The Saga Continues...because JD Oldham said so

Wow.  Has it really been two months since my last post? Oops.  Oh well.  I honestly thought that everyone had stopped reading but one of my loyal followers convinced me he wanted to see the rest of the story.  So JD Oldham, this one’s for you.

*Disclaimer: even I have forgotten the exact chronological sequence of events and probably most of the details.

**2^nd Disclaimer: there will be lots of needles and blood. Just have to put that out there.

Okay so we get to the hospital.  I am basically writhing in pain but of course extensive paperwork needs to be filled out, especially since I am not a South African citizen.  If Kate Lucey had not been there with me to fill it out I do not know what I would have done…probably died on the floor of the hospital lobby.  Not even kidding.  (Sorry Mom, that’s probably not what you wanted to hear.)  So we are sitting in this little cubicle and I’m trying not to move and answer Kate’s questions when I just start crying.  I have never felt more helpless in my life.  I’m not sobbing or anything. Just silent tears because, in all honesty, that is the only thing I could do at that point.  The paperwork is finally done and we are brought to a little triage area.

It was dirty.  I was sitting on dirty sheets.  The floors were dirty.  The people in charge of the area weren’t even wearing hospital apparel.  We were waiting for what seemed like hours before we were even seen.  During the waiting period, people kept coming in and taking stuff out of my curtained-off area.  I was about to lie down and poof, my pillow is gone.  Well that didn’t stop me from lying down.  I was in so much discomfort and I hadn’t slept in over 30 hours.  Kate was being so good to me, talking and rubbing my back and checking out to see if the doctor seemed close.  Well suddenly a man walked in and started taking my blood.  It could have been Buster Posey himself and I wouldn’t have noticed.  Needles don’t bother me (luckily) so I wasn’t even paying attention, and let’s be real I was in no state to be monitoring anything besides the immense pain in my upper abdomen.  Well luckily Kate had been there because the guy started handing her open vials of my blood.  OPEN.  In a country where the HIV prevalence is roughly 25%, blood is not something to be handled casually.  He also stuck the needles in the mattress.  I don’t even want to think about how many sets of DNA I rested on that day.  The doctor managed to come in just as Kate received the vials and he quickly intercepted.  Dr. Baart talked to me and listened to my symptoms.  He said it sounded like a problem with my liver and that they would be running extensive tests on it.  I liked him so much better than the other doctor I had seen and felt a little more mentally comfortable.  I was then taken to my room.

It was a large room with about 6 beds in it but I was the only inhabitant.  I was hooked up to an IV (my nemesis), tucked in, and then left.  There was a 5-minute period where I was completely alone in the room.  I looked around and allowed myself to cry for a minute or two.  Then I wiped my eyes and told myself I had no other option but to get myself through this experience.  When I had checked in, I envisioned being there maybe just overnight, definitely no more than 2 days.  After the discussion with the doctor, however, I had a gut feeling that this was going to be worse than I expected.  From then on I basically became a robot.  I didn’t allow myself to feel anything.  That was the last time I cried in Africa. 

Even though the hospital I was in was tiny and dirty and lacked major resources (an ultrasound, which will come into play later), the staff was so nice.  The nurses were so sweet to me and really made my time there better.  The night staff nurses were especially great which helped a lot because nighttime was the hardest since I couldn’t sleep.  One thing they kept talking about was my skin color.  They loved it.  They kept holding their arms next to mine and saying things like “ohhhhh myyy goooosh I would just loooove to have skin that color”.  I thought they were just trying to make me feel better.  Now that I look back, I realize that it was because I was jaundiced.  The African summer had bronzed me up so the jaundice must have made me look golden.  When I was finally able to get out of bed there was a small mirror by the bathroom that I saw myself in.  Well, it didn’t look like me.  I did in fact look golden.  I was puffy from the IV.  I couldn’t shower while I was there either, so it just got progressively worse.  Oh well, I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. 

I had expected to start feeling better once I was in the hospital.  I was hooked up to an IV with a constant flow of unknown drugs and I had nurses checking on me every half hour, yet I just felt worse and worse.  I still couldn’t sleep and time was passing slower than ever.  I started to feel even more uncomfortable (I really didn’t think that was possible) and I knew I had a raging fever.  My body felt like it was on fire yet I had the chills so I shook uncontrollably if I kicked my blankets off.  The nurses started taking my temperature more frequently.  My normal temperature was about 36.4 C (about 97.6 F).  Then it climbed to 37 C, 38 C, and at one point reached 39.9 C (104 F).  For the majority of time it hovered around 39.4 C (103 C).  That first night was the hardest with the fever because the nurses were on order not to give me any medicine that acted on my liver.  I was still in the process of testing and Dr. Baart didn’t want to screw any of the results up.  They brought me a glass of cold water, which obviously did nothing.  I finally begged them to give me something because the pain was getting to be too much and I was exhausted and needed some sort of relief.  They gave me a half dose of the medicine to ensure it would wear off by the next round of tests.  It helped a little bit, but in no way did it help the fever long-term. 

The only way I was able to communicate with my family at home was through texting.  My poor mother had to receive texts like “I have a fever of 104 and they think something is wrong with my liver so they can’t give me any medicine. What are you up to?”  I’m pretty positive the entire experience took more of a mental toll on her than it did on me.  I also felt bad because my days were her nights, so I would be texting her trying to keep her apprised of what was going on but I knew she had to be exhausted and I wanted to let her sleep.  But basically texting became the link between us.  She didn’t get to hear my voice until I returned to my dorm almost a week later, but at least we could communicate.  

The Gallbladder Saga: Getting to Settlers

So one of the things that comes with the territory of moving to Africa is adjustment.  For my Boston readers out there, we all recall Aquapocalypse.  No drinking out of any faucet, just bottled water or boiled water that had been cooled.  It was the biggest inconvenience. Well, that was life every day in Grahamstown.  I felt dehydrated.  Often.  So adjusting to the water situation was something that would take some time.  And we didn’t just have to adjust to the scarcity of fresh water, our bodies had to adjust to the water itself.  It tasted different.  It was not completely colorless.  So an off-feeling stomach for a while was something to be expected.  We also had to adjust to the food.  Dining at Rhodes is not like dining at BC.  St. Mary’s dining hall made Mac look like heaven.  Lets just say my diet mainly consisted of fruit and toast.  I definitely ate many of the other things I was served, and I never went hungry, but toast was had at every meal to make sure I was eating enough.  Again, adjusting to the food was something I expected and I knew it might take a while.  Sarah, Kate, and I used to joke that we were pregnant and that our babies were acting up when our stomachs were hurting.  It was because of this adjustment phenomenon that it took me a little longer to realize what was happening inside of me was different. 

The Saturday night before my life turned upside down was when it all started, I just had no idea.  I had some high chest pains and bloating and was pretty uncomfortable.  I met up with Sarah and Kate at dinner, blamed my baby and the mystery meat at lunch, and grabbed an apple and a few pieces of bread for toast.  I figured nothing was really that wrong, I’ve felt like that before.  We went to a movie that night and then I just went to bed.  The next day I was still not feeling well.  I stuck to my fruit and toast regimen for the most part but I was really hungry, so I nibbled on things here and there.  I was planning on going to church with Kate and a few friends from my res, but when I got back to my room from dinner I had to lie down.  I was starting to feel really uncomfortable.  My back and shoulders hurt and it hurt to breathe.  I convinced myself it was just the baby and that I just needed to rest.  I was also really excited because I was finally going to start volunteering the next day, so I was sure I would feel better in the morning.  Monday I luckily only had one morning class.  I went to it but noticed that I was in pain the whole time and could not get in a comfortable position.  I found that odd, but I had too much to do that day to really worry about it.  I had finally received notice that my package had arrived and I decided to just go get it right after class, before volunteering.  I knew something was not right when I was drenched in a layer of sweat just walking to the post office and I was fatigued.  I got the package and carried it home, laboriously.  It’s really not a bad walk at all, but I felt like it was killing me.  I quickly opened the package to make sure everything was in it (thank God it all was there) and then I headed out to meet Sarah.  We went to Settlers Hospital to meet with the nursing staff so that we could start volunteering in the children’s ward.  Geoff, our on-campus advisor, drove us there.  Well when we arrived we were told all the staff was in a meeting and would not be available until later.  So with nothing to do, we walked back to campus.  It wasn’t a bad walk, only about 15-20 minutes, but I felt every single step.  It didn’t feel good. 

We got back just in time for lunch.  I sat down with my tray of food and just looked at it.  I knew I wasn’t going to eat it.  Another thing I had started to notice was that I felt much worse after eating, but again I usually just blamed the baby.  Sarah and I were planning on walking back to Settlers at 2, but I knew I physically couldn’t.  I left lunch after only about 10 minutes (we are usually there for an hour) and went to lie down in my room.  I couldn’t get comfortable.  Standing. Sitting. Lying down. Fetal position.  Nothing worked.  I had noticed over the past few days that sleeping had become difficult, but I was usually able to fall asleep somehow.  Not anymore.  I spent the majority of that day watching How I Met Your Mother (which I am now obsessed with because it got me through my darkest hours (dramatic, I know)) and talking to my mom.  She had known I was struggling for a while, but neither of us ever dreamed I would be seeing her face to face 10 days later as we joked about going to Target if I just came home.  Monday night was brutal.  I never fell asleep. Not even for 30 minutes.  I spent my time with half the screen on HIMYM and half on WebMD.  I already had an appointment set up at Health Services for Wednesday so that I could get an ENT referral so I didn’t want to bother them before then.  I’m pretty positive I set the Rhodes record for most Student Health visits in one semester and I was only there 6 weeks.  Well I had convinced myself I had pancreatitis, which I recently learned is something many people can develop after having gall stones, so I didn’t even realize I was on the right track.  My mom kept telling me to wake up Kate and have her come over, but I didn’t want to bother her.  I knew she would have come over in a heartbeat, but I didn’t even know for sure if I was really sick so I didn’t want to disturb her over nothing.  I called Health Services and they were supposed to call me back, but they never did.  My biggest fear was that I was making a big deal out of nothing.  I was having bad Student Health flashbacks to sophomore year at BC when I kept getting tested for strep and mono but they kept being negative and I think they thought I was crazy.  (Funny story, recent tests have shown I probably had mono in the past so I guess I wasn’t crazy after all.) 

Once it hit 6am and I had not had any relief from the pain, I texted Kate and asked her to come over, which she did of course.  We went to Health Services to get some pain meds and set up a Dr. appt for later that morning.  I was able to rest for one hour thanks to some pepto bismol-like liquid I was given.  The Sister (that’s what they call nurses) diagnosed me with gastritis and said the Dr. would take a closer look at it later.  I came back later that morning and all the pain had returned.  The Dr. I saw said it was my fault.  He said I most likely had too much ibuprofen and had destroyed my stomach lining.  He also diagnosed me with severe post-nasal drip and explained that this has been the cause of my swollen glands, ear infections, and headaches.  He then gave me a bag of medicine to counteract all the previous medicines the Sister had given me.  He also gave me this weird metaphor about my lymph nodes as police precincts or something of that nature.  I didn’t get it.  So I went back to my room and took all the medicine he gave me.  I didn’t feel any better.  So after about an hour I called Kate again and said I had to see someone else so she came back over.  I packed a small bag, not expecting to be there that long, and told my mom (whom I had been talking to all night/day) that I would let her know what was going on.  We went back to student health and I explained that I needed to go to the hospital because nothing was working.  They wrote me a note and Geoff drove me and Kate over.  Thank God for Kate Lucey. 

Wow. That was long and I am not even at the hospital yet.  I am also pretty sure I have mixed up a few of the details, but whatever it isn’t that important.  This is just setting the stage for the weirdest 5 days of my life. 

Teaser of the next post:  Open vials of blood.  “Oh my gooooosh, look at her skin color!” 39.4.  Hepatitis. 

the time has come

Well, I have to tell my story sometime.  Now that I am in recovery after having surgery on Monday, seems like the time is now.  Ill be telling it in segments because there is just waaaaay too much to tell in one post.  I will do the first part later tonight.  Tell all your friends because people have probably stopped following my blog with the sudden depressfest and lack of posts (it's ok, I would have stopped following too).

Tonight's section will be about the beginning of my journey to Settlers Hospital.  Get ready. 

GET ME HOME

So I am blogging from Dubai! Thanks free wifi! Is it sad that my journey is not even half over yet?? It is to me. That last flight was nuts. No fat diets suck and on planes there is NOTHING to eat.  The plane was full so I couldn't get bumped up (and I so totally would have been, the lady checking me in felt so bad for me (leaving the hospital bracelets on probably helped)).  Now I have 2 and a half hours to kill before i board my 16 hour flight.  Since the gall stones didn't kill me, this honestly might.  Speaking of the gall stones, I owe my lovely blog followers a HUGE post.  I will tell my tale of the 4+ days in Settlers Hospital one day soon.  Maybe in the next hour if no one comes online to talk to me (even if no one talks to me don't expect a post).  There is just so much to tell and in all honesty I haven't processed it all yet, and probably won't be able to for a while.  Right now all I can handle is mentally preparing myself for this flight. Wish me luck!

no bueno

So most of you know why I haven't been blogging lately.  I have been in the local hospital since Tuesday.  Crazy times. Unpleasant times.  I learned some heartbreaking news, I will have to come home this coming Tuesday to have surgery to have my gallbladder removed (I had gallstones).  I know this post seems very cut and dry but to be honest that is all I can manage right now.  I am exhausted. And I overestimated my own strength by going on a safari today, the day I got out of the hospital.  Glad I did it since, oh hey, that's the last bit of Africa I get. 

I will post more of the details of my epic hospital days later when I have the time and energy.  

2am is still 2am

It's a Mary Sheehy day here in Africa! For those of you that don't know the reference, it is a beautiful blue day without a cloud in the sky, named after my grandmother because she loved them so.  I'm off to the pool to hopefully get dark!

Tomorrow will FINALLY be my first day of volunteering! I am very excited.

There is no Daylight Savings in Africa, so I didn't lose an hour of sleep. Yay! BUT thats means the time differences are now different.  I'll spare you the strenuous calculations.  I am now 9 hours ahead of California and 6 hours ahead of Mass.

I am also convinced I am the only person in all of Africa that listens to country music.  And I play it PROUDLY.

also.....

Who is reading my blog from the United Arab Emirates?

and.....

A quick shoutout to MY DAD and CARRIE PEOPLES for being the first two people to send me mail!  It was such a nice surprise :) Getting mail here is even more exciting than getting it at BC......hint hint.......

Frustrations.

Well, let's be real, of course things were bound to go slightly downhill after holding baby lions.  It's not like life could get better from there.

So the first and least frustrating thing is that my first test is tomorrow.  Art History.  The professor gave us the exam question today in lecture...so not really worried about that one. It will be difficult to try and write how she wants me to write since I really have no clue what she is looking for, but it is also my first test here and I am aware of that so I just want to get it over with.

Second.  I have a double ear infection.  I am on my 4th round of antibiotics (5th round of drugs including the 'roids).  I now also have to get weekly shots in an unpleasant area.  My immune system is very needy and likes to require my attention all. the. time.  This seems to be the norm for me so I'm fighting through it and trying to not let it bring me down.  Next week I will go back to the doctor to get an ENT referral. Maybe Africa will finally figure out what's wrong with me?  Probably not. But hey, here's to hoping.

Third. Fire Drill. 4:30 am.  Alarm is located right outside my door.  Did I mention the double ear infection? Did I also mention I have a dawnie (7:45 am class) every Thursday? (That is extremely frustrating in itself).  Of course on the day I am already sleep deprived, I am awakened by an obnoxious noise that sounds like a car accident without the crash.  And of course it is practically impossible to fall back asleep when i know I have to wake up again in an hour and a half.  This morning was a definite strugglecoaster.

Fouth.  I have still not been able to volunteer.  This is by far the most frustrating thing I have encountered here so far.  Volunteering was one of the main reasons I decided to come to Rhodes.  I have been here almost a month and have not gotten to do anything yet.  I was supposed to start last Monday with the support group, but it had to be pushed back a week due to lack of facilities.  Today I was supposed to start volunteering at the preschool for children who are HIV infected.  I was supposed to meet the coordinator at 9:45 so that she could drive me to the preschool and then she would pick me up at noon to bring me back.  Well at 10:02 it started raining and I was waiting outside without an umbrella or a jacket, so I decided I wasn't going to make it today.  I am really hoping everything goes smoothly next week, and I am planning on also volunteering at the pediatric wing of the local hospital.  I am sure once things get rolling I will feel much better.

And if they don't, I plan on dropping out and working at the Lion Park until I come home.  Mom, Dad, thoughts?

baby lions baby lions BABY LIONS.

Today was the greatest day of my life.  Nothing else can or will ever compare.  Getting into college? Nope. My future wedding day? Sorry. The day I finally get my Bernese Mountain Dog puppy? Probably a close second. I HELD A BABY LION TODAY. Am I being perhaps a bit dramatic? Of course.

But in all seriousness, I have a deep love for lions.  Christian the Lion is my most-watched you-tube video.  I practically cried when I saw the whole documentary because due to animal rights laws I would never get to buy a lion cub at a department store and raise him as my pet.  This is probably better for everyone, but still.

Today was awesome because a bit of my fantasy came true.  We were able to go to the Seaview Lion Park near Port Elizabeth with ZooSoc (Zoo Society).  What ZooSoc is, is a club (they call them societies here) that organizes animal-y events, such as this trip to the lion park and a canoe trip on a game reserve.  At Rhodes each student has to pay for each club he or she joins, but lucky for us BC picks up our tab.  So we had free transportation to and from the park and lunch included.  I was all about it. 

When we first got there we had a talk from our guide about the general history of the park, then walked around to see the older lions.  In my photos all the older lions are the ones behind the fences. These lions are beautiful creatures and I had to practice some serious self-control to keep myself from jumping the fences and joining them.  Seeing the older lions was really cool, but not even close to the best part.  It was also very hot and sticky and I felt like a popsicle melting in your hand: gross.  But I didn’t care.  I had one thing on my mind and one thing only.  Hold a baby lion.  I knew it was coming.  I just didn’t want to wait. 

After the walk about the park we walked up to the restaurant to get our lunch.  The lion handling stations were near the restaurant so I looked for them and went straight to the baby lions.  There were three boys under the age of 5 playing with 3 lions under the age of 15 weeks.  Definitely THE cutest thing I have ever seen.  I was like a little girl at Christmas I couldn’t contain my excitement.  Then my friend Uyen, another girl from BC, told us that you could also handle older lions.  We went out back to see them and I almost fainted.  14-month-old lions, basking in the sun, WITH VOLUNTEERS NAPPING WITH THEM AND USING THEM AS PILLOWS.  I saw there in front of  me my life’s ultimate dream.  But then I realized I was in a pickle (probably rivals the pickle Smalls got the gang into in the greatest summer of his life).  I would have to decide: older lions, or baby lions.  I obviously wanted both, but due to time constraints and the number of people with us you had to choose.  I gazed at the napping adolescent lions.  I wanted to nap with them too.  But, lets be real, BABY LIONS were waiting for me on the other side of the building.  How could I pass up a baby anything, let alone a baby wild animal.  So we went back to the baby station to get in line.  When we got there, however, all the babies were sleeping.  It would be much less fun to play with a sleeping baby lion than an awake big lion.  So back we went.  Let me just say, GOOD DECISION.

Kate and I entered the enclosure and I was bursting with joy. The guide first brought us to the sunbathing duo and when he said we could pet them my hand lunged out as if independent from my body.  Again, greatest day of my life.  After petting those two, and one of them snapping at Kate, we went to check out the two in the shade.  We spent a lot of time with them and Noam, the big guy, loved getting his belly rubbed.  He wrapped his paw around my arm and I knew we were in love. 

It was awesome.  After that wonderful experience we checked out some of the other lions and animals around the area.  There seemed to be quite a bit of down time as part of the group went on a tour of an area we had already seen.  We went back to check out the baby lions.  We came upon a young girl cuddling one in her lap.  Instant jealousy.  Kate, Sarah, and I looked at each other.  We all were thinking the same thing.  Once the little girl left and two of the cubs were up and about, we knew we had to hold them.  So, low and behold, my wish came true and we got to pet both sets of lions!  Those cubs were the cutest things ever.  Skyla, the white one, is definitely Scout’s long-lost extraspecies cousin.  They had very similar attitudes and nipping habits.  It was like playing with my own puppy all over again, but this was a wild animal. 

Basically, today I was the happiest girl alive.  I am also very excited because this Lion Park has a volunteer program right up my alley that I am hoping to get to do after my finals.  It is something I am very interested in, and I really hope it works out!

This post was definitely blah without the pictures, but I am testing Picasa out so I put some of them up there! Hope it works, let me know if it doesn’t!  CLICK HERE if you want to feel warm and fuzzy inside

quick deets

Just so you are all aware, deets is short for details.  I have so much to blog about but real details will have to wait until Sunday, sorry!

- I went to Rhodes' first rugby game of the season on Wednesday and it was so much fun! Lots of school spirit and we won!

- I left for Africa exactly 4 weeks ago.  whaaaaaat?

- I am finally going to the beach this weekend! Should be fun!

- Club signups were Thursday. Guess who can type and is a member of the surfing club (ironic, I know)?....thiiiis girlllll

- Tomorrow all my dreams will come true because I am going to.....wait for it......HOLD BABY LIONS

p.s. I promise to get Picassa going soon! Hopefully Sunday when I will post hundreds of photos of me and fuzzy, sharp-toothed wonderfulness.

Have a good weekend!

no me gusta

weather forecast for tomorrow: 97 and raining. OUCH.

ps Now that I am learning Xhosa I find myself speaking Spanish more often. Intrigue. 

Raphael Centre

I was finally able to meet with Nola, the coordinator of my volunteering at the Raphael Centre in Grahamstown.  The Raphael Centre serves as a non-profit HIV/AIDS clinic offering free HIV testing and focusing on pre-, during, and post-diagnosis counseling.  HIV/AIDS and public health have recently become two strong areas of interest for me, thanks to the AMAZING classes I took this past semester at BC.  Though the final details have not been completely ironed out yet, I am planning on volunteering twice a week: one day with the preschool and one day with a pre-camp support group.  Some friends of mine from BC, who studied abroad at Rhodes last year, are the co-directors of a new program at the Raphael Centre, Camp Siyaphumelela (translation from Xhosa: we are succeeding).  They will be returning to Grahamstown in June, but until then I intend to help them as much as I can in getting this program up and running.  I will be meeting with groups of the camp participants in order to get to know them and learn what it is they hope to get out of this camp.  The focus is on HIV/AIDS, but it seeks to help the children and young adults cope with whatever it is they might be struggling with.  This will undoubtedly be a powerful experience and I know it will not be without difficulties, but I am really looking forward to getting involved here in Grahamstown.

away with the fairies

So I mentioned Hogsback briefly yesterday, I will give a little more detail now.  Props to Uyen, another girl from BC, who set this trip up.  She hired the driving service and booked the hostel, thanks Uyen!  So anyway we left Saturday morning at 9 for Hogsback, which is about a 2.5 hour trip.  We were all planning on sleeping, but our driver recommended we stay awake to see the scenery.  Good recommendation.  It was gorgeous.  Hills just covered in trees, you saw no actual land anywhere.  She said it was called “Broccoli County” because it looked like broccoli everywhere, and it did!  The hogs themselves (not the animal, but the hill tops) were very impressive as well.  Everything was beautiful and it was a nice change of pace.  After we unloaded our stuff we decided to set out on the long hike to Madonna and Child Falls.   Along the way there were two other waterfalls we took little detours to.  These first two babies were like psych-outs…nothing impressive.  But once we got to Madonna and Child, WOW.  It was tremendous. After that we hiked back for dinner and decided to watch the sunset from the treehouse.  We were all envisioning this “treehouse” to be a platform about 15 ft off the ground.  Boy were we wrong.  We got to it and it was a relatively small platform about 50 ft off the ground, which a ladder change in the middle that was a little tricky to maneuver.  Also, had there been more than 6 of us up there I’m pretty convinced that thing would have fallen from the sky.  It was an AMAZING view once we got up there though, and definitely worth it.  That night we chatted under the gorgeous stars (more than I have ever seen).  I saw four shooting stars and the sight of the Milky Way was breathtaking.  I don’t know if I have ever felt that relaxed and truly surrounded by nature. 

Welp, the next day I was even more surrounded by nature.  Surrounded isn’t the correct term, engulfed is more like it.  Half the group decided to go abseiling down the Madonna and Child Falls, and Kate, Sarah, and I wanted to hike to the Eco Shrine.  So we split up and went our separate ways.  My group stopped at the Visitor’s Center for better-detailed directions to the shrine, and we were told to just follow the signage.  Easy enough we thought.  We were wrong.  So everything started off great.  We saw the signs for the Eco Shrine so we followed them.  Then the signs stopped appearing, and forks in the path seemed to be getting greater.  So we were kind of playing the guessing game, trying to follow the path that seemed most used.  No offence Robert Frost, but this was not the time to take the road not taken.  Well it didn’t get us to the Eco Shrine.  We finally saw what looked like an opening to the shrine and started rejoicing, until we heard cars.  We opened up on……a highway! So basically the opposite of an Eco Shrine.  We just laughed and decided we were not meant to see it and decided to head back, not before getting semi-lost first. (Don’t worry Mom, we were never actually lost, just faced with a plethora of choices.)  There was a point when we were standing at a break in the forest and no path was visible.  But us three intelligent ladies made it out alive.  There was of course that point on the hike when Sarah and I were discussing all the different poisonous snakes we had learned about in our Zoo class the week before and I’m pretty sure almost gave Kate a heart attack.  Not to worry no animal encounters, although we did hear monkeys!  What was so weird about this hike was as we went deeper we kept going farther and farther down.  The whole time I was thinking “Well this is gonna suuuuck on the return trip.”  Somehow we were out of the forest in 15 minutes.  I’m still baffled and going to assume a] the fairies did it (the name of our hostel was Away with the Fairies) or b] that forest was some sort of time warp.  I half expected that when we got back to the town it was going to be 100 years earlier or something. 

All in all it was a wonderful trip and a great break from Grahamstown.  I am working on putting pictures on Picassa so when those are up I will post the link.  

Me, Kate, and Sarah in the "infinity tub"

hogsback!

So this weekend the BC group plus our new friend Kate from NY took a lil trip to Hogsback, South Africa.  It was gorgeous.  It's where JRR Tolkein got his inspiration for Lord of the Rings. Ya.  I will post more about our awesome hikes later, I am exhausted. And there will be more pictures to come but someone downloaded a lil too much Modern Family, The Office, and 30 Rock so her internet quota is practically depleted. OOPS. I don't regret it.

But I will leave you with a lil something...

Madonna and Child Falls

This was the glorious waterfall waiting for us at the end of our hike.  Well actually the middle, because then we had to turn around and hike all the way back.  Mostly uphill. Ouch. 

Schreeeeeineeeeeer! Awoo Awoo Awoo!

That would be my house call/cheer/whatever you wanna call it. And I know there are some people out there that are skeptical about me having real South African friends. Well you better believe it.

Some of the girls of Olive Schreiner!

Hayley, Megan, Meeeee, Chyanne, Jen, Sarah

Molweni bahlobo bam!

translation: Hello my friends!

Today was my first isiXhosa tutorial and man was it overwhelmimg.  The way it works at Rhodes is that there are lectures, tutorials (tuts), and practicals (pracs).  Basically each class is made up of 3-5 lectures a week accompanied by tuts or pracs.  The tuts and pracs are more important than the lectures and are interactive.  It’s like a discussion group at BC that actually matters.  My zoo class has a 3 hour prac every Wednesday (this week we are dissecting turtles), my art history class has a weekly tut (which I also had for the first time today), and my isiXhosa class has two tuts a week. That was a lot of parentheses, I’ll try and stay away from those for a while. (No guarantees.  Actually, because I will be translating some things, I can guarantee the opposite.)

Anyway, today was my first isiXhosa tut and the titshalakazi (female teacher) walked in and spoke only isiXhosa. Clicks and all. I looked around.  Half of the people in the class completely understood and were responding. Why are they in isiXhosa 1 non-mother tongue??? Luckily, the other half of the class looked as terrified as I did.  The only thing she said in English was“in this class, we only speak Xhosa.” She then started asking us questions in Xhosa and expecting us to respond. In Xhosa.  I was the fourth person down the line and I was preceded by three people who already spoke Xhosa. Awesome. No help for me. Oh well. I was able to answer what my name was and how I was doing, but I didn’t remember the word for surname so I became a little confused by that. How did I respond? By speaking Spanish. Ya…

Titshalakazi: Molo sisi (Hello sister)

Claire: Molo titshalakazi (Hello teacher)

T: Unjani sisi? (How are you?)

C: Ndiphilile, enkosi. Unjani wena? (I am fine, thank you. And how are you?)

T: Ndiphilile, enkosi. Ungubani igama lakho sisi? (What is your name?)

C: Igama lam nguClaire. (My name is Claire)

T: Ungubani ifani yakho sisi? (What is your surname?)

[[sidenote: She has a very heavy accent and is speaking rapidly. Can you blame me for not understanding a question in a language I have never heard before?]]

C: Ifani yam….ehhh…lo siento pero no se….ohhhhhh……ifani yam nguKreeft. (My surname is….ehhh…I am sorry but I don’t know…ohhhhh….my surname is Kreeft)

Phew. Made it out alive.  We also had to say where we came from and when I said California she made all these noises and said things and people laughed and I had NO CLUE what was going on. So, being me, I sat there and smiled because that’s what I do when I’m nervous. She then just stared at me and then it got silent. And awkward. At least I felt that way. Then she said in English “I will ask you a question later about that, when you have learned more Xhosa.” What does that mean??? I guess I will find out later. 

and how could i forget???

WELCOME TO THE WORLD MaryJane "Janie" Heffernan!

Sending you love and cuddles from Africa!! Congratulations to my cousin and lovely godmother Mary and her husband Brian on their third beautiful daughter.  I can't believe I will have to wait so long to meet you!  Maybe a skype session with the Heffernan girls will be in order? I know Maisie will be a GREAT big sister and Francie will continue to be the veteran big sis she is.

Love and miss my entire family!

and a few more...

finally a photo with me in it yay! ps the cross body trend is worldwide. literally every girl has one and i have yet to see a normal purse. 

 look we have friends!

 the pool, or "the beach" as some call it. ya not gonna lie much time will be spent here....

a few random photos...

I have to admit, I have been TERRIBLE in the photo department so far. When I remember to bring my camera, it's gross out. When I realize I have forgotten it in my room, it's beautiful out. Don't worry though, when I hold my first baby lion there will be so many photos it will probably make you sick. Not really though. It's not possible for my face or the face of a BABY LION to make you feel sick. It will probably make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Regardless, on to a few photos that have already been taken...

the clocktower of Rhodes

 the view from the clocktower - looks towards High Street

 part of the townships

 a donkey just chillin on the sidewalk

 an overview of part of Grahamstown, the church in the middle of the left edge of the photo marks part of "downtown"

blah blah blah

This school does not know how to handle exchange students.  Today I had my first practical for zoology. When I registered for this class, I explained to the professor that I am an exchange student just here for 5 months. He said I should be fine and would not have to do the big year-long project since I would only be here half a year. He failed to tell me that there were required materials for the weekly practicals. We had a zoo lecture earlier today, and he reminded the class to bring their lab coats and dissection kits to the lab. “I don’t have a lab coat nor a dissection kit” I thought to myself. After class Sarah and I went to ask him what we were supposed to do about our lack of materials. He said we would get it sorted out at the practical.  When asked if we needed anything else, he responded with “a writing utensil and some paper.” Seemed simple enough, both of those were in my bag already. Welp, I was wrong.  We show up to practical and were able to buy the dissection kits and borrow lab coats. We picked up the procedure and started dissecting our frogs. (The rest of the class had already done this in zoology 1 and zoology 2. I hadn’t done this since sophomore year of high school, so I was a little rusty as were Sarah and Boone.) The TA gets to us and looks at Boone’s drawing and says “You aren’t planning on turning that in are you?” No one told us that it needed to be done in pencil, on unlined paper, and that we needed to use a ruler to underline everything. It was very frustrating as it seemed every 5 minutes some new rule popped up that we weren’t aware of.  The TAs thought we were dumb or something and asked if we had ever dissected a frog before. We kindly told them that it had been about 5 years since our high school dissection classes and that in our labs at our home universities we isolate DNA and transform strains of yeast so that they are no longer mutants. That kinda shut them up.  The practical is definitely gonna be the most difficult/stressful thing I will do class-wise when I’m here, but it should get easier once I get into the routine.

Well that was it for my mini rant, but stop reading now if you get easily queasy.

So anyway the physical dissection itself was fine. I am a nerd in that I love dissecting things and looking at how everything is so interconnected. What was different about today’s frog dissection? THE HEART WAS STILL BEATING. The ENTIRE time I was dissecting it.  That actually made me feel very uncomfortable because I felt like I was actively causing this poor frog pain as I cut out its ovary and moved its stomach around.  I have to say though, it was fascinating watching the heart beat. Nerdy? Totally. Creepy? Probably. Ashamed? Not at all. 

On a completely unrelated note, I realized I never told ya'll about how I get into my dorm and get my food. DIGITAL FINGERPRINT TECHNOLOGY. I place my right finger on this little glass pad, it lights up red to scan, then flashes green once it's verified and bam, the door unlocks.  Ya, it's pretty badass.

first day of school! first day of school!

Today was my first day of class, and quite honestly I was excited.  I wasn’t excited to be starting work, but I have been out of class for 8 weeks.  Don’t get me wrong, I looooove my vacation time, but it is nice to be getting into a routine again. 

So the class I had today was Zoology 3. It’s a double credit course (8 credits) so I was expecting it to be pretty difficult. We did the typical gloss over the syllabus for the beginning of class and then did an actual lecture for about 20 minutes.  Kids showed up up to 20 minutes after the class had already started (lectures here are only 45 minutes). Based on the lecture the class should be pretty easy.  Obviously I have only been to one class, so how could I even know right? But I’m pretty sure this class should be manageable, and I can’t see it being harder than anything I’ve already taken. I felt like I was in high school again. Well in the last 5 minutes the professor explained that we are going to be focusing on species native to Africa, so he put up a map of the continent on an overhead projector (so old school).  They were all numbered, so he would ask a question like, “what country is number 4?” or “what is the biggest country in Africa?”  Silence.  No one answered, because no one knew.  This was true for every question he asked.  One person was able to identify one country, because he came from there.  I was sitting in the front row with my friend Sarah from BC and our new friend Boone from Georgia and we just looked at each other. Now I am no expert at geography, but if you put up a map of the US and pointed to a state, I would be able to name it (thank you sporcle).  I also am aware that the US is one country and Africa is a whole continent, but still. You would think that one would have some knowledge of the surrounding countries.  I was surprised, as were Boone and Sarah. 

That was my only class today, ya my Mondays are easy. Tomorrow I have all three of my classes so after I have been to each once I will be able to go and get my textbooks.  I looked today for my zoo book but because it’s from 2002 I figured it wouldn’t be in stock. I was right. I then did some major damage at Clicks and Checkers, the local drugstore and supermarket.  The whole money thing keeps throwing me off, though.  I keep thinking I am spending loads of money, but I'm not. I had two bulging bags coming home today and I spent about 500 rand.  That's about $70.  Thanks to what I bought today I am becoming more and more of a real person here in South Africa. I have a tea kettle in my room now so that I can make tea (duh) and also drink the water from the tap now that I can boil it. The only thing that I am missing is decoration. And sharpies…(hint hint mom). So if anyone wants to send me a postcard or mail please do! I would greatly appreciate it. My address is…

Claire Kreeft

Olive Schreiner House

St Mary Hall

Rhodes University

Private Bag 1032

Grahamstown

South Africa

6140

Do it you won’t.

p.s. How sad is this: we have fieldtrips in my zoology class. That’s not sad, that’s actually cool. The first is over a weekend. The same weekend I happen to be turning 21.  Now that’s sad. Depressfest ’11. 

hectic.

the south african version of "hella" as in...

"dude your accent is hectic" (translation: your accent is very [american]), or
"there were hectic people in the rat" (translation: there were a lot of people in the rat)

sorry!

i’m sorry i have not been posting regularly! it’s still o week so my schedule is random and its hard to find time to sit and write about my day. here are a few of my first impressions/feelings/thoughts about rhodes and grahamstown.

i really like it here. i wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly why, it’s more of a feeling. the people so far have been really nice. south africans in general seem to be a verrry outgoing people. i remember when i first got here and got thrown into the house meeting before i could even put my stuff in my room, i noticed how comfortable all the girls were with each other. i assumed they came already having known one another only to find out that they had only met earlier that day. i felt very welcomed by the girls in my house.

south africans speak their mind. so far i have been to two plays on campus, both very controversial. one was about HIV and sex and one was about clashing cultures on campus. both were followed by a workshop-type discussion. i was blown away by how open everyone was speaking. there was no judgment either if some girls knew more or less than the others. the play about clashing cultures was about coming to rhodes and the different situations you might encounter. there were some heavy topics and i expected people to shy away from them. i know i did. speaking openly and easily about race is something i really struggle with, but these people just went for it.

people tend to stick to their own groups. i dont mean its like in your face or anything and this also tends to happen everywhere.  its more of a subtle, natural thing. in res (residence house) everyone hangs out and everyone is cool with each other. but i have noticed as this week progressed that when you go out at night people tend to stick to the same people and the same bars. when you ask anyone about it, they all seem to give the same well-oiled speech. apartheid ended and they worked it out and now there is no more issue. and it doesnt seem like there is an issue, it just seems to be what people are more comfortable with. 

we went to the townships (poorer areas around grahamstown) today and ill post about that soon. it was a very weird experience. on another note, my health is improving yay!

"i would sell my kidney for a ticket to the states"

some funny things that i or my friends also from bc have heard or been asked:

"why would you ever wanna come to africa? its so boring nothing goes on here"

“just keep talking to me its like im watching tv” (about my “accent”)

“oh you go to boston college? isn’t that an online school?”

“do all girls in america talk like ke$ha?”

“who the hell is busted posney?” (that one was just plain upsetting)

“does everyone in america watch white chicks?”

“i wanna go to america for the food. i hear the portions are HUGE”

people here are obsessed with america. they only watch american tv and movies. they have american products like cheerios and venus razors.  one boy said that south africans pay more attention to what goes on in america than what goes on in africa.  it really does seem to be that way. so far i haven’t received any negative attention for being from the states. people usually get wide-eyed and start asking questions. or sing california gurls. it’s a pretty even split. 

the view from my room! dont worry mom, i lock the windows at night :)

FINALLY

WOW. what. a. beginning. i apologize now if i leave out some details. it has been a crazy past few days and this has been my first chance to do anything remotely close to posting on the blog so it is all jumbled together in my mind. i know my adoring fans have had their hopes crushed logging in again and again only to find that one dinky post from joburg. i will hopefully never leave you feeling so empty ever again. 

travel…

so lets just say it was a looong day+ of traveling. first, jetblue had the longest line i’d ever seen thanks to the 1000 ft of snow that postponed many a traveler. we finally made it to the front and the machine that gives the bags their tracking numbers is broken so it had to be done manually (which will come into play later).  our flight to new york was a little delayed but fine. we get to the gate of our next flight (the big one) and upon rechecking in discover that jetblue gave me 4 bags and kate 0.  so they attempted to sort that out as we waited an extra 30 minutes as this flight was casually delayed as well. the next 15 hours i was in a stupor thanks to the nyquil that unfortunately only made me sleepy and failed to knock me out. that flight however seemed not as long as it should have felt, most likely because i knew i was flying into AFRICA. now, this is where the “fun” begins. we land and have to go recollect our bags and go through customs, which turned out to be moving our bags from one conveyer belt to another one farther away. the point? no clue. not a single bag was opened. dumb. anyway my two bags are literally the first two off the belt and im feelin good. one of kates isn’t far behind…and that was it. the other one never showed. we stood there for probably half an hour (mind you our flight to port elizabeth is currently boarding at this time). we talked to baggage people to let them know about the missing bag and rushed to load the bags that we did have on the next belt. by the time we got there the gate had closed because our flight was leaving in 5 minutes.  they said we might be able to make it. i knew 100% we were not making it. they said run. what did we do? well kate just took off running and i then was left to chase her.  i happened to be in jeggings (def recommend for traveling) and boots and a long sweater. and i have more carryon luggage than her so i was unable to run up the stairs. this was probably the BIGGEST joke moment of my life. i knew we weren’t making the plane. i knew. why did i keep running? the world will never know. well we get to security and go through (didn’t have to take off shoes or empty water bottlesßwe didn’t know this at the time) only to find out that yes, in fact, the plane had already left.  awesome. we were sent back to get tickets for the next flight. those who saw my first reactions might have thought i was about to die or break down or just give up. that lasted all of .2 seconds. i had this strange feeling of entitlement rush over me and i was not going to stop until i had that ticket in my had. we were first told that we would have to buy a new ticket. we were then told that there were no more seats on any of the flights to pe. i then argued the point (mom you would have been so proud) that we missed the flight for two reasons that we had no control over: both our previous flights were delayed, giving us minimal time to catch our third; and kates bag was lost. it worked. we got two seats on the next flight out, which happened to be with another bc girl in our program. i got to vidchat with my mama and relax for a bit, which was actually a very nice break from flying. the pe flight was short but i experienced the worst turbulence i have ever encountered. im talking the rollercoaster-feelin, frame-shakin, im-gonna-end-up-on-a-magical-island-and-never-find-out-why-its-magical type of turbulence.  but the views were beautiful.  it was really interesting to pass over these amazing estates with pools and trees and land and then to notice the houses getting smaller and closer together and finally see slum dog millionaire-status shacks, just row after row after row.  after landing we went to collect our bags and…drumroll please…kates bag beat us there. missed flight for nothing. oh well, i think it actually worked out for the best. we then took a bus to rhodes with a ton of students from zimbabwe.  once we got to the school and unloaded our bags, the staff person took one look at us and told us we could register tomorrow because we were obviously hot tired messes.

that was ridiculously long. i will post more about rhodes itself and what its like being here tomorrow!

AFRICAAAAA

safely in johannesburg! WHAT. A. DAY. i will post about the adventures later, theres a lot to say. off to port elizabeth and then my new home grahamstown!