I will probably put up my final blog and an account of the epicness that was our journey home sometime soon as well [:)]
18th April – going to church in East London with Liz
19th April – Liz's road rage, all 5 hours of it
20th April – watching the midwife shake a newborn into life by holding him upside down by one leg
21st April – taking a step back and realising how stupid the stock take fiasco had become, watching an epic vacuum birth
22nd April – feeling the pressure of running the pharmacy/ARV dispensary alone
23rd April – killing myself laughing at Wipeout with Lisa, Jess, Sam and Megan
24th April – making a mug out of a Panado tub, emptying the contents of Liz's fridge
25th April – chilling with Liz and Lisa while Lisa mended my threadbare shorts
26th April – epically long Frisbee match, dinner at Anita/Etienne's
27th April – road tripping to Madwaleni with Liz and Lisa
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| Epic Madwaleni road trip companions |
28th April – being kept up all night by our stupid kitten named Duck
29th April – extreme dessert making – custard, whipped cream and meringue with Sam
30th April – feeling so tired that I left actually work early [!], moving into our temporary new home :D
1st May – going for an exhilarating run and sitting watching the sun setting over Zithulele
2nd May – making homemade pizza with Sam and having a classy dinner with wine, candles and Army Wives
3rd May – writing my first [illegal] prescription at Mapuzi clinic with Anita and getting it dispensed
4th May – opening the box with all the o/s IV antibiotics, seeing the pharmacy tidy, meeting Bonga
5th May – the biggest clinic day ever, the Le Rouxs giving me the chance to go to Bulungula at cell
6th May – driving the JRHF Golf to Bulungula [first time I'd driven in 4 months]
7th May – walking along Bulungula beach before breakfast :)
8th May – walking to Hole in the Wall, braai/playing with kids at the White House
9th May – hand washing every single item of clothing I own [it was getting desperate!]
10th May – lunchtime cake with Sam :)
11th May – first Papazela's night in 2 months
12th May – really good Frisbee match, me and JT pretending to be HIV and ARVs
13th May – working with Bonga in ARV clinic, ceilidh lessons on the Frisbee court
14th May – epic Xhosa bread fail in the pitch black power cut with Sam and Asanda
15th May – pyjama day: House, banana bread and the eyebrow artist
16th May – being the only white person at church, 5 hour photo chats with Lisa, braai/getting post inc. East Lothian Courier
17th May – watching 2nd caesarean
18th May – spending a stressful 2 hours on phone fixing iDart
19th May – pharmacy staff meeting drama
20th May – ceilidh dancing – 'Ready to start again!'
21st May – using the laptop as a light while Jo saw patients in a blacked out OPD
22nd May – feeling nervous for the results of my HIV test, spontaneous Mdumbi night
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| Kate, Liz, Lisa and I at Mdumbi |
23rd May – Liz trying to kill me by pushing me under water at Mdumbi beach ;)
24th May – delivering my second baby, receiving one tonne [literally] of vacolitres from the depot by myself at 7.30pm
25th May – epic quest to find money to pay the guys at Magic Tyres
26th May – working very very very late and Sam bringing me a cake parcel
27th May – pizza with Lisa, Max, Melissa
28th May – waking up to find Bonga gone
29th May – seeing Mum at the airport
30th May – eating Mars Bar cake all the way from the Town House on Coffee Bay beach
31st May – the stress of driving the Hole in the Wall road in a puny Hyundai car...
1st June – hiking to Hole in the Wall and seeing THAT cliff again
2nd June – sundowners at Coffee Bay...on the opposite side of a hill to the sun
3rd June – getting to Mthatha and realising Mum had left her bag in Zithulele
4th June – playing epic car games all the way to East London
5th June – Sam and I's Mugg and Bean Reunion
6th June – canoeing at Cintsa with Lisa and Sam
7th June – Megan and Joff's leaving braai
8th June – everyone running around Zithulele doing Lisa's birthday treasure hunt
9th June – busiest ARV clinic ever and coming home to a giant mug of hot chocolate
10th June – staying up until 11.30pm doing back captures with Liz AGAIN
11th June – the craziness that ensued when Bafana Bafana scored in the World Cup opening match
12th June – watching the football roll over our goal line in the England vs. USA match
13th June – spending a relaxing afternoon chatting with Liz :)
14th June – ventilating a baby for 3.5 hours then seeing it get airlifted to East London
15th June – watching American Dreamz, dreams with a Z
16th June – using maximum brain power while playing Pass the Pigs
17th June – finding out that the above baby had died...
18th June – the seemingly endless array of patients who seemed determined to delay our road trip to East London by crowding out the pharmacy door
19th June – the long long road trip to Durban with Liz and the two Sams
20th June – chilling on Durban beach in the Fifa Fan Park with an ice cream
21st June – having a beer in Joe Cool's whilst watching Portugal thrash Korea 7-0
22nd June – the incredible atmosphere in Moses Madiba stadium during Nigeria vs. Korea
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| Nigeria and Korea line up for their final group match |
23rd June – watching traditional Zulu dancing in uShaka marine world
24th June – going to see Shuks Tshabalala, the South African version of Borat [HILARIOUS]
25th June – enjoying the atmosphere in Durban overrun with Brazil and Portugal fans
26th June – staying over at Liz's home in Hilton and watching Ghana beat USA
27th June – the long road trip back from Durban trying to think of uses for Watchtower magazine
28th June – reorganising the entire back room of the pharmacy so that is was IMMACULATE :), getting double bonus of phone calls from Megan and from Mum/Gregor
29th June – being told I couldn't work in ARV clinic anymore because patients had complained about the language barrier :(
30th June – seeing the long queues in ARV clinic and having to leave [see above]
1st July – the revival of Frisbee court ceilidh dancing
2nd July – running the pharmacy by myself after hours, being at Papazela’s watching that idiot Suarez cheat Ghana from a place in the quarter finals of the World Cup
3rd July – watching Glee and Britain's Got Talent all day...
4th July – ultimate dance party in our third temporary home in a week [Jo's] with Sam, Liz and Jules
5th July – first day at work with Ian, our new pharmacist
6th July – sitting in the dust storm at Jalamba waiting for my patients to turn up
7th July – feeling so dejected in ARV clinic that I walked out and sat with the doctors instead...
8th July – decorating the World Cup final cake with JT, Jess, Sam, Lisa and Liz
9th July – having another homemade pizza and wine night with Sammy
10th July – amazingly successful shopping day in Mthatha with Lisa
11th July – playing football on the beach at Roger's birthday breakfast
12th July – being in the best mood ever at lunch with Liz
13th July – Papazela's night with Ian, Sam, Shannon and Annalou
14th July – continuing ARV clinic trauma :(
15th July – watching/helping with fracture reduction and POP, Sarah and Bernard's cocktail party
16th July – getting my 4 month late birthday present from Fiona Cleat, feeling ultimately ill in the back of some random's 4x4 on the way back from Coffee Bay
17th July – having a back massage inside the church at Mdumbi
18th July – going to a shabeen for pancakes [bad idea]
19th July – sitting like tramps in our house full of dishes after 5 days without water, running to the hospital in my pyjamas to use the toilet
20th July – getting back from Coffee Bay and knocking all the chickens out of the tree in revenge for them keeping us up all night
21st July – sitting on the living room floor with no power and erratic water eating bolognese and having late night cell group [Cajun style] with Sam
22nd July – Annelou giving us all 'tips' at the steak braai :)
23rd July – Karl, Sally, Liz, Jess, JT, Ian and I 'walking like Egyptians' around the table after the braai
24th July – Liz, Sally, Karl, Kate and I playing with the Le Roux kids on the grass in our pyjamas
25th July – Sunday praise and worship at the Gaunts :)
26th July – climbing the water tower for sundowners
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| The view from the top of the water tower |
27th July – 30 rock at lunch
28th July – restraining a 12 year old boy going mad and hallucinating with ketamine sedation for foot suturing...
29th July – ceilidh dancing in the dark on the frisbee court
30th July – brushing my teeth outside whilst watching the shooting stars at Bulungula
31st July – spending the whole day entertaining Josh and Grace colouring in and on the beach
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| Grace and I at Bulungula |
1st August – the overwhelming rush of relief when Liz found my community report so I hadn't left it at Bulungula...
2nd August – scrubbing in on a Caesar, my first ever surgery assist:)
3rd August – having ice cream, milkshakes and apple pie at the goodbye braai with the Le Rouxs, Lisa and Liz
4th August – seeing 85 patients in the day and then staying up until 1am back capturing
5th August – spending all night baking muffins and flapjacks for grand tea with Sam
6th August – another long long drive to Pietermaritzburg with Liz, Jules and Kath
7th August – eating out with various people...all day :)
8th August – highly entertaining Gatley family braai and card games [inc. being called a retard;)]
9th August - last ever praise and worship [with the playlist I chose]
10th August – unrest due to strike action, watching the Princess Bride with everyone :)
11th August – watching the sunrise over Hole in the Wall with Liz and Lisa
12th August – working v. Late with Liz to put the pharmacy in order and turning up late at my own leaving braai...
13th August – leaving the pharmacy one last time, walking to the beach with Liz and Lisa, praying with Mfundisi and his wife, pizza night at the Gaunts
14th August – the most INSANE coffee experience at Mthatha airport where we broke the seats and then watching the place I have called home for the past 200[ish] days become smaller and smaller as the plane took off :(
And that was the end of the best 7 months EVER EVER EVER :)
xxx
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