In 2010 I shared this picture via Youth Journalism International of a skeleton in our faculty dressed up for the Fifa World Cup. (Click the link and scroll down to the middle-left.)
Today we had a rather long clinical skills session for our anaesthesiology block.
This little guy met us there. I laughed:
The supermoon this past weekend brought a majestic spring tide to Blaauwberg, Cape Town. I went snapping away with my tiny camera along the esplanade.
This was taken seconds before I was drenched by the wave. Underestimated it…
If you’ve never been to Blaauwberg: no, the water doesn’t usually reach there…
This one makes me want to wax poetic.
Notice Table Mountain faintly in the back.
Unfortunately my little happy-snap camera couldn’t adequately catch the beautiful moon, but I’m sure pictures will abound of that soon.
Today (a public holiday) I went to Stellenbosch, in the Winelands District of the Western Cape. The medical campus is far from the main campus, so I don’t get to go to Stellenbosch very often. But today I met Nazirah.
Yes, the tree has to be in there. It's pretty, and I was having a bad hair day
Nazirah and I are both medical students – she in Malaysia and I in Cape Town. She’s doing her elective rotation in Cape Town. We met via our blogs. And no, we’re not the kind of people who readily meet people over the internet.
Because I don’t know Stellenbosch very well myself, one of my friends, Dee, joined us for the day. She gave us the royal tour and it was lovely. And a royal tour must of course start with some lovely tea. We went to The Birdcage, a quaint little coffee shop with the most amazing teas. I had French Vanilla tea, Dee had Raspberry and Blueberry, and Nazirah had Rooibos tea – the endemic and famous “red bush” tea of South Africa. And she liked it!
Dee's tea is pink, Ni's is reddish. How lovely are the tea sets?!
We learned a lot about similarities and differences between our countries in terms of healthcare, politics and infrastructure. It was amazing. It was a chilly – but not cold – Autumn day, and the town was simply beautiful.
And I got to meet an international friend, and that with the aid of WordPress.
Earlier this week I saw this fun experience occurring right before my eyes. And for once I had a camera on hand and snapped away shamelessly:
There were three kids from my campus who were collecting some boxes and things (for what I don’t know). Problem one was that for everything to fit, only two of them could sit in the car. The other problem was that everything couldn’t fit- they needed the roof. But they didn’t have rope to tie it.
So they made a plan. Without a helmet. I hope they didn’t get a fine, because considering I haven’t heard of an accident I assume they arrived at their destination safely. Perhaps their destination was somewhere on campus.
Anyway, I laughed.
Here’s the thing about the Boy and me: We expose each other to different realities. I take him to formal balls and artsy films that he tries to write off to his so-called snobby past. He keeps me grounded and reminds me to have some fun.
Last Saturday he dragged me to a St Patrick’s Day party at his older sister’s place. Somebody on my twitter TL made some snotty comment about strong women being able to say “no” until they are in a relationship – but to be honest, taking me to a party is really one of the lesser evils a guy can do. Especially since his sister and brother-in-law are doctors, and most of the people there were doctors and past the age of getting black-out drunk.
So the Boy dressed up in full Leprechaun-garb, I never knew that mathematician’s could be so funny… and I got away with something a little less dramatic, but I rather enjoyed it nonetheless.
…but before I get to that, today I reveal my brand-spanking-new blog button, yay! I’ve never been great at the whole design thing, but I think I finally hit gold with this one. I hope you like it.
Now to get back to business:
The theme for this week’s photo challenge from The Daily Post is “down”. On weekends, I am lucky to be on the sixteenth floor right next to the ocean. I stare at the changing ocean and of course, at Table Mountain, most of the time. So perhaps it is important to look down sometimes, too. To remember where we are grounded.
I am also a bit clumsy. The Boy reminds me that I must be on the lookout for his feet so that I don’t step on his only favourite sandals. There they are!
The Daily Post hosts a weekly photo challenge. Sometimes I take photos, although I’m hardly a genius.
My camera fell and broke while in China, so this photo is from my archives.
This photo is taken at the beach close to home, of my puppydog Roxy (the Yorkshire Terrier) and an unknown Dachshund. I chose this image for the theme “Peaceful” because, as dog owners will know, there is a tense moment when two dogs meet for the first time.
The tense moment passes and we get the canine equivalent of the handshake – that ancient symbol declaring, “My weapons are down, I mean no harm.”
The overall reason for our trip to China was a liaison-opportunity with Hunan University. We had the opportunity to explore the university grounds and to interact with the students.
Having experienced Stellenbosch Main Campus – a beautiful campus – it was a pleasant surprise to explore an equally beautiful (albeit differently so) campus.
Walking from the main building after our official welcoming by the university chairman and professors. Hunan University dates back to 976AD and was one of Chairman Mao Zedong’s self-proclaimed favourites. Note his statue in the background.
We spent most of our time at Yuelu Academy, the oldest and most prestigious part of the university. Also one of the most beautiful parts. This was taken walking from the main building to the Academy.
The influence of Confucianism is very clear and interesting on the campus. Much of the philosophies and appearance speaks thereof.
And there are Confucianism Temples and monasteries around the Academy.
This contains a list of things one must do in order to be a good student. I cannot remember them all, but one of them is “not to spend any time on matters that are unrelated to academics.” So that must be the reason I am such a bad student…
A map of the campus with Kai, whom we called “Our fearless leader”.
My favourite view at the university.
Note that our interaction with the Hunan students was just as beautiful and far more interesting, but writing about that will take a considerate amount of time – something not at my disposal during exam times.
Part of my trip to China in September included a three day trip to Zhangjiajie, a World Heritage Site and the first National Park of China. Certain scenes of the movie Avatar were shot there (I have never watched the movie, and now that I have seen the real-life place I am afraid the movie will bore me).
Stop 1: Huanglong Cave
Immense – covers an area of 48 hectares and up to 15 kilometers in length. There is a river that runs through the cave and the stalagmites are another level of beauty. Probably the one thing that bothered me a little was the artificial light in unnatural colours, but the place remains stunning.
A lot of the structures in the cave have very imaginative names, but I can’t remember any of them. Huanglong, for example, means Yellow Dragon Cave.
"Eagle Looking for Food"
Stop 2: Zhanjiajie Park
The park is characterised by tall rocky outcrops and more colours of green that I have ever seen (green is my favourite colour). It offers a cable car ride that is breathtakingly scary. My friend with a fear of heights, Clinton, says it is worth it.
Panorama taken by Charl Engels
On the cable car ride
By the way, Zhangjiajie also house the world’s tallest and fastest outdoor elevator – the Bailong Elevator. It is 326m tall and moves at a speed of 3m/s.
Stop 3: Baofeng Lake
It was a rather hot day and all I wanted to do was swim in the beautiful water. The photos hardly do justice to this place.
Zhangjiajie is home to the Tu minority (which must be pronounced properly otherwise it means some expletive). So anywhere you go, you see their traditional dress and hear their traditional song. It is lovely. An awesome moment was when, after our tour guide sang a folk song to us in the Huanglong Caves, our group sang the South African National Anthem. Pretty cool.
Heading to China, I expected many things. Beauty was not one of them. As a South African, I have always firmly believed that my country is the most beautiful. And because it is home, it probably will always be. China was certainly an experience that opened my eyes – and I thought they were already open.
