Sean's South African Thoughts

From April 17th to May 14th Sean went to South Africa! He was doing a global roatation set up by his school. While he was there talking was sometimes difficult, mostley because he was 6 hours ahead of me but we were able to instant message on Skype. I saved all of our conversations so I want to share some of Sean's South African thoughts with you.


Upon arriving in South Africa:


“They have harsh accents for which I wish I had subtitles to understand”


On the flight from Johanasburg to the little town he was staying in:


“They even fed us lunch and it was only a half hour flight! A chicken sandwich and mango fruit juice made in So Africa.”


About his living conditions:


“I’m here at the dorm right now. It’s pretty ghetto. The conditions were better for the last Des Moines students here last week but they had party before they left and trashed the place and did not clean up! So the hosts were offended and now we are stuck with poor conditions. Dr Blessman tried to smooth things over but they were so offended that students are now banned from the guest house. So we are stuck in dorm rooms that are small and gross and have community bathrooms that are even more disgusting.”


About the cafeteria meals at the beginning of the trip:


“Food has been ok but we start the cafeteria food tomo and we've heard it isn’t ideal. We’ll see”


About the cafeteria meals at the end of the trip:


“I can’t take anymore cafeteria food. I can’t wait to have a home cooked meal”


In the Causality (ER):


“There are no computers to keep track of patients checking in, its all done the old fashioned way with paper forms and charts.”


“We walked in and the first doc we met basically said we could do and order whatever without signing off to him. Crazy. Then we found out quickly that supplies are not as plentiful. Next, you never know if you should be wearing a mask. So it was a bit crazy.”


“P.S. my favorite experience in the ER was sewing up a man s scalp after he got assaulted with a beer bottle”

Describing a rain storm:


“We are having those blessed African rains right now. The raindrops are bigger here and the thunder more fierce. I hear the pitter patter of the raindrops smacking the pavement and side of the house. The lightening is impressive”

Doing Laundry:


“So I washed my clothes this morning, but there is no dryer here and I didn't want to hang my clothes outside, so I hung everything up in my room.”


Safari:


“We saw hippo, crocs, impala, water buck, and heard lots of buffalo. We saw an elephant up close on the drive to the hike. After the hike we took our rental car and followed the river in search of animals on our own. We were quite successful. We saw elephants, zebra, baboons, impala, water buffalo, giraffe and several diff types of birds. It’s so crazy to be driving and then see one of these animals. They are not afraid of cars either, so it was cool to see them not run off.”


“We took a trip out to the Lion Ranch! It was really awesome! We went for a game drive in a 6 wheeler Mercedes that would make most car junkies Jealous! Our guide took us through two metal gates where they kept a pride of lions. I got to pet a full grown lion and take pictures with him! It was crazy yet fulfilling of every boy’s dream to pet a lion!”


Osteopathic Rotation:


“I put plaster (casts) on several children this morning with club feet! It’s the most fun I’ve had with medicine since being here! And something I would never be able to do alone back home.”


Coming Home:


“We are being picked up at 630 am for a 755 flight. In some ways I am sad to leave because I'm getting better at understanding their accents and starting to make some friends...but I couldn't be more thrilled about coming home and seeing you again!”


This was definitely a wonderful trip! It was hard being here with out him but I'm so happy he got to go. We both learned a lot. For pictures and more stories be sure to keep an eye out on Sean’s blog for his post.


xoxo