I won't be posting on here anymore for a while, so be sure to check my new blog to read all about my new home for the next few months!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
New Blog
I told you I was going to make a new blog specifically for my time here in South Africa, and I have! I just made it a few minutes ago. It's called From South Africa with Love.
I won't be posting on here anymore for a while, so be sure to check my new blog to read all about my new home for the next few months!
I won't be posting on here anymore for a while, so be sure to check my new blog to read all about my new home for the next few months!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
11 Hours
I can't believe I'm basically leaving tonight for South Africa! It doesn't seem real yet.
I'm still not packed at all yet. That's my goal for this afternoon and tonight-get everything packed. I guess I don't really have a choice!
Last night I went to a commissioning service that the School of Nursing held for the 6 of us nursing students that are going to SA. The dean of the school and a couple other important ladies held it for us. The students that just returned from studying in SA during the fall semester also came. We had a lot of question and answer time with them. It was really nice and very encouraging. It made me really excited to go!
This morning the entire SA group had a meeting. One of the things we had to do was tell them whether or not we want to go bungee jumping and trekking through an "adventure cave." I chose not to do either. But I am interested in going shark cage diving! Hopefully we'll get to do that in Cape Town!
Tonight there's another commissioning service for the entire group. Our family and friends are supposed to come, so my parents will be joining me. We're going to go out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant first! After that I can pack some more, and then it'll be time to meet at the school at 2:30am.
Please keep me and the rest of my group in your prayers as we travel for the next couple of days!
P.S. I'm going to start a new blog specifically about my time in SA. The nursing professors like to read what we're doing, so I'm going to start a blog for them. I'll post the link for it on here once I create it.
I'm still not packed at all yet. That's my goal for this afternoon and tonight-get everything packed. I guess I don't really have a choice!
Last night I went to a commissioning service that the School of Nursing held for the 6 of us nursing students that are going to SA. The dean of the school and a couple other important ladies held it for us. The students that just returned from studying in SA during the fall semester also came. We had a lot of question and answer time with them. It was really nice and very encouraging. It made me really excited to go!
This morning the entire SA group had a meeting. One of the things we had to do was tell them whether or not we want to go bungee jumping and trekking through an "adventure cave." I chose not to do either. But I am interested in going shark cage diving! Hopefully we'll get to do that in Cape Town!
Tonight there's another commissioning service for the entire group. Our family and friends are supposed to come, so my parents will be joining me. We're going to go out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant first! After that I can pack some more, and then it'll be time to meet at the school at 2:30am.
Please keep me and the rest of my group in your prayers as we travel for the next couple of days!
P.S. I'm going to start a new blog specifically about my time in SA. The nursing professors like to read what we're doing, so I'm going to start a blog for them. I'll post the link for it on here once I create it.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
4 Days
Today I decided to tackle the chore of sewing APU's nursing patch onto the left shoulder of each pair of scrubs I'll be taking to South Africa. Unlike most of my family, I was not blessed with the gifted seamstress gene, so although I enjoy sewing, it's usually a long, difficult process for me.
I rented the new Sandra Bullock movie, "All About Steve," and worked on sewing the patch while watching it. When the movie was over, I was only a little over halfway done with the patch, and my fingers were dying with pain, so I asked my wonderful mother if she could do the second patch for me.
I finally got the first one finished, and in half the time it took me, my mom finished the second one. But, after adding the final stitch, she realized that she had sewn it on the right arm instead of the left! Now she's going to see if it can be sewn on with the sewing machine to save her talented fingers from another hour of agony.
Here's my finished result!
It turned out crooked- I told you I don't have the seamstress gene!
And just now my mom finished the second patch on the sewing machine. It only took about 5 minutes! Why didn't we think of that before?!?!
Question of the Day: What's the most space-efficient way to pack clothes in a suitcase?
I rented the new Sandra Bullock movie, "All About Steve," and worked on sewing the patch while watching it. When the movie was over, I was only a little over halfway done with the patch, and my fingers were dying with pain, so I asked my wonderful mother if she could do the second patch for me.
I finally got the first one finished, and in half the time it took me, my mom finished the second one. But, after adding the final stitch, she realized that she had sewn it on the right arm instead of the left! Now she's going to see if it can be sewn on with the sewing machine to save her talented fingers from another hour of agony.
Here's my finished result!
It turned out crooked- I told you I don't have the seamstress gene!
And just now my mom finished the second patch on the sewing machine. It only took about 5 minutes! Why didn't we think of that before?!?!
Question of the Day: What's the most space-efficient way to pack clothes in a suitcase?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Counting Down...
5 days until I leave for South Africa, and I have SO much to do between now and then! Ahhh!
Question of the day: Does anyone have any tips for surviving a 15-hour flight?
Question of the day: Does anyone have any tips for surviving a 15-hour flight?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Pray for Haiti
In case you didn't already know, a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti this afternoon, and it's estimated that a few thousand of people have died. Many buildings in the capital and surrounding area collapsed, and injured people are lying on sidewalks waiting for help. The country needs A LOT of prayer right now.
The earthquake hit in western Haiti, but was felt across the entire country. As far as I can tell, though, the area that I was in this past summer is fine. Apparently my friends in eastern Dominican Republic didn't even feel the quake, so they're ok too. I'm so thankful for that! But many of their family members were in Port-Au-Prince (the capital of Haiti).
Please keep the country in your prayers as people try to find their family members and bring help to those who are suffering.
The earthquake hit in western Haiti, but was felt across the entire country. As far as I can tell, though, the area that I was in this past summer is fine. Apparently my friends in eastern Dominican Republic didn't even feel the quake, so they're ok too. I'm so thankful for that! But many of their family members were in Port-Au-Prince (the capital of Haiti).
Please keep the country in your prayers as people try to find their family members and bring help to those who are suffering.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Christmas Lights
I love to look at houses covered in Christmas lights when it's cold and dark outside. Fortunately, I've been able to do this very thing the last two nights with friends!
On Monday night, I went with my cousin Tracie and our friend Johanna, who is home from Boston College for Christmas. We looked at the lights in Morgan Ranch (really big, beautiful houses in the hills of Glendora), then near Tracie's house.
We found one house that had the lights choreographed to music (my favorite!), and two houses that had snow makers! (Really just soapy bubbles that look kind of like falling snow- which is the same thing that Disneyland has at the end of their fireworks show.) One of these two snow houses also had a whole village scene in front of it, so we got out of the car to take pictures there.
Last night, some of my friends from the Quaker Meadow staff had a Christmas party. We wanted to go caroling afterward, and we ended up looking at Christmas lights as well.
We went down Yale Street in Fullerton which was absolutely amazing! They hang colorful lit-up balls from every tree that lines the street. I've never seen a street like it! My pictures didn't turn out so great, but this might give you an idea of what it was like:
We also went to a place called East Lake, which was a beautiful man-made lake that is completely bordered by houses so that their backyard is a lake! Most of them had little boats anchored outside their back door. It looked like a fun place to live! It was also very decorated with lights. We sang some Christmas carols for a boat full of people that was passing by, and they enjoyed it!
Again, my pictures didn't turn out that great, but it kind of gives you an idea of what it was like.
Both nights were very fun, and they definitely got me ready for Christmas. I can't believe it's just 2 days away!!!
On Monday night, I went with my cousin Tracie and our friend Johanna, who is home from Boston College for Christmas. We looked at the lights in Morgan Ranch (really big, beautiful houses in the hills of Glendora), then near Tracie's house.
We found one house that had the lights choreographed to music (my favorite!), and two houses that had snow makers! (Really just soapy bubbles that look kind of like falling snow- which is the same thing that Disneyland has at the end of their fireworks show.) One of these two snow houses also had a whole village scene in front of it, so we got out of the car to take pictures there.
Last night, some of my friends from the Quaker Meadow staff had a Christmas party. We wanted to go caroling afterward, and we ended up looking at Christmas lights as well.
We went down Yale Street in Fullerton which was absolutely amazing! They hang colorful lit-up balls from every tree that lines the street. I've never seen a street like it! My pictures didn't turn out so great, but this might give you an idea of what it was like:
We also went to a place called East Lake, which was a beautiful man-made lake that is completely bordered by houses so that their backyard is a lake! Most of them had little boats anchored outside their back door. It looked like a fun place to live! It was also very decorated with lights. We sang some Christmas carols for a boat full of people that was passing by, and they enjoyed it!
Again, my pictures didn't turn out that great, but it kind of gives you an idea of what it was like.
Both nights were very fun, and they definitely got me ready for Christmas. I can't believe it's just 2 days away!!!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Recent Happenings
I haven't blogged in a few weeks, and so much has happened! Here's just a quick list of a few things that went on recentely:
*Andrew is done being in the Marines! His last day was this past Thursday. He had to get a bunch of signatures from people at Camp Pendleton, but they had failed to tell him that they needed his medical records too. My parents and I met him in Irvine that evening to give him his records, and we were able to have a nice dinner with him at BJ's. It turned out to be a very nice surprise!
On Friday, he turned in his medical records and got his last signature, so now he's on "terminal leave." This means that he is on vacation until January 30, when he will officially be out of the Marines and once again become a civilian. It's so great to have him home!
*In a flurry of final papers, presentations, and final exams, I finished my fall semester of classes! I had all my finals this past Monday, so now my classes are over and I'm on Christmas vacation!!!
The last week of school was really tough and I had to stay up late almost every night to finish papers. My nursing classes required presentations as well, which I always dread. What a relief to be done!
(Some of the textbooks I used for my case study earlier in the semester)
(Lunch with some of my friends at a nursing conference we were required to attend)
(One of the "dress-up" days in the nursing theory class we just finished)
I'll start the Spring semester on January 4th, even though I won't be leaving for South Africa until January 21. I have to start my community nursing class early so that I can get in 105 hours of clinical and lecture time before going to South Africa, even though I'll be doing plenty of nursing clinical work there too.
*I'm on call for jury duty this week and next week for the federal court in Los Angeles. Thankfully, I didn't get called in this week, so I was able to go to Disneyland with my family yesterday!
Andrew was given 2 free tickets to Disneyland and California Adventure for being a Wounded Warrior. I have a season pass, so we just had to pay for one ticket and my mom, dad, Andrew, and I were all able to go together yesterday. It was lots of fun!
Andrew was able to walk around the entire day without needing a wheelchair or anything! He was also able to go on all the fast rides without his back being bothered. Thank you God for how much he has healed!
*Andrew is done being in the Marines! His last day was this past Thursday. He had to get a bunch of signatures from people at Camp Pendleton, but they had failed to tell him that they needed his medical records too. My parents and I met him in Irvine that evening to give him his records, and we were able to have a nice dinner with him at BJ's. It turned out to be a very nice surprise!
On Friday, he turned in his medical records and got his last signature, so now he's on "terminal leave." This means that he is on vacation until January 30, when he will officially be out of the Marines and once again become a civilian. It's so great to have him home!
*In a flurry of final papers, presentations, and final exams, I finished my fall semester of classes! I had all my finals this past Monday, so now my classes are over and I'm on Christmas vacation!!!
The last week of school was really tough and I had to stay up late almost every night to finish papers. My nursing classes required presentations as well, which I always dread. What a relief to be done!
(Some of the textbooks I used for my case study earlier in the semester)
(Lunch with some of my friends at a nursing conference we were required to attend)
(One of the "dress-up" days in the nursing theory class we just finished)
I'll start the Spring semester on January 4th, even though I won't be leaving for South Africa until January 21. I have to start my community nursing class early so that I can get in 105 hours of clinical and lecture time before going to South Africa, even though I'll be doing plenty of nursing clinical work there too.
*I'm on call for jury duty this week and next week for the federal court in Los Angeles. Thankfully, I didn't get called in this week, so I was able to go to Disneyland with my family yesterday!
Andrew was given 2 free tickets to Disneyland and California Adventure for being a Wounded Warrior. I have a season pass, so we just had to pay for one ticket and my mom, dad, Andrew, and I were all able to go together yesterday. It was lots of fun!
Andrew was able to walk around the entire day without needing a wheelchair or anything! He was also able to go on all the fast rides without his back being bothered. Thank you God for how much he has healed!
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