imagine my disappointment...

...when i spend 30 mins in the computer lab of the hospital trying to make the photos appear, to find that still there is something amiss... you may not be able to see the photos until i get home... ah well.

day 3 in red cross war memorial childrens hospital, cape town. myself and the other 2 girls are seeing patients together which although sounding like a good plan, isn't really the smartest. when we get more patients i think we'll split up and take some of them each.

was on a burns ward round today, which was very interesting and exciting, even though the prof kept saying "are you from near dublin? or nearer to inverness? have you been to the outer hebrides" of course he was just jesting, but really, there only so many times you can smile graciously when people keep drawing attention to you. there are some really awful burns and some that are just strange, like this one boy who pulled out a lawnmower plug with wet hands.... he'll def not do that again...

the structure of placemnets are very different here. before being allowed to handle patients students must sit a one hour test. if they dont pass then they have to resit and if they still dont pass then they get sent home. thankfully, they didnt take our marks of that test into consideration (well we didnt know we'd have a test so we didn't really study). at home we are given a list of patients and assigned to one physio. over here, its just a free for all, you just ask someone for a patient and then away you go. they physios dont even countersign the medical/nursing notes you write, and dont even get me started on their moving/handling policies. suffice to say they don't appear to have any. anywhere. at all.

but apart from that we're having a loverly time. well apart from gettin up at 6.10 and walking to the hospital in the dark to start at 7.30am. but it does mean we finish about 3, so its nice to get home in the afternoons.

one thing i do not like about south africa... 1-ply toilet roll. enough said.

finished the book "the crossing" by james cracknell and ben fogle, and im reccommending it to you. be warned though, the chapters are long and theres just no way you can stop in the middle of one!

so on saturday we're hopefully taking in a tour of robben island and on sunday hitting the beach at simons town- not for sunbathing though, for the penguins!

personal notes:
SusieB- hope the exam results were pleasing.
Bert, pete & Adam- stay outta trouble, don't be disrespecting the parents while im gone.

well its sunday and today i went to church. one of the other 2 girls who is staying in the house with us (not the girls im here with, different ones) goes to church and she took me along. rondebosch united church. had an organ, and was quite traditional, until they started playing the marimba...
very enjoyable and was singing hymns in english, xhosa and dutch (i think!) \. at one point we all said the Lords Prayer, but everyone said it in their own language, so it sounded a bit different from a normal sunday in Christ Church! was lovely to know that even though we were speaking in diff langauges, well, God hears and understands it all.

yesterday we climb up TABLE MOUNTAIN! thats right, the whole way up it. we got the cable car down, cos 2 hours on the way up was enough climbing for me! ill hopefully get some pics up this time. i wont be able to put captions with them but im sure ull figure out which ones are which- theres a mix of ones from various stages of the climb, from the top, of my (very) blue bedroom, and the ashanti inn were i stayed the first night.

a few individual messages:
jenny hunter- cant remember exactly what date your birthday is, but have a good one with your visitors and enjoy biffy. not my choice but.... whatever takes yer fancy!
graham c- hope the move to london went well, hope ur enjoying the world of cover-holding.

love,
jan

ok i tried to put the pics on but its not working. ill try again next time!!

so have arrived safe, flight got in about 8 this morning. have spent the day sitting on the balcony reading about james cracknell (olympic rower) and ben fogle (of Castaway 2000 and animal park fame) trying to cross the atlantic in a rowing boat. its actually good stuff!

unfortunately i dont think the computer im on wil let me put photos up, but theres nothing much exciting yet, just scenary from the balcony and photos of myself taken by myself, of course!

i will tell you something though, yesterday when we were queueing to get on the plane to S.A., when i saw the size of it.... filled me with fear, it actually did. so big -i thought- how can it stay up in the sky? i was also not amused when i saw on the side of the plane a panel with " cut here in emergency" painted on it...

but sure i got over that and had the usual long flight banter- rom com films, food (and a little white wine aswell-- o yes!), spilling my water bottle all over the floor...

tonight im staying at the ashanti lodge and tomorrow we're moving on to our accomodation that we'll be in for the 4 weeks. lovely!

scenary here is beautiful, very mountainous. OH!! i am very pleased to note that the first animal i saw up close in SA was a grey squirrel. Jan Knowles, Squirrel-Whisperer..... (i tend to attract squirrels, as my flatmate jenny will testify)

hopefully get some pics up soon(ish).

the night before

so its 10pm the night before i head off to south africa, and as im still very excited about my new phone i thought id put another picture on. above is my backpack. so far it contains a first aid kit and some suncream. some say im laid back, other say im just plain foolish...







also you will see the worryingly small pile of things to pack. surely i've forgotten something??

just checking...

just to check if this actually works... if it has you should be able to see a picture of tess.