UConn Nursing in Cape Town Blog

Monday 12/8/08
Today, I went to lunch with Iris. We were supposed to meet up with a young lady that we met, but she didn’t show up. We decided to go a restaurant called the Fat Cactus. It was a restaurant that had Mexican food. The restaurant looked like an old country western. We watched music videos on the TVs they had. We decided not to order an appetizer, just a meal. I got Fajitas with chicken and Iris breakfast. We both got tortilla rolls and an assortment of toppings to go with our meal. I got tomatoes, onions, sour cream, salsa, guacamole, rice, and beans. It was delicious! After lunch, we went to the grocery store.
Next, we went home. I did some homework before our big dinner with all of the Staff from the facilities that we worked in and all the people who made this trip special. Before I knew it, it was time to get ready for dinner. I decided to wear a black dress and jewelry I got from Cape Town. The dinner was at the Lady Hamilton Hotel. Sister Cheryl, Sister Sandy, Sister Oliver, and Sister Sandy’s husband greeted us. It was so nice to see them. When we went inside the building, more people greeted us. It was so nice to see everyone that came. Everyone was so nicely dressed and looking different compared to being in their uniforms and everyday clothes.
The evening started with everyone mingling and greeting one another. Rev. Rose announced that some of wanted to group photos so we should meet out in the hallway. We took group photos with everyone from different facilities where we worked. After photos, we all sat down at different tables. We had nice conversations and the staff from different facilities talked to each other, too. Shortly after sitting, Reverend Rose introduced himself and asked our guests to briefly introduce themselves. Each person did. Some gave short speeches and some gave longer ones. Everyone said that they were happy to have us at their facilities. They had touching words to say to us. Among these introductions, Ben, Professor Guma, Parks and Reverend Rose’s Wife introduced themselves.
After the introductions, it was our turn to say thank you. Dana read an amazing speech that she wrote. Her speech was humorous and touching all at the same time. It said everything that needed to be said and she included everyone. She was very gracious and said her speech with confidence. Next, Professor Engler spoke a few words. He had gifts for everyone and I helped him pass them out.
Next, it was time to eat. It was a buffet style, so we got to eat as much as we could. The food was tasty. Dessert was my favorite though. They had a cake with some type of cream topping that was absolutely delicious. After dinner, a lot of us took individual pictures, got contact information, and talked. Mostly everyone started to go home. Eventually, it was just us left. We took a group photo and shortly after this, we went home. We said good night to Rev. Rose and his wife and thanked him for everything. It was a wonderful evening that went just as planned.

Wednesday 12/10/08

Today I stayed home in the morning to do some homework. Then, I went to the Cavendish mall in the afternoon. I bought some bathing suits and clothes as gifts.
After this, I went to Sister Jacky’s house for dinner. She is one of the nurses that work in the NICU at Gatesville Medical Center. She greeted me at the door and I gave her the flowers I had brought her. I walked into her home and loved the decorations. Her walls had nice colors on them. She had comfortable looking leather sofas. She had pictures of her family up everywhere. I went to the kitchen with her and talked with her. She told me that she went to a funeral for one of the Sisters who had died from Gatesville. She was very sad about it. She brought me to the living room to have a seat. She introduced me to her boyfriend Raymond. She told me that I would be sad because her kids were not there and would not be back for the night. I was kind of sad; I liked interacting with her kids. Her son was 13 years old and her daughter was 2 years old. I talked with both of them while dinner was cooking. We talked about a variety of things from Cape Town, the study abroad program, politics, nursing, and cultural differences.
Soon, dinner was ready and Jacky called everyone to dinner. Raymond prayed over dinner and then we all packed our plates with food. Jacky made curry chicken, rice, and a tomato salad. We had light and hardy conversation over dinner. It was really nice to be with them. Jacky commented that she is not the best chef, but the food was delicious, I enjoyed every bite. They had soda with the dinner and when I asked for more soda, Raymond chuckled. He told me that they don’t say soda; they just call the drink by name, such as Coke. He got a kick out of that and asked everyone if they would like some more “soda”, it was funny. I commented that I was impressed that they had table clothes and cups that a lot of tourist would buy from Cape Town as gifts because it didn’t seem like Capetonians bought things from the markets.
After dinner, I helped Jacky clear the table. Then we sat in the living room. We talked and watched T.V. for a while. Jacky took me to the office to show me some pictures on the computer. I looked at all of their family photos. They took trips every year and I saw those too. They had some beautiful pictures from their trip to Namibia. Raymond came in shortly and showed me houses that his company had built. He also showed me his videos and pictures of him skydiving. In the meantime, Jacky got dessert, which was vanilla ice cream with fruits. After viewing pictures, Jacky and Raymond took me home. It was an evening I would never forget. I felt so welcomed in their home.

Friday 12/12/08
Today, I went to the city of Cape Town. I went to finish getting my hair twisted. I went yesterday, but they didn’t finish. I got twists done and because I had so much hair, it took a long time. It was an interesting experience. I sat outside while they did my hair. I got to see the beautiful view of Table Mountain as they did my hair. They spoke Xhosa, so I could not understand what they were saying so I decided to read my book, do homework, and write out my last post cards.
Yesterday, one of the ladies was talking to me in Xhosa and I didn’t even realize she was talking to me. The lady doing my hair told the woman I did not understand. So the lady spoke in English. She asked me why I was getting “fibers” (what they call hair extensions) in my hair because my hair was long. I did not consider my hair long, so it was interesting that they did. I told her that my hair was not that long.
This morning I got to the salon early because I knew it would take a while to do my hair. I gave the lady money to buy more hair. They started on my hair right away. A lady came in with her little son and her son was crying. I offered to get him some chips and a cool drink, but the lady doing my hair said he wouldn’t want that. He was crying because he wanted a toy gun that his mom wouldn’t buy for him. One of the ladies doing hair teased the boy and told him that a policeman was coming if he didn’t stop crying and that only made him cry more. Eventually he stopped.
I held the hair while they braided and twisted. I gave them more when they needed it. Eventually the lady that was doing my hair told me they would take hair as they needed because I was not giving the right amount. The lady yesterday demanded that I give “fiber” so I thought I still had to give them hair. I couldn’t wait for my hair to be done. It hurt from the tight twists they had done, but it needed to be done that way so it could stay. Sometimes there were three to four women working on my hair. After five and a half hours of work, my hair was complete. I was so happy. When I looked in the mirror, I was very pleased. They did an excellent job. The hairstyle cost 200 Rand (about $20 U.S. dollars). At home it would cost over 1000 Rand (about $100 U.S. dollars). I gave them an extra 200 Rand because it took them a lot longer to do my hair then it would take them to do someone else’s hair because I have a lot of hair.
After getting my hair done, I went to the market one last time. I got a bracelet for my God sister, a photo album for me, and some nicely beaded spoons for my Uncle’s wife. I bumped into some of the people who I had bought from before and they were very happy to see me. They talked with me and asked me when I was going home. They wished me well on my trip home and kept asking when I was going to come back to Cape Town. I told them I didn’t know but I was planning to come back in the near future.
During the rest of my day, I did homework.

Saturday 12/13/08
Today was my last day in Cape Town. I finished up my homework. Iris and I wanted to go to the beach on our last day, but we realized that there wasn’t enough time. We were kind of sad about that. We went to drop off work to Professor Engler. Then, I went to drop off my last post cards on Main Road. I convinced Iris that we should go to downtown, Cape Town one last time to get her gifts that she wanted. She kept saying we wouldn’t have time. I didn’t listen to her and told her lets try anyways. We got on the minibus and headed downtown. They were playing Reggae in the minibus, which made me smile. My family is from Jamaica, so this is music I am familiar with. They seem to love Jamaican music and culture in Cape Town. As we drove, I took one last look at the place we had become so familiar with. Soon enough, we were downtown. Iris pulled out some money and we walked fast to get to the big market down town. We made it as they were closing up. Iris found a necklace and earrings for her mom and we searched for a particular bracelet we were looking for that she wanted. We found it. She got a key chain with the rest of her money. We took our last minibus ride home. It hit me that we were really leaving Cape Town today and I began to cry. I was so excited to go home, but I knew I would miss Cape Town at the same time.
When I got home, I finished packing. I took my last shower at 10 Loch Road. I didn’t have time to eat dinner, so I ate Iris’s rice and beans. We packed our luggage up. I cleared the fridge in the pool house. We left the house in chaos. There were clean dishes piled. There were so many bags of garbage. We forgot to clear out the freezers. None of that mattered though. It was time to get on the minibus and go home. We all said our goodbyes to Rev. Rose because he couldn’t make it to the airport. It was a sad moment for us to have to say goodbye. We were on our way to the airport. It was a lot of work getting our luggage sets out and to the airport, they were so heavy! We all got to the airport. We said our goodbyes to Professor Guma and Parks. We all waited in line to have our luggage weighed and checked in. My luggage was over weight. One of them was over 70 lbs., so Katie was nice enough to let me put some of my things in her luggage. Some of us had to pay for our over weight luggage. It took a while to get through and pay. Eventually I did and had my luggage checked. Jacky came and made it just in time to say goodbye. I was so happy to see her. Iris and I said our goodbyes to Jacky and Ben. I got teary eyed and told myself not to cry. I was so happy to go home for so long that I didn’t think about how much I would miss Cape Town and everyone I had met.

~Nayomi