“You’re going to miss this”

I’m just now realizing that it’s been a week since I’ve last written and realizing how busy I always am here. We had our first entire free weekend last weekend and it was so so much fun. We helped sort through books at the library I mentioned in a previous post on Friday, went shopping and out to lunch at Kaulks Bay on Saturday, and watched the sunset at Camps Bay on Sunday night.

We also had a full week (Monday through Wednesday) of internship and it was amazinggggg to say the least. On Monday all I did was mix antibiotic powder with water for the patients but on Tuesday we finally got to meet Sister Castle (who we all heard a lot about from previous interns) and she’s so so great. She told us that she was going to teach us a lot and told the other nurses to let us do more as well. We all learned how to do HIV testing ourselves (doing finger pricks are not bad at all contrary to what I predicted!!) which was awesome because I finally felt like I was helping instead of just sitting around watching. Sister Castle isn’t like a ‘boss’ to us, she’s super personable and you can tell she actually tell she cares about us. She told us how to be safe around the Tafelsig area, told us she would bring us out to lunch one day and to her house and she’s even going to come over our house so we can make her dinner!! She told us to do as much as we could while we’re here. She said “when you go home you’re going to miss this” and already I know she’s right.

Another sister from the clinic overhead us talking one day on break how we are struggling with what to make ourselves for our lunch break. Later that day she went up to Emily (one of my friends interning at the clinic as well) and told her to tell the rest of us not to bring anything on Monday because she’s going to make something for us all. I’m telling you this to try and show you how amazing all the sisters are. I find myself missing the clinic on the days we aren’t there.

Today we had class again until 3:00 isn and then we all split up to do our own thing for the rest of the day. Some people stayed at UCT (University of Cape Town) to get work and other things done, some went home to nap and relax by the pool, some when grocery shopping, etc.. Anyway, it was nice to have that personal time but when I finally came home to a half empty house, it was kind of strange. I started thinking about our pre departure class back at UConn and how most of us didn’t know each other at all. We sat in class but never made any real connections. Now that we’re here and it’s been a couple of weeks I laugh at how awkward we must have been. We’re a family now. We’re apart for an afternoon and I find myself missing my housemates. We still have so much time here but I’m already dreading going home and not being just a room away from such amazing people.

Tonight most of us are staying in because we’re hiking Table Mountain in the morning!! I’m literally so excited so here’s to hoping I get at least a little sleep so I’m awake and ready to go…

My story.

I promised I would write after I got back from my first day of internship so I’m sorry this post comes a bit late. Anyway we started classes as well and below is a more formal blog that I have to write for one of them. It tells a little about my first day and some other thoughts but it shows the jist of how I’ve been feeling this past week. Here’s my story:

 

“Get outside, get all over the world, you learn to love what you get in return.”

Almost another week has gone by and I find myself full of many different emotions. On Wednesday we started our internships and while we were told to refrain from judging it based on the first day, I have to say that I am already looking forward to going back on Monday (is that cheating?). I’m interning at Tafelsig Clinic which is one of the poorest townships in an area called Mitchell’s Plain. When the 4 other students who were placed there and I arrived, we were split up and shadowed different nurses (who they call sisters there). I was in the pediatric immunization room for the whole day. I enjoyed learning about the different vaccinations and at what age they were administered and I was even given the task of weighing the children and measuring their head circumferences. To be honest, I was glad to be doing anything because I was expecting to do nothing but watch for my first couple weeks there. I am looking forward to shadowing other sisters in other areas of the clinic next week. Before I came here I had this vision that I would someday become a pediatric nurse. I’m starting to second guess myself because the immunization room was very routine and I’m just not sure I would enjoy that for my entire career. I still have so much time here so for now I put that thought in the back of my head and will revisit it at the end of my internship.

One of the hardest part of the internship for me was seeing children come into the office who it was very obvious that they hadn’t been bathed for days. The woman I worked with constantly sprayed down the room after families left and told me that it was surprising to see a child come in who was clean. This hit me rather hard because I realized how much I take for granted something so simple as a shower every day. It’s part of my routine and while everyone always jokes and says you do the most thinking in the shower, I never spend that time thinking about how others don’t have something so small as a bath.

Yesterday we headed to the University of Cape Town for Vernon’s class. I honestly thought it was going to be a rather uneventful day but it proved to be quite the opposite. We spent a majority of the time talking about Cape Town, what we saw, how we felt, and in particular the differences we saw between this beautiful place and our lives back in the States. We talked about how discussions of race are often pushed aside and avoided back home while here it is rare if it doesn’t come up in conversation. In the U.S. we create a ‘personal bubble’ around ourselves and only let certain people in. Here that ‘bubble’ does not exist. People greet you for the first time with a hug and will sometimes touch your arm when you are speaking with them. We talked about how people seem more friendly here and that the concept of time doesn’t matter as much. People will take the time to help you even if it means they will be late to something. We talked about how you can see the history of South Africa within people’s lives where in the U.S. it’s almost just something we learn in school and forget shortly after. And we talked about the large income gap is and how shocking it is that an informal township is literally in the backyard of a wealthy golf course.

I agreed with what everyone was saying. But as the conversation continued and went on for over an hour, I found myself sitting in class with tears in my eyes. It somehow felt to me like we were bashing the United States. My family, my friends, and 20 years of my life are back there and it just didn’t seem right to me. And then one of my co-educators raised their hand and gave a new perspective. They said we need not put South Africa on a pedestal and look down upon the U.S. It’s not better; it’s just different. So we shouldn’t compare and we shouldn’t feel bad for what we have and where we come from. Instead, I think, we should be thankful especially now that we are aware of what life is like to those living in such poverty. I find myself stepping back and thinking before I utter a complaint. And when I go back home I’m making the promise to myself to smile more and say hi more to strangers passing by.

Last night another one of my co-educators was talking to a group of us and said something so profound it really inspired me when writing this post. He told us to make sure we wrote how we really felt and to not be afraid to say something because no one else can write our story. Days, months, years from now we’ll look back at our blogs and know one thing: all these words are the truth. And it’s our story. To everyone back home, know that I miss you but know that I am also very happy here. I am learning so much and realizing a lot about myself as well. I thank God every day for this experience because I have gone across the world and I have already learned to love what I am getting in return.

 

Home.

Orientation is officially over! It is crazy to think about how we have only been here for two weeks when it feels like we have been here for at least a month. We have done so much, seen so much, and experienced so much already I can honestly say I feel at home. Table mountain is beautiful (did you know it’s one of the seven wonders of the world?) but I no longer feel the need to quickly grab my camera and take pictures every time we pass by it (which is multiple times a day considering we even have a nice view of it from our ‘balcony’ at the house). Everything feels ‘normal’. It doesn’t feel like I’m in a foreign country. It doesn’t feel like I’m a stranger. It doesn’t feel like I don’t belong. Like I said, I feel at home.

We spent the past two days traveling to the 16 different internship sites that the 26 students UConn students will be at for the next 13 weeks. I am working at the clinic in Tafelsig, one of the poorest areas in Mitchell’s Plain. We visited there on Monday and my initial thought upon entering was: wow this is overwhelming. There were benches lined with tons of people waiting to be helped. We were told that the clinic sees up to 500 people in their workday and sometimes even more that they run out of numbers and have to make more. Again my initial reaction was that it must be overwhelming for the staff but then the woman told us that if you take one person at a time it doesn’t seem like so many. I’m telling myself not to set expectations because I want to get the most out of the internship but I am terribly excited for what’s to come. I also found out that while we will be rotating throughout the different ‘units’, I will be spending a majority of my time in peds!! Right now I am interested in becoming a pediatric nurse so this will help me determine if it really is the area I will want to concentrate in during my schooling.

Today we said goodbye to our huge touristy bus. And we said goodbye to always having to travel in groups of 30. But tomorrow we say hello to the start of something much bigger. The start of internships. So here I sit like a child about to enter a candy store, open to new experiences, new people, and new ways of thinking. I’ll share tomorrow about my first day, miss everyone! xoxo

What you have in your heart

“I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.”

I am trying to figure out how to explain my experience yesterday but I’m having a bit of trouble. It was one of those days where I needed the night to process everything before I attempted to write this post.

We spent the day visiting the townships which are the poorer areas of town. I mentioned this in a previous post but it made me so sad to see how different their living conditions are compared to mine. However, they have so little and are still so so much happier and that made me happy to see. I watched as children played with a single water bottle and laugh like they were having the best time of their lives. I saw the smiles of the people and how everyone initiated a wave as we past by and I couldn’t help but smile back. I am realizing how much I have to be thankful for and how having things isn’t a measure of happiness. I’m a quote junkie and I stumbled across one the other day that holds so much truth. “To be rich is not what you have in your bank account, but what you have in your heart.” So here I am torn between emotions and all I can hope is that I will be able to give back to these beautiful people as much as possible in my activist project and my internship.

We were also blessed with the opportunity to visit the library in Nyanga that was built by students from UConn who studied abroad here last spring (my good friend Patrick being on of them). I have seen pictures but seeing it in person was even more incredible. There are so many books and you can really see how much of an impact these students had and how much of a difference was made. Definitely one the highlights thus far.

At night we went out for pizza and then enjoyed a nice jazz performance to end the day. The people playing were amazing and it was a nice way to unwind.

Today was actually so much more fun than I expected. We mimicked the show “The Amazing Race”, were split into groups, given specific directions, and told to bring back a certain object. It was the first time we used public transportation and I actually loved it. Again, everyone was amazing and helped when we got lost and all in all it was a good day. We had the rest of the day to relax and we’re headed out in a bit to go celebrate Johnny’s (another UConn student/friend) birthday. Time to go get ready!!

I wish you could be here

It’s been just under a week since I’ve been in the beautiful city of Cape Town, South Africa. Seven days ago I was spending my last night home with my family and getting anxious about what was to come. Now, I’m sitting in my new home with new friends feeling like this has all been such a dream.

Yesterday I officially fell in love with this place.

We spent the day traveling and exploring around the peninsula. It was one of those moments where I wish I could fly all my friends and family here to see how truly magnificent this place really is. I was reminded that it is in fact summer here and when the sun is out I will get sunburnt and it will hurt. Regardless of my now fire engine red skin, it was one of the best days I’ve had here thus far. Some of the places we went were Hout Bay, Cape Point, and Boulder’s Beach (penguins!!!) just to name a few. Simply incredible. (pictures that would load are below)

We did a lot of traveling yesterday and while looking out the bus window in between stops something struck me in a way I can’t really describe. One minute I would see a very wealthy community with huge houses with private pools and just five minutes later we would pass a very poor community with houses made out of any scraps people could find. It reminded me of the quote “Sometimes it strikes me how poverty and privilege became neighbors. But the world keeps going, because it has to” from One Tree Hill. It just doesn’t seem right that people living so close together are living under such vastly different conditions. It shows how there are still strong remnants from the apartheid and makes me very eager to get closer to the townships when we start internships next week.

After resting for a few hours we headed out as a group for our first night out in town. Despite the safety briefings by the American Consulate who made it sound like the most dangerous place unless we stayed locked in our house all day and night long, I felt just as safe as I would in any city and had so so much fun. Everyone we met was super friendly and we even met some people from the states! Looking forward to more nights to come.

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I feel like I’m using words like “amazing” and “incredible” in just about every other sentence but today was yet another one of those days. It’s almost challenging writing this blog because I don’t quite know how to put down in words what I’m seeing and how I am feeling.

Today I officially fell in love with its people.

This morning we participated in a “township faith experience” in a Baptist Church in Gugulethu. It was something I will never forget. While driving there, it was not hard to realize that it was one of the poorer areas that I mentioned above. However, the people were some of the most lively, happiest, and friendliest people I have met so far in this journey. Randomly throughout mass they would erupt into songs that made it impossible for you to not want to join in and dance along. Although we could not understand a majority of what the people were saying, everyone was so friendly and not only tried to translate some parts for us but also gave us their personal music notebooks so we could follow along.

We ended the day with a summer sunset concert at Kirstenbosch Gardens which was perfect way to end an exhausting week. Heading to bed early tonight so I can enjoy these next 10 days exploring what’s around this amazing (couldn’t help myself) place before classes and internships start up. To everyone reading, I wish you could be here to see it all for yourselves. Until I write again…

Excited for what’s to come!

It’s only day two and I’ve already begun losing track of the days here.   The days go by so quickly and it feels like we’ve been here so much longer because I’m already so comfortable here.

Today was a big shopping day for us all.  We were given lots of time to shop on Main Road to take out money and buy essentials that we were unable to pack in our suitcases (shampoo, sunscreen, converters, etc.). It was almost a little funny when I was asked for 500 rand (the currency in South Africa) and I freaked out thinking I just spend like all my money but in reality it was only around 50 American dollars. One of those things I’m sure I will get used to!!

After lunch and a little more shopping we went back to the houses to freshen up before heading to the Cape Town vs. Mali soccer game!! It was so so fun. I have pictures but I can’t figure out how to upload them from my camera to my laptop so hopefully I’ll figure that out soon. Anyway, the stadium was hugeee and all the fans were so lively and energetic it was just an absolutely amazing environment to be in. Something weird was that instead of counting down the minutes left in the game, they count up. So by the end of the game the scoreboard read: “90:00″….so weird but I can dig it. It ended up being a tie game but even though there was no win, all the Cape Town fans started big chants and songs. Everyone’s just so happy here it’s really really great.

We got our itinerary for what we have planned for us for the next two weeks and I am getting more and more excited by the minute looking at what’s to come. I am also looking forward to starting our internships in just about a week and a half. While I may not have as much time to blog when those and classes start, I will try to post at least once a week to let everyone know what’s going on (mostly for you mom…:))

Sending international love to everyone back home xoxo

I can already tell I’m going to love it here…

15 hours of turbulence and a missed connecting flight later and we have officially arrived in Cape Town, South Africa! During the bus ride from the airport to our houses, I was overwhelmed with many emotions:

1. This isn’t real. This place is beautiful and there’s no way I’ve been given the opportunity to call this place my home for the next 3 and a half months.

(Picture of Table Mountain that I took from the bus; breathtaking right? More to come…)

2. Shoutout to my mom for making me cry when I connected to the internet and saw her Facebook post about me leaving. I miss my friends and family already but I know I’ll still be in touch regardless of the time difference and miles apart.

After arriving to our houses we all picked rooms and began to settle in. I’ll post pictures later but the house is really really great. I think one of the things I love most here is all the trees and plants everywhere. It just feels like home.  Anyway, after settling in, we all dressed up and when out for dinner at a Thai place. It was quite a different experience I must say.  We spent almost 3 hours at dinner because the service was much slower than in the U.S.. But the thing is: I loved that. Instead of sitting down at a restaurant back home and being rushed and done with a meal within 45 minutes, we were able to take our time and talk with one another about so so much. Because of that I can already say that I am becoming close with the 25 other people I am spending my time abroad with. They are truly great people and I’m feeling really blessed.

Today was a good day, and it’s been less than 12 hours since we landed. I can already tell I’m going to love it here….