Kangaroos, Koalas, and other Australian Adventures

What a wonderful week! I have had a fantastic time with the Henry's and this past week has been packed full of adventures and some of my favorite things. Here are some of the stories:

Koalas, Kangaroos, and Strawberries: On Easter Monday, we headed off to the Koala park to feed Kangaroos and pet Koalas. We went to the Koala Park zoo and saw many animals indigenous to Australia. Going with the girls was particularly special and made the rainy day excursion well worth it. A little wet, but with a few hours left to fill up in the day, we decided to pick fresh strawberries. I love strawberries! Here are some of the highlights:






Shells and Crabs: On Tuesday we went to Shelly Beach to swim and soak up some sun. I could have stayed for hours on the dramatic rocks collecting beautiful sea shells as the waves splashed and crashed. Afterwards, as a special treat, Shana and I bought fresh crabs to eat for lunch. It was wonderful.

Waterfalls, Rainforests, and Camping: On Wednesday Shana and I packed the car and the girls up and headed off to Dorrigo National Park, a rainforest not too far away. Keeping in the good road trip tradition, we stopped wherever the spirit moved us and figured out where we would stay on the way there. We first stopped at Never Never River in the "Promised Land" which we called Neverland and searched for Peter Pan and Tinkerbell in a sunkissed river. Then we headed up the road, stopping at waterfalls along the way and looking for a place to camp. We found a place to pop our tent amongst wonderful mountains and within earshot of an amazing waterfall.

Newell Falls, on the road to Dorrigo

Dangar Falls, near where we camped

Breakfast at the campsite - I'm enjoying the fresh strawberries from Tuesday

Crystal Falls - a 4km round trip journey through rainforest with a 2 year old and a 4 year old...rough, but well worth it

Beaches and breathtaking views: With all of the changes that are going on in my life, I needed a day to myself, so I had Matt drop me off at a lighthouse on his way to work and then I hiked about 15km up the coast. It had it's ups and downs, but I'm so glad that I did it.
Highlights:
-Amazing views of beaches, cliffs, and rocks
-A private swim on a deserted beach
-Hiking up paths where I saw no other humans
-Beautiful birds - Kookuburra, Rainbow Lorikeets, and other fascinating species
-Climbing rocks
-Discovering fish and colorful crabs in tidepools
-Crashing waves over rocks
-1 bus ride with some fascinating small town Australian folk
-Seeing Kangaroos in the wild - one with a Joey in her pouch
-A perfect day of solitude

Lowlights:
-1 giant spider on my face after walking into his web
-1 leech that got a good bite out of my big toe
-1 painful fall onto my tush
-Forgetting the cell phone
-Climbing up and down a mountain, only to find that I circled back to the beech where I swam...then having to turn around and climb the mountain again

Unfortunately my around the world trip is coming to a close, but this was certainly the perfect way to end it. I've enjoyed my time with my good friends and I will be sad to leave them tomorrow. I will spend some time in Sydney on Monday and try to get one more adventure in before heading out on Monday night. I'll be back early Tuesday morning for anyone who is itching to call me. Thanks for sticking with the blog. I'll probably do one more post when I get home and then sign off.

At home in Australia with the Henry's

After:

-3 extra days in South Africa
-22 hours in 3 separate planes
-3 security checks
-1 twenty min bus ride in Dubai after a 3 hour layover
-1 forty five minute stopover in Bangkok
-1 hour with the Australian customs agent
-1 confiscated item in Australian customs (sorry Hattie...that was your present)
-1 fabulous 8 hour conversation
-1 hour of walking around Sydney after 3 hours of broken sleep over 2 days
-1 catnap at the train station
-7 1/2 hours on my first train (I slept, but caught a bit of the beautiful countryside)
I have arrived in Macksville, Australia and I am at home with the Henry's. What a relief.

My stay so far has been wonderful. I love spending time with the kids (Jacinta - almost 5 - and Genevieve - age 2) and talking to Matt and Shana at night. So far I have gone to a Easter parade after making beautiful hats with the kids of flowers, played by the riverside, gone to the coast to see the ocean, walked through the "big banana," watched most of "The Big Lebowski," did osteopathic manipulation on Matt and Shana, tried my hand at a bit of gardening, made Indian Chai tea, and took a night walk under the full moon with Shana. It is wonderful and comfortable.

Me in the airport in Bangkok after 16 hours of travel

Catnap at the train station after walking around Sydney for 1 hour

Jacinta and Genevieve at the bus stop getting ready to watch the Easter parade wearing hats made with love for the occassion

Me and Genevieve in front of the world's largest puzzle near the "Big Banana" (the big banana is definitely anti-climatic)


Muttonbird Island - ahhhh...the ocean. Beautiful

Looking forward to Easter Sunday where I will go to church on the riverside under a tree. Their description reminds me of my favorite Easter service when my dad and I found a Quaker-ish sunrise service on the shore of a small lake. I'll tell you all about it. Until then, enjoy your weekend.

No longer stranded

I'm about to catch a taxi to the airport and take the flight I should have taken on Friday. I'm ready to leave, but at least I got another weekend to enjoy South Africa, meet interesting people, and see the legislative capital.

Hopefully I will have safe travels. I will post more pictures when I get to Australia and catch up on sleep.

Stranded in South Africa

Well, I should be on a plane to Australia right now, but I'm kind of an idiot. I went to the airport to fly to Australia last night and realized a bit late that I would need a visa. That means I get to enjoy this fine city til Monday at least. It hasn't been such a bad trip though. I will head to Pretoria tomorrow so that I can get to the Australian Embassy first thing on Monday and hopefully will get out of here by Tuesday...we shall see.

Here are the highlights from Johannesburg:

Last Sunday I decided to go to Faith Ways Bible Church with Hector, the owner of the Transit Guest Lodge. We arrived at 9:00am to a singing, lively congregation. Many of the songs were in Zulu, but I didn't mind at all. Hector would translate every now and again. The music was so powerful that I was brought to tears at least 2 times. I was quite sick that day, coughing a lot and I had a runny nose. It was pretty terrible actually, but a woman 2 rows in front of me showed up miraculously with some kleenex. I felt very taken care of. Then, a woman preacher got up to do her sermon. She spoke with a passion and made her points with her whole body. She preached half in English and half in Zulu. It was amazing. Her message? How God provides in unexpected ways. Here she is driving a point home.

By noon, the sermon was still going on and I was getting pretty sleepy. Hector whispered, lets go and see the Apartheid museum. I enjoyed the service very much, but was thankful to be done with it after 3 hours.

The Museum was great with lots of videos and interesting exhibits. I learned a lot about the history of South Africa.

After the museum we picked up Hector's wife and sister and headed to Nelson Mandela's house. The street in Soweto is in the Guiness book of world records for being the only house in the world to house 2 nobel peace prize winners; Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. Mandela's house has been converted to a museum as he moved 11 days after being released from his 27 years of imprisonment. It was very cool to be in the pressence of greatness.

After a tasty traditional South African meal, my day ended with an interesting cultural experience at Hector's parents house. Hector's brother just got "engaged" having just paid the parents of the bride and they had a party to plan. I sat patiently as I listened to them negotiate the food and decorations. I loved it and was happy for the unexpected opportunity to witness a bit of the culture here.

Yesterday I spent another day going around Johannesburg and saw a bit more. I went to the highest point in Africa, a whole 50 stories above the earth. Here's the button on the plane and the view of Jo'burg from one of the windows.

Another visit to Soweto brought me to the Freedom Charters of South Africa. 10 beautifully written laws stating that all humans should have equal rights, all Apartheid laws should be abolished, and the government should care for the weakest of the society. Again, cool to be in the pressence of greatness.

After all that history, I decided it was time to play with some baby lions, so I went to the lion park. It's a bit like a zoo, but you drive through the lion cages like being on a safari. Actually a bit cheezy. I did get to pet baby lions though, so that's awesome.

I dono't know who the girl is, so don't ask...

Okay that's all from South Africa. I have more to share from my trip to Kruger National Park, but I'm pretty sure that you've had enough for today.

Favorite Zulu (?) word: Wapapa - I'm told that it means extremely forward, but it a humerous way. This was the word Hector used to describe me.

Safari's are fun!

So, South Africa has been awesome so far. Sunday was a perfect day that I want to tell you about, but it will have to wait.

For now I want to share some pictures from my safari. I took off yesterday from Johannesburg to go to Kruger National Park. We did a late afternoon safari yesterday and spent most of today out on the road. It has beautiful, awe-inspiring, and just plane cool. This is a fantastic national park...I'm emailing now, need I say more? The camp sights are fenced off from the park for our safety (which after all that I've seen, I'm grateful to be caged). The pictures tell most of the story...

Me excited to be on "Buddy" our safari truck

Giraffes - so much cooler when they're not at a zoo

Monkey at the camp sight - I don't know what kind

White Rhinos - one of the "big 5" that you're supposed to see on safaris

Baboons. The little one got up on the mother's back. It was super cute. There is an Impala in the background.

African Elephants - one of the "Big 5"

More African Elephants

It was a really big deal to see this Leopard (another of the "Big 5") and to follow him up the road is exceedingly rare. Our guide has not seen a leopard this close up in this park in 12 years of taking people here. It was the certainly the best part of the day.

The other 2 animals in the big 5 are the buffalo, which we saw, but I don't have a picture of, and lions. I'm hoping that I will see lions in my last couple days here, but if I don't, the trip was still well worth it. You have no idea what it's like to be driving and looking out the window, only to suddenly see a gigantic elephant crossing the road just meters away! Unbelievable.

Okay. Wish you were here to share this with me...especially Fritz and Molly because they would LOVE all the animals :)

Last few hours in Malawi

The computer with my pictures on it is packed away, so you'll have to put up with boring words with no visuals. I thought I'd write before I get to South Africa where I will most likely not have internet access. You will have to wait until I get to Australia to hear about my South African adventure.

The past 6 weeks have been absolutely amazing. I fell in love with each of my patients here and got tearful yesterday when I had to say goodbye to them. They are so strong and beautiful. I am constantly impressed by their ability to smile through their pain and sickness; rarely complaining or begging for pain medications. I will always remember them. I am now done with all of my requirements for medical school and this was the perfect way to end the 4 year journey.

I leave for Johannesburg in an hour and a half where I will spend my last night with my 3 roommates before heading out on a 4-day-Safari to Kruger National Park. I will get to meet 20 or so new people and see all sorts of amazing things. It will be nice to be surrounded by new faces and stories. I'm excited for the adventures to come.

Look forward to stories in about 1 week...

Open Arms

What a good day.  I left the hospital a bit early today to go to Open Arms, an "orphanage" in Blantyre. It really is a fantastic organization.  The children are orphaned for numerous reasons, but many lost their parents to AIDs.  They don't like the term orphanage and prefer the term transition home instead.  They take children from birth on and provide them with a safe environment, with loving/stable "moms," good food, and medical treatment.  The kids transition from nursery to a preschool setting.  At age five, they move into a house where there are a couple other kids and a house mom.  This way they can be raised my a Malawian woman in the Malawian culture.  This is all on the condition that there is no extended family that can take the child.  Open Arms keeps in touch with all of the families of the children and when they reach an age that the family can take them in, they transition them home.  Amazing really.

From the moment that Kim and I entered, we were embraced by small children.  They walked up to us "strangers" and reached up to us, asking to be held.  There is a good number of staff there and the children all seem well loved, but they were anxious to get love from the new people.  One child that was less than 2 hugged me for a full minute and wouldn't let go.  It was amazing!  The kids were unbelievable...all with stories of overcoming terrible circumstances and bad illnesses.  I'm in love with all of them.

Read more about it at http://www.openarmsmalawi.org/

One of the precious children

Kim with some of the kids

Blowing bubbles with the toddlers

I'll leave you with a poem that brought tears to my eyes that was posted in the main office.

What AIDS Can't Do

AIDS is so limited

It cannot cripple

Love

It cannot shatter

Hope

It cannot corrode

Faith

It cannot take away

Peace

It cannot destroy

Confidence

It cannot kill

Friendship

It cannot shut out

Memories

It cannot silence

Courage

It cannot invade

The Soul

It cannot reduce

Eternal Life

It cannot quech

The Spirit

Our greatest enemy is not disease

But despair

A weekend with the locals

Saturday: At 5:00am Saturday morning, my friend Medson and I got in an old Land Rover and headed south. Medson had agreed to take me to the village that he grew up in, so that I could experience rural Malawi. Medson and Me

His village is 4 hours by car, so I had lots of time to learn his story. He is one of the only people in his village to go to secondary school and the only one to go beyond that. Unable to afford school, he was fortunate enough to find a British sponsor by an unexpected twist of fate. Now he is a hard-working intern that often skips lunch in order to care for the neglected patients. He is the only boy of 5 children, but his eldest sister passed away from complications of HIV 6 years ago. It was quite the story. After hours of talk and educating one another, we pulled up to his village.
When we arrived, his mother prepared a meal for me, Medson, and Medson's friends. It was fantastic! There was so much food, and everything was tasty. Medson's parents have a very nice new home that has a secure wall and gate around it. They have good investments in livestock and farms that have made them among the richest in the community. The village is directly outside his property:

One view from Medson's home.
I wanted to take many more pictures of the narrow, crowded streets; a "bustling metropolous" at the village's center, but could not do it with tact.

The houses were mud or cement with thatched or tin roofs and no running water. One well provides clean water to the town; a 13 year old addition. Electricity made it to the town 3 years ago and that powers the corn mill where they bring their dried corn to be ground into flour.

Medson's mother wrapping me in a Chitenge

After a great meal and initiation into chitenge wearing, we took a walk around the town. We walked the 200m to the Mozambique border and talked politics to the border guards. I didn't have my passport with me, but I couldn't resist running illegally into the a new country.

Me illegally in Mozambique

The kids that greeted me at the border

It was the most interesting day that I have had in Malawi so far, and I fell in love with Africa a little bit more. The community life so resembles what I miss about the villages that I have visited in Central America. The barefoot kids were all beautiful and everyone was so kind to me. It was a great experience. After a 4 1/2 hour drive through rain and fog and more good conversation, I arrived home safely.

Sunday: I went to the neighboring city of Limbe to meet up with my friend Madalitso. We had arranged to go to Catholic Mass; the English service.

The Limbe Cathedral on a rainy Sunday

After mass, I spent the rest of the day with Madalitso's family. She prepared 2 meals for me and we watched a lot of Malawian television. It was a low key day after the emotionally exhausting trip to the village the day before.

Me and Madalitso

Madalitso and her 3 year old son. Her son was scared of me at first, but eventually opened up. He was adorable...

I very much enjoyed my weekend adventures with my Malawian friends. It gave me a look into the culture here that I have so been craving since my arrival. I had great food, wore traditional clothes, crossed illegally into another country, and even tried to carry a bucket on my head. I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

She's only 26

She's a year older than I am. Her pregnant belly is hidden behind the fluid collecting in her abdomen and lungs because she has advanced Tb. Her body's immune system is useless because of the HIV that has been silently killing off the only cells that can defend her. She sits patiently, smiling even, while I drain fluid from her belly so that she can rest more comfortably and tells me in Chechewa that she doesn't mind because she just wants to get better. This is her third pregnancy. I do not know if her other children are living and, if they are, who is caring for them. Her mother sleeps beside her on the floor. She is also weak having already outlived the 38 years that is expected of the average Malawian. I run uselessly around the hospital trying to collect the results from her blood tests and making sure that she receives the medication needed. I have at least 5 other patient's with stories like this one and there is so very little that I can do. I come home frustrated by the lack of resources, but content that I gave all that I could this day. It is difficult to reconcile this world with the one waiting for me at home. I will add this to my other experiences in lands with limited resources and know that again I am changed. I juggle the frustrations with my excitement about moving to a new city, starting a new job, and getting to live close to Ankoor after nearly 3 years of a long distance relationship. It has been a growing experience to say the least.

On a happier note, I have fun plans for the weekend while the rest of the group enjoys Lake Malawi:
Friday: Enjoy a few hours of solitude...and then watch a movie with some new friends from the states.
Saturday: drive for hours in the car to a village in the southern part of Malawi to spend the day with my favorite intern and experience what village life is like.
Sunday: attend Catholic mass with my favorite midwife on the labor ward and go out to eat with her after.

I'll let you know how it goes. Sorry if this blog bummed you out too much.

I'm moving to Cleveland!

I am very excited to share the news that I will be working at Case Western University Hospitals come July 1st! Ankoor and I will get to be together again at the program of our choice after nearly 3 years of a long distance relationship. I am so very happy. My breath caught in my throat while the email slowly loaded and relief soon settled in. I am sad that I cannot be home with friends and family to celebrate, but my 8 roommates were fantastic. 2 other people also matched tonight and Terrie (our professor/house mother) bought us chocolate and cheese to celebrate...two things that are hard to find in Malawi. It was fantastic.

I am truly enjoying my experience here. It has been intense and I have much to share from the last two days. Today has had a really high high (matching in Cleveland) and a really low low. I went to the hospital early to find out that one of my patients passed away last night at the age of 29 from an infection that her HIV infected body was too weak to fend off. It is difficult to deal with all of the things that have happened during my time here and I have much to talk about when I get home. For now, I will celebrate my new job while doing the best that I can to positively affect the Malawians that I meet here. They certainly have had a profound impact on my life and I will always remember the lessons that I have learned here.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. I hope to celebrate with you soon.

Match week

For those of you who don't know, this is match week. On Thursday we find out where we will do our internship next year; a paying job after 8 years of school. It's kind of a big deal. I'm excited to graduate and move on to the next stage of training, but it is daunting.

Today we found out if we matched...not where. Even though I knew that I would match in one of the 5 programs that I interviewed at, I still got the tiniest ball in my throat when I opened the email entitled, "Did I match?" Thursday is going to be an intense day. We find out at 1:00pm EST, so 7:00pm Malawi time. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers this week as I approach this stressful day, and I'll let you know where I will be moving to come June.

The Zomba Plateau: A transportation adventure

I had a wonderful weekend on the chilly Zomba Plateau. It was definitely the biggest adventure that I've had in Malawi so far.

The trip to Zomba - hitching a ride, Malawi style: 4 of us decided to risk the Malawi bus system and get a ride to Zomba for less than $2 rather than spend far too much money to rent a car/driver for the weekend. Surprisingly, the bus had seats for everyone on board and there were no chickens (a common finding on Malawi buses). When we got to the city of Zomba we had to meet up with Anthony Umi, our host for the weekend. We were under the impression that he would drive us to the plateau, so we were a bit surprised when he walked up to us; no car in sight. This meant we had to find an overpriced taxi to go the last 11 miles. Mr. Umi went to find us one and came back with a friend of his that offered to take us up to our house for free. You can't beat that, so we hopped in the back of his truck, happy that our journey only cost $2. The trip was off to a great start. The other 4 group members were less lucky. They had hired a driver who apparently was night blind. He was great until night rolled in and they hit a biker on the side of the road and feared for their lives. They arrived a bit shook up to say the least.

Saturday - the 5 hour hike: We awoke to a foggy day and set out to see the plateau. First, we stopped by Mulunguzi Dam where Mr. Umi had a friend. We hiked down a rocky slope to get to the door to an underground/underwater tunnel. Mr. Umi's friend described the history of the dam and proceeded to take us through the tunnel and pressure locked doors. It was actually pretty cool to be in a tunnel 47 meters under the water's surface.

The lake created by Mulunguzi Dam with a small waterfall in the background.

After the dam, we headed straight up the mountain through the mist and fog. There were many pine trees and the air was chilly which made me feel at home in this foreign place. The air was thick and I was exhausted, but the surroundings were beautiful. As I was huffing and puffing, there were many Malawians walking barefoot down the slippery clay path with more wood on their head than I've ever carried. Mostly women and children, they carry large bundles of wood atop their heads to the villages. Amazing really. Apparently, they collect wood on the weekends that they can use for cooking and heating their house for the week.

Hiking through the fog

After what seemed like far too long of hiking straight uphill, the ground leveled out and we found a lake formed by the small Chagwa Dam.

A frog that I found by the lake

The tranquil lake (prettier in real life)

More hiking on level ground brought us to the Queen's view and the Emperor's view...obscured by the fog. We did get to see a bit of the fantastic view through the fog, but the pictures don't do it justice. We had a picnic while watching the rolling clouds and then headed down to Williams Falls. There, we took a refreshing shower under the falls...my favorite part of the weekend.

Williams falls

Shant, me, Niamh, and Mr. Umi in the chilly falls

After 5 hours of fabulous hiking we returned home to Mr. Umi's guest house and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Sunday - travelling refugee style: All low on money, we got the cheapest ride back to the bus station that we could find. This meant sitting in the bed of the of a truck on make-shift benches. Since it was raining hard, they had covered the truck bed in red and blue fabric. This meant that we could not see where we were going at all. We were huddled in the back with no idea how far we were from home, holding on for dear life. The rain kept coming down and the holes in the fabric became apparent. I was lucky enough to be under one of the larger holes and got my own personal shower. Laughing through it all, I arrived at the bus stop wet and cold. Our bus arrived an hour after we did and although there were many people standing in the aisle on the way home, the trip was uneventful. It was a fun adventure for sure.

I had a great weekend! I loved talking to Mr. Umi about the town and the people. It was much less planned out than our previous trips and that's the way I like it.

Alright. I'm happy to be home and now I must rest.