Kipp's Encounters

mackin the beeches.

2010-12-24T01:44:00.000-08:00

After my Intrepid tour I flew from Kilimanjaro (too cloudy to see it, bummer) to Zanzibar. I feel like the pictures will speak for themselves - it is absolutely beautiful; the water is bathtub warm and clear so you can see everything. wow. the snorkeling was fantastic and the pool was cool enough to get a break from the heat. it was HOT HOT HOT.

pretty fragipanis

this dude climbed up the tree to fetch us these coco`s and then opened them up for us to drink and eat!

the view

our snorkelling boat

not our snorkeling boat, but cool.

this tortoise is 126 years old. he loved having his neck stoked, soooo cooooool!

do a trick for your food.. ha ha

they are so funny. to drink they just dunk in for a bit, too cute.

kisses!

a baby! it weighed a tonne. hey are solid solid animals. The grown male can weigh up to 250 kg. that is humongous.

the view from my room

my room (top right half). very simple inside. Honestly I was sooo happy for a toilet to sit down on and towel to dry myself!! that I couldn`t have cared less what the room was like ;)

our transportation to stone town for my last night in africa!

this was what i sat beside on our ride into town.

beautiful beautiful man holes.

sunset from my hotel rooftop lounge

fish market. big ocotpus

lobster anyone?

these are arabian or indian doors. even the crappy shops in town have beautiful doors. this is what they are famous for - other than spices and grrrrreat food!

Zanzibar was a beautiful place to spend a few days and I met a great couple and was able to meet up with a couple from my last trip and these interactions allowed me to have a great! time here. Unfortunately, I did end up getting heat stroke and what looks like a heat rash a baby gets. I wished for a few things to go different in this part of my trip but I think things worked out for the best, I gave it my all and conquered :)

thank you beautiful zanzibar for hosting me so graciously.
you are lovely.

drop toilets really aren't my thing

2010-12-24T01:12:00.000-08:00

Hello World!

I have just had another absolutely amazing, fantastic, breath taking, memory making week!

Starting Nairobi, Kenya through to Tanzania where we crossed somewhere (?) close to Lake Victoria where we stayed at this sweet lake front campsite. It was soo hot - I Couldn't WAIT to go for a swim... then our guide (Jerry, so poa {cool}) lets us know that there is no swimming in this lake or we'll get worms... in our blood (shistosomiasis)... uhm, okay, 'nuff said. A bike ride instead through Musoma with the most interesting man - Riuconga or something like that. He worked us so hard but it was worth it. Cool to see a town from the inside on a bike instead of just driving through each one and waving at the children. As we rode through town children would appear, running, to shout "mzungu" which means white man/people. It was unbelievable, so cute they would chase us for as long as they could just shouting mzungu mzungu mzungu! What an interesting experience. We visited markets, a soccer game, a school classroom (hijacked is maybe more the word for this one), a local bar and our guides home. I am thankful that I was able to see into this world in Musoma for a short glimpse of everyday life there.

these are sardines- whoa- smelly. yet very cool to see all the boats and the men and women standing inside of bags jumping on the little fish to make room for more inside, ha ha, like they don't smell bad enough already ;)

these fish were in the market... still alive - covered in flies. They would flip their heads once in a while (sick)

Next stop -SERENGETI!!!

This place is wild... literally. for the first hour i was keeping a list of different animals we saw - 21!!! Can you imagine? it was amazing. Hard to believe that we were in the Serengeti - the rest of my group will understand what i mean. I can't even tell you how many times we would be "game driving" or (driving to sit toilets) and I'd see a zebra nursing a young one and I'd start to giggle and think "wow, I'm in Africa". I felt like someone should pinch me because everything was so bazaar. I planned this trip for a year and here I was, watching giraffes scratching their big long necks on the trees in the Serengeti. Just thinking about it brings a smile to face - I really can't get over how blessed I am. wow. what an experience! Here are a few of my fave photos :)

leopard - wow.

he is coming to get us! yikes!

hungry hungry hippo

the scavenger hyena. i wonder if this is the same one that broke into our camp kitchen and stole our garbage bin???

check out this guys balls (above) he is a verdid monkey and the colour reminds me of blue chewing gum - ha ha.

giraffes are cool.

baby, ma & pa -- awwww

beauty, eh?

what a mess... they are so funny.

my home...

sunrise in the serengeti

rar. wow.

With our two days up in the Serengeti we took off to Ngorogoro Crater - the whole reason of this part of my trip. From what I have read about this place - it is the place I wanted to be and experience the ultimate africa. it is a crater that is believed to have been a volcano that was bigger than kilimanjaro before it imploded and became this amazing place on earth. when you drive up to the rim of the crater and look down into the crater it reminded me of looking down on earth from outer space - there were lakes, plateaus, dry areas, lush areas, rivers, and this amazing mist that covers parts that makes me think it was something I read about in one of the lord of the rings books. "mist"ical... mystical? ha ha.

Our campsite was right on the edge of the crater and it was full of other overlander groups - but it was fun to listen to them all laughing and having fun and our group the most fun - because we are rad. There were these "snobby" elephants with GIANT tusks, like wooly mammoth tusks, that don't like drinking dirty river water so they come into the camp and drink out of the water tanks. ha ha. amazing! right through the camp. oh africa.

here are a few photos from the crater. i must say that this is the most incredible place on earth that brought me to tears with its beauty. ahhhh, i'm so happy that I was able to visit this special place.

sunrise over the crater

sooo excited!!

cheetahhhhhhhh.... these are brothers (one of them) they are named the clintons because they were showing off a big kill in front of Bill and his bro when they were there last year (okay, I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but they were incredibly beautiful no matter how they got their names)

"when I was a young warthog... when he was a young wart hog!"

can you see how long his tusks are? this is where old male elephants come to die. they like it here because elephants die of starvation after their last molars fall out because they can't eat anymore but her ein the crater the foliage is very soft and gentle so they can preserve their teeth for longer. We did see a few elephant skeletons but it isn't yet an elephant graveyard - but there is definite potential int he next 100-1000 years.....

kisses

dudes - wildebeests are so weird, i used to think they were really ugly but now i think they are super cool!

see?

fight fight fight!

rar! i'm a lioness hunting... ba ha ha. scary isn't it?

baby baboon taking a ride on mommy

GIANT bird - the ugliest as well - Maribou Stork

Ngorogoro from the top

We made it! What an awesome group, what an awesome trip, what an awesome shot!
Thank You to my sweet group for everything.
Thank You Kenya and Tanzania for wowing me again and again.

a whole new experience

2010-12-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

Oh, how i've missed having connections - amazing how much I rely on something as small as a laptop that has such a huge impact on everything. A whole week without talking to my husband or my mom!! Unheard of! But I survived it.

I flew from Cape Town to Jo-Burg to Livingstone, Zambia last week to meet up with 6 others and 2 guides for an Intrepid Bundu tour. I had no expectations as I had no idea what to expect. I had an amazing time.

At Victoria Falls we walked to the Zambian (the less impressive but still awesome) side of the falls. We slept in bedded tents and showered in gross showers (ha), peed with a huge frog watching me!

I went on a dinner cruise up the upper Zambezi with dignitaries from Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa & Botswana and me in my shorts and tank top - I have NEVER felt so out of place! ha! The people were very nice to me and one even told me he thinks I'll have twins, wow! he didn't even know my name but was predicting the future of me; i was just thankful he wasn't offering to father them, wink wink!

I flew in a helicopter of the falls - AMAZING! Such an impressive site, i guess thats why its one of the 7 wonders. wow. wow. wow.

I went on an elephant back safari. (see my facebook profile pic). My elephant was Bop. He was the oldest of the elephants there and he didn't like to go up to the dock to get on so he knelt down and the guide helped my climb up on him. He was fantastic, we walked through the jungle and then swam the river across. then I was able to feed and pet him. wow. this huge HUGE animal was so gentle and sweet. he felt like soft bark on a tree with tiny (compared to the size of him) hairs all over. his trunk opening was wet and soft like a dogs nose but could grip my hand like a handshake. he was amazing, the whole experience was unbelievable.

actually i could say that about my whole trip. like being in a dream. i walked through the whole week thinking wow. fantastic. wow. so many times i had to shake my head and say - I'm in Africa! this is crazy! ha ha. you'd think after the 40 days i've been here I would get used to it, but nope. like a dream I need to pinch myself. wow.

We left for Botswana early to get to Chobe National park early afternoon. beautiful. We went on a cruise on the chobe river and saw so many hippos, crocodiles, birds, antelope, and even awhole herd of elephants rolling in the mud and spraying themselves and playing. There were young ones that were playing and even baby twins that were soooo cute they kept slipping in the mud and falling. ha ha. it was truly breath taking watching the sun go down and watching nature do its thing. ahhhhhh.

Next to Maun, Botswana to leave for the Okagango Delta. A place like nowhere else in the world - wow. We were poled out to our campsite in Mokoro's (carved out canoes) through the reeds and channels for 2 hours to get there where we swam in the natural pools with the clearest pristine waters and nice warm(ish) water to cool us down from the 38 degree weather. I tried my hand at poling a mokoro - you could probably guess but I sucked. Action, my teacher, had to pole us back because I was an embarrassment to the sport... ha ha. That afternoon we went on a game walk. wow. we saw tonnes of birds and a herd of zebras that we walked right beside. wow. no lions, which i saw totally okay with! you know, walking and all ;)

We travelled back to Maun the next day spent the night then left bright and early (not so bright it was that early) to Karma RHino Sanctuary after eating our breakfast on the side of a deserted highway under the only tree to be seen for miles (beautiful) in the Kalaharui Desert. wow.

We went for an open air game drive at the sanctuary where we saw the BIGGEST giraffe I've ever seen (but i've been told they are even bigger in the serengeti! yay!) we saw 19, or 21 rhinos! lots of baby ones too! cute! warthogs with babies, cute! Impalas, with you guessed it, babies! cute! lots of birds, water bucks, springboks (not pronking.... dang) a HUGE lizard! steenbucks (the cutest tiniest antelope) an owl, and a herd of zebras. wow! what a drive!

I also witnessed the tragic death of a baby squirrel, so new its eyes weren't even open. his mama deserted him when we checked into the room and he and his brother were squeaking for her. then he toppled out of the nest 10 feet above my bed. he made the grossest sound when he hit the concrete. oh dear, tears came to my eyes and I had to leave. Thankfully Antje was able to deal with the situation. I'm still traumatized. I asked the ranger to help the other little baby and he said "I'll take care of it" not like.... I'll get a tiny bottle and i'll nurse him to grow up... but more like I'll feed him to a snake behind your cabin. poor little guys. all because i started playing Lady Gaga they woke up and started crying.... then splat. thanks Gaga....

Well, yesterday we drove a record of 9.5 hours... exhausting, and then went for a quick drive down to Soweto, the most famous township in South Africa. Amazingly moving stuff. South Africa is a crazy place where the history is only now becoming history - you know I learned about things in classes in highschool and i thought oh, wouldn't that be terrible way back when to have to with such and such. but it was so long ago its hard to appreciate what the people went through. but here its so fresh that it is all around us. it is amazing to think about what was happening here while I was oblivious at home growing up in a safe and beautiful country. What if I would have been born here? everything would have been different. everything would be so hard... its hard to put into words but I feel I am so lucky, yet sad that I didn't understand until now.

Today, I'm in the JoBurg airport waiting for a flight to Nairobi, Kenya to start another adventure to the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater (the cradle of mankind) - I'm sooooo excited! and can't wait to tell you all about my next journey.

I hope all is well with you all! I miss everyone lots!!
12 more days until I'm home..... yessssssssssssss!!

All my Love,
Katrina / Kipp / Kapracino / Katherine / Hurricane (this is my new "action" name, like it?)

Good Bye Cape Town

2010-12-04T01:28:00.000-08:00

weird/ beautiful flower

prayers.

Mandiba

World Aids Day - I am so blessed to be a part of this 01.12.2010
Thank You G.F. Jooste hospital for having me for the month and teaching more than I ever thought was possible. I appreciate things so much more becasue of the people who have touched my heart here.
Thank You. I will pray that things will get better and I will not stop trying to change the world. or letting the world change me. I promise this.

We paraded the halls and went to every unit to sing, stomp, clap, and encourage everyone to get tested - KNOW YOUR STATUS!

this is the not busy at this moment Casualty unit. I have more pictures but I didn't want to show you pictures of gross things or people I didn't ask before taking their pictures. sorry.

bless this woman. she has more passion for fighting HIV than anyone.

yes.

love.

faith.

my FAVORITE person in Jooste. she was dancing more than anyone and singing SOO loud!

this is the dental fashion in this part of the world. pull out your front four teath and wait until you can afford gold to put in there. yes - most people have no front teath. and if they do - they are gansters... this is not a rule, but a good way to stay safe when you smile at people.

beautiful patient recieving a blood transfusion so she can walk home.

HIV counsellor.

passion

pray for this child. she is the sweetest child i have met. i hope she will continue to thrive as she has many many set backs to push through now. and it isn't her fault but now its her resposibility.

see the woman with the blood hanging - she is singing and grooving - this is how amazing these people are. they will not be held back.

know your status. it only takes 12 minutes to know. its the same type of thing when you get you blood sugar tested - easy peasy.

sweet shirt, eh?

my sweet child.

oh my love.

Dear Cape Town,
Thank You for being an amazing host. I feel utterly blessed to have been a part of what you do and how you work. I promise to return to bring my passion to you now that you have taught me so much. I can not express the deep feelings of respect I have for your people and your struggles. Good Luck - I will never forget how you have changed me.
Love you Forever,
Katrina

Bok Bus Epic Journey

2010-11-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

Cape Argullas - the most southern point of all of Africa - the official meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans... please note there is not a line dividing these even though people ask - "can you see the line?" and I, because I'm a sucker am like " uhm... yeah, i think sooo" ha ha. busted.

this is my lodge at the garden route game lodge. This is where we set out for the first of our two safaris to see THE BIG FIVE!!! dun dun dun.

wildebeest. the weirdest looking animal there is.

zebra - the most impressive striped animal there is.
fun fact: you could never ride a zebra because they have very weak backs - because they eat food that forms methane gas their bellies are too heavy and when they run you can hear them fart. ha ha.

springbok. they used to be a marsupial. neat, eh? they used to have pouches somewhere but now they have these white flaps under their bums that they open when pronking.... please Lord let me see a springbok pronk one day. pronk, pronk, pronk, pronk.

wow. mom and dad.

and baby- vuvuzela, she was born during world cup.

as the sun was setting the clouds parted. ahhhh beautiful...

rhino

baby and mommy

dad. these are the white rhinos - they all look the same to me but these ones eat grass instead of the black rhinos who eat bushes.

yikes!! snakes!!

i took the risk

here i go

ahh relaxing neck massage - yikes!

they can hold my weight!

in the cango caves - so beautiful!

this is the smallest antelope species - i can't remember what their called

boar!

crikey! thats a big croc!

baby cheetah!!! he's 5 weeks old

baby white tiger!!! he's 4 weeks old

daddy tiger. rar.

my friends becky & alex

my friends Nicola & Pam

the wind turns

the boys go to rescue the girls

but they made it on their own - thank God.

very private beach at Knysna... beautiful!

crazy monkey!

Neil. (no, i'm not saying this looks like my husband, his name is actually neil)

gibbon

me. bridge. 'nuff said

howler. thinking about howling?

lil' buddy

this baby is less than 24 hours old.

flamingo love

storm river

bridge

our group.
becky, alex, nicola, machiel, pam, me.

bok bus and the most beautiful farm anywhere in this world

last night drinks.

alex actually swan with this guy! shit, thats cool

wine tasting anyone?

beer tasting... for alex.

wine for the ladies

happy birthday Nicola!!!

penguins!!! penguins!!! penguins!!!

dirty penguin

chubby one.

surfers

this looks fake its so beautiful. i love it

ziplining!

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

the infamous bridge i jumped off

before

oh shit, what was i thinking.

i changed my mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

dear Lord, please please please please let me live!!!

wow! this is a rush!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

still falling!!!

i made it. i'm alive. woooo!

5 days on the road doing the coolest stuff helped me experience an epic week with kif (cool) people.

this weeks hospital rotation

2010-11-19T04:55:00.000-08:00

this week i have felt every possible emotion i have ever possessed. neil would probably ask"what else is new?" ha ha. i love it here, it is true. i feel like i have been here for month not just mere weeks. i feel comfortable and happy all of the time - barring the few times i cry when i talk to my mom or husband. :)

this week i worked in substance abuse services with a social worker and had a chance to really see the people that suffer from poverty and how they have developed coping skills that involve substance - sounds like home. amazing how addiction doesn't discriminate, eh? its so sad. people here are obsessed with "tik" which we at home call crystal meth. it is cheap and burns holes in frontal lobes of these people - they are dangerous and in need of money to get their drugs and they don't care who will give it to them or how. this becomes an issue because people don't have much of anything here.

for the last two days i've been working in infectious diseases (still at jooste hospital which i have come to love and feel very comfortable in). the patients who come to this department are referrals because the normal doctors need a specialist to see these people. the patients they see are young (but not children) and they are HIV positive, TB infected and usually many other things. today a patient came in and i couldn't believe how old she was - most of these patients die before they are 50 so to see an old woman was exciting to me. She could barely walk, bent over in pain as she came into the office to be seen. this woman was turned 32 next week. i thought she was in her 70's - i am heart broken for her.

there is a psychiatrist that come into deal with hiv dementia and psychosis that comes in stage 3-4 HIV approximately. today we were speaking about how it must be such a high rate of depression with this group of people and she told me that the difference is that her clientele die before they get the chance to become depressed. When you are diagnosed with HIV it might not even get a chance to really set in mentally because it is a struggle to feed your family everyday, when you live in a city where there is one well pump for 100's of families and you have to worry about your children not eating for days then when will you have time to get depressed about yourself? hmmm. she got me. i'm so moved by this place. every day something happens that stops me in my tracks - wow -

World Health Organization has HIV guidelines that all patients should receive anti retro viral medication when they have a CD4 count of 350 or less. South Africa gives ARV's when the CD4 count is less than 200. hmmm... these people are already so sick when they start ARV Treatment that the prognosis isn't great, this is better than before 2003 for sure but there is still a LOT of room for growth.

I have seen some amazing things - lots gross and sad, but many beautiful and wonderful.
Today I went to Sarah Fox Convalescent Hospital for children and signed up to volunteer there. This place is breathtaking. wow. there are so many babies and little people that need to get healthy and return home, or wherever they can go to. I can't wait to work with them. yes!

tomorrow I'm heading out wine tasting with my program coordinator for the day and sunday my hopes are to rent a car and tour some beaches or beach towns that are too close to miss out on.

I hope all is well at home and miss you all!
all my love,
katrina

pictures so far - it really is lovely here

2010-11-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

check out these dresses!! this is grade 7 grad.... whoa.

serious posers

this guy was the happiest vendor i've ever seen - watched our car and posed with his goods. lovely man

welcome to Bo'Kaap - the first of the Group Act where only coloured people could live with the onset of aparthied.

it is beautiful! all the colours - wow. There was 4 film crews out in the streets this day.

don't you agree? I do!!

beautiful art on the building.

hmmm... this is at the district six museum. where things got real for me.
What a wonderful day I had on Friday. I went for a township tour with a lady who lived in district six and was removed from each and every home she had during the aparthied. She moved 27 times until she got married and gave in to the government and moved to a township. I learned about the differences of whites, coloured and black - these are okay terms here that I wouldn't typically use but this is what they say here - respectfully. I learned about so many things this day it was amazing - beautiful, sad, moving, thought provoking, and humbling more than anything.

isn't this true.

welcome to Langa - the most "civilized" of the townships.
When the government created the townships they formed black townships, coloured townships, and white townships. Each level has different things - white has everything you could want, in the nicer areas of Cape Town. Coloured has things like sidewalks, a few schools, ability to have access to water, maybe bigger homes, yards even? black townships have one or two roads in, small houses - if houses are there or shacks, no running water, no schools and amazing things to me. The indifference created animosity between the different townships and each were taught to fear and not tolerate each other - terrible.

these are goats behind this cross. they take care of themselves in this area. this cross is to celebrate the life of a woman gunned down in a peaceful protest.

this is a home

awesome

wouldn't you love to live here/.

okay, so this is kayaleitcha. this township is the furthest from Cape Town proper. along with this comes the least amenities and the most crime.

most people can't afford electricity so they steal it. there are guys with ladders you can pay to hang up your cord. scary!

the close four toilets are the originals. there are new ones behind. each toilet services 8 family homes. in each home lives more than one family typically because if they have a bit of a yard they rent it to help feed their family and the bakyard family builds a shack. so really each toilet services 16 families. they are emptied ONCE a week - if they are lucky. that is around 80+ people using each of these toilets. imagine what that is like. gross. this township is around 1.1 million people... holy. and they are protesting by burning their garbage and many things everyday until they get more toilets and twice a week servicing. these are the first round of new toilets.

this is a project that provides skills to women - they learn how to weave rugs and silk screen fabric to create an income. the proceeds - if any provide nutrition for children in the area. wow. this project is full of joy and hope in the middle of this terrible terrible area.

3 families live here. shack, house, and a tin corrugated home in the back.

this is a bed and breakfast... they use their proceeds to operate a project to encourage children to stay in school. power comes from education. they get donations from ALL around the world. While I was there Vicky recieved packages of pencils and pens and a cash donation from belguim and Denmark. awesome.

look at the roofing on these homes. wow. good thing its the dry season now.

she loves jeff.

she loves another jeff. Thank You Aunty Tina for sending these for this project.

this shows how close their homes are and the building in the back yards and the fumes in the air are from them burning tires for their protest today.

can you see all their power lines? ha. wow.

this is a different day... obvious? from my first weekend in south africa we went driving south from Cape Town proper. beautiful. this is the atlantic coast. you have to have a 5mm wetsuit to swim on this side.

this is a bay. hout bay to be exact. you can take a boat from here to see seals. i didn't....

mmm... i LOVE wine. and i charged my camera here. have i mentioned how great south african people are??? wow, the warmest people i've ever met.

this is true. but i haven't seen one yet. so i guess i should carry more food??

awesome

indian ocean - it looks warmer doesn't it??

awwwwwwwwwwwww

tee heee...

he likes me!

these are called hyraxes - they are related to the elephant... can you believe it??? me neither. they are soo cute and they eat those greens plants and chew all crooked. i like them.

its malting season so all the pengiuns are out of the water because they are not waterproof right now as they get new feathers.

fancy dancing.

he's coming to get me! yikes!

pretty

i miss my dog.

i thought this would freak lisa out. this woman put all this bird food in her hands and let the birds fly at her and eat out of her hands - sick.

wedding # 1

someone needs to feed these fish because if you look close one is alive - five are dead. ha ha

wedding # 2

these are my most gracious hosts! Barbara & Cedric. They are the kindest people in the world. Here they are taking off on a 10km walk - appropriately named "the big walk".

welcome to Robben Island

my host # 1. he is an ex-political prisoner.

the church

the school

table mountain and Cape Town from the island

me and table mountain. picture taken by a very kind dutch woman.

my next guide. an ex- political prisoner. explaining this is where nelson mandela spent the majority of his days in prison.

President Mandela's cell

thats it. thats all. how cruel.

yuck. but very interesting

razor wire

i love this.

ba ha ha ha ha.

going up table mountain.

thats robben island out there about 11 km off the coast

me. in case you forgot what i looked like. that devils peak just above my right hand and robben island behind that.

this is what all rock climbers look like right? just kidding, they were doing a photo shoot.

yikes. thats high

godzilla. ahhhhhhh

we were so high. literally. not doing drugs.

furry

the waterfront. very posh. very touristy.

nice sunset colours

my first giraffe

and my first hippo. this one won't bite me to death though.....

photos

2010-11-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

a couple shots of the cold atlantic ocean

2010-11-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

who eats baby chickens??!?!?!?!

we climbed up and up...

These pictures are from our drive on Sunday along the beautiful atlantic ocean. wow. beautiful.

I'd show you more but the internet in this country is crap....
i'll try again when my patience are lasting a bit longer!

In the flats of Cape Town

2010-11-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

I arrived into CPT in the morning and was greeted by two big smiles followed by big BIG hugs! Thank you to the coordinators in country here, Avril & Marion. We rushed through roads and places that didn't make any sense to me, we were on the wrong side of the road to start!! ahhh, i'm usually pretty calm until we go to turn... yikes! right into on coming traffic - oh wait, they ALL drive on the wrong side of the road... ha h ha.

My house is small and comfortable and safe, yes SAFE! Which is the most important thing. All the reading that I have done doesn't talk much about the flats - oh, now I get it! No tourists come here! This is just for them... and now me. Which I like, kind of like South Africa is letting me see a dirty little secret, you know? Whole areas of town that are lean to's and open sewage and little gross rivers and one well for thousands of them and then next to this is an area named the same but with "estates" behind the name and here I am, right beside this... but safe. Let's thank God again for that.

There was supposed to be another girl coming to start the program with me... alas, she no-showed, hmm. All alone? No, there is Rosen. He has been here for four weeks, American, beginning his third year of med school. Never touched a patient until he came here but it so sure of himself that I'm jealous and scared of him. Amazing, Americans, hurrummph...

All that being said, Rosen and I have spent the whole weekend together. When I thought I would be stuck in my house dealing with flu, jet lag, nervous disorders and such I was actually having orientation, supper at the waterfront in Cape Town proper, climbing the southern most tip of Africa, Cape Point, reveling in the beauty of the waters at Cape of Good Hope (with a name like that how couldn't you love it?) and to top it off I ended the day about a foot away from wild penguins on the rocks at boulder bay (not just a clever name, ha)

Last night I must have been wound up as tight as a top! I couldn't sleep, not a wink. well until 6:15 this morning when I had to wake at 6:50 to get ready for my first day in hospital. oh heck, I'm a wreck usually before my first day of clinical in Red Deer so it makes sense, right? I was laying in bed thinking, oh my god! do I know anything? what am i going to wear? am i going to fit in? are they going to accept me? are the going to let me do things? I wonder what the patients will look like/ I wonder what I'll be doing? etc, etc, etc, from 9:30 to 6:15 - shoot me.

I was picked up at 7:45 by this man named Mr. Mammath who "we" call Uncle and he talked (and drove) me all the way to University of Cape Town, which is maybe the most beautiful place I've been. I'm going to try and go back there while I'm here. I got an ID card
Katrina Vande Bunte, Medical Student ---- uh oh!! I should've taken this as a sign.

Then to the hospital. Uncle walked me in, i'm not sure I would have made it if it weren't for him. this place looks scary. I was given a 30 second tour and told to work in casualties; in my white coat. NO ONE else was wearing a white coat. all doctors in jeans. what? this is wild. 100's of people laid out on benches, coughing, holding sheets to their heads, whoa, i'm NOT ready for this. Thank God the doctor wasn't either. So I ended up in "See & Treat" It was cool. One patient at a time, with whatever their ailment, the doctor - Dr. Porsche Williams, a lady so wonderful and young, would consult with me, another doctor, a specialist, CT or x-ray treat and discharge the patient. whoa. this is living. we saw 28 patients. This woman did not eat. and its not like at home where they get paid per visit - this is straigh salary and she loves her job.... most of the time ;) Its a rough crowd so I understand.

The health system works quite different here and I can't wait to learn more about it... fascinating. On Friday I go with a tour guide who will take me through all the townships and explain the history and take me to a shanti area of town to meet some people. I can't wait! I wish it was friday!! ha ha.

I really must walk home now as I want to stop to buy a few apples and herbal tea at the local shoppie.
I am missing EVERYONE a lot and can't wait to hear from you all about... anything! its always nice to here even the "boring" stuff at home as i miss everyone all the time.

Until next time,
love love love.
You are all in my thoughts everyday.
katrina

Just touched down in London Town

2010-11-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Actually I've been in London for... uhm... forever? Neil gave me a pass to the fancy dancy air canada lounge and I was soooo excited in a blur when I walked in, she took my ticket, and smiled - but then all at once I had the flu which has been plaguing my family for the last week and she read the expiry date as 8 months ago. shit. so i walked kilometer after kilometer and finally found a bench that didn't have the individual seats divided. |Hallelujah. Here I sit 8 hours later still on the same bench outside of Tiffany's wishing I was Audrey Hepburn rather than me, with the flu.

I have been sleeping like a log on t he bench below (cozy, eh?). This bench has been a blessing and I think I'll kick this flu before I land in South Africa. (Pray for me!)

So I wait and watch this tv screen periodically to see if I need to move yet. Wait to feel better, wait for my gate to be announced, wait to get to Africa. Oh My God, I going to AFRICA!!!! Seems Crazy. Ha Ha.
I Can't wait to blog again - I bet its going to be such an exciting entry.
So- 2 more hours here, a short 12 hours flying and then my host family should be ready and waiting for me at the other end!! Yay!! There is an 8 hour time difference from RD to CT, 6 hours from RD to London... I know I'm a genius so that equals a 2 hours time difference between here and there.... So I arrive at 10:30am there on the 6th of November! Yay!

Stay Tuned, Stay Cool
Katrina

Step One: Saskatoon, the weekend before

2010-10-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

So it starts....
I'm done school. My husband came home. We saw my parents, his parents, new babies, old babies, big kids, little kids. We had an awesome date night, bought a bunch of stuff for my big trip and a mask for this little one. Whoa, sounds like I'm ready? Not even close!!! ha ha

I'm in Saskatoon, my inaugural trip to beautiful SK! for a nursing conference. I hold this fancy title of Official Delegate to the CNSA (Canadian Nursing Students Association) which is awesome - ask me sometime if you're interested in knowing more about it - I love this stuff!

We got in late last night and had a celebratory pint (or two) and then took part in an awesome meeting this morning. Now I rest and wait to meet up with an old friend Dan-YELL! from my days in Travel School circa 2003. Tomorrow the exciting conference learning happens with workshops and motivating speakers, did I mention I love this stuff? I do, I think nursing is amazing it the way it makes me feel like I actually CAN change the world! After the conference, but before the masquerade ball I am looking forward to getting together with another travel friend Marla and her partner for a quick but much needed catch-me-up on our lives.

I'm so lucky to be able to have this weekends experiences and motivation to launch me off into the BIGGEST journey yet! I leave in six days.... holy moly!! Can't wait! (but not until i'm packed ;)