Pigeons, Pretzels & Planes

So here's a quicky blurb on the trip so far, wont be creative or anything special cuz my head feels like its floating around in the subconsicous and my body feels like its still on a plane.....so, first off.....sat around kamloops airport....flew to calgary....sat around calgary airport.....flew 9 hours to Frankfurt, Germany.......took a train, exlpored the city centre, took pictures, kicked some pigeons (they are everywhere and fly right up into your face), ate a soft and crunchy pretzel ,drank some weak German beer....sat around the airport.....flew 10 hours to Johannesburg, South Africa....arrived this morning (Friday) at 7am and was promptly attacked by a pride of lions, right on the runway as we "disembarked" from the plane.
No. That did not happen.
We have been relaxing here at our hotel - another story for when I get back - and next on the agenda is the Apartheid Museum for the afternoon and an early bed time because the last two nights have been backwards and upside down and spent on planes - which I have decided I hate because, like Jane said, are either too hot or too cold, and ten hours X 2 is too long to try stay comfortable and sleep, no matter what positions one tries....

Soooo....'sup?

"So, Louise, you're heading to Africa in two days, right?"
"Yup..."
"I'm sure you were busy today getting ready, last-minute packing and worrying and what not?"
"Uh, no, not really.....did some laundry and packing, then went for a hike.....and on this random adventure to a beach to learn how to skip rocks..... and spy on an abandoned mental health institution.....in this place called Padova....yeah."
"That's how you spent your second to last day in North America?"
"Yeah. I got to play in the dirt and throw rocks."
Pause.
"....the most skips I got was three."

One rolley-wheely suitcase + half a hockey bag as big as me + a heart eager for adventure and learning =  1 Lesotho-bound package of skookumness.
Over and out, until June 1st....ish.
:D

Empowerment....it's a BAM! funny thing.

Today I not only finished my third year of nursing at TRU by writing my one and only final exam, but I got to do something as equally satisfying.....put money into the bank. For months and months its been the same ritual...take money out for the utility bills....travel insurance......foregin currency.....immunizations......(you'll notice I didn't mention groceries - when a trip to Africa is on the horizon, food is the first to go off my list of 'what to spend money on'....Annie would be so proud of me!) But today I go to put money INTO the bank!!! So exciting!!!! It's been added to my  just-decided-to-make-up-a-list-of-empowering-things list....
1.) Bike riding up a REALLY big hill (the bigger the better) and then riding down it at the speed of light and sound combined.
2.) Buying coffee (I don't know why this is empowering but it does mean that I'm an official coffee drinker now right?)
3.)Finishing one's third year of nursing....HUZZAH!
4.) Putting money into the bank.
5.) Realizing one is going to Africa in, what, 6 days?
I've started having those moments where everything is normal, you know.... eat a sandwich, chew some gum, write an exam.... and then, BAM! It hits me.....in 6 days I'm getting on multiple planes to fly over multiple countries where I will meet multiple children and give them multiple crayons and coloring books and fruit snacks and balls and toothbrushes and bracelets......and then, BAM! The hitting subsides and life goes on again as normal. Bu these moments get me so excited for things I'll do and see and the people I'll meet and teach and nurse with.
HUZZAH! for moments like these that hit you with a BAM!!

Toys and T-minus 12 days

So I have now past the two-week-until-departure date, and things for Lesotho are coming together...shopping is almost done, packing is underway, a summer job is now secured at the hospital here in Kamloops, and my 6th semester of my BSN degree at TRU is now done! Classes, papers and final presentations are all done and down the tube, and only one (rubbin rubbin RUBBIN IT IN!!!) final exam next week and then I can totally focus on last minute things for Lesotho.....and I will officially be on the home stretch for graduation next year........ughhhhh okay new topic cuz graduation absolutely and completely freaks me out.

Another big errand I've almost got ready for Lesotho is all the money....ness (by the way I HATE money. All and any of it. If I could work in direct exchange for groceries, rent, a car and  school I would)Pretty  much I'm set for life - or at least 5 weeks - with all the different money things I need to have to pay for different stuff and be ready for all sorts of emergencies. SOW (my new short-word-thingy for 'speaking of which', whatever those are called) we had a Risk Management seminar that we were required to go to for our trip as students from TRU, and we learned about all of the possible things that could and have gone wrong on a field school trip.....it was not at all comforting. Anyways I will not share those stories here, as I did enough of that with the worm post and pictures :P But it did help me start the daunting task of packing and organizing documents in order to be "prepared for the worst but expecting the best". Hmm. Not sure whether that helps my two-toned emotional panel of being nervous-freaked out-scared  vs. excited-confident-ready . But those tips and my parents coming for a spontaneous weekend visit to help me do some shopping, and, lets call it, er feeding the bank account, really helped me get over the nervous stage of getting ready for Lesotho and move into the excited stage, which I'm in right now. I rarely have a moment where I don't think or talk about Lesotho and I'm glad I can finally say with honesty that I am now quite excited and not just nervous about going :)

At our most recent meeting we picked up a bunch of hand-made wooden toys that we are all packing into our two checked bags to give to all the kids we'll be interacting with on  our stay. We're trying to get ourselves a  three-bag limit so we can take more, and count our trip as a kind of aid trip, so we'll see what the travel agent can do. Those plus soccer balls, crayons, coloring books, fruit snacks and colored yarn for bracelets are some other things we're bringing with us for the kids. You know, for a while I've been kind deterred by kids - in other words they were not my favorite type of people (talking about them like they're icecream or something....btw I do not like chocolate), probably because most of my jobs and volunteer experiences have been with kids. But through this trip I'm beginning to feel drawn to their eager and energetic faces and I am for sure stoked about playing, talking, teaching and learning with them. I can feel it. Jesus will do some amazing things to and through me on this trip. And I need to start preparing for that.....put aside the money and suitcases and prepare my mind and heart for what He wants to show me soon. Well Jesus, I have something to say about that. T-minus 12 days. Then we're both boarding a plane to Lesotho.

Kingdom in the Sky

So its Thursday night after a day of writing an exam and presenting a research project, and I have nothing else more productive to do at 2030 hours other than write some more nursing gobbleygoop about Lesotho....I figure some basic info on where exactly I'll be spending my days of May may be appreciated, at least by my slightly-concerned-for-my-safety-and-well-being dad. And my roommate was writing on her blog (which she does a great job on and is WAY more fun to read than mine) and so I was inspired to waste some time as well. So sit back, relax and learn about the Kingdom in the Sky - and no worries, no disturbing images this time :)

Lesotho is the most southbound country in the world that is completely surrounded, or 'landlocked' by another country - South Africa. It is  a mountainous country with the world's highest lowpoint......if that makes sense. We are expecting to tag along on some hard-core-ish hikes which is one of the activities that I'm looking forward to the most. During my five weeks in Lesotho, summertime will be just finishing and autumn just beginning - our instructor said to even expect frost in the early mornings near the end of our stay. Lesotho is governed by a constitutional monarchy and also has a Prime Minister...like our government.... I think? We could get to meet the King as did another year's s group :)

Most of the people of Lesotho are Basotho, native to Lesotho, and live rurally and rely on farming of crops and livestock or work in the cities for income. Other people include European and Chinese, and while the Basotho's native language of Sesotho is one of their main languages, English is the other official language. Christianity is the most practiced religion,  but  others are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or follow an indigenous belief system. Lesotho values education incredibly and puts a lot of their country's income into providing it, resulting in a very impressive literacy rate. But children must be able to pay for a uniform and books to attend. Teaching the children about healthy living on Saturdays at the community centre will be one of our weekly nursing activities and this is another part of the trip I'm very excited about.

 Other aspects of our clinical experience will be spent at different hospitals and health clinics, such as the military hospital and potentially tagging along with nursing home care. We will also go to school with the nursing students at Lesotho's university. Further details and schedules of our nursey stuff have yet to be confirmed however, and could always change. Besides, if I knew and shared everything before I went I'd have nothing to share during and after the trip.....

So its almost time to dig out the suitcase and get those malaria pills.....at least I've started a couple of  to-do lists on scraps of paper. I'll do the rest after classes are done next week and my last (and only teehee) final exam is written the week before I leave. I can hear my dad hyperventilating at this lack of preparation - I really should have started packing last year right dad?

Countdown: 19 days. Wow. That sounds way less than the 21 days it was just yesterday. Gulp.

Flu-like S&S, hemorrhaging, swollen eyes and innards....something something diarrhea! Hey, Peptol Bismol!

Now that our global health class has finished presenting our tropical/neglected disease projects, I can open your eyes to the stunning variety of lovely diseases I could get while in Lesotho.....

Disclaimer: For you viewing pleasure, a gross pic or two to complement my riveting descriptions.....

• Guinea Worm - is actually labeled as 'non applicable' in Lesotho...so what exactly does that mean? Pretty much that info on this worm that burrows through your insides and exits out of the skin of your lower limbs is unknown in Lesotho....if its endemic or not, a major problem or not....watever it is, they don't know about it. Swell.

• Typhoid Fever - It is endemic in Lesotho but I have had my immunization. Rule of thumb in avoiding the familiar Salmonella bacteria: Boil it, peel it, cook it or forget it!

• Rift Valley Fever - Great, another fever I could get....and another disease with them same old same old initial complaints of flu-like S&S...which are becoming SO overrated nowadays :P Lesotho is 'at risk' for this disease, and there is no vaccine. Well then. Just another part of living life on the wild side, right? As Ms.Frizzle would say "Let's take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!"

• Cholera - Ahh, good ol' cholera. My personal fav, as it is easy to study for: bacterially infected food or water = bacteria in gut = toxins in gut = diarrhea = rehydrate, rehydrate, REHYDRATE!! Note to self: see Typhoid Fever and remember to pack Peptol Bismol!

• Malaria - Those darn mosquitos show up EVERYWHERE and carry every neglected disease under the sun. We only have to take malaria pills for a few days while on the Safari in Kruger National Park, not for the clinical aspect of the trip in Roma....so, only special mosquitos in the Park are malairaized....? Anyways the SE are apparently unpleasant so this plan is fine with me :)

And of course there's all the worms that are abundant in developing countries. Here are just the pictures as I'm too lazy to write about them. Use your imaginations to fill in the blanks.

Really, we're really only concerned about Hep A, malaria, Typhoid and cholera, as those are the illnesses our travel nurse has talked about and provided preventative measures for, but its kinda interesting, in a nasty and nerdy-nurse-like way, to find out about additional foreign bugs :)

So what have we learned here? Don't touch anything but yourself. Don't get bitten by mosquitos. Know what flu-like S&S feel like. Yup. I think that pretty much covers it. Do these and I'll be disease free :)

PS - Be prepared to ATTEMPT to learn something from each of my posts - I'm not a "I'll blog just for the heck of it" kind of writer.....yet.

:P