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!

Here are a couple of pictures to tide you all over! Don't forget to read the previous blog....

Here I am at Blyde River Canyon...it was amazing!!! The next morning I zip-lined across another part of the canyon...so scary but SO worth it :)

Alison and I were constantly looking out to the sides, and is little guy caught us off guard because he was right in front of us!

This zebra (along with a TON of others) and so impala were the first to greet us at Kruger National Park!

We came across some VERY angry hippos...luckily they were pretty far away. Look at those teeth!!

This is probably my favorite of all the pictures I took...I kind of fell in love with the giraffes :)

Hopefully I'll find a way to post all my pictures soon, but if not I'll be back in just two weeks and do it then!!!

Simply AMAZING!!!!!

Well I am back from probably four of the best days of my entire life!!! I can’t even begin to describe in words how amazing the safari was…but I’m going to do my best! I think I’m going to try and do a little day by day description.

Day One…

We left Jo’Burg at 6am and ventured northwest to the state of Mpumalanga (which means “where the sun rises,” I’ve become obsessed with that word). We stopped in a town called Pilgrim’s Rest to have lunch, this town was filled with history! Our next big stop was at Blyde River Canyon to see the potholes…but not the potholes you’re thinking of! The potholes were created over millions of years from the running of water through the canyon. All I can say is that it was the most gorgeous site ever!!! It was like the Grand Canyon, but it was SO green with water flowing…just one of God’s most beautiful creations, I swear!!
Then we went to the Three Rondawels (which look like huts, except they’re enormous mountains)…and it was so surreal, because for about five minutes Alison and I were the only ones at the lookout point. We were still in Blyde River Canyon, and we could see much further from here J
We stayed in a little town called Graskop for the night. The hotel was lovely and even had it’s own little art gallery in it! We ate at a restaurant (that I already forgot the name of) across the street from the hotel, and were stuffed! We went to bed pretty early because we had to get up early to go to a site called God’s Window…

Day Two…

Well, we were pretty bummed because it was incredibly cloudy/foggy…we were about a mile above sea level at this point, so apparently it’s quite rare to find a day where you can “clearly” see through God’s Window. But when you can see through it, you can see all the way through the canyons and into Kruger Park!!
Then, you’re not going to believe what I did next…I zip-lined across a part of Blyde River Canyon! Can you believe it?! I was absolutely terrified, but the view was AMAZING and I would’ve regret not doing it!
Next up was the drive to Kruger National Park, now the safari was really going to begin!! We were driving past a private game reserve when we spotted our first animals…some giraffe and zebra!! We were already off to a great start….and then when we entered the park we were greeted by an entire herd of zebra along with some impala! Our tour guide told us he was surprised with how lucky we were this early on in the search. We drove around for three hours spotting everything from giraffes (which have become my personal favorite) to warthogs (pumba!) to waterbucks and then a solo elephant just walking down the road! We were amazed!!
We settled into our lodge in an area called Satara, which was just the picture of a safari campsite! We stayed in a little round bungalow J We went back out with our tour guide and went to the eastern most edge of Kruger so we could see the country of Mozambique, which was just as gorgeous as South Africa! We barely made it back for our evening night ride, and I’m SO glad we made it! We saw some ostrich and jackel at one point and then we some hippos that were not so excited to see us…apparently hippos are incredibly dangerous if you’re anywhere close to them, so they’re faster than you may think. But luckily we were far enough away, and they just gave us a lot of great poses (the photographer in me LOVED this trip)!!
We went back to our bungalow and went to bed…because our wake-up call the next morning was even earlier than the one we experienced on this day.

Day Three…

We woke up at 5am but it was TOTALLY worth it to see the South African sunrise in Kruger Park!! Ahh just gorgeous!! We started off the drive by seeing two hyenas, which are incredibly hard to come by apparently. At one point we came across an elephant on the side of the road, and we just kind of sat by and watched for awhile and then he turned and faced us and did a sort of “charge.” Needless to say, it freaked all three of us out a little bit, and we maintained our distance from there on out! Driving down the road we came across probably thirty baboons in the road…they basically owned it. Some of them were fighting; it was quite entertaining to watch!
We came to a look out point and got out of the car…with the windows still rolled down. Whoops! There were lots of little monkeys around and next thing we know there are three IN our car and then they’re out…with Alison’s bag of chips and her cough drops! I was just so glad they didn’t take my smaller camera because it was sitting in the seat! It was hilarious though and we couldn’t stop laughing! The monkeys were jumping in and out of people’s cars and people were completely oblivious to what was happening because they were busy looking out into the distance!!
We had breakfast at another campsite before leaving Kruger and heading to our next destination, Tshukudu (which means “Rhino” in some South African language!) Lodge which is a private game reserve and by far my favorite place we went to! We were greeted with tea and cookies (I’ve become quite the hot tea drinker since being in South Africa)…the people here were SO nice! We laid by the pool for about two hours before heading out on our evening night drive.
We went out with a family of four from London and a couple from Canada…they were all super nice and all really good spotters! We ran into a family of elephants…mom, dad, and baby. Well, the mom wasn’t too thrilled we were there. Alison and I were sitting in the back of the jeep and the elephant was so close we could have reached out and touched it! It kind of charged our vehicle and our tour driver stepped on it! The best part is, I got this all on video…my screaming and all!! We had a great outing though…we saw a lot of rhino and a lot of waterbuck. The sunset was GORGEOUS, our driver took us to a great spot to watch the sun go down J
We came back for dinner, and oh my goodness I don’t think I have ever had such a delicious meal. They feed you VERY well at this lodge. The chef prepared everything from ostrich steak to ribs to mushroom pancakes…all of which I tried, and loved! After dinner we went to watch the porcupines eat our left over food! Now when I think of a porcupine I think of a little guy, but these porcupines were huge!! With their needles (or whatever you call them) spread out, they were probably about the size of a grown golden retriever!! A couple of jackel came out to see us as well while we were there.
We went back to our little room and slept under our mosquito nets…the bugs were kind of bad here which was a bummer. We had another early morning, so it was an early night for us as well!

Day Four…

We woke up at 5:45am and set out on our morning walk in the bush with two lion cubs. This private game reserve has some domestic animals that they have rescued from various villages and such so these two cubs were five months old and walked alongside us the entire time. It was SO much fun! Plus, they were the first lions I had seen since being in Africa! The morning walk was more about learning how to find animals via their tracks and poop! It was actually very interesting!
We came back to eat breakfast (amazing) and then headed back out on our jeeps to the leopard and lion breeding farms. So again, this isn’t like a zoo because these animals still hunt for themselves but they have these separate areas for certain leopards and certain lions because they were brought up around humans so therefore they have lost their “fear” of humans and can’t hunt for themselves (at least that’s what I was told). So we got to see two leopards and then a family of lions. We found the male lion first…Simba!! Oh, I was SO excited…it made me think of my Charlie J Then we finally found the mama lion and two of her cubs. These cubs had to of been like two months old, they were so tiny!
On the way back to the lodge we came across so many groups of giraffes! I was in heaven! We also found some more impala and waterbuck and zebra…geez, the more I think about it the more I realize just how lucky I was that I got to see all of these amazing animals!!
We left Tshukudu Lodge around noon…we were incredibly sad to leave. We absolutely did not want to leave to go back to Jo’Burg. But here I am, typing this out to all of you…at least I’m reliving it just thinking about it!

I sure wish all of you could have been there with me. I’ve never done anything like this before, and I’m sure I’ll never get the opportunity to do it again…I just think about how blessed I am to have this opportunity! I’m going to try and find a way to put ALL of my pictures up on a website and then I’ll post a link. Are you ready for this?! I took 800 pictures!! Oh and I also took almost 50 videos!

Okay, this was super long and I apologize. But I swear it could’ve been like ten times as long and STILL not have done this trip justice! I hope all of you are doing well! Love you and miss you!!!