Durban, Rugby, and More Clinical!

First of all, I want to say "Thank You" to all of you who sent me mail! Look at my table of Valentines!!! haha. Some of them are from people here, and I have also received more mail since this picture was taken. I love getting mail! Thank you!
Clinical has been an amazing experience so far. This past week Yvette and I worked in the HIV unit and drew a lot of blood! On Thursday one of the main nurses was gone, so Yvette and I had her office to ourselves. We practiced our Zulu and blood drawing skills- it felt so good to be on our own like that. After we finished the Wednesday blood draws, we were asked to help the head nurse with her pre-natal exams and immunizations. The three of us formed quite an efficient team... taking vital signs, examining/measuring the abdomen, listening to the fetal heart rate, taking health histories, blood draws, testing for the Rh factor, and administering the tetanus vaccine. The nurses have really appreciated our help, and it feels nice to be useful! The clinical experience is fun, but also really hard work. Yvette and I have to mutter "TIA" to each other to encourage us to keep sane. We also have never laughed this hard in clinical before. The craziest things happen sometimes!

This is a picture of me outside the clinic. The building behind me is where most of the patients go, but the building to the left is the HIV/ARV unit.

I love all the little kids here :)

Sister Terry's desk! This where I worked all week...drawing blood and interviewing patients.

Some cute kids outside the clinic helping their mom clean up from selling fruit.

Here is a video from mPophomini- the place I had clinical last week! Lindiwe took me on a tour of her town when the one child that came to the Family Center was napping. I kinda got chased by a cow:

This Saturday we went back to Durban for the day. It was so nice to lay on the beach and relax. I ate lunch at a restaurant on the beach called Moyo's and it was delicious!

I bought a drum at the local market!

At Moyo's someone comes around and paints your face if you want it (it's the white flower pattern you see on our cheeks, not the black stuff in the picture above! That was for the rugby game)... and this particular day they had a singing group come!

Later that night we went to a professional rugby game! This is a photo that Jeff took:
Micah got the cursed elephant Saturday, and he had to wear the opposing team's colors and cheer for them. There were times he was the only one standing in the whole section. He got a few death stares from die-hard Shark fans. I hung out with Micah and Jeff most of Saturday:

Yikes...

Another photo by Jeff. Gotta love rugby!

Go sharks!

And here is the video I wanted to post last week of the zulu tribal dancing. We saw this type of dancing done in Durban as well. There is a lot of purposeful falling and stiff or stomping movements. It looks quite painful to me! Often they are telling a story through their dancing:


I think that is it for now! I still love it here... where else can you go running next to waterfalls and a rushing river at dusk, in the middle of 3 lightening storms (no rain), see 2 owls, and get hit in the face by a flying bat!? haha... it felt like I had been slapped in the face. Don't worry- I am not purposely trying to touch any monkeys or bats. The food here is geting harder to deal with as time goes on. I am sick of eating rice and bones! I usually eat a few bites until I am sick of picking bones or chunks of fat out of my mouth, and then I resort to a peanut butter sandwich.

Hope everything is going well back home! Please keep Candi (Laurie's mom for those of you who do not know who Candi is) in your prayers, as she is in the ICU with pneumonia right now. Thank you.

xoxox