Time flies (and blogs get left behind) when you're having fun :)

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Thursday, July 31, 2008, 10:33 PM

Back from intermission, time for Act II:

Monday (July 14th)=First day back at work! Surprise, surprise, Sam and Lola (our car) weren’t back from the Garden Route yet, so we had to take a taxi in (which she rightly reimbursed us for). I got through some patient folders and saw the conjoined twins for the first time on ward rounds with Rene! There surgery hasn’t been scheduled yet because they’re awaiting test results, but they looked really healthy. They are the Red Cross’s pride and joy right now ☺.

Lunch was great because all four of us ate together in the hospital cafeteria (I introduced them all to the wonders of the grilled tomato and cheese, and we also found this great lentil/vegetable soup for R 3.60). We had a monumental afternoon at Sarah Fox because Joseph walked for the first time! Maxina and Quinton stood by themselves for the first time, as well, and the babies were in unanimous good mood (no projectile vomiting at dinner time either!). We took yet another taxi home (the transportation for the day cost us R 235 which Sam finally did end up reimbursing us for). I didn’t feel like haggling my way into the gym, so I made do with the abominable fitness centre upstairs. Neither of the two treadmills work, so I resorted to the bike for half an hour and stretched outside on the deck, overlooking the city. That made the experience a bit more bearable, haha.

Dinner was at the Africa Café, a famous, culturally authentic restaurant about a ten minute walk away from Perspectives. The waitrons’ traditional outfits and makeup added to the African experience, and we were served 15 dishes from different African countries. Plus fudge cake, ice cream, and coffee/tea! It was slightly expensive but worth it, especially since it was Mal’s last week! Mal finished work on Friday, and was taking her last week off before she left on Saturday ☹.

On Tuesday morning, Courtney, Bobbijo, Deedee and I joined the UCT medical students for an 8 AM lecture at the hospital (we finally had Lola back!). Four different speakers focused on trauma and surgery cases (golf club incidents, facial paralysis syndrome, NAI or not NAI, and skull stab wounds); we all agreed that it was worth getting up early for. We had a busy Pain Management meeting that morning as well, at which Bobbijo gave us a preview of her Child Life presentation she’ll be giving to the doctors in a few weeks. I brought my camera to Sarah Fox to take pictures of all my little babies ☺. After we got home from work, the weather turned ugly, so we watched Dear Frankie, another AWESOME movie, thanks to Steph. I was planning on going out with some other friends, but I was absolutely enraptured with this movie, so you all should rent and watch it immediately (don’t be discouraged by the Scottish accents!)

Throughout the rest of the workweek, I completed the analysis of my 73-folder NAI patient sample (I ended up finishing them up over the weekend). This process which was expedited by the fact that a nice woman in Medical Records taught me how to find the folders in their filing system and check them out myself. It was quite an accomplishment, especially because I’m only an intern. Bobbijo, Courtney, and I also went into Theatre on Thursday and observed skin grafts for burn patients and an “untethering of the spinal cord and resection of a lipoma.” The head surgeon was VERY helpful and explained the entire process to us (don’t worry, I won’t bore you with it now). He even let us look at the spinal cord under the surgical microscope…we left the hospital that day in GREAT moods ☺.

Amazing realization of the week: Open Week at Virgin Active. Meaning the gym is recruiting new members, but also meaning one extra week of free gym access for Anne ☺. Wednesday night was started at the Green Dolphin (the Guinness Book of World Record holder for most nights of consecutive live jazz!). The food was expensive and the jazz a bit too “light” for us, and since we were still hungry, we went to Long Street, by default. Mal, Deedee, and I experienced street food for the first time—chicken pitas from a little vendor called Mohammed’s. We caught up with some other people at Neighborhood (a typical “locals” bar) before calling it a night. Thursday night I went out to Cubaña with Bobbijo, Courtney, Caileigh, Meghan, and Austin, and had a blast with the fun drinks and delicious nachos. We ended up at Café Manahattan (which I have since learned is a gay/lesbian bar haha), but the live music was great, the desserts good, and the waiters friendly, so we stayed for a while before we called a cab. Fun, fun night!

After our traditional half-day of work on Friday, we drove out to Stellenbosch again. It was gorgeous weather, so Mal and I came along with Deedee, Bobbijo, and Courtney for their first wine tasting experience (and plus, it was Mal’s second to last day in Cape Town, so we had to do something fun!). We first stopped at Spier (where Mal and I had already been), but then got great directions from a woman at Asara to two NEW wineries—Fairview and Waterford. After about forty minutes of trying to find it, Fairview redeemed itself by offering a tasting of six different wines and unlimited cheese (there were at least 20 different varieties!). Hilariousness ensued, and I learned several lessons: 1) wine tasting is more fun as a social event than a “swirl-the-wine-then-spit-it-back-out” type of ordeal, 2) I actually like blue cheese, and 3) some dessert wines are WAY too sweet, and 4) goat’s cheese STILL tastes like goats, I swear.

We then attempted to make it to the Waterford Wine Estate for chocolate tasting, but we arrived at 5:05, just as they were closing up shop. But not to be outdone, we bought an exotically flavored chocolate bar anyway (that we shared after dinner), picked and sampled a few naartjies (small oranges) from the trees in the parking lot, and then drove back to the sushi/seafood restaurant recommended to us by the woman from Asara. Bobbijo had her first sushi (momentous occasion, right there), and Mal and I split a fantastic veggie pizza, primarily because it was one of the cheapest things on the menu, haha.

That night after getting back home and going to the gym quickly before it closed, we all went out to Long Street for Mal’s last night. We stopped in at Mama Africa to see Zwelly dance and sing again, and then to Zula’s for the same band, the Rudimentals that we saw at Mercury two weekends ago. It took me this second exposure to fully appreciate their awesomeness—an eight person band, with a brass trio, keyboard, bass, singing, and dancing fully included. The place was packed, and the floor was bouncing with us (I’m actually surprised it didn’t collapse into the restaurant below After the band packed up, we danced to non-live, DJ music, came back, and hung out until 4 AM. I think it was the popcorn we made that kept us going ☺

Saturday=Mal’s Last Day. And obviously a jam-packed, yet sad one, as well. Both Mal and I were awoken bright and early by a pre-8-AM text message from Matt asking about a ride to the iKamva Youth photography exhibition and fundraiser we were going to. But not until 11. We ranted a bit about that until we were awake anyway, then headed down to Mugged for some coffee and Mal’s last blueberry muffin, until we were told they’d be in the oven for another 30 minutes. It was a nice attempt though.

The iKamva fundraiser turned out well (it was organized by Laura and Steph, two Connect interns), and in addition to the photos, there was a talent show featuring youth from Khayelitsha (one of Cape Town’s townships). After staying for a bit and buying one of the photos, our car headed to the Old Biscuit Mill farmer’s market in Observatory. Two large tents housed hundreds of diverse booths offering anything from freshly baked bread to vintage t-shirts. The market is also famous for the amazing free samples, and we were yet again provided with a free lunch. I also bought a great loaf of cranberry bread from the Knead table (almost like a Panera, but with much heartier and healthier bread).

Earlier that day, Mal and I had gone to talk to Jos, the owner of Diva’s Pizza about having her goodbye dinner there. So after we went to the gym and helped Mal pack the rest of her stuff (paying special attention to the wine and gifts she bought), we walked the short distance to the restaurant. Mal and I had set the reservation for 20, and it ended up being perfect. Almost all of our friends were able to come for Mal’s Last Dinner, which consisted of unlimited pizza (I tried chicken and banana pizze for the first time!) for the flat rate of R 50 per person (that made paying…especially with twenty people…SO much easier). And of course, we completed the meal with the famous apple pie and Malva pudding. Straight from dinner, Steph, Alicia, Charleigh, and I drove Mal to the airport for her 11:30 PM (obscenely late) flight. I had the security guard take a picture of us before Mal headed of to the abyss of International Departures, and I definitely cried upon arriving home to a half-empty room. We had become really close in our short time together, and I’m really going to miss that girl. Until our New York reunion this fall, that is ☺.

Sunday morning, I was feeling well rested (especially after having to duck out early from the Good Will Hunting pajama party the night before), and good thing because of the news I received a little before 9 AM: Steven Levy (one of the Connect directors) called to let me know that yes, I would be getting another roommate, and apologies for the late notice, but that she would be arriving in 20 minutes. Sweet. Minimal mourning time for Mal, and now I had to pull myself out of bed and make myself presentable. I would have been getting up anyway for the Connect trip to the Langabaan beach fish braai, so it wasn’t so bad. Lea came into my room to collect Mal’s dirty linens, and apologized profusely, saying that she “was about to divorce Steven this morning” (they’re married by the way) because he was supposed to have let me know last week. Haha, no harm done, good thing I’m flexible.

When I went downstairs to catch the bus for Langabaan, I was introduced to my new roomie, Erin, who had seriously just stepped off the plane. I was also introduced to the story behind her last minute arrival (get ready, Mal!): she had been planning to come to Africa to work in an AIDS clinic in Cape Town through an international volunteer abroad program called ESAC. About one week before her flight departed, she found a girl’s blog online about her experiences (or, should I say, nightmares) with this program. Supposedly, they picked this girl up a day late at the airport, didn’t tell her anything about her work, and dumped her in the Cape Flats to fend for herself. And the Cape Flats are DEFINITELY not where you’d want to be fending for yourself. She had luckily been in Cape Town before, and managed to find accommodation, but the money she paid to the program was lost. After exchanging a few emails, the story proved to be authentic, and needless to say, Erin panicked and contacted all the internship/volunteer companies in the Cape Town area asking for help or advice, realizing that they would most likely not be able to take her in on such short notice. Steven was the first to email her back, and one week later, BAM, here she was. After hearing that, I was happy to take her under my wing, especially since she JUST graduated from high school and was taking this as a semester off.

We all offered to take Erin with us to the braai, but she kindly refused, and honestly I don’t blame her. It would have been nice to meet everyone in the group right away, but somehow, lots and lots of seafood right after a 24 hour flight didn’t appeal to me either. I talked to her for a few minutes, told her I’d see her when we got home, and jumped on the bus. Phew. What a morning.

The rest of the day was absolutely one of my favorites so far here in South Africa. We drove northwest for about two hours, through dramatically changing scenery and weather conditions (which made us very nervous) to the coastal town of Langabaan, home of the Langabaan Fish Braai. For those of you who don’t remember one of my random facts of the days (I wouldn’t, to be honest), a braai is a South African barbeque. But without the traditional chicken wings and barbeque sauce. This one in particular was exclusively seafood, included 15 courses, and although a relatively expensive outing, was COMPLETELY worth every cent.

When we arrived, the sky was a dark shade of unblemished blue, and the “sea shanty” feel of the outdoor restaurant was nicely complemented by the waves crashing on the rocks a few meters away. The beauty of it all exhilarated me, and the fact that I’d be eating fun new food with great people for the next couple of hours was equally as exhilarating. Steven and Lea managed to get us all together before we dispersed along the beach and among the rocks, gave us a quick rundown of how the meal worked, took a group picture “for the website!”, and surprised us all with free wine, Savannah (a less-sweet equivalent of the American Woodchuck), and beer (the braai was conveniently BYOB).

Before the first course (outdoor stone-oven, freshly-baked bread with homemade farm butter and jams) was “served” (put on long central tables), we started to explore. I collected a few seashells that were literally carpeting the white-confectioners-sugar-sand, and started the picture-taking frenzy. Before we knew it, we were onto the next course of boiled garlic mussels and Harder—approx. eight-inch-long fish which were grilled whole, then detailed, deboned, and beheaded right in front of us (all the food was prepared right there on the beach!). We were encouraged, well, we really had no choice but to use our fingers to eat since there were no utensils besides mussel shells. If there weren’t so much food it would have felt decidedly Survivor-esque. which was cool, but we did go through an obscene amount of paper plates—a new one for each course ☹. They did provide lemon water for us to wash our hands…especially towards the end of the meal, it proved to be more of a necessity than a nicety.

We alternated the rest of the courses with wading in the rising high tide, walking down the beach, exploring the sand dunes, and meeting a couple 6-year-old kids who were doing the same exact thing, haha. The food was unbelievable, and no doubt enhanced by the bright (almost hot!) sunshine, fine wine, and good company. We had a seafood potjie (rice, stew type conglomeration), lamb stew, angelfish, another type of fish, several others that I’m forgetting, and the grand finale of crayfish. It’s almost identical to lobster except a little smaller, a little drier (maybe for the fact that it was grilled), and I think a little sweeter. They finished of our meal with delicious homemade coffee, brewed over the fire, with a few grounds still floating around (it was a nice change to the instant coffee Bobbijo, Courtney, and I have been drinking at work, haha). The guitarist came around and sang a few songs for us before we headed back to Cape Town. We had another low key movie night, and I talked to the cousins, only to learn that Cat would be leaving Wednesday for the UK. She decided last minute to go work for her uncle (and get paid in pounds!) to make money for her sailing trip to South America in the fall. It made me sad that I couldn’t get together with them ☹, but definitely one of the best weekends otherwise.

End of the Second Installment (up to Sunday, July 20th...), Safari in 6 hours, Third Installment probably not until I’m back home. Get excited ☺.

Random Facts of the WEEKS (I really have been slacking horribly): I’ve been getting really good at the “clicks” so characteristic of the Xhosa language here in South Africa. Bobbijo, Courtney, and I practice constantly with any word with a C or K in it (although it’s really the X’s which have the click. So Courtney is usually referred to as “Xourtney.” Haha.

See you all very, veryyy soonnn!

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