Weekend Updates

 This past weekend was both rejuvenating and frustrating at the same time. Following our day at the clinic on Friday, in which I was basically thrown into counseling women coming into the Post Natal Clinic for their babies’ 7-10 day check-up, 6 wk check-up or 10 wk check-up, I was seriously exhausted. The girl who normally does the counseling got called away for part of the morning, so she quickly trained me and I was on my own for a bit. As in she trained me for 5 minutes, said bye, and there I went. Yikes. I basically made sure they were adhering to PMTCT  (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) procedures if they had HIV, and generally checked up on their psychosocial health, checking for signs of postpartum depression or to see if they had enough food for them and their babies.
I had to make referrals twice to one of the Poverty Alleviation Officers for women who didn’t have enough food for themselves. I felt awkward at first doing this, but given that most likely I will be doing this counseling 1-2 days a week, I know I’ll gain more confidence and things will get easier.

We went out for a decadent Hawaiian pizza at a Italian place near our flat with Linda, and spent Friday in just laying low which was perfect. Saturday we hit up a brai at Linda’s son Ross’s house, and her other son Paul came with his wife Myra. We had amazing boerwoers (sp?) which is basically South African sausage, potato salad, pickles, and ended with what I shouldn’t have eaten but totally don’t regret- melktart! It’s like a milky, custardy tart that has cinnamon and a hint of espresso in it, or at least this one did. Amazing! Finished it all off with cooksisters, which is like a more fried version of a funnel cake dipped in syrup. Basically a great feast, and they’re always so welcoming whenever I see her family. Sadly, Lauren and I had to jet off to do driving lessons for 3 hours, which was, in a word, bad. Lauren was much more confident and skilled than I, who stalled up to at least 4 times at a robot on a busy street, and almost started crying as I still attempted to get the hang of stopping and starting. I realize this will take time, but I went again today to get more confidence, so hopefully this stupid driving will make sense soon!

**Unfortunately, I got caught in a massive hailstorm. As in, it started pouring like mad all of a sudden, and before I knew it, the car was barely moving, and I noticed muddy coloured water rushing past the car, so I was barely able to move forward, though I was almost flooring it! It got especially scary when marble-sized hail starting clobbering the cars, and it was deafening. We had to pull over since I could no longer see the road in front of me- every other car had their hazards on and were pulled over. We waited it out before trying to continue, and luckily I only stalled once when trying to get out of a particularly massive puddle, so that was a plus. All in all, I did fairly well! You know, despite, the hail.

Homesickness has washed over me in waves this weekend- mostly for wishing that I could spent time with my friends and family, and be in Boston just for the day. It usually passes, but I think the weekends are when I have more time to think, so I end up feeling very far away from everyone. Something to very much look forward to though is that Guerdine and Katherine arrive today! They’re two other girls from the Global Practice program at BC and they’ll be living in downtown Joburg, working for Jesuit Refugee Service. We’re so excited to see them soon and show them some of what we’ve discovered in this fabulous city.

Here's a pic of me and Lauren when we had sundowners last weekend. Love the view!