Twelve Fingers

After a much needed break and some motivation from my lovely friend Swathi (check out her hilariously awesome blog about her time in Spain), I'm back to blogging. I think after my last post, I needed some time to experience things by myself. Blogging is great, but sometimes I feel like it can cheapen the experience you have because you're sharing everything with the world. I'll probably be blogging more often, but I may choose to keep certain instances to myself that I would have normally talked about. I feel as though there's so much growing I should be doing here and I can't do that when I tell people everything I'm going through.

Okay. Enough of the melodramatics. I'll try my best to break down everything that's happened in the last month for you and how I'm doing in certain life categories.

Professionally: Currently, I am loving the work I'm doing. Since the last time I blogged, I have been to an HIV rapid test training and a basic HIV information training. These days, I'm doing the HIV testing in the pediatric counseling department. What that means is that I'm the one pricking the kids when they come to get an HIV test. I've had some very interesting instances including a kid freaking out and smacking me after I pricked his finger and trying to prick a baby who had twelve fingers. Now, when people have extra fingers they're usually just like the other fingers. But not these ones. They were hanging by a piece of skin off of the pinkies. It was not an easy thing to look at. Despite my interesting clientele, I am loving this job. I think I've denied the fact that I need to work with children in order to be really happy in my work for far too long. I don't know what it is about them, but I can't help but enjoy working with them.

Socially: Can I just say how much I really like South Africans? Seriously. The group of friends that Shannon and I have managed to squeeze our way into is amazing. We almost always have plans every night and we keep meeting even more people! A few weeks ago, we went to a beer festival in Clarens with some of those amazing friends. Even though I'm not a beer drinker, I had so much fun just hanging out with everyone in such a beautiful place. We've done a lot of dinners, drinks, markets, and we've even released Chinese lanterns from the water tower near our flat (now when I say "we," obviously I mean that I watched people do all the hard work and then stared at how pretty it was while hoping that it didn't fall into a tree and cause a wildfire). And last weekend, we spent some time at Dillon's family home in Magaliesburg. It was so great to get away for a night and relax. So yea, my friends here are lekker.

(For my wonderful friend Ellen who requested I do so, I'm posting some pictures of my recent social activities. But just so you know, these are all Shannon's pictures because I haven't been taking a lot of pictures and because they're on my computer so I'm going to use them. I hope she doesn't mind!)

Shannon and I at the beer festival in lovely Clarens.

I like to think of this picture as what I would choose if anyone asked to see my personality in photo form. Not even kidding.

Theresa and I after releasing the Chinese lanterns.

Theresa and Brian being adorable while releasing the lanterns.

Enjoying the great outdoors in Magaliesburg! (Actually, I spent this entire walk swatting at flies and telling Dillon I would freak out if I saw a snake.)

And lastly...

Personally: I've been feeling a little bit off lately. I just haven't been feeling like myself. I think that the reality of the work I'm doing really gets to me sometimes and makes me feel lonely. Luckily, I have Shannon who knows exactly what I'm going through. And I have some pretty spectacular friends back home who have sent me the nicest emails this week to cheer me up. I'm now in the mindset that I don't have a lot of time left here and I need to take advantage of it. So no more moping around. I have to start living it up here.

Hopefully all of this makes up for my lack of posts in the last month. I promise to try harder from now on.

PS: Yesterday Shannon and I almost died in our office because of how disgustingly hot it was. Today, it's so cold and it's raining miserably. I guess it just means we have to go shopping for new "winter" appropriate clothing. :)