It appears April has flown by and I am faced with May, the beginning of the end. As each day passes and each moment here becomes firmly lodged into my memory and my soul, I have to try harder and harder to focus on the present instead of jumping to the part where I have to leave this amazing place. When a big change looms, it’s hard to not dwell on it as if it has already arrived. I still have time though – limited as it may be. I have to appreciate each day for what it has to offer presently, not comparing it to how life will look in a little over a month. My journal says Live Every Moment on the front. That’s basically my motto right now. Live Every Moment.
Since writing last, we’ve said goodbye to most of the Crounse clan as Shallena and her two kids (soon to be joined by Jamie) flew to the U.S. for annual leave and to prepare for the soon-arrival of baby number three! It was a sad farewell for me since I will be gone when they return, but before she left we were able to have a baby shower for her at Huntington House. With personalized place cards (courtesy of Shar – my card proudly labeled “Baby SM Auntie”) we enjoyed good food, plenty of laughs, superb company, and of course – cake!!! If nothing else is certain, one thing is. That baby is going to be loved!!! I have it on my bucket list to meet it someday!
In line with goodbyes, we also said goodbye to the Priesters, a family from Blantyre that have spend their last five years here working at the hospital and raising a newborn. It’s always sad to say goodbye but it was inspiring to hear all the stories and great things said about them. I know I’ve appreciated their willingness to drive Mindy, Carla and I places so we can adventure even when it was completely out of their way! If goodbyes were easy… it would mean the ties weren’t very deep and didn’t mean much. Malamulo will miss the Priesters! Anyways, another party means another opportunity for a cake! The boys were enlisted for their decorative creativity and willing hands as we debated over a cake topper. In the end, I’d say we were all pretty pleased with the result!
It’s interesting seeing the seasons change here and how they differ from the seasons I grew up watching. When I got here it was the end of dry season so everything was brown and dry, and then we waited and waited for the rains which came late and not very well but even so, I saw the full season of fields being plowed and prepped, the rise of the maize everywhere, and now the fields have been harvested and the stalks chopped and burned. Alas, the fields have started to return to their bare state comparable to when I first arrived. The cycle is complete.
Perhaps one of the most exciting things that has happened for me in the last month is that I had the privilege of joining the Blanchards and Sandovals for a trip to Zambia to check out South Luangwa Game Reserve – what I had been led to believe was the best game park in Southern Africa. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! We stayed in a rental house within the park since it was cheaper than the lodges and such typically stayed in. With passport trouble and car trouble to keep things interesting, the trip up was eventful but ultimately successful and we restlessly arrived after dark and after a quick dinner retreated to our designated rooms. The next morning welcomed us with baboons Everywhere and elephants sauntering down the road at the end of the driveway. Not a bad start! After the mechanic from nearby fixed the car that had problems, we made our way to the game park gate and after retrieving a map of the park, made our way in. That first day in the park provided a bounty of animals, most that we had seen before but not in such large quantities! Elephants, zebras, a few impalas (by a few I mean they were as plentiful as trees), giraffes, hippos, birds galore, and at the end of the day, to our delight, a pack of painted dogs (aka wild dogs) on the chase! After seeing so much of the same thing, the painted dogs provided a highlight to the first day! That evening back at the house a few of us started working on a puzzle with no example to follow and what we found out to be, many missing pieces. Even so, the driving force in me prevented me from finishing the trip without finishing as much of the puzzle as we could. Anyways, the next morning we were up at the crack of dawn (having learned our lesson that all the animals we had failed to see the day before are all able to be seen in the early morning) and by 6:05 we were at the park gate ready to see what had thus eluded us – lions and leopards. With word that the lions had been heard roaring, we raced through to where we suspected they might be, and lo and behold almost ran over one. Just kidding. But there WAS one in the road that alerted us to their presence, and wow. After so many failed attempts, we discovered finally that lions DO in fact exist! And they are magnificent! These three also turned out to be either full or lazy, because they ended up staying in the same spot all day sunning themselves and sleeping. They made a halfhearted chase of an impala while we watched but gave up pretty quickly. Still amazing to see though! To make the morning more exciting, the car I was in decided not to start! So as we sat maybe 20ft from these lions, we pondered what our options were as the side necessary to perform a jump was incidentally the side closest to the lions. Strangely enough… nobody was volunteering to leave the car to look under the hood! After sitting for a few more minutes, by some miracle, when we turned the key the car started up again. We definitely made a point of not stopping the car if we could help it from that point on! That day continued to be successful with hyena and more painted dog sightings, as well as the now “normal” animal sightings. That afternoon, though, we ambled back to the house to go on a tour guided “night drive” which would allow us to be in the park until 8pm instead of 6:30 AND we didn’t have to drive ourselves. The night drive was incredible. Before we started we prayed for – if nothing else – a leopard sighting. We saw a hyena saunter past not 5 ft away from the vehicle as it sought out the night’s prey. Other sightings were a lone hippo, those same lazy lions, mongoose, small catlike animals, and a chameleon (how the guide saw it on a branch in the dark is beyond me but the kids got to hold it and pass it around!) But seemingly no leopard. Until the very last road we took, which took us to a line of about 5 or 6 other tour trucks which all had their lights pointing on one glorious cat on a chase. Cool fact: leopards exist too! With excitement and contentment we headed back to the house having seen everything we came to see, and against such a beautiful landscape at that! The next morning we packed up, finished the puzzle (it was missing at least ¼ of the pieces, the two halves didn’t even have pieces that connected!) and headed out, still having car trouble, but we made it back. Happy and tired of sitting in a car, it was a successful trip and I am SO grateful to the Blanchards and Sandovals for letting me tag along on their trip! And also for providing Brody and Claudio as bodyguards. Even at 6am when I was still asleep. ;)
[Safari photos will be at the end of the blog due to my inability to narrow them down to a reasonable amount.]
I’m so impressed with the boys in school. They’ve done so well and we’ve learned so much together! It’s so rewarding to see tangible improvement and appreciation for learning! There are still days where I’m constantly having to refocus them on the task at hand because distractions are everywhere but it’s good to see them excited about things even if they aren’t related to schoolwork. It’s amazing how much and how quickly kids grow and mature. Even since I’ve been here and observed the changes in the kids as I’ve been here is eye-opening! I have a new appreciation for when parents say they blinked and their kids were grown up! I think I blinked one too many times while being here!
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a ton of new medical residents since coming, and I’m continuing to meet new ones as they come through the guest house to fulfill their rotations at the hospital. I’ve met so many new personalities and learned so much about life as a surgical/OB-GYN/FP/Peds resident! I won’t lie – some of the stories are pretty terrifying about schedules and work and lack of sleep and such but I can tell these are the right people for the job because they all stuck with the program despite the challenges! Plus I like having them around because they make excellent travel companions too! Made a quick trip to the lake last weekend with three others from the guest house and met a resident from Lilongwe there who stayed with us. We swam and snorkeled and ate, and it was good. Of all the things I will miss here, though, the Makwasa road to get us back to Malamulo will NOT be one of them. Trying to find inner peace as your insides are lurched out of place is near impossible. But, here I am, alive and well. May is coming and with it, hopefully, fun new adventures. :)
Zambia pics!
AMAZING!! Everything in your future will be flavored by this incredible year!
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