Apologies for the long delay in posting my whereabouts and happenings.  Life has been amazingly fun and exciting that I have not had time!  

I left off about a month ago, and so incredibly much has happened since then.  Ashley, Christina and I settled into our life in Sea Point where we were always exploring new delicious restaurants, and my favorite, jogging on the promenade.  Every night at 5:45 pm there was a spectacular sunset, guaranteed.  Naturally I have 1.5 billion pictures from it.  Life at Jooste continued in a great way, we are all so excited to have gotten to learn there.  We learned so much, particularly about diseases that we don’t see much of at home, and we became much more confident about a lot of procedures.  We took so much blood, learned arterial blood gases, femoral blood draws, lumbar punctures, and the gals even tried their hands at chest tubes!  It was amazing.  We got a new set of fabulous teachers there, and we are all going to be counting the days until we return!  

When we weren’t at Jooste, Tygerberg, or Sea Point, we were the busiest Cape Town enthusiasts ever.  We spent a fair amount of time in the mountains enjoying their beauty. We hiked Lions Head, and took the harrowing route up Table Mountain.  When we weren’t mountain goating and scaling sheer cliffs, we also took trips up Signal hill and went to the botanical gardens (Kirstenbosch) to enjoy the views of the mountains. I’ll say it again, Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities ever.  

We took a couple of tours to explore some new areas, mainly the wine lands and the townships.  Both were fabulous- the wine lands are just beautiful and produce my favorite beverage, and we got to pet a cheetah.  Win.  The township tour was very neat and helped us learn more about South Africa’s history and what life is like for our patients here. We also hit up the District 6 museum for another dose of history one day, and it is filled with lots of great pictures. I would recommend them to one and all!

We went to an ostrich farm, where I fell in love with a small one named Justin Bieber who got to roam free because of his meek and mild nature.  Also, the countryside is equally as beautiful as every other part of South Africa.  

We also tried to enjoy night life a few times, and discovered some real gems downtown, complete with ping pong tables.  I had my requisite dance party, so that was great.  We also became quite fond of heading to Camps Bay, a beautiful stretch of beach with trendy and touristy cocktails.  We definitely watched Wimbledon from our sea side vantage point, and got Ashley a party bowl on our last night for her birthday.  Additionally, we watched a rugby game at the Waterfront and even found fabulous hole-in-the-wall locations in Sea Point with amazing happy hours.  

Then, we ended up just doing a random assortment of things as our time got shorter- touring the Castle of Good Hope, checking out Hermanus for its whales.  Funny story, we went to Hermanus to see whales, and there were none.  I did buy a cute dress though.  Then, on our gorgeous coastal drive home, we saw a whale.  Then, we kept seeing them from our balcony at home! And our friend’s balcony in Table View!  And here in Jeffreys Bay!  Whales are everywhere, and I like it.  We tried lots of Asian restaurants to help me with my Thai/sushi addiction, went to High Tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel for Christina’s addiction, tried to get into the stadium several times (and failed), took pictures of Bo Kaap (the colorful neighborhood with more interesting history), and probably did a bunch of other stuff.  We seriously never stopped moving.  

And, how could I forget, SURFING! I went twice in Cape Town, and it was fabulous. I first went at Muizenberg with Michael, Claire, and our new friend Colin.  The water was positively frigid and we couldn’t get out, but it was still pretty fun.  We compensated with lunch at Kalk bay, literally on the sea eating seafood.  It was dreamy.  Then, I went the next day at Table View with my friend James, and it was perfect.  There are views of all the mountains in Cape Town, crystal clear water, birds, and slow, small waves.  It was glorious.  

On Wednesday, I departed from the girls (which was sad, because I spent 1.5 months straight with them, 24/7, and love them) and headed for Jeffreys Bay.  For those who don’t know, it is one of the top ten surfing spots in the world, and the Billabong Pro Surfing Contest is occurring.  Now.  So, I have been spending my days watching the best surfers in the world tear it up in a beautiful location.  Lucky me!  I am backpacking again, so I have naturally met lots of nice people, played a lot of pool, and had more dance parties.   Tomorrow is the final, and after that I will be moving on to Knysna to enjoy more of the Garden Route.  Things are just going so great!  Hope everyone is happy and healthy! x!