I'm home!!!

Well I have made it home!!! It was a long trip (thirty hours to be exact, from the time we arrived at the Jo'burg airport to the time we landed in KC)...but I was ready to be home!!!

I'll write more later, but I wanted to post some links to some photo albums...hopefully they work!!!

Here are pictures from the Safari...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079270&id=82400997&l=228e1

Here are pictures from Cape Town...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080491&id=82400997&l=fb709

And here are some pictures from around Johannesburg...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2080420&id=82400997&l=ff418

Last Day in South Africa!

Wow!! I can't believe that it's my last day here in South Africa!!! We're trying to catch up on some emails and then we're going to go start packing...and I'm praying that everything fits!!! It has to!!!

The rest of our Cape Town adventure was beyond amazing!!! Robbens Island was fantastic...our tour guide (and all the other tour guides) are past prisoners of the Island. I don't even know how to describe the feeling you get while listening to these men talk about their experiences just twenty plus years ago. Anyone who goes to Cape Town HAS to go to Robbens Island! We saw Nelson Mandela's cell where he stayed for twenty years (I was wrong about the number of years earlier, he stayed in two other prisons after Robbens Island which then totaled 27 years). It was just an amazing place to be, with such history....

The next day we did a wine tour and it was SO much fun :) I totally want to go to California with a group of friends/family and do that someday (soon)!!!

I'll write more when I get to Atlanta, but I have to get going now!!! I love you all and I'll see you very soon!!!!

Cape Town is AMAZING!!!!!!!

Well, I can't type too much because I'm in a little itty bitty internet cafe...but I wanted to let you all know that I am having a WONDERFUL time in Cape Town!! This place is beyond gorgeous, I have never seen anything like it!!

The first day we went up to Table Mountain which overlooks the city (and the Atlantic Ocean). It's literally a flat mountain and a cloud covers it most days (which they call the table cloth). Then we went to a place called Camps Bay Beach, and I currently look like a tomato :) But oh well, it'll be a nice tan shade here soon hopefully!!

Yesterday we did a tour of the Cape peninsula and went to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope which is the southwestern most part of Africa. BEAUTIFUL!!! We spent all day driving all the coast, down the west side and then up the east side...ahh I can't wait to show you pictures!!! There was a place called Boulders (close enough to Boulder!!!) and they are known for their African Penguins...so cute!!!!

Today we're going to Robbens Island which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for about 25 years...we're both really excited we were able to book tickets, because apparently they sell out constantly! We're going to spend the rest of the afternoon on the waterfront and doing some shopping :) I'm already hurting on the cash flow...oh well!!

Tomorrow we're going on a wine tour to three different vineyards! I'm sooooo excited, and even more excited to bring a couple of bottles of wine home with me :)

Love you all and I can't wait to see everyone...just a couple more days till I'm home!!!!

Last Day at Johannesburg General

Well today was our last day at Jo'burg General Hospital :( I was a lot sadder than I thought I would be!!! I don't think I realized how much the nurses enjoyed having us there until today when we were all saying our goodbyes!! We got a lot of really great pictures with everyone that I can't wait to show you all! I really enjoyed working on the Trauma ICU here. Things were different and I had to adapt to that, but overall I had a GREAT learning experience and I've created relationships and memories that will last forever!!

Tomorrow we leave for Cape Town, so I have no clue whether I'll be able to update this thing!! Just know that I'll be having a great time on the beach and at the vineyards :) Sorry, I had to rub that in!! We'll be there until Monday, and then on Tuesday we leave to come back home!! I'm totally dreading the back to back nine hour flights, the five hour layover in Atlanta, and then the short two hour flight back home...but I'll make it!!!

I hope everything is going well for everyone!! I'll post soon hopefully!!! Love you!!!

A great weekend in Jo'burg!!!

We have had a great weekend in Jo’burg! On Saturday we visited the Cradle of Humankind in Maropeng which is about an hour away from Jo’burg. It’s a museum that shows how life has evolved over time, and was incredibly interesting! We spent a couple of hours there just soaking it all in. I couldn’t help but think back to my days in the biology courses (especially microbiology)…it’s all quite fascinating; I only wish I knew more about it so I could’ve appreciated it more!

We also went to the Sterkfontein Caves which is where thy have found the earliest fossils of humankind! The caves were a little freaky, but only because I was psyching myself out. We were 60 meters (I guess around 180 feet) below ground and it was super cold! It reminded me of the time when I was at a softball tournament, we went into the caves in northeastern Missouri where Tom Sawyer had spent his time. I remember feeling that same fear of, “Oh no, what if this cave collapses?!” Oh and then in the cave, there was a body of water that was like 40 meters deep (120 feet) and our tour guide told us a story about scientists that explored the water about thirty years ago and one got lost and they never found him. Yikes! I stayed clear!

We went to dinner at Mike’s Kitchen (our favorite place to dine, oh wait…and our only place to dine) with a group of people Saturday night. It was Tina’s last night in Jo’burg before she headed off on like a three week tour of the coast of Africa and then to Kruger (ahh, I’m so jealous)!! She’s from New York and is super super nice!

On Sunday morning we did a tour of Soweto (the Southwestern Township of Jo’burg) and I really enjoyed it. This area is home to nearly 3.5 million people. There are just houses (more like shacks) that continue on and on and on. We got to walk down some of the streets and they reminded me of the homes in Las Pintas. There’s no electricity and there’s one running water hole per street, so that means about three hundred people share one water hole. Can you imagine? There is all sorts of history that I could go into about Soweto, but if you want to know more about what I learned about…either email and ask me or Google search “Hector Pieterson.” He was thirteen years old when he was shot and killed in a protest on June 16th, 1976. There is a photo of an older boy carrying him and his sister running alongside them. This photo is what many say brought on the global attention to South Africa and the apartheid that was going on. I learned a ton, and I’m so glad we were able to do this tour…

That evening we went out to a nicer restaurant called Moyo’s and it was delicious! Those that went besides Alison and I were Pieter (from Sweden) and his girlfriend that arrived that day for a visit, Rebecca (from Scotland), and then the rest were from Germany…Ralph, Ann, Sandra, and a new guy, Alex! All but three of us did the buffet and we walked out feeling as stuffed as humanly possible. We got into a really good table discussion of different holidays celebrated where each of us were from…it was really interesting to hear everyone’s traditions! I’m totally biased, but based from what I heard I think America celebrates the best holidays!

Well, two more days of clinical and then Alison and I are off to Cape Town for five days…and then I’m coming home!!! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!! I miss you all!!!

Almost time for Cape Town!!

We just confirmation of our booking for our hotel in Cape Town. You can check out the website here...

www.tudorhotel.co.za

We were talking to one of our friend's Tina who is going to Cape Town a day before us and she is going to do a tour of a vineyard where you can make your own wine and then they send it to you a year later (or more)! Alison and I both thought that would be really fun!!

Yesterday, we went to Sandton City which is just a nicer area of Jo'Burg . We did some shopping and I did a little bit of damage, but not too bad! I got a super cute dress that I'm going to bring to Cape Town and hopefully we'll have a nice dinner out one night :) I got a few other little gimmicks that'll remind me of my days in South Africa throughout the years as well...

I can't believe that I'm going to be home in just 12 days! I feel like I've been here forever, but honestly the time has just flown by. I've missed a lot of occurences back home, but hopefully I'll be able to catch up when I get back! I especially can't wait to meet my newest little cousin, Dawson Patrick Miller!!

This weekend we're going to a place called the Cradle of Humankind which is a museum that displays how humankind originated in Africa and you can do a tour of the caves with the drawings and such! We'll do a few other tours, and hopefully be able to relax some before work on Monday/Tuesday and then off to Cape Town!!!

Only two more weeks here!!

Wow…I can’t believe that I’ll be home in just two weeks! I know I haven’t been here that long, but it sure seems like I have. I’m sure most of that is due to just always being so busy! Anyways, I’m still working on getting a mass number of pictures up and not just five, but I hope those five gave you a glimpse of how great my safari trip was!

Alison and I have booked our flights to Cape Town and we leave next Wednesday! We are incredibly excited. Everyone here (visiting students and locals) have told us that if we’re in South Africa then we have to go to Cape Town. So, we took their advice! We’re still trying to find a place to stay, but that’s a minor detail because we already know all the things we want to do! We want to visit Robben Island which is where the prison is that Nelson Mandela was in for 27 years. We also want to go up to Table Mountain and hopefully go out to a vineyard, cross your fingers!! Other than that…I’ll be laying on the beach!!!

Clinicals have been going well here. I’m still struggling at times dealing with the differences in the way nurses do things here as opposed to back home. It’s hard to explain to all you “non-nurses,” but there are just some things that have been researched over and over and proven that are good practices versus bad practices. So when I see one of those bad practices implemented here, knowing that it’s hurting my patient…I’m having a hard time conveying my concerns to the nurses without seeming condescending and disrespectful. It has really made me appreciate the way that we do things back home in healthcare. I’ve learned a whole lot and I’ll take some things that they do here back home with me.

I’ll write some more later…Alison and I work the next day or two and then we’re going to do some things around Jo’Burg that I’ll tell you about in the next post!

Oh and everyone be praying for and thinking about my cousin Erin and her husband Donnie on Thursday…they’re going to be new parents!! I’m so disappointed I’m not going to meet my newest little cousin for two more weeks, but I’ll be there in spirit!