Sunday, April 12, 2009

Week 5 and beginning of Week 6

We had a really short week at Sarah Fox last week because of the National Holiday on Friday.

Wednesday- really easy day compared to Tuesday, and the kids were much better behaved. Brie came back for her last two days at Sarah Fox so I had an extra hand.. We took the kids outside really early in the day so they were worn out by lunchtime.

Thursday- Brie's last day :( . It's so weird to see her go.. She has been here for a month already, but it seems like she just started last week. I tried to have the kids make goodbye and thank you cards before Brie got there in the morning, but only a couple of them actually finished. The kids were extra sweet all day long, so I think they actually understood. A new shy little girl came to the hospital and she stayed by my side the entire day. ..She even waited by the door when I left the room. I still have yet to hear her speak a word.

After placement on Thursday, Karen and I went to the beach for a couple of hours and then met up with the rest of the group for dinner at the Ethiopian restaurant on Long Street downtown for Whitney's birthday. The rest of the group went out afterwards, but Karen, Brie, and I went home to bed for our big day on Friday.

Friday - We were picked up early in the morning for our Hike and Bike adventure to the Cape of Good Hope - the most south-western point of the African continent. Our first stop was Hout Bay where we rode on a glass-bottomed boat out to Seal Island. . beautiful views and tons and tons of seals. We then continued down the western coast to the winelands in Constantia and across the mountains toward Muizenberg, Kalk Bay, and Simonstown. In Simonstown we stopped at Boulders Beach to see the penguins (they live there) and do a little shopping. We went on to the Table Mountain National Park and the Cape of Good Hope. We biked to a shelter in the park for a picnic lunch and then down to Cape Point. At Cape Point we hiked up some cliffs. Again, it was one of the best days yet.

Saturday- Brie ran in the Two Oceans Marathon! Great Job Brie!

In the morning, Bailey took me to the organic market at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, Cape Town. They had amazing food, smoothies, baked goods, jewelry, scarves, etc., all for really good prices. I met Karen and Brie at Clifton Beach and later we took a taxi down to the Waterfront for a sunset sailboat ride. We ended up hitting some unexpected wind and waves, so our ride wasn't so peaceful... Within the first five minutes we were all drenched from head to toe and every person on the boat was rolling with laughter. The captains admitted that they weren't at all expecting the ride to be as exciting as it was, but it ended up being the most spontaneous and fun night yet...

I'm still sad I had to miss the Easter and birthday celebration at home :(

Sunday- Bailey, Brie, Karen and I had a fun morning in Constantia and later we went to Kirstenbosch Gardens for the last performance of their summer concert series.. We saw Goldfish. The group is popular here and is actually supposed to be huge in the US soon.. They are already in a couple of commercials. Kirstenbosch is so beautiful and I really hope I get the chance to go back to walk around the gardens more before I leave.

Monday - We were still off for the holiday.. We had a group day at the beach.

Tuesday - It hit me today that I only have 3 more days at Sarah Fox. My time has gone so fast.. It will be really hard to leave. I tried to arrange time in my last two weeks in Cape Town to visit a few more times and hopefully help out. We'll see how it works.. The administration at Sarah Fox isn't the most organized.

The kids were so good today. We actually finished a couple of puzzles in the morning and the kids were SO proud... The puzzles were only 30 pieces but it was a huge accomplishment. We spent the rest of the day outside.

We learned today that one of the kids in the baby ward passed away over the weekend. We're all keeping the family in our prayers.

After placement, we went to finish a couple of last-week errands and had dinner at the Waterfront.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Week 4/5

I haven't updated in forever so I'll make it super short.

The rest of week 4 went pretty well. The weather was nice so we got to dress the kids in swim suits and take them outside to run in the sprinklers and swim in the kiddie pools. I've never seen kids so excited.. They thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Allie's last day was Friday :(. We went to the Red Cross Hospital in the morning to visit one of her favorite patients who had plastic surgery on her face last week for her burns. The two of them have become buds over the last twelve weeks and both were in tears by the end of our visit. Later at Sarah Fox we had a going away party with ice cream and more swimming/sprinklers. I'm not sure what we'll do without Allie there.

For the first time we had all of our afternoons free last week. I took some surfing lessons (amazing) and relaxed at the beach. Friday Bailey picked me up right after placement for my weekend away. We went to the Taste of Cape Town Friday night. I caught some kind of stomach bug and was really sick Saturday and Sunday. We did manage to make it to a new beach and some cool new sites in Cape Town on Sunday, but I was sick again Sunday night. On Monday Bailey took me to Charly's Bakery for my birthday (famous in South Africa.. they've even made cakes for Oprah!). ..My cupcakes are still sitting in the box because they were too pretty to eat. We went to a movie and shopping for the rest of the day. Some of the volunteers met us for dinner at a nice sushi restaurant. The weekend was amazing minus the sick part.. Whitney and I are going to try to celebrate our joint birthdays next weekend at the Ethiopian restaurant when we are both feeling up to it.

Placement today was tough. I was the only volunteer in the hospital again and one of the nine-year-old boys was really hard to handle.. I'm starting to really miss the days when it was just me with the toddlers.. I'm really having to work hard at patience.

After placement we went to the beach.