November in Cape Town

I apologize for being so far behind on my blog. Thus I am condensing my experiences in November into this one delightful post.

Immediately after my return from my trip I fell ill.  I attempted to go to work one day, but left half way through because I felt so bad. Finally that night Leila drove me (and Caroline to accompany me) to the Mediclinic.  I discovered I had a horrible infection, probably from the Zambezi River, and was prescribed antibiotics (thankfully no Malaria, not to mention I am STILL on the antimalarial pills as you have to take them for an entire month after you leave the possible infection area). We went to the pharmacy (not at the same location) to get my medicine, but the pharmacy didn’t have it. They promised to get it for me for the next day so I had to continue to suffer without medication. The next day I went in, not looking the best, and they had only managed to get five of the 10 pills I needed. They promised to get the rest by the weekend, when I would come to pick them up.  When I went in again, they had not gotten the medicine and sold me a different version of it. This was my first complaint lodged about my medical care in Africa.

My next complaint I discovered when looking at my medical bill. I paid it the night in the Emergency Room. Somehow I paid over $20 more than my bill was worth. My payment receipt was that much more than my actual medical bill. Why in the world would that happen? I have been attempting to get my money back for two weeks now and am not happy with them. T.I.A. This is Africa.

After my horrible week of illness (during which my father was convinced I might have a rare African disease), I was/still am perfectly healthy.  Thus I returned to work in the middle of complete chaos. Our forum at that point was less than a month away (now it is next week!).  For the past three weeks work has consumed my life. We work 8-5 and the entire time we are managing a massive list of tasks that must be accomplished before our forum can happen. Thankfully we have almost achieved this feat.

Currently we are in the final stages of preparations, which includes Angola still not receiving their VISAs to South Africa and maybe not going to attend, me waiting to collect tons of documents and programs that are at the printers, and every other little thing that is going wrong or hasn’t been completed.  I have loved these past few weeks of work since I have been exceptionally busy and completely trusted by my boss and fellow employees to accomplish everything assigned to me.  I am legitimately excited for the PATA 2012 Southern Africa and Nigeria Regional Forum, not to mention I get to live at the hotel for the entire week along with all our PATA staff and conference delegates and speakers.

This is a picture of our staff at one of the clinics we support. Starting from the left: Glynis, Me, Anthea (temp. employee), Echati (new intern), Clinic staff member, Daniella (my boss), Fiona, and Heleen. We had the children paint these trees for us to take to the forum!

The weather has been unbelievable, with hardly a rainy day or cloudy sky*. On the weekends we lay by the pool on the rooftop enjoying the view of Table Mountain. We go to the beach at Camps Bay and lounge in the soft sand by the freezing Atlantic Ocean.  We walk the promenade at Sea Point before a nice dinner at the Waterfront during sunset.  

*Now that I wrote that about the weather, we have had two days of such intense wind I almost get blown over. I wear my sunglasses at all times outdoor just to protect my eyes from the blowing dust.

For Thanksgiving we had a friendsgiving with 12 people. I made mom’s garlic mashed potatoes and I think they turned out quite well!  The girls mostly made the main food, while all of the guys bought desert to bring (which I am not complaining about as lots of it was from Charley’s Bakery).  We had a wonderful time, and I even got to voice chat with the family at home! Beth was the best sister ever when she forced my nephews to tell me they love me before they were allowed to play any computer games!  The only downside was I worked all day instead of having a holiday.

Now since it is the end of the month, lots of my friends are heading back home after their two-three month stays in Cape Town. We had a goodbye braai/pizza party on the rooftop to say farewell to everyone who will be leaving. 

I have officially lived in South Africa for the past six months! I am down to my last few weeks and plan on enjoying every minute of my time left here. <3