The Tale of the Tourist

Last week Michael and I said our goodbyes to the kids at Sparrow Village as their final exams ended and the summer holidays began. With lighter schedules and less need for help with homework, the end seemed quiet and our impact seemed to fade. Majority of the kids left Sparrow to go to their families for the festive season leaving us without the opportunity to say goodbye to the ones we grew so close to… With only a week left before we board that long flight home, it feels strange to not drive to Sparrow for the afternoon. This has been our routine the past 4.5 months and I guess it is harder to let go and simply be a tourist for the next few days…

Since Sparrow Michael and I have spent a day job shadowing at Themba Lethu HIV Clinic where I had hoped that Michael would get more patient exposure outside of the regular physician lectures and rounds that we have been exposed to. With friendly Dr. Ndekera I think the day was quite successful and Michael left with a new sense of physician-patient interaction.

As for us “tourist,” we have visited Soccer City (the Fifa Worldcup FNB Stadium) which is shaped like a Calabash (an African bowl that traditional folk drink out of). We also went to watch the new Harry Potter movie at the cinema and went on a 90 minute tour at the SAB World of Beer where we learned about the history of beer, how it is brewed, and sampled free glasses of Castle, Castle Light, and Groschner.

Two days ago Michael and I embarked on a journey that took us 3 hours away from the city to Pilanesburg, where we had an elephant interaction with lunch in the Pilanesburg National Park outside of Suncity. The activity involved 2 hours of learning about their elephants, petting, feeding, and taking photos with them. With much anxiety, we slowly learned to feed these large beasts by calling “trunk up” or “trunk down”. Trunk up is followed by the elephant lifting its trunk above its head and opening its mouth. You are then required to stick your arms half way into its mouth and drop its food in – all while the tusks and trunk are directly above your head. Trunk down calls the elephant to twist its trunk below and accept the food in the tip of its trunk where it proceeds to carry the food into its mouth by itself. While it sounds quite scary and intimidating, every now and then your excitement grabs a hold of you as you realize that you safely stood under an elephant with your arm in its mouth! Only then to remember how giant and powerful these beasts are!

Pilanesburg has a total of 6 elephants (one calf and 5 that were rescued from Zimbabwe). The oldest is a male of 26 years old, but the bull is a younger male that is taller and heavier in weight (Sapi is his name). Sapi and I have a special relationship. It all began when I asked the guide if he would please take a photo of both Michael and I together with an elephant. The guide told us to stand to the left of Sapi. Sapi was happily eating food off the floor next to us while we posed, but the guide was having trouble with the zoom function on the camera and was taking his time. Before we knew it, the oldest elephant creeped up behind Michael and I and laid his trunk on Michael’s back… Michael and I both turned our heads to the right to look at this old beast, before I knew it in the corner of my eye I saw Sapi’s trunk, felt a blow to the neck and jaw, slid down Michael on my way to the floor. I don’t remember the incidence in one smooth train of thought, but rather in isolated events. I saw the trunk, felt the blow, and then was standing up fixing my hair and trying to make sure I was not bleeding after biting my tongue and having Sapi’s tusk hit me in the neck. Michael had seen me fall and quickly picked me up but he did not quite understand what had happened… The guide apologized and explained that Sapi did not mean it. He is suffering from a fungal infection on his back and he tried to flap his ear on to it to scratch it. While he shook his head he accidently struck me… lol, what luck I have! Everything played up to that moment and it was just a cluster of chaos…. I was okay, no bleeding and no major injuries. Just a bruised neck and jaw and an incredible story to tell! I am very lucky that he did not break my jaw or cut any vital arteries in my neck… While the bruises hurt – they remind me that I am alive and lucky. :)

(This is Sapi.)

What a crazy adventure to add to the end of my trip! Phew, I cannot wait to come home and leave behind my status as a tourist… Im looking forward to the calm and peace that awaits me.

Grueling Exams and Rich Culture

Hi again.... 24 days, 3 hours and 22 minutes and counting before we fly back to the big 'ol USA! Can you tell that we are excited?? :)

Michael and I have spent the last few days helping the Sparrow Village kids with their final exams... I cannot believe that this coming Monday is their last school day! We have been by their side for the past 4 months combating Math, Science, Technology, Life Orientation and sometimes even Afrikaans.... It is quite sad to see the kids neglecting Afrikaans in their studies - they have simply reverted to memorizing the poems or materials in their books. I have found that majority dont even understand the stories they are required to know... And the greatest difficulty is that they are required to pass Afrikaans in order to excel to the next grade.
In South Africa the children only need to score above 33% in any exam to pass. They only need above 33% overall to pass the class... But in any subject this seems to be a challenging task for the kids. I found out this week that in Sparrow Village's 18 years of history not one single child has graduated from high school. Not one. This fact alone is heartbreaking! When we see and help the little kids you can tell they have such a great passion and desire to learn and read and write... But somewhere along the line those feelings disappear... lost in a void forever. Michael and I have done our best to encourage the kids and make them proud of their academic achievements. I can only hope that those small leaping smiles endure through the years and see them through to graduation... Our supervisor has great hopes of advancing the academic standards at Sparrow Village but seems quite discouraged at the thought of carrying the burden and fighting the resistance to change. Sometimes it takes one leader... and sometimes it only takes one passionate student. I have high hopes for Sparrow and its little ones. I am hopeful that 2011 will be a time of prosperity, growth, and happiness....
I am quite excited for the next few weeks to come. My Mom will be in South Africa visiting for a week and Michael and I have the pleasure of entertaining her for the weekend. It will be nice to see a familiar face! :) We also have lots of tourist activities planned for our last two weeks which include elephant interactions, beer tasting, a trip to the Apartheid Museum and Gold Reef City... This past weekend we went to Lesedi Cultural Village where we experienced the cultures of the Xhosa, Pedi, Ndebele, Zulu and Sotho. The village tours were followed by cultural celebration and dance around a fire pit and a delicious buffet meal in which we ate lamb, oxtail, ostrich, and crocodile... We had a great time and enjoyed being out of the house for an afternoon. (p.s. we ate dried caterpillars at Lesedi - Mike's idea! Tasted like saw dust and chewing wasnt a problem, swallowing proved very challenging for our reflexes... haha)

I will be sure to post some more blogs in the next few weeks highlighting our adventures.... With every day and every trip we are that much closer to finally come home after all this time!!! We cannot wait!

Hanging By A Thread

39 days to go before we fly back to America…

Sorry I haven’t written an entry for so long. Things have gotten pretty routine here for Michael and I and it has been a while since we have done anything worth blogging about.

For the past few weeks we have been spending a lot of time with the Sparrow Village kids helping them study for their final exams which are coming up this month. We are seeing a great need for help with math, and I love seeing the joyful expressions on their little faces when they figure out the answers! We now have our regular customers who always bring us homework – mostly the younger kids who are so eager to learn! Many of the little children love to read books to us… Even though they struggle a lot with the words, finishing a book is like discovering magic! They glow with pride and happiness. And Mike and I absolutely love giving them the opportunity to pick a book and read to us… I don’t know how, but somehow I feel like that one book is a huge investment in their life.

We haven’t done much site seeing or touristy things for a while. So this morning Mike and I made a trip to Magaliesberg where we went on a canopy tour (zip line) for 2.5 hours. The Magaliesberg Mountains are more than 2400 million years old and are the second oldest range in South Africa. We went on a total of 10 zip lines through the canyon and went more than 45m above the stream. We drove through a game farm to reach the canyons. The landscape was absolutely gorgeous and the ride a thrill! I was very nervous for my first slide, but once it happened I realized there wasn’t much to it… The only scary part was when they switched the order and I had to slide before Mike did. I had tons of fun (this was my first time and Mikes second – he went zip lining in Guatemala as well). After the canopy tour we received a complementary lunch and headed home before the rains hit. It was a great day and it felt good for us to go out for a while…

p.s. Last night Mike and I went out to dinner at the Cape Town Fish Market and we had a stunning evening! It had been too long since we went out for a sit down dinner and prawns with robata baby squid (calamari tubes) was the perfect meal! Of course, I had the best company!

p.p.s. Michael and I are officially Michigan State medical students and are in the class of 2015!

Shark Bait

The past few days have been pretty rough – literally.

Two days ago, Mike and I went swimming at a little quiet bay here on the coastline by our house. No one was around, but the water was so inviting and we could not resist! Stripped down into our swim gear, we ran for the waters and embraced how warm and soothing it was. Mike and I were thoroughly enjoying ourselves in the water, floating up and down with each wave…. Until….. I saw a fin. I saw a black fin in the waves but it was with the corner of my eye. I needed confirmation but I could not find any. I told Mike I was not sure what I saw and he said it was not worth the risk – so we went back on to the beach. With some distance between us and the water, I surveyed the area again only to find a huge school of dolphins swimming in the crest of the waves by us. Wow, beautiful but so scary! Especially because we were all alone in this bay. Close call.

That night we woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of gale force winds and heavy rain beating against the windows. It was so dark outside, we had no idea as to what was happening in the seas but a few feet away from the house…. With a cellphone close by (in case I needed to call the security company for more information about the severity of the storm) Mike and I carefully listened to the howling wind and shaking trees until eventually we fell asleep and woke up to a calm morning.

The morning started with us scouting out the weather forecast. 100% chance of rain. But the sun was peaking out here and there and we were hoping to go to the Durban aquarium for the day. So we took the risk, packed up, and drove out for 2 hours. uShaka Marine World is the 5^th largest aquarium in the world – and it certainly lived up to its title! Best of all – we had a stunning day weather wise! It was sunny and dry the entire day! How superb…

Also, Mike and I decided to be spontaneous and meet the beasts we thought we were swimming with earlier…. At uShaka we went Shark Cage Diving and it was fantastic! Submerged under water with only thick Plexiglas between you and the giants of the sea – nothing was more thrilling and yet tranquil at the same time. I think the controlled environment was a big factor in this. We had 43 photos taken of the experience and I have attached a few down below. Its really not as frightening as you would think… That is until the sharks get hungry.

We returned home to gale force winds again and counted ourselves lucky for the wonderful day we had!

Born for the Sea

Here we are laying out on chairs facing the ocean which lies only a house away… The view is absolutely gorgeous and serene! Sipping cold drinks, feet resting up on chairs and Mike playing “Beyond the Sea” from his laptop: this is a true vacation.

We arrived in Glenmore on Friday, which is along the coast past Durban. After a 7-8 hour scenic drive, Michael and I were more than ready to welcome the smell of salty water and the sounds of crashing waves on the boulders below. With a late afternoon walk along the boulder path, Michael for the first time looked out at the far reaching edges of the Indian Ocean with much awe and delight. Nothing has made me happier on this trip than seeing his excited response.

Unfortunately yesterday was a gloomy day. The sky was overcast, it rained occasionally, and we barely saw the blue sky. Most of the day was spent inside relaxing, napping, and watching movies. We woke up at 4am and went for a long walk along the boulders. We were lucky enough to wake up to gorgeous blue skies this morning!! After spending breakfast outside, Mike and I went to Port Edward where he swam in the ocean for the first time, and the Indian Ocean at that… We spread out our chairs, put sun screen on, and absorbed all the rays and the view. Once we were nice and toasty (and I had given Mike a heads up on what to expect with the rough waves) we headed for the water. It was chilly at first, every wave landing an explosion that froze our sun-warmed skin. Im just thankful that we are on the side of South Africa that has the warm ocean currents… Any colder and I don’t think we would have gone far. All in all, Mike was a champ! It was clear that he loved the experience and he did great for his first time in the waves… He was born for the sea.

We returned to the house before lunch and relaxed some more. Shockingly, we woke up from a nap and discovered that our skin decided to change color – red – while we were sleeping. Seems like the sun fooled us today…. With lots of lotion and the shade of the night, we hope it will go away soon.

I think I can speak for us both when I say that it is nice to get away like this… The sea is so enchanting!

p.s. We saw dolphins this morning and while we were eating lunch outside we watched whales swim across the view ahead. Stunning!

Jabulani (Celebrate)

This past week proved very busy, but quite exciting and entertaining at the same time. Our Sparrow Village kids held a Heritage Day celebration – dancing, singing, miming, and entertaining the crowds. For a few weeks now Michael and I have been working with two age groups (the 7 year olds and the high school kids) in preparing their performances. Our sweet little Sparrows sang the national anthem beautifully and held a huge flag we painted together with colorful handprints, and our brave Sparrow boys represented Reverend McClintock’s Scottish heritage with a dance and painted blue and white faces modeled after the movie Brave Heart (our only solid resource here). Hehe. But it was a wonderful celebration in honor of Reverend McClintock’s last year at Sparrow – and a great introduction for Michael to the vast cultures of Southern Africa.

My gran was in the hospital most of the week due to a lung infection that severely restricted her oxygen intake (which is difficult enough with her 1 and 1/3 lungs). But she has recovered well, and was let out of the hospital a few days early. We celebrated her 66th birthday on Saturday and it was nice to be with the family in an atmosphere that focused on her for once. Syd took some great pictures. I will have to get them from him so that I can post them on here.

On Sunday Michael and I went to church and then we went to the cemetery to locate my Ouma’s grave (grandmother). It took some searching, but with the original map and funeral service flyer we were able to find it. She passed away 17 years ago on September 29th (coming this Wednesday). It was nice to finally see her resting place again, but I knew I would not find here there because she is in a more heavenly place.

Well, a new week begins and we are almost at our half way point in our trip… We are excited to get back to doing some serious homework with the kids at Sparrow now that Heritage Day is over. Im starting to really enjoy seeing familiar and friendly faces there. Most are adorable and just make your heart melt!!

A Delicious African Feast

This past Thursday Michael and I celebrated our one year of dating and to celebrate we had a lovely dinner at Carnivore Restaurant (which we reserved a month in advance). There are only three Carnivore Restaurants in the continent, with one in Johannesburg, South Africa. The décor was captivating, the service a pleasure, and the food simply delicious! My favorite part was when Mike said that we should wait for the menu to choose our dinners and he soon found out that everything on the menu gets served to you on your plate at your table. Hehe! All the food is cooked over a huge fire pit (pictured below).

Our meal started with some pineapple juice, honey bread and farmers soup (which was very creamy and wholesome – vegetable soup). Following this our table was decorated with tons of sauces and mini salads and hot sizzling plates were placed before us. Time for the main course – meat and meat galore! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as men with huge chunks of meat on spears swung by and carved thick slices into our plates with machete-looking knives. We ate everything from honey chicken wings, pork sausages, and roast beef to crocodile, kudu, gemsbok, zebra, and my favorite – impala. The night was topped off with some light cheesecake and then we were off to rolling our fat selves back to the car. The evening was divine and I had the best company! May there be many more for Mike and I… anniversaries that is, not huge fatty feasts. Lol.

Not much has happened in the past week. We have been slammed with homework with the kids since the strike and the pressure for getting them ready for their Heritage Day cultural concert is on. We had our second day of physician job shadowing at the HIV clinic and attended some really thought provoking academic lectures. Mike and I have also managed to land a job with my Gran for her salon – we will be working in the advertising department and start tomorrow morning. It will feel good to be working again and have money rolling in for us to do more things and bring gifts home. The Lord provides for his children….

Well, that is the latest update. Sorry there is not much to write, we usually do our fun tourist activities on weekends and just work our weekdays away. So until next time, keep well and look out for some delicious impala meat to try – I personally recommend it.

p.s. I have so far received two medical school interview requests. Keep your fingers crossed for Mike and I!