Tired but happy…

Time to update my blog again. After my last entry, lots of things have happened. On Friday the 6th, I met Jennifer who works at Sifundzani High Schol as a phys. ed. teacher and coaches the girls' basketball team. She has lived in Sweden for some years and speaks fluent Swedish. Because it's not so common for girls to play basketball over here, she wants me to go in and practice with the girls every Friday. That time, none of the girls came to practice, so I just shot some hoops with a some guys.

We had no big plans for the weekend, so we decided to go hike up the Sibebe rock, the second largest rock in the world. Our hike strated very well, and we got lost after first 100m of hiking. Fortunately we ran into 3 young boys, who were willing to come with us and show us the right way. And to be honest, I don't think we would have made it without them. They took us to some nice caves on the way and showed us how to catch grass hoppers. Their three dogs who came along, also turned out to be very helpful when there was a big, angry looking bull blocking our way. It felt god to have good workout and even the weather was just perfect for hiking - sunny with some clouds and not too hot. The view from the top of the rock was unbelievably beautiful and I could have stayed there for hours. Unfortunately, after sitting on the top for about a half an hour, we had to leave the sights behind and start walking back down. When we finally made it back down after 4 hours of walking, everyone was feeling more or less tired and was ready to eat something. In Fairlady we made a big salad together, barbequed some meat and vegetables, and enjoyed some warm, chocolate filled bananas with vanilla ice-cream. After eating, it wasn't a big surprise when people, one after another, started heading up to their rooms and went to bed.

Besides hiking, the weekend was also the time for some shopping at the roadside craft market in the Ezulwini Valley. We rode there in the back of our local friend's pickup truck, which was a lot of fun. Some were a little scared of the speed and by the fact that there was nothing to keep us from flying off if there would be a crash. But nothing bad happened and at least I was enjoying every minute f the ride. In Ezulwini Valley, we spent almost two hours walking around the craft market. I even found one painting I really liked and managed to get it for a very good price. After all the shopping and bargaining everyone was feeling pretty hungry, so we decided to go have some lunch in Boma. When we came back to Mbabane, we bought some Marula (local homemade liquor) and went back home to relax.

Monday was a bit different day at work. When we arrived at Cheshire Homes in morning, we found out that the day was going to be very special. The Cheshire Homes of Swaziland had recieved a 900 kg rice donation from Taiwan, and because of that, there was going to be a big seremony with two of the king's wives ( the first and 11th), the ambassador of Taiwan, three Taiwanese surgeons and 5 med students, not to forget the tv cameras and the press. Because we didn't know about the ceremony, me and Heidi were both wearing our normal working clothes (read: pants). But since it is very advisable for women to wear skirts in Swaziland and there were gonna be many important people in the ceremny, the ladies who work in the kitchen wrapped us up with some white table clothes. You can only imagine people's reactions when they saw us. People were taking pictures of us and wanted us to pose next to the clients of Cheshire Homes. And if it wasn't embarresing enough to stand there wearing a table cloth on my waist, it was more than delightful to hear that heard they had shown us, me and Heidi, on the national news that night.

The ceremony itself was quite long and fairly boring, but afterwards it was very nice to chat with the king's wives and all the other important people who were there for the ceremony. One of the Taiwanese surgeons (the orthopedic surgeon) couldn't leave me alone and kept asking for my phone number. He even asked if I could start teching him some English (for a charge f course) on my freetime and offered to drive me and Heidi from Mbabane to Matsapha (35km) every morning. We decided to pass on the ride, and for the other question I never really gave him an answer. The thing is, that some of the people who are staying at the Cheshire Homes really need an orthopedic surgeon. Two women for example, have very bad contractures that make walking and standing very difficult if not even impossible. So, there might be a chance, that I will have to use my "friendship" with this doctor to get these ladies into surgery.

After a very hectic Monday, the rest of the week at work was quite normal and went very well. I did some hand exercises with stroke patients and helped with a cooking group on Tuesday. On Thursday, me and Heidi gave a presentation about rehabilitation and the rles of physio and occupational therapy. In general, people in Swaziland aren't very familiar with the concept of rehabilitation, so we were trying to make them understand what Cheshire Homes is for and why we are doing the things we are.

On Friday, I went to teach phys. ed. at the Sifundzani high school. All I can say is that it was an experience. Some of the girls were wearing extremely tight jeans, lots of jewellery... everything but tennis shoes or shorts etc. After running around the gym, we did some streches.. and to be honest, I think even my dad is more flexible than some of the kids in that class. They were also so loud, that I was having trouble even hearing my own thoughts. I was more than happy when the class was over, the kids left and I had an opportunity to play some basketball with 4 boys who came in to shoot some hoops... it was a lot of fun, but made me realize how out of shape I am.

In the evening, we went to visit some local friends who live very close to Fairlady. With them, we then went to some Valentine's Day themed party at some of their friends' house. It was ok, but some of us decided to go to cafe Lingo, where they have guitar players come in every Friday to play some live music. The atmosphere in cafe Lingo was very nice and relaxed, and I really enjoyed the music... in other words, I was happy I hadn't stayed at the other party.

For the weekend, we rented two cars and drove down to Sodwana Bay in South Africa. It was great to just hang out on the beach and to swim in the big waves of the Indian ocean. After spending the day on the beach, getting some food and showering, we decided to go back to beach. It was already dark, but it was amazing to just listen to the sound of the waves and look at all the brigt stars on the sky (I've never seen that many stars in my life). Boys also took their guitar with us, so it was nice to just sit on the beach and listen to the music. After getting back to where we were staying, instead of going to sleep, we ended up playing a very loud drinking game with at least 20 other people (from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand...). It was a lot of fun after we learnt the rules, and I think I may have to teach it to my friends when I get back to Finland.

The next morning we split up into smaller groups bacause people wanted to do different activities. One of us (Sari) went diving, me and Lauri went quad biking and the rest of our group went horseback riding. Quad biking was amazing and I totally loved it. We drove for about 2 hours and even saw some hippos and big spiders (as big as my palm) on the way. Our quad bikes didn't have speedometers, but I would say our top speed was around 80km/h, which is a lt bacause the "road" was very bumpy and there were times when it was almost impossible to sit down. We had to drive standing up in order to not fall of the quad bike. I also can't remember when I would have been as dirty as I was when we finished. My face and clothes, even the inside of my shorts, were all black and covered with dust. Luckily though, we were still close to the beach, and could just jump into our car and drive back to beach and get washed in the ocean.

After everyone was done with their activities, we jumped into our cars again and started heading back towards Swaziland. We didn't know what time the boarder was going to close, so we tried to avoid all the extra stops and pretty much just drove streight to the boarder (3hours). When we made it back to Mbabane, everyone was feeling tired but agreed it had been a great weekend and that everyone had truly enjoyed it. Even the weather had been perfect with the temperatures being around +30ºC (even during the night).

Yesterday, after having so much fun in Sodwana, it didn't feel too bad to go back to work... Even though we didn't get too much sleep over the weekend, it was very relaxing and refreshing to be on the beach and just live in the moment...