'll be sure to send you a detailed description, don't worry). Then we went to a tailgate type event near the Newlands Stadium to watch the last Rugby game of the season for the Western Cape Stormers.
As of now, we are in the final stages of planning our trip along the Garden Route where we will go on safari, see some more beautiful landscape, and get to play with animals! I'll be sure to add lots of details about that when I return next week!
Missing everyone!