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.