South Africa from A-Z

I had been planning on doing this post while I was still in South Africa, but I never got around to it.

Lately, I've been missing the country and the people who live there a whole lot, so it seemed like a good time to remember all the funny phrases that South Africans use.

You would think that because they speak English, it would be easy to communicate and understand what they're saying. But don't be fooled! They say a lot of funny phrases that I had never heard before, and a lot of times I had no idea what they were telling me!

For your enjoyment, and in case you ever travel to South Africa and want to be able to communicate, here is a list of South African-isms from A-Z...

Air con= abbreviation for air conditioner (instead of "AC" or just "air")

Braai, bakkie= Braai means "BBQ" (very popular meal), "bakkie" means "pick-up truck"

Chips, cutlery= Chips mean "French fries," cutlery means "silverware"

Drinks: cold drinks, appletiser= cold drinks mean "soda", appletiser is a type of delicious soda

Eish= used simililarly to "wow," but can mean anything you want it to mean

Flushing toilets= couldn't think of a phrase for F, but random fact about flushing toilets: the handle to flush the toilet is on the right side of the tank (and it's really hard to get used to!)

Granny= grandma (they refer to any and all grandmas as "granny")

Half past, howzit?= Half past seven means "7:30," howzit? means "how's it going?"

It's a pleasure= you're welcome

Just now= in a few minutes (the hardest phrase to get used to since it has a completely different meaning in the US)

Keen= who's keen on going? means who wants to go?

Lekker= cool or great

Matric= Senior year of high school (short for matriculation)

Now now= right now (the opposite of just now)

Oh shame= that's too bad

Petrol, packet= Petrol means gas (petrol station= gas station), packet means bag (like grocery bag)

Queue= line

Rubbish bin, robot= Rubbish bin means "trash can," robot means "traffic signal" (like you have to stop at the red robot)

Slip, SMS, sharp sharp= slip means "receipt," SMS means "text message," sharp sharp (sounds like shop shop with their accents) means "cool" or "I understand"

Toilet, take away= toilet means "restroom," take away means "to go" (like ordering to go at McDonalds)

Umgungundlovu= the name of the county we were living in (means Place of the Elephant in isiZulu)

Vervet= type of monkeys that terrorized us every day

Woza= Come (in isiZulu)

X click= they use a click for the letter x in isiZulu

Yebo, yoh= Yebo means "yes" (in isiZulu), yoh means the same thing as eish

Zed, zebra= Zed means the letter "Z" (they pronounce it zed instead of zee), so zebra is pronounced zeh-bra instead of zee-bra

ICU Lingo

I had a really busy day in clinical today. My nurse and I only had 2 patients, but we were busy going back and forth between them all day long!

When I thought back on all the things I did or saw today, I realized just how many abbreviations nurses use on a daily basis. And since learning about the ICU this semester, I've realized that ICU nurses use even more abbreviations than the average nurse!

Just to give you an idea of the crazy confusion that can ensue if you don't know your abbrevs, here's a list of things I did/saw today. See if you can figure out what they mean!

-IV monitoring and meds
-G tube meds
-NG tube reinsertion
-Chest tube removal
-ABG draws
-PT and INR draws
-A-line draws
-A-line removal
-Pacer wire isolation
-Rapid response
-Accu-chek
-Hemodynamic monitoring
-AVR patient
-New pulse ox
-VFib
-CT scan
-Vent monitors on SIMV with FiO2, PS, and PEEP

Does that mean anything to you? I'm proud to say that I understand all of it! But there's plenty more abbreviations out there that I don't know yet...

The Beginning of the End... of School!

My final semester of college began last Wednesday, and I'm now officially on my way to graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing!

I cannot believe that I've already finished four years of college. I truly can't comprehend it! I feel like I was just a little freshman last week, but somehow time has passed much faster than I ever thought imaginable, and I am now a super senior.

I always thought it would be fun to tell people that I'm a "super senior." I'm actually kind of glad that it's taking me 4 1/2 years to graduate just because I get this really cool title as a result!

I'm also having a lot more fun on campus this semester because I actually know people now! Thanks to studying abroad in South Africa, I now have 52 close friends on campus that I bump into all the time! It's great!

Even though I'm going to be reading constantly for my critical care nursing class and my American lit class (probably shouldn't have taken them together), this is still going to be a fun final semester! Plus, I get to do clinicals at this place again:


Huntington Hospital!

I was awestruck once again when my clinical group met in the lobby this morning. I seriously felt like I was in a hotel rather than in a hospital.

Of course, this feeling changed quickly once we toured the ER and heard about a really "exciting" trauma patient that had just been brought in with a fractured skull. Our professor says that this patient will be transferred to the ICU floor that we'll be working on, so it may be one of my patients next week!

It's going to be a challenging clinical, but hopefully I'll feel like a real nurse by the end of it!

Vacation

My favorite part of summer is usually a family vacation. This summer started off with one, and it was wonderful!

At the beginning of June, my parents and I flew to Niagara Falls, New York. We spent a couple hours admiring the falls from the American side.

Then we picked up my sister (who had flown in from Puerto Rico), and we all drove across the border to Canada! It was my first time ever going to Canada, and I was really excited!

We stayed in a hotel in Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, and spent a couple days exploring the area and admiring the falls from that side.


Jen's friend, Laurie (who lives in Canada), joined us for those couple of days.

When we were done in Niagara Falls, we drove 8 hours to Nashua, New Hampshire to see my brother's new home! We stayed with him in his apartment for the rest of the week.


We had a lot of fun playing games and spending time with him.

We also drove into Boston twice to see the city.

I had always wanted to visit Boston, and now I finally got to! I loved it!


The trip was wonderful, but the best part about it was just getting our whole family together again. You can't beat that!

Baby Landon

Another wonderful thing I got to do this summer was meet Baby Landon!!!

My cousin Dana had a baby on May 31, but since she and her husband live in Virginia, I wasn't able to meet their son until he was 11 weeks old. Dana, Carl, and Landon flew back here for Carl's sister's wedding in August, so I was able to meet Baby Landon then.

Dana and Carl with their precious son

Me talking to Landon

My mom with Landon- he can already do "the eyebrow" that his mama is famous for!

Landon Kyle is absolutely adorable, and I enjoyed every moment that I got to spend with him! I only wish he lived closer so I could watch him grow up. Next time I see him, he'll probably be walking already. But for now, it was wonderful to get to meet him while he's still small and cuddly!

Universal Studios

Another thing I did this summer was go to Universal Studios! My cousin Felisha's boyfriend, Mike, turned 21 last week, and he wanted to go to a theme park to celebrate. It was only $20 more to buy year-long passes than a day-long ticket, so all 5 of us that went ended up buying passes! We weren't planning on doing that originally, but it seemed like the better value for our money.

I hadn't been to Universal Studios in many years, so it was all new and exciting to me. We've only gone once so far, but it was quite fun! It happened to be the same day that the Teen Choice Awards were being filmed, so we saw lots of celebrity limos driving past us. We never did see the stars that arrived in them, though.

It was great to just get to hang out with Tracie and Felisha again, since I haven't seen them as much lately.

And of course, their boyfriends are a lot of fun too. I look forward to using our passes again soon!

Weekend at Quaker Meadow

As I mentioned in my last post, I spent the weekend helping out at Quaker Meadow again. There was a Presbyterian family camp with about 120 people up there, and only 10 staff members instead of the regular 23.

I worked in the kitchen again, but I didn't burn myself at all! No cuts either! I was so proud.

And now, here's a couple pictures that represent an afternoon on staff:

Mikaela and me putting the meat slicer back together

Matt excited to do dishroom

Quincey and Missy dancing in the kitchen

Becky made me a ring out of foil

Group huddle to stay warm in the cold air

Once again it was another wonderful time spent in one of my favorite places on earth. I can't wait to do it all again next weekend!