Bye Bye Baylor

7/9/09 Today was the multicultural counseling conference at UB. I bought the shirt I have on in the picture at a store here and had specifically set it aside for the conference however, I didn't try it on because it looked like it should fit. When I started change, I realized I couldn't get it over my head! Now I have a fairly small head and the fact that it wouldn't fit through their really concerns me but we took out some of the stitching and i was able to shimmy it down. What an ordeal though! Our presentation was at 3:15 but of course they found a way to incorporate tea time in so we didn't really start until 3:30ish. Dr. Pillay set up the presentation by filling in the listeners on what our program is about, the preparation, and history of it and then posed several questions to us about our experience on this trip so far. It was a bit difficult answering the question about our initial impressions honestly without sounding ignorant or closeminded but I think we were able to articulate our perceptions and how they may have been misled. I will honetly admit, I know so little about this country and Africa in general before coming here so this has been such an eye opening experience. I think too, it will open the eyes of other people around me who may have false perceptions of what African countries are like as they can see through my pictures and my words that they maybe its not so different from home. If there's one thing I've learned on this trip it's that people are people everywhere you go. Kindness translates across all cultures...thankfully. Of course there will be differences, and there ARE difference but I think I've been truly amazed by the similarities. Tonight we went out to dinner to Primi, an amazing Italian restaurant at Riverwalk. Mandy and I split the primo pasta (fettuccine in a light cream sauce with mushrooms and ham aka delicious in a bowl) and some wine. It was probably the second best meal I’ve had on the trip (behind the Grand Palm buffet!) The picture above is Mandy, Me & Meg at dinner. We had such a fabulous night! Afterward we went to a local dive bar that Dr. Pillay and Dr. Bates often go to. It was nice to go somewhere a little smaller and more laid back.

7/10/09 Today is my last day at Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence. Is was somewhat disheartening to hear people at breakfast saying “thank God its my last day working” as if it was the worst thing they have ever had to do. I understand that some people didn’t get placed where they wanted and that others who did may not have been able to do all the things they had hoped but I certainly thought everyone would make the most of it, but unfortunately it seems like a few people did not. I could be disappointed that I wasn’t able to actually work with clients and let that ruin my experience, but I see the importance of the work we were able to do and I feel grateful for the knowledge I gained throughout my entire time at Baylor. I guess I’m just a firm believer that life is what YOU make of it. I’m not trying to minimize the influence of other people choices on our lives or even the things that occur that our beyond our control, but we always have a choice on how we decide to view all of those things. Sometimes I think the easiest route is to focus on the negative but I think its ultimately less fulfilling. I have chosen to reframe my time at my placement in order to ensure that I have had a memorable and rewarding experience.

At Baylor, we had our final play group which was fun as usual. I’m really going to miss those sweet little smiling faces! Clare had told me how at SOS the kids always call her teacher (pronounced tee-cha) which I thought was really cute and today one of the little boys kept calling me it. His voice was so cute and he was practically chasing me around the table trying to hand me various things he would find on the ground. Kate and I had a farewell lunch with some of the other visiting scholars at the hotel restaurant in Main Mall. Kate splurged and got their buffet which looked amazing but I was trying to save some money. I only have a couple hundred pula left and I’m trying really hard not to withdraw anymore until we get to Cape Town because their currency is obviously different. After lunch we had a quick meeting with Dr. Ryan about our assignments and to discuss how our experience was at Baylor. He thanked us for our hard work and even offered to write us letters of recommendation in the future if we wanted. I will probably be taking him up on that offer very soon.

We leave for Kasane at 4:30 am tomorrow morning!! We’re all excited but not so much for the bus ride. I can’t imagine being trapped on a charter bus for 12 or so hours. I thought it was bad when we road the one from Athens to Pittsburgh when our flight to Cancun was moved from Columbus to there and that was only a third of the time. They changed our hotel from the Chobe Marina Lodge to the Mowana Safari Lodge. I can’t tell based of their websites which one is better though we’ve been told that the Mowana is the more expensive choice so we’ll see! I’m really excited for the safaris.. I hope that we see elephants, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, cheetahs, lions, all the big animals!!! I’m a little bit nervous for the boat tour just because of my motion sickness..the last time I was on a small boat was in Cancun going out to Isle Murjeres and I was soo sea sick. Andrew had to hold me the entire way there and back because I was so miserable. This time I came prepared with some Dramamine so hopefully it does the trick! We’re not really sure if we’ll be able to go to Victoria Falls on Tuesday because of the transportation issues and cost.

I decided to pack not only for Kasane but the rest of my stuff so that I won’t have to do it when we get back. I just know that I’m going to want to relax and catch up on my blog so it made more sense to me. Plus, I needed to see if it was possible for me to fit all my pottery in my carry on bag and it is! It’s quite heavy so I’m going to see if I can buy a small bag with wheels on Wednesday when we get back but if not, I’ll just have to suck it up. I also highlighted my hair because my awful roots were about to drive me crazy. I was a little nervous to use hair dye from another country but I took a chance and it turned out really well. We talked about staying up all night until the bus left but everyone decided they wanted to sleep some. For whatever reason though I was not tired at all until around 2am so I was up in my room packing and cleaning up and talking to Andrew until about 3 in the morning. I guess I will be sleeping on the bus in about 2 hours!