Look Both Ways... the Right Way.

My friend Danielle wrote this on her facebook note and I wanted to share it with you all... it is a daily problem I have... maybe by the end of my 2 months I will learn to look the "right" way when crossing the street.

I am struggling to grasp the traffic laws here in South Africa. Nearly every time my friends and I set out we look right, then left when we should be looking left, then right. The coast looks clear so you step onto the street only to be mere inches away from loosing your toes to the oncoming cars. What’s more, pedestrians don’t have the right of way. Or any rights for that matter. Cars actually speed up when they see you crossing (even if you have the walk signal), I’m convinced just to get their kicks out of watching us scurry out of the way. Also..Note To Self (and Jamie): buses load on the LEFT side. We took the bus home from work today which, for Jamie and I, was a first. The bus was pulling away as we arrived and, with our fearless leader (Caroline) in front, we ran to catch up. The bus driver (surprisingly) stopped and opened his door to us. Jamie, in all her excitement, bypassed Caroline boarding on the LEFT, and continued at lightening speed around to the right side of the bus and directly into oncoming traffic. For the 83rd time this week, she narrowly avoided the recklessness that is Cape Town traffic. In her defense, it was a very backwards experience…never a dull moment in Kaapstad! Especially when you’re in the company of its finest child life specialists.

Today in South Africa is Election Day, so it is a public holiday and we had the day off. It's kind-of weird to have a day off in the middle of the week, but of course we took full advantage and decided to hike up Table Mountain again (the side that we hiked down). It was only Cara, Danielle and I that hiked and we booked it up. It is suppose to take about 2 hours and we conquered Platteklip Gorge in 1 hour 13 minutes. It was an overcast day, very humid, but so beautiful on top. God's creation never ceases to amaze me... I look around and see an ocean that goes on forever and mountains that are huge and I just want to look at it all day. It was a tiring hike, but great workout and makes me feel okay for eating candy bars and cookies. (Every time we go to the grocery store, which seems quit often, we either buy candy bars or cookies. There are so many different kinds to choose from and we think it's fun to try them. We talk about how we don't usually buy candy bars at home, but for some reason we think it's okay to buy them here. It's a bad habit and I'm trying to break it.)

The hospital is going well this week and we continue to have great Child Life interactions. I continue to fall in love with these patients daily. Rather it be their smiles, their eagerness to be held, their excitement to blow bubbles, or just the simpleness of being a child and wanting to play even though they have severe burns all over their body. Some of the patients spend several days in a row and some days we have completely new patients. I have had several younger patients this week, so it has been so neat getting to talk to their moms and hearing their story. Some of the moms are really open and talkative and some are more reserved. I had the privilege of going to surgery with two toddlers this week and got to spend time with the moms. One of the moms was so nervous about her child going to surgery and had a couple of breakdowns as we were waiting. This was her child's first surgery and they arrived at the hospital yesterday and the burns happened close to 3 weeks ago, I'm not sure why it took her so long to bring him in. But I enjoyed that I got to be there with the patient and mom during this stressful experience. The anesthesiologists and doctors are amazing, but this is just a prime example that they just don't have time to meet all the psychosocial needs of these families and why Child Life can be an integral part of the health care team. The 2nd patient that I accompanied to surgery was a 18 month old that had hot water spilled all over his face and arms from the kettle the night before. The mother spoke very good English and loved to talk. She made the comment that this is the last thing that she thought would happen. She is in nursing school and was missing clinicals that day to be with her son. She has exams in 4 weeks and hoping that she still is able to finish everything and make up the clinicals. She is a single mother, told me she lives in the area that we call the "ghetto," which I thought was interesting. I think sometimes it's easy for us to think just because you leave in Africa you do not have same problems that we have, that it is this completely different continent, but this is a prime example of what this mother is going through and so many of the families. They work to provide for their families, they love their children unconditionally and are scared when their child ends up in the hospital and needing surgery. These mothers are sleep deprived and only have a hard back chair to sleep on and often receive no sleep while they are there. Even patients that have no families, the other moms in the bay take care of them and make sure their needs are met. Day surgery is continuing to go well. Although this will be my last full week down there. I have definitely enjoyed getting to be down there and preparing the patients for surgery. Tuesday was a full day, all ear related surgeries, and I had so much fun with the patients. This one little boy has had surgery before and was able to tell me everything that goes along with each picture. He was also very friendly and wanted to go around with me to each bed of the other patients. I love when the babies play with the anesthesia mask and are able to become familiar with it. There are so many stories that I can share, but it's getting late and I need to get a good night's rest, so until the next time....