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!

New and Old Adventures

Now that schools are back in session and the strikes are over Michael and I are quite comfortably finding our way here in South Africa… We are in the routine of hitting the gym every morning, doing our work, going to church on Sundays and taking on new adventures over the weekends. Having a routine is certainly making our stay more comfortable and less stressful.

This Friday we started our first session of job shadowing at the Themba Lethu HIV clinic. Poor Michael was nervous about the setting and I think very surprised when he saw just how relaxed the clinic and physicians were… It felt good to be back there – I know I had a tremendous learning experience there back in December and I cannot wait for Michael to experience the same! Im only glad that because I have this experience I know where to go and who to talk to, this should surely make things easier for him… We were hoping to do a full day of shadowing, but with the strikes the hospital is backed up and still trying to iron out some kinks, so we only spent 4 hours there. Mike got a tour of the clinic, saw 2 HIV patients and then went on hospital rounds with the physicians and I. I love rounds – you see so many interesting cases and I thoroughly enjoy watching the physicians collaborate together to find a series of solutions. We saw two patients on rounds and were fully briefed on their status and obstacles in treatment. Im not sure if Mike mentioned t his in his blog, but before rounds I told him that he should be aware of the fact that the hospital wards are pretty dirty and crammed – a sight Im sure he has not seen before. He was very quick to let me know it appeared to be a combination between an insane asylum, an old school, and a parking garage. I think he nailed the description. The staff are wonderful and the learning experience fantastic! This is truly rural medicine at its best… By exposing ourselves to the healthcare systems of the underprivileged we are already preparing ourselves to be better physicians for these people in need… I cannot wait for next Friday! Hopefully it will be a full day in the clinic.

On Saturday I made a trip to Edenvale Hospital where I met with Dr. Ndekera to have a letter of recommendation signed. Following this, Michael and I headed out to the Cradle of Humankind where the oldest human remains in the world have been found. Here we went to the Maropeng Museum where we travelled back in time and experienced the sequence of creation according to science. The architecture was absolutely stunning and the information interesting… I especially loved the underground water ride through dark tunnels that depicted the various stages of earth’s formation. After our tour we drove 12km to the Sterkfontein Caves where we went through a small museum and was guided on an hour tour in the underground caves. This was the highlight of my day! The caves are gorgeous and a must see!!! We found ourselves lost in the huge caverns meters underground and had to shuffle through tiny tunnels that were only one meter in height. My favorite feature was the elephant rock formation – complete with ears, tusks, and even legs. See if you can spot this giant in the photo below.

Overall we had a stunning weekend… Caving was a highlight, but spending time with my family on Sunday was great too! Pappa is really warming up to Mike, which I am always glad to see. I like to think that maybe he is warming up to me too… but we are all still in the dark and unsure of what lies ahead in terms of my grandparents’ health. Until then, there will be plenty of family dinners and new adventures.

Catch-Up

Well, this is embarrassing. Sorry for the far and few blog entries. Michael and I have gotten lost in the days’ activities and medical school applications… But we have found ourselves back behind the computer again and ready to post our adventures.

Hospital worker and Teacher strikes have continued for the past two weeks and we have felt the effects of both lately. The children at Sparrow have become very restless and have no desire to do any reading or work. Kenith, one of their Youth Leaders, was struggling to entertain them and desperately sought our help. So while the strike continued and the kids remained behind we would volunteer in the mornings instead of the afternoons. From games and word puzzles to Spring Day art drawings we found our days fast-paced and tiring. Today the strikes have been suspended and our kids have gone to school and returned as little sweet angels with homework and a drive to do it. It could not have happened any sooner. Hopefully the kids will be able to end the school year in time and not have to repeat their grades because of the strikes.
In the past 2 weeks Michael and I have gone to the Johannesburg Zoo, Lion Park, and Chameleon Village (a huge flea market). When at Chameleon Village, I soon realized that I had not adequately prepared Michael for the hustle and bustle of the place – one look and you could see his senses were overwhelmed and he needed a way out. We stopped for some milkshakes and had lunch at a pancake restaurant. Mike went for the sweet caramel and banana pancake and I went for a savory bacon, mushroom, and cheese pancake with mushroom sauce (a mooCOWpolo pancake). I forgot to mention that the restaurant was cow themed and decorated with every picture of a cow that they could find (even the chik-fil-a cows from back home!!!! )Over a week ago we signed 4 girls out from Sparrow Village and brought them to the house to swim with us. They rarely get to go out and hardly know anyone outside of the village, so they were very excited when we put out the offer. Mike made delicious boerewors rolls over the fire and we had a great time in the sun. Its about time we started working on our pale tans from back home. Lol.
This week has gone well so far… Because the strikes are over we are now able to job shadow at the HIV clinic on Fridays beginning this week. I cannot wait for Mike to experience it!!!! I know it will feel good to be back there… And school had finally started up again for the kids. But while I look forward to what lays ahead I am also weary and asking for help in prayer. My gran was admitted to the hospital on Sunday after having a mild aneurism. She returned on Monday but is not doing well… I can only hope that these next few months will go smoothly. Please pray. Thank you.

Well, that is all I can think of for now. I will promise to make an effort to write more frequently. Hopefully my entries will become more interesting as well.. Until then, take care.

Giraffe Drool and Lion Scratches

We woke up early and prepared our picnic food… Today I was taking Michael to the Lion Park – finally something exciting for him to experience! With much excitement we climbed in our little manual car and drove but only 22 minutes away to where our adventure awaited us. For only R115.00 per person we had access to the Lion Cub Pens, Safari Game Drive and Lion Camps.

We started with the cubs. I am so glad that we went early in the morning! Because there were so few people there we did not have to abide by the “maximum of 8 people at a time in the pen” and “a maximum of 2 minutes play time with the cubs.” The guides let us loose and did not make any haste in chasing us out. We got so many cute and gorgeous pictures of the cubs! Being with them is incredible! Their fur is course but short; they feel so heavy and bulky. But they love to rub against you.

I owe a special thanks to Becky who gave me some coco butter lotion for the trip – it proved to be a delicious marinade for the cubs!!!! It all began with a couple licks on the knee… Michael was trying to take a photo of me with the cub, but every time I looked up to smile at the camera I noticed the licking became more like little nibbles. It wasn’t long before by bracelet became the next juicy meal… and as the lion moved up along my body a final big bite on my hair sounded the alarm. I literally played tug of war with the cub – with my hair being his personal chew toy. After the little struggle I stood up and brushed my hair, only until I felt his teeth grab my shorts!! The feisty little bugger ripped a hole in my pants! Lol… But once you see those adorable eyes looking back at you you cant help but forgive him and want to go right back to petting and loving the little guy…

I knew very well that I was going to have Michael pet lion cubs and see giraffes, but when I saw that you could purchase food to feed the giraffes I simply could not resist the temptation! R29 less and with a big bag of pellet-like food, I offered for Michael to make the first move. With a fist full of food he held out his hand and the giraffe’s long gooey tongue wrapped itself around it and gobbled up the food! Hehe, Michael was loving it!! After a couple fistfuls, it was my turn to approach the huge animal. Its tongue was so rough and hard! It slid everywhere like a serpent!!!! Our hands were so wet and sticky and the giraffe was very eager to get the next lot of food. The money was so worth it! We got tons of gorgeous up close photos and even some video footage too… I was so happy that we were able to have this additional experience on our trip.

After the cubs and the giraffes we had a picnic just outside the safari gate. With the view of three tall giraffes nearby we ate our sandwiches and then climbed in our car and drove through the gate to go on our own little safari. We saw lots of springbuck and wildebeest. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing the wind blow through the tall grass that followed us on our path… The safari ended at the lion camp where we drove through 3 camps in our own vehicles. Just outside out windows were prides of lions sleeping away on the grass. Some were even daring enough to walk up in between the cars. It amazes me how lazy these big cats can be!! But it was all a beautiful sight!

We made it home safely with tons of memories and photos. I am so happy that we were able to make this trip today! It truly was the perfect day for our encounters with the little lions and giraffes… Hopefully another adventure awaits us soon.