Hello again. It is Monday again… weeks are already flying by. This is my third week at the hospital. Last week I developed a sore throat, then some laryngitis, big honkin lymph nodes. Well by the weekend it turned into a barking cough, and sinus congestion headache. Not fun at all. Many of the other staff have similar symptoms. Yet, that does not stop them from trying to scare me into thinking I have TB or am seroconverting. Very funny… not! On a positive note, atleast its not diarrheal disease….
Last weekend I went into Cape Town again to stay with relatives. No night casualty shifts for now due to my health. My friend Silvan, the swiss medical student, moved to Tygerberg hospital for the month. That is the tertiary care center where we transfer our complicated patients. He is staying at an international dorm, which has medical students from Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, US (Illinois) and others. It is so much fun to meet other students in the same field but from such different places.
Last night I went for a Sunday evening Braai (aka BBQ), a local end of the week festivity. I actually went with a local colored guy named Donnovan (this is a politically correct adjuctive in SA) who I met on a taxi ride home. After just meeting him he invited me to come… why not? This seems to be another common theme here. One of inclusion... People are just very chill, and excited to make new friends. Maybe its because of the vast diversity of cultural backgrounds and geographic upbringings. The braai was at a backpackers hostel, where Donnovan is friends with many of the staff. We cooked up some porterhouse steaks and boerrivores (this awesome spicy sausage thing). So much meat in this country!! And lots of beetroot (same things as beets), which is amazing cause I love beets.
Around the fire, a local was telling me about the continued issues of violence in this country. She told me that “life is cheap here.” People die from HIV, violence, accidents… most never make the news… This is not immediately obvious if you just came to visit as a tourist, but is apparent from working in the hospital. Despite the flaws of the country, she told me she wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. People here firmly believe in the potential of South Africa.
Over the weekend I also visited a food market in Woodstock. Luckily we had a car attendant help us park… just kidding. Not sure if this is an Africa thing or just South Africa, but whenever you park on the street there are people who help you park and will watch over your car. I mean everywhere. “I watch your car boss.” Even at like grocery stores. Most are unofficial. The going rate is like 1-2 rand, which is like 15-20 cents. At the market, a couple funny things happened. Silvan was offering me and Jonas (another swiss student) a piece of gum, and this random guy said “oh sure, I’ll have one.” Whaa… Why not? Then I was talking to Jonas about the music playing and how I thought it was swiss folk music, and someone behind me said “actually I think its German.” Whaa… People just interact a lot here. I love it. In the states I often do similar things, but am given looks that say “mind your own business.” We met lots of people, a student from California, someone from the republic of congo, Zambia… what a mix! Silvan and I ended up doing some polka dancing… why not, no one cares what you do here. My kinda place.
While I’m on a roll of random thoughts. So Miller beer is popular here! Haha. My cousin offered me one and I was quick to inform him that the Miller brewery is in Milwaulkee, WI. They have a brewery here in South Africa… random. Their local beer is Castle. At a bar its about 12 rand (which is 1.50 USD) a bottle.
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