Our First Weekend

Sawubona! (Thats the correct way to spell "hello" in SiSwati)
We had a fun first weekend here in Swaziland. Saturday morning Zakhle met us here at the hospital to guide us around where ever we wanted to go. I'm really glad he did! We never would have found our way around with out him! He doesn't drive or own a car so we took Kombi's everywhere. A Kombi is their form of public transportation, kind of like a bus but more like the size of a very large church van. To find out where a particular kombi is going, you have to look for the two cities posted with on the outside of the vehicle. It was a bit confusing at first since I don't know the cities here, but I now know to do some research before I decide to go somewhere! The cost ranges from 4-10 emangelini (which is about 50 cents to 1 US dollar) and they take you pretty far. But they pack those vans full of people! I recall standing on one for a little while down the road before we dropped someone off! But oh well, it is cheap. And I'm glad I've been taking motion sickness medicine! So far I havent gotten car sick at all, which is amazing for me (Dramamine 24 hr is awesome!)

Anyway, the first place we went was called Swazi Candles. These are hand made candles in all kinds of designs and shapes (including Elephants, turtles, and more animals). It was really neat. There was actually a station with a man who works there, hand molding and carving some candles. Next to it was a craft market and a few more tourist shops where we saw and bought a few goodies. Even though we rode a kombi to get to these places, we still had to walk quite a bit after they dropped us off, including on empty dirt roads. If Zakhle hadn't been with us, I would have been pretty nervous in that area! I enjoyed the walks though, it was a nice view of scenery and Zakhle told us some neat stories about Swazi culture (even though I'm not sure I believe all of them!). We spent the whole day going from place to place, walking around and exploring that area. We even saw some wild monkeys! We thought it was cool, but I bet to the locals they are just like squirrels and raccoons to us. Also, we saw a couple KFCs (but no other fast food chains from the states, not even McDonalds) When we told someone we were from the state of Kentucky they asked us if we brought them any fried chicken!!!

Sunday, Zakhle took us to his church. It was a very nice, large church with around 300 people there. The worship and service were filled with loud and boisterous praises coming from all around, much like the gospel churches in the US (or at least how they are displayed in movies). It was a bit hard to follow because every other sentance was spoken in SiSwati. The service was also very long. But overall, it was a good experience. And the kids sitting around us were absolutely adorable! One played peek-a-boo with me over the seat :) That afternoon, Dr Costa picked us up and took us to a pool where we relaxed for the rest of the day. He is a funny man! He also took us to eat at another one of his favorite drinking spots. We all shared a large dish that is common in this area (but I don't remember how to spell the name). Basically it was many different kinds of cooked meat surrounding a mound of white cornstarch/rice substance (that i've also forgotten the name of) brought out on a large platter that looked like a tiny canoe. And you just pick up the food and eat it with your hands, no silverware at all. It was a little messy and very spicy, but quite good. The meats were chicken, beef, pork and sausage. We had a great time.

I think I'm almost completely adjusted to the time zone change, finally. One time last week in the clinic I was so tired I nearly fell over while we were seeing patients! Today was good, but a bit frustrating. Instructions of where and when we are supposed to be places has been very vague, and they don't really tell us what they expect from us. Basically we've just been shadowing them, which is ok right now because we still are adjusting to the language barrier and becoming familiar with the services available at the hospital (which is very different from the US - for example, they don't have a CT scanner!) Also some of the patients we saw today got to me emotionally, and I have a feeling that will happen often over the next two months. We found out that the boy I mentioned before with Stevens Johnson syndrome was not on ANY pain medication. ZERO. I was floored. It was probably a good thing the mask was covering my mouth because I went slack-jawed for nearly a full minute. I had noticed before that he was shaking or quivering, which I now realize may have been from the extreme pain he was in. When Dr Costa noticed this, he put him on their version of Tylenol. And that was all. (In the states he would be given Morphine for his pain). Thinking back on it now still makes me want cry for the kid, I feel so, so bad for him.

On a brighter note, this place is beautiful! Its a perfect mixture of fields, hills and mountains. I've finally taken some good scenic pictures to share with you all. I'll just load a few each post so I don't overwhelm the blog with photos.  Enjoy!