I've Been Here for How Long?

• After nearly 2 weeks, I am feeling confident about my surroundings, I feel like I can get myself to pretty much anywhere at least in the surrounding Cape Town area.
• With one week of work accomplished, i know the hospital environment fairly well.
• On that note, I have seen many dressing changes on burn victims, and i'm not sure if i'll ever become used to it. However, by the end of the week, I went through rounds alone and i think I did well. I only have about 5 in-patients and a few out-patients.
• I've been able to check some things off my to-do list and even added a few more. Thus far, i've been sand boarding, whale watching along the cliffs, abseiling and today i'll go skydiving. 

Yes, it's true, today i'll be up in the air and jumping out of an airplane!! I've actually been more afraid to tell my family than I am afraid of the jump. :) To skydive here is so much less expensive and why not? I was actually supposed to go last Monday when I went sand boarding, for some reason it came in a package to do both in one day. Unfortunately the weather did not hold out long enough to permit skydiving, so we re-scheduled for today! I'll let you know how it goes, i'm pretty certain that i'm going to love it.


On other notes, i've realized I did not take into account the travel expenses here while budgeting for my trip. So far, i've spent more money of minibus taxis, buses and other transport than i've spent on anything else. It costs me R16 to get to and from Red Cross everyday, and that certainly adds up after a while (it's just over $2 a day). When it gets warmer out i'll be able to walk there and back, which will be nice. At this point, i'm to wimpy to get up and walk in the morning freezing weather. 
Yesterday, we went to Hermanus, a fishing town along the southern west coast and saw whales. It was incredible! There were a few people who went sea Kayaking and then a couple of us went walking along the cliff instead. It was absolutely stunning to see these animals!! They are beautiful and huge. Even from far away you can see their enormousness. Right before lunch, we saw several of them really close to the shore, coming up to breathe. It was an experience of a lifetime. This is where I went abseiling for the first time, which was also amazing. The abseil was quite short, but quite fun!! The guide let me do it twice, being wicked cool! The drive back from Hermanus was beautiful. We went along the coast and it was amazing to look out one window and see cliffs and mountains go straight up and the look down and see the ocean, rocks and beaches. I loved it. 


I'm loving Cape Town so far and I can't wait to do more and learn more.