Getting into a Routine

Just as it goes back home, Simone and I have been doing our best to get into a routine over here. This has put me into quite a situation. I am happy to be adding another post to my blog but sadly I feel that my everyday life over here is not always the most interesting thing to document. Though things have been pretty low key as of lately, here is a brief update of what has been going on.

Thankfully, at the top of the list, Simone is no longer sick! We kind of lost a week there where we mostly stuck around the house so she could recover, but it was all worth. At the same time, even though I was not sick, I think it was good for me to have some downtime. It is easy to get caught up with the idea that we need to be running around doing something every minute of the day but that’s not a very realistic mentality. We were able to enjoy some little trips to some surrounding shopping malls and the great thing that we have discovered is that almost everything is roughly 10-15 minutes in any direction. Benefit of living in the city for sure!

Since Simone’s recovery, we have made our way back to the gym and back to Sparrow. We have hit some unexpected snags though. One major snag is that for the last two weeks, the public school teachers and the hospital workers have been on a pretty major strike. This has left of unable to go to Sparrow some days (many due to safety reasons). This has been a bit frustrating but at least we know that we will be here for the next four months and the strike will only go on so much longer. What is really sad are all the school children and hospital patients who are being neglected due to the strike. Some of the footage we have seen on the news has been terrible but I am keeping my hopes high that everyone will get their priorities straight soon!

As the days move forward, Simone and I are just trying to work through medical school secondary applications and plan our day according to what we are given. I want to say thanks to everyone who has sent me a comment or an email so far! I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear from each of you. I must say, South Africa is a beautiful and lively country, but nothing makes me forget about home and all of you that I care so much about! Hope you hear more from everyone soon!

Well I guess that is all for now. I image as we get through the weekend, I will have more interesting things to write about. Until then I have attached some photos that I have taken while trying to complete Simone’s Culture Hunt List. For those of you who don’t know, as part of my birthday present, Simone made me a list of various things I need to see/accomplish while in Africa. She is such a sweetheart :). Below you will see Number 6 – Have a South African Beer, and Number 33 – Find Heinz Ketchup.

Tot volgende tyd (Till next time in Afrikaans)

Mike