So this week was perhaps one of the best I have had
since arriving in South Africa. This
past weekend, about half of the group went on a Garden Route Tour. Initially, I was a little nervous that the
weather was not on our side, as it was cold and rainy here in Cape Town when we
woke up on Friday morning. However, as
we drove along the six-hour route, the weather improved drastically and made
for a fantastic backdrop to the amazing scenery. The planned activity for the first day was an
“adventure tour” through caves that were thousands of years old. I was a little panicky at first, as the
passage ways became smaller and smaller as we progressed through the tour, but,
since I didn’t really have the option to back out, I took a deep breath and
followed the others as we squeezed and contorted our bodies to fit through the narrow
passageways. At the end of the tour, the
guide turned on the lights in the expansive atrium near the entrance to the
cave, and we were able to see formations that were hundreds of thousands of
years old!
On the second day, we
made our way to an elephant sanctuary, where we were able to walk side-by-side
with three beautiful elephants. Anyone
who knows me will tell you that I am obsessed with elephants, so when I had the
opportunity to receive an “hug” from one of these beautiful creatures, I could
barely contain myself. I could’ve spent
all day there, but we eventually had to say goodbye and move on with our
tour. The next stop was the highly
anticipated bungee jump activity.
Although it would’ve made for a good story, I was pretty sure jumping
off a bridge just wasn’t for me, but I was almost persuaded by a few of my
peers. However, after Becca and I
witnessed a stranger take his own ‘leap
of faith’ , we were affirmed in our decision to forego bungee jumping and go zip-lining
instead (you’re welcome Mom).
We ended the day at a hostel that was situated right on the beach and
spent the evening dipping our feet in the Indian ocean, which is something I never thought I would
get to do. The following day involved a
safari at a private game reserve and offered a much closer view of some of the
“Big 5” than I know we’ll be able to acquire when we visit Kruger National Park. Although I was ready to return to my home in
Rondebosch by the end of the weekend, I’m grateful for our little weekend excursion
and the opportunity to spend more time with some of my co-educators.
As
far as my internship goes, I have spent the last two weeks shadowing in the OR
and have absolutely loved it! I have
already seen so many procedures and learned so much, but this past Wednesday, I
was actually able to scrub in and be that much closer to the action. I was
able to stand right beside the doctors as they applied metal frames to the legs
of a young girl with rickets. They
explained everything start to finish, highlighting her deformity in her x-rays,
as well as the procedure they were conducting to correct it. I certainly had an interest in orthopedic
surgery prior to coming to Maitland, but this particular experience made me
even more excited to explore the field once I have proper medical training
under my belt.
Based
on this past week, I truly cannot wait to see what the rest of my time in Cape
Town has in store!
No comments:
Post a Comment