Hakuna Matata

hi everyone

I am very excited to post my first blog thanks to one of my students who is a computer wiz. In case you're wondering Impilo means cheers in Xhosa, one of the languages spoken here in Cape Town. The picture you see is from my balcony window and is Table Mountain. It literally comes out of no where. When the cloud starts to cover it, they call it the "table cloth" because that's what it looks like, a table cloth draping over a table. The students and the professor here with me have climbed it and I am anxious to get Joe and I out there, be on the look out for pictures from whatever elevation I make it to!

So, as you have figured out, we are here - got here without incident, but am suffering from a little jet lag. The first leg to Johannesburg was a straight 15 hours, then a 3 hour layover, which we needed every minute of because we had no idea where we were going, then got on another flight to Cape Town which is two hours from Joburg as they call it here.

I was so happy to see our friends pick us up from the airport and was greeted with the typical warm hugs from everyone. Even people I don't know, it's just the way people are here, hugging is very normal and just feels right. Anyway, Joe being the better traveller than I am made me stay awake until 10pm that night. The next day, bright and early, Vernon picked us up at 8:30 to show us around the city, university of cape town, the townships and some of the clinical facilities that we will be working in. More about that later. We went out to dinner to a Thai restaurant with the students, Nancy and her husband Kevin, and Vernon and his wife Esme. What a great night. The students are so happy and full of great adventures and stories about their first few weeks in cape town. They were also very relieved to have finished 1/2 of the leadership course and all of pedi clinical and classroom, the caveat was having 3 tests in one day....needless to say they had a little steam to blow off last night.

So today is Saturday, we left again at 8:00, went back to the airport and flew back to Joburg where we will be for the next few days sight seeing and then off to the Kruger National Park. We are having an amazing thunderstorm right now which I hear is normal, but it is supposed to clear up soon. We are going out to dinner tonight (which Joe is being very good about), but for now the students are sleeping and I am catching up on work, etc.

So far this is amazing, I have a lot to say, but will keep this short for now. Don't want the electricity to go out and loose all this info. Miss everyone, but having a great time.