Sunday, February 10, 2008

Quick update and first impressions

Dearest Family and Friends,
 
Metaha!  Good afternoon!  How are you?  Things here are going well.  I want to tell you about how my first week went, but first I have some good news!  I wanted to share with all of you that one of my best friends from home, Erin, and her husband Jeff, were blessed with their first child on the 5th!  Their daughter, Addison Lindley Anderson was born at 8:49pm, at a petite 6lbs 10oz and 19 1/2 inches long.  Mother and baby are doing very well.  Though I missed both their wedding and their daughter's birth, I am thankful to family (especially her mom) and friends who have kept me as up to date as possible with information and photos!  Congratulations Erin & Jeff!  Also in the good news category is Sally, one of the Canadians that was here last year, who just let us know that she got engaged!  Amy, Sarah and I feel personally invested in their relationship because there were many discussions about him during the months that she lived here! ;-) Congratulations Sally & David!
 
So, many of you are wondering if I am ever going to write about December.  Well, to be honest, it doesn't look like it's going to happen!  I can tell you that in December we went to Etosha and it was a great trip!  Anna (the American teacher who works with Mary at the College of Education) had never been on safari and so it was wonderful to watch her reactions!  We saw lots of animals including 5 elephants, 10 hyenas and 8 lions (including one cub) and countless giraffe, zebra, oryx, ostrich, and all the other animals you see when on safari.  (Jimmy, I got 3 new birds too!  :-)  I saw the blue crane, the goofy looking marabou stork and the blue cheeked bee-eater!)   In December we also started yoga classes!  How are we taking yoga classes you ask?  It's 'Hippie Yoga with Anna'!  :-)  Ok, so the hippie part is just her way of making me not feel bad when I can't do whatever it is that she's trying to get us to do... "Hey man, it's all cool, just do as much as you can".. Then again, she also says, as she demonstrates these beautiful yet impossible looking poses, that "yoga is like the Christian faith, you must always keep trying".  So far I have improved, though it isn't as easy as she makes it look!  
 
Aside from my news of my new job, January also brought the rains.  I can't tell you how happy we all were to get rid of the scorching heat!  However, with the rains come different problems.  The ruts in the road that small families could sleep in for instance.  Or the laundry that begins to mold because after you wash it there aren't any dry spells to hang it out to get it dry.  Or the times when you have a dry spell, get excited, place your laundry out on the line, and it starts raining again!  That's when we just tell ourselves that it really needed a second washing.  Ha!  Ha!  Sometimes it's a third or even fourth, but that's just the way it goes here!  The rains also make everything green and brings lots of things into bloom.  It's really beautiful here right now with tons of flowers of all different shapes and colors.  In January we also celebrated 3 birthdays!  Lauren, Mary and Luke all had their own celebrations that kept us pretty busy eating cake!  :-)    In January we also went to a church out in the bush with Pastor John.  It was Lauren & Janeen's first time out in the bush and it was fun to watch their reactions.  It was also their first time to have a traditional meal!  Thankfully no one got sick!  I have posted a few of the random pictures from January on my facebook page (click here to see them:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=26694&l=89f0b&id=624739114).  You will be able to see them even without having a facebook account.  Let me know if that link doesn't work for you though!
 
Now for my first impressions of my new job.  This first week was a little rough.  The week started with trying to find an office.  I finally found a corner on the Assistant Matron's desk that she is willing to let me have.  After I found a place to hang my hat, so to speak, then I had to get started on brushing up on my knowledge.  To make sure that I'm not giving out bogus information, I have been reading nursing text books all week!  It's really no fair that teachers have to do more work than the students!  I don't think I read this much when I was actually in nursing school!!!!  ;-)  Other than reading, all I did was plan this month's schedule of training sessions.  This month, and hopefully the next as well, I am working with students on basic nursing things like how to assess and how to document what your findings are after you assess your patient.  After I think they have it down then I will start working on the suggestions that I received from each of the wards.  Many of the items that the nurses have asked for is information that is way above my head, and I will have to ask different people for assistance in getting the information.  For example, Maternity Ward was asking questions about handling complicated labors such as shoulder distocia and cephalopelvic disproportion.  Though I know what those are, I have no idea what to do about them!  Hopefully Rob will come to my rescue in this area!  Anyway, this week I plan on starting informal training with the students.  I plan on doing two each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon so I can make my way through all the wards.  Please pray with me that my voice will keep up with me and that the I will be sensitive to all the nurses as they deal with my presence in their wards!  Thanks!
 
lots of love to you all!
kapande
 
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