Disco and Valentines

I started writing out a very serious and sappy blog entry yesterday, but I never got around to finishing it and now I'm just not feeling very serious. So instead I'll tell you about the fun things I've done over the past few days.

Friday was Staff Wellness Day at work. The clinic was closed to patients and the staff got to go around to different stations to get check ups. You could get your eyes and teeth checked, go to the dietician, get a pap smear and breast exam, have your blood pressure checked, get a hearing test, do an HIV rapid test, and do pilates. It was pretty great. Then in the afternoon we went down the road to a hotel and did a treasure hunt in the rain and then had lunch. It was a lot of fun to get to know some more people in the clinic and to not think about giving positive HIV tests. It was definitely something I needed.

On Saturday, Shannon and I met up with fellow BC global practice students Guerdine and Katherine downtown for the Joburg film festival. Besides getting lost while trying to get there, it was a lot of fun. It was so wonderful to see Katherine and Guerdine and to get downtown for a little bit. Saturday night, we went to a birthday party for our new friend Leila. It was disco themed, so Shannon and I tried to make do with what we had. Eventually, I ended up buying a new shirt for the occasion. (But let's be real- I was just using the party as an excuse for buying the shirt.) The party was a lot of fun and almost everyone we had met so far through our social coordinator (Dillon) was there. Plus we met a bunch of new people so the night was really great.


Sunday ended up being a really chill day, which was nice. We attempted to go to Zoo Lake, but instead we walked around the Joburg Botanical Gardens for a while. It was such a perfect day to be outside and the gardens were beautiful. Then we decided to make the trip out to the Sandton mall (aka: the really rich/"larny" mall in town) and saw "The Descendants." Obviously, it was fantastic. George Clooney can do no wrong in my eyes (especially because he was in "Return of the Killer Tomatoes"). Then we went home to watch some Oprah and fell asleep.

After work on Monday, we went to the gym for a little bit and then met up with Linda and her wonderful family for dinner. We had some really great food and ended up being there for about three hours. Linda is sadly leaving us on Friday so we're trying to spend time with her before she goes. It's going to be so strange not having our Scottish South African mum around anymore. :)

Yesterday, Shannon wasn't feeling too great at work so we ended up leaving around lunch time. Shannon went home and slept for a few hours while I went to the mall (naturally) and got my nails done. I don't get my nails done very often, but when I do it's like a luxury. Especially because the salon had E! on in the background. Sadly enough, I'm missing my trashy Hollywood TV shows. So I got to sit for two hours (yes, it took two hours) while watching E! and not having to think about anything else. It was fantastic. Then last night we met up with some of our favorite Joburg people and had a Valentine's dinner at Odd Cafe. It was delicious and so much fun. I'm definitely starting to realize how lucky I am to be here and how amazing the people we've already met really are. And I also had a realization that it's the middle of February and I only have just over two months left here. It's insane. I already know it's going to be nearly impossible for me to leave. But at least I have two months left to do some fun things and learn a lot from this unreal experience.

PS: I feel as though my writing skills have completely escaped me and I'm writing some really boring kak. For that, I apologize. I also realize that I use the words "really," "so," and "such" far too often. I'll do my best to be more eloquent in my writing from now on. (Or, I could just keep writing like the 12-year-old girl I still truly am.)