roadtripping

Hello friends! Sorry this update comes so late-- internet is so spotty and is quite the hot commodity in SA. Luckily our favorite internet place has theirs working again just in time for another post! 

So since the last post, we've been able to almost finish surveying all of our patients. Although there were some problems with getting the right patients, everyone (nurses, doctors, patients) have been so friendly and helpful to us. There definitely have been some scary times while waiting in the TB clinic. Becky and I felt our chests tightening up, but who knows if that was psychosomatic or not. Susie and I even got to go on location in the townships with a mobile VCT clinic. VCT = voluntary counseling and testing for HIV. 

As for surfing, it was quite fun being pushed onto an oncoming wave. Susie was great as predicted, but I could barely manage popping up onto the board. My biggest accomplishment was standing up for 1 second! Annie watched/looked cute on the beach while being chased by South African men. Becky decided against being a pro surfer, we still have faith in her.

Two weekends ago, two big BIG bundles of fun (Max and Brian) came to visit! We all piled into our tiny little car and showed them around to our favorite eating spots (read: we took them to eat tea, scones, salads, bakeries, etc.). Luckily, Max loves eating chocolate and has a big sweet tooth :) The funny thing is the girls would out eat Brian during breakfast, but then he would hate eating his fruit and veg. 

South Africans love to braai (rhymes with "dry"), so it was fitting that Brian came to man the grill. He even wore boxers with grills and bbq tools on them, but luckily none of us saw that part of his festive outfit...

Teaching the braai-master how to do fobby poses. I think he's getting it.

Excited to eat ostrich sausage, kudu steak, and... lamb. They did have armadillo on a stick at the market though :)

Kruger National Park // In a few days, we were off to Kruger National Park! It is featured in awesome documentaries like Planet Earth and even better YouTube's Battle at Kruger. Thankfully, we were able to get a slightly larger, but still super cute, minivan! Brian was our lovely driver, Max the navigator (with Annie's help from the backseat), and the rest of us were in the back. 

Driving to Kruger was a bit of an adventure, since we were lost and had to find our way around (in the middle of nowhere) in the darkness. But we were doubly lucky once we got there: 1. We were given a huge family cottage that slept all of us!! (At first two of us wouldn't have been able to get beds), 2. We were able to sneak onto a sunrise safari (yeah puppy dog eye skills :P)! The most fun part was driving around in our car by ourselves. We saw 4/5 of the Big Five (lion, buffalo, leopard, and elephant)!! Brian has crazy peripheral vision and animal spotting skills, while Max is now our official stump spotter ("Guys! Back up it's an elephant!!" We stare at a big black thing that's not moving. "Oops, never mind.")

Driving, driving, driving... whoa. Giraffe!! This happened twice!

Mama elephant protecting baby elephant from paparazzi. I really wanted some YouTube footage because she was thisclose to charging at the car, but luckily for the tourists, she let them go. But then she began moonwalking/sliding back at us (we were blocked by all the cars behind us), which was pretty scary! Brian frantically tried to do a three point turn in front of the cars, and we turned around to all of the other cars laughing at us... then we all proceeded to laugh at Brian :)

Annie had to sit next to Brian. He smells.

Watching the never ending stream of baboons cross the road was really fun! But where do they all come from??

Soweto/Johannesburg // Our next stop was Soweto, but we first had to cross through Joburg, which is pretty dangerous, especially when it gets dark. With the sun quickly setting, maps that didn’t make sense, and streets that made Boston seem like a grid system (no signs at all!), tensions were high in the minivan. Luckily we made it out of Joburg and into Soweto with time to spare. We stayed a Lebo’s Soweto Backpackers, which was the first black run hostel in South Africa. Lebo designed and started up this business from scratch and has gained success and even celebrity (he was on SABC, national news a few days later!). We had a fun Soweto-en fist-pump-dancing, djembe-drumming party with some of the locals that night by the campfire. One of them, VK, even gave me a new nickname “Vivica” that stuck for the rest of the trip. Apparently, VK and Vivica A. Fox will be starting in a movie sometime soon!

View of the Soweto from a hill

Starting off the morning right with Joburg beer, a homemade concoction of bread and other fermeted things. It looked pink, but tasted like yogurt.

Other fun things we ate were cow head. Becky's was mostly fat and had little hairs. Yum.

One of the coolest things was visiting Nelson Mandela's old house on the very first Mandela Day!

Cape Town // We spent the last four days of our trip in Cape Town, which has got to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The oceans, the water, the cliffs… everything is just amazing!! Some of the awesome things we did were:     

   -Table Mountain: Hiking up the top was no easy feat, and Susie and I ended up walking like pregnant women for three days afterwards! The view was totally worth it though.  Pictures can’t even do it justice. Here we are once we reached the top!

Oddly enough, I this is the only photo of Table Mountain I have from the car-- all of my photos are on it!!

         -Boulder’s Beach: Jackass penguins make their home on the beach and are the only land-based colony of penguins! They are SO cute. The best were the silly-looking teenage penguins with their half-shed coats of fur. Guess even penguins have to go through an awkward stage.

Adolescent penguins... keke

Bringing neuro to the penguins!

         -Bo-kaap: The little area of candy-colored houses is home to Cape Town’s Muslim population, as well as the most delicious Cape Malay food! My mouth is watering right now thinking about it.

         -Speaking of food… Annie had the best meal of Cape Town here, lentils, garbanzo beans, mushrooms, rocket, tomato… salad. She can’t quite remember, but it was good. I don’t know if it was being famished after hiking Table Mountain, but I had the best cupcake/muffin of my life! Well, consider it a muffin with frosting :) The best salad I’ve ever had was actually from Port Elizabeth. All of us girls were there once, and we all ordered the same salad! Unfortunately, the sushi isn’t nearly as good as it is in the states. 

Brie and roasted veg salad from Olympia Cafe

Chili bites, Half moons, and Samosas from Beismellah! SO GOOD.

hello, halo, molo!

hello again after two long years!!

here are some photos from the past whirlwind week from ruhpolding, germany and port elizabeth, south africa!

Becky and max in the fairytale forest... it was just like that scene in twilight where edward unveils his sparkly skin.Max and his grandma (oma in german) making homemade weiner schnitzel. Sooooo delicious! I gained at least 5 pounds from all the pretzels, cheese, spatzle... my mouth is watering at the though of it right now!Me, oma, and Susie on the boat ride on Chimsee, a river, to see a castle! The same king built the castle that Sleeping Beauty's was based.

Now onto PE!

So to our surprise and delight, we were right on the beach!! That's our flat and the distance from it to the ocean. Our first morning, Susie and I woke up to Annie and Becky's "NAHH SA BENYA" (remember from the Lion King?) Yup we're in Africa!!  

Here we are in Port Elizabeth central. Apparently it's a pretty bad area of town, but luckily we wandered around and got back to our car (a cute little Honda Jazz btw) safely. We didn't know it was dodgy until we heard from locals the next day. oops :X

So Susie met a Korean couple at the grocery store, who introduced her to Korean missionaries. We went with them to church on Sunday, where we sat in on Sunday school and played with the kids afterwards! Their church is in a township, which is where the black had to live during apartheid. The people live in shacks, there is trash everywhere, chickens and cows running amok, and people drinking at 10am. It's much like Slumdog, and quite shocking the quickly the difference from the cities to townships are.
Make a face! Hopefully this will be the cover of Harvard Dental Bulletin :p 

Some of the kids posing with their Bibles. They also rocked import model poses with our rental car.

Other accomplishments that I'll write about soon!!

-driving on the left side of the road! 

-learning a different words and different clicks in Xhosa (sounds like click-kosa)

-not managing to fall off a running ostrich, have videos, will load soon!

the ostrich pecked becky's head right before the pic!! eek!

-hopefully, learning to surf!! 

wai me?

SOOOO SORRY I haven't been able to update! I've actually only had access to internet about twice a week. Part of the reason is because I'm trying to avoid spoilers for Harry Potter. It's killing me that everyone else in the world knows the ending! (Jonathan, don't get any ideas.) Well, here are some pictures... less talking more pictures!!!

Here's my apartment, Grandma Chic

View of Chiang Mai from Doi Sutep. Andrew brought us up here and gave us a little info on Buddhism. It's really interesting to learn about it since it's such a huge part of the culture here. It's 2550 right now... on the Buddhist calendar!

Bamboo worms, the French Fry of Thaialnd.
I can say I ate them and somewhat enjoyed them! Tasted a bit nutty, but deep fried and covered in spice. An alternative way of getting your protein!

Paxson, Gwen, Eugene running up the stairs to Doi Sutep, one of the most famous temples in Chiang Mai. (It's on all the postcards). Thank you UCLA for your hills and training me to walk up stairs without huffing and puffing!

Really old, but here's our fourth of July party (some of our guests). Afterwards, Kris and I heard fireworks outside (put on by the American Consulate) and ran out the door. Our friend, Jack, was confused as to why two American girls were so excited from seeing them in the sky.

Picture of us playing in the waterfall during English Camp. Peace signs everywhere! I got soaked about ten minutes later!

I'm about to head out to Walking Street, which is THE place to be on Sunday night in Chiang Mai. It's a big night market with almost anything you can imagine to buy. The only downside is that that's where I see all the farangs (foreigners) and tourists. Otherwise, I never run into them! :)

<3 vivian

sawadee ka!

Bangkok from the top of 'Golden Mount'

Howdy y’all!
Thailand has been great so far! I’ve met lots of Dan and Lora’s (the family that I’m here with) old missionary friends. They have been nothing but loving and welcoming to us! God has really blessed me with a great place to live, lovely Thai friends who can’t wait to spend time with us, and just a fantastically rich culture with little things I’m learning about everyday!
Random tidbits:
· Everyone’s confused as to what ethnicity I am. So far I’ve gotten Japanese, Korean, and Thai… not Chinese. Strange, eh?
· Tokyo was really fun… although I was only there for a few hours! I got my bum washed by a toilet and wandered around the shopping areas. There were panda bear baos! It says 'the steamed bun which did the form of a panda' ^_^ I’m so getting a Shu Umera eyelash curler replacement when I get back!
· I don’t have to be ashamed of looking in Fobby in pictures anymore… it’s odd if I don’t throw up a peace-promoting sign! ^_^V ~la
· Pee Gaye (‘older Gaye’), our Thai teacher, is taking us to Thai massages in a few days… although I don’t like massages, I’m willing to try this one. A bit scared though, it’s two hours long! (yeah yeah, I know I’m supposed to be on missions, NOT on holiday!)
· Pee Gaye and her family took us to “Korean” bbq yesterday, which is like the Thai version of Manna’s. OMG it’s insane! They had hot pot, a place to make your own Soom-Tam (a spicy Thai salad), ice cream, lots of meats, veggies, a station to boil clams, and lots more. And it was only 85 baht = less than $3!!!
· We wandered around Bangkok for a day before heading up to Chiang Mai… riding on tuk-tuks is not fun. Especially when busses fart in your face! We’re going to get motorbike lessons soon though! We missed the Grand Palace, but from what I saw (the tops of roofs), it looks beauuuutiful!
· The students are soooo fun! I love spending time with them. Thai people are probably the friendliest people I’ve ever met! It’s great how they laugh at my reactions to things (being “American”), and how cute they are whenever we talk! I taught them how to play Pabo, but they like to say ‘buffalo’, since it’s supposed to be a stupid animal. They’re just so lively and filled with joy! :D
· The food here is SO GOOD. I’ve tried something new at every meal, and nothing has been bad so far! It’s so cheap too! The Singaporean team also made us some real Sing food during English Club. I'm not sure what exactly it was called... It was really good too, but I felt odd eating little fishes with eyes on them.







Here we are at Dhi's church, where the whole service was in Thai! The people were really welcoming to us! :)


Erm… that’s about all I can think of right now… I’m off to run and get stuff for our Fourth of July celebration for the students tomorrow. Kris and I are hoping to host some of them at the apartment! Hope you have a good one with lots of fireworks, watermelon, and hot dogs! :9

the first step in coping

is denial... which is what I'm doing at this point. Everyone's been talking about leaving for the past week, but I haven't felt anything yet. I know I don't want to leave, but I'm good with these goodbyes right until the very end- then I'm a total mess. Well, let's hope in the next two hours, I'll be able to dump my food, carry my two HUGE suitcases, and say good bye to everyone without dying. It's kind of weird, since I'll still be here for three days, so London won't have seen the last of me!!!

Good bye 17B Bedford Place, I'll never live in a million dollar flat again :( I love you Russell Square!!!
Sorry no pictures this time :(
I'll see you all very very soon :)

quick picks

I know I've been neglecting this, but here are some snippets of my fabulous life... (this will be quick since I'm trying to 'study')
Oxford/Regent Street lighting!Covent Garden Lighting- ugliest Christmas tree ever! O_O Seeing the Lion King, Chicago, and Emma Bunton! (Baby spice... if I were in 5th grade, I'd be freaking out)Slides at the Tate- a new installment with slides that come down from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th levels!!! VERY fast!

London Jazz Festival- Free!! woo hoo!
Thanksgiving in London- I had to go to school that day... hopefully the last time that will ever happen! We had a lovely dinner at the hotel near by, and we got to boogie down with our professors (hopefully that LAST time that'll ever happen too).

Thanksgiving cookies from CARLIN :) :) The only person who has remembered me these past four months (it was pretty sad checking that empty mail box)

And they call this pumpkin pie... with raspberry and cream?
Alaistair (aka Prof. Owens) getting jiggy wit it
Santa Barbara girls = peroxide invasion
Prof. Toms getting squished

I'm so sad that I'm leaving in less than two weeks! :( :( But not sad that I won't be living in this dirty apartment. and getting out of this drama (why are girls such smacktalking mean people?)
*Still to come: adventures in Salzburg, Brussells, Amsterdam, Luxemborg, JUDE LAW