Another week has started and it is almost weekend already..where does all the time go?
On Monday we all spent the day at Casualty since our teacher was going to come to the hospital in the morning. We showed her around at all the ward we haven been these weeks at Katutura State Hospital. Due to the "guided" tour it was a short day at the hospital. The teacher came with us when we went back to the house and later on the last teacher arrived as well. A relaxing afternoon at home before we went out for dinner at Joe´s Beerhouse, the whole group and the teachers. I ate zebra, tasty!
When we got the check one of the teachers paid for all of us... what a nice gesture of her :-)
Yesterday some of us girls decided to take the day of to have some girl time and do what we girls love: shopping. We went to a brand new mall that have opened a few days earlier. Some of the stores weren´t opened yet and none of the restaurants had opened but that didn´t stop us from what we came there for...shopping. Needless to say but I topped my shopping here, 7 shopping bags in total...and got what I looked for: tanktops, shorts, shirts, scarves, accessories and sunscreen :-) In the evening 7 of us girls went out for dinner at a restaurant called NICE where most of the girls had sushi, but I had kingklip (not sure what fish that is, but it was good)
Today 2 of us went to Operating Theatre in order to see some neurosurgeries. We got to attend 2 operations on a 2 month old baby with hydrocephalus and a 2 year old with a chronic subdural hematoma before heading home. The plan was to lay out in the sun in the afternoon but I fell asleep for almost 3 hours on my bed wearing my bikini...days are going by without me getting done what I had planned...lol
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Sunday, October 26, 2014
and once again I have been absent..but I am back now, to stay...lol
My intention was really to write almost every day while here in Namibia but with a schoolpaper to write on 2000 words and a reflection I got a little busy and "forgot" about the writing.
Since the bedroom (there is 4 of us in the bedroom) is a quiet zone it is hard to have to time to write before the lights go out around 9pm on weekdays since we get up at 6am most days.
But anyway....since the last time I wrote I have been to Swakopmund for a weekend getaway where the guy that watches the house and looks after us took us there for a weekend. We got to stay in his family´s vacationhome. While we were there I got to skydive for the 2nd time and this time I jumped from a higher altitude, 10 000 feet and what a rush it was. It was the first time for all the other students and they all loved it and some of them are saying they wanna do it again when we go to Cape Town in beginning of December. I also got to drive a quadbike in the desert, climbed a sanddune and got to watch pelicans in Walwis bay.
I am more than halfway through my practical training at the hospital and have seen and experienced a lot while being there. We´re mostly well received but sometimes there are languagebarriers when we either don´t understand or hear what nurses are saying or that some patients only speaks Afrikaans.
I have now been 1 week at Casualty, 1 Weeks at Maternity where I got to watch several births and attend C-sections, 2 weeks at Acute Care (48 % burn patient, motor vehicle accident victim, Lupus, epileptic patient, preeclampsia, jaundince, renal failure, subcutaneous emphysema +++) and 1 week at Operation Theatre with removal of hemorrhoids, breast augementations, cysts, laparoscopy, removal of a uterus and more) We also did the overnight shift this weekend for payday where we got to see cases like stabbing, overdose, car accidents, sick babies and more. So from now on we get to choose what wards we wanna spend our remaining weeks at. Both of our teachers are coming this week so they will visit us at the hospital, we will invite to the house and we will go out to dinner with them.
Overall, most of the weekdays go by with a full day at the hospital, laying by the pool, reading for the upcoming exam, a few trip to the city center for cafes or shopping or cooking dinners together. We have also had a few movienights and a share of parties here at the house. It was OktoberFest this weekend that all the other Norwegian students went to but I decided to stay at house all by myself to enjoy some alone time by the pool listening to music on my ipod. Usually I like to have people around but it does get too intense at times always having 10 people or more around you and sharing room with 3 other students....so the few moments when I am alone are very precious.
Since the bedroom (there is 4 of us in the bedroom) is a quiet zone it is hard to have to time to write before the lights go out around 9pm on weekdays since we get up at 6am most days.
But anyway....since the last time I wrote I have been to Swakopmund for a weekend getaway where the guy that watches the house and looks after us took us there for a weekend. We got to stay in his family´s vacationhome. While we were there I got to skydive for the 2nd time and this time I jumped from a higher altitude, 10 000 feet and what a rush it was. It was the first time for all the other students and they all loved it and some of them are saying they wanna do it again when we go to Cape Town in beginning of December. I also got to drive a quadbike in the desert, climbed a sanddune and got to watch pelicans in Walwis bay.
I am more than halfway through my practical training at the hospital and have seen and experienced a lot while being there. We´re mostly well received but sometimes there are languagebarriers when we either don´t understand or hear what nurses are saying or that some patients only speaks Afrikaans.
I have now been 1 week at Casualty, 1 Weeks at Maternity where I got to watch several births and attend C-sections, 2 weeks at Acute Care (48 % burn patient, motor vehicle accident victim, Lupus, epileptic patient, preeclampsia, jaundince, renal failure, subcutaneous emphysema +++) and 1 week at Operation Theatre with removal of hemorrhoids, breast augementations, cysts, laparoscopy, removal of a uterus and more) We also did the overnight shift this weekend for payday where we got to see cases like stabbing, overdose, car accidents, sick babies and more. So from now on we get to choose what wards we wanna spend our remaining weeks at. Both of our teachers are coming this week so they will visit us at the hospital, we will invite to the house and we will go out to dinner with them.
Overall, most of the weekdays go by with a full day at the hospital, laying by the pool, reading for the upcoming exam, a few trip to the city center for cafes or shopping or cooking dinners together. We have also had a few movienights and a share of parties here at the house. It was OktoberFest this weekend that all the other Norwegian students went to but I decided to stay at house all by myself to enjoy some alone time by the pool listening to music on my ipod. Usually I like to have people around but it does get too intense at times always having 10 people or more around you and sharing room with 3 other students....so the few moments when I am alone are very precious.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
more from our week at Casualty..
2 more days at Casualty has passed and each day is very different. Yesterday was pretty quiet and besides taking vitals, observations, urinstix, pregnancytests we got to learn about ECG and got to take it on a patient.
Today we chose to work from 1pm - 7pm and today went by som much faster than yesterday since we had to very good male nurses to follow and that let us take both subcutane and intramuscular injections. We got to watch how they stitch on smaller wounds. I even got to assist on a smaller surgery where a male patient had gotten his upper lips cut and lost a few teeth from an assault when he got bitten by another male. He was bleeding a lot and the doctor had a hard time stopping the bleeding and ending up admitting the patient for observation. A few younger girls came in for injections and dressing of wounds and some loud screaming occured but the girls were calmed down by the staff. It gets easier every day being at the hospital, experiencing a lot and learning every day. I am still feeling a little uneasiness of being a group of 3 students at the same time in the ward, it feels like we are too many observing at once...just hoping that feeling will go away eventually.
Looking forward to tomorrow´s dayshift and hoping to see more interesting cases that I can learn a lot from.
Good night everyone!
Today we chose to work from 1pm - 7pm and today went by som much faster than yesterday since we had to very good male nurses to follow and that let us take both subcutane and intramuscular injections. We got to watch how they stitch on smaller wounds. I even got to assist on a smaller surgery where a male patient had gotten his upper lips cut and lost a few teeth from an assault when he got bitten by another male. He was bleeding a lot and the doctor had a hard time stopping the bleeding and ending up admitting the patient for observation. A few younger girls came in for injections and dressing of wounds and some loud screaming occured but the girls were calmed down by the staff. It gets easier every day being at the hospital, experiencing a lot and learning every day. I am still feeling a little uneasiness of being a group of 3 students at the same time in the ward, it feels like we are too many observing at once...just hoping that feeling will go away eventually.
Looking forward to tomorrow´s dayshift and hoping to see more interesting cases that I can learn a lot from.
Good night everyone!
Monday, September 22, 2014
The real first week in clinical practice: Casualty!
Today once again the cab driver can´t manage to pick us up on time..this time we ordered a cab for 6:30am so we could make it to the hospital before 7 am, but of course the cab didn´t show up before 28 minutes later than arranged. We then left for the hospital 2 mins before 7 am....this is Africa, and we´re always on African time..meaning there is no time to be on time...lol
We kind of got a rude awakeing when we walked into a morning meeting where the staff at Casualty were complaining about the students (The Namibians) that tend to disappers for hours and expect the staff to sign for them being there all day. "Oh shit" I thought, thinking that we will have to prove them wrong about us, the Norwegains. After the meeting was over everybody seems very nice, welcome us and we got a complete tour of Casualty and other "places", like Triage and more...
Then it was time to start...right away we were told to take Vitals of the patients coming in, set up IV, PVK, measure bloodsugar, give injections and get "this and that". It was no time to think, just jump into the action, like if we have been there many times before... It was a little hectic in the beginning since we didn´t know the routines and what to do or not to do, but I tried as best as I could. I got to give my 2nd intramuscular injection ever, but that went well, I think...and hope to get more chances at it while being in Casualty this week. I got to watch a guy getting his head getting stitched from having a epileptic seizure while driving his car, that resulted in him crashing the car. Then we were told that a lot of drivers get seizures while driving their cars but won´t admit that they have problems with seizures. We experienced patients with a big variety of problems like overdose, a girl getting hit by a car for the 2nd time, a little boy was bitten by a dog, fall in a stair, bartholin abcess, hypoglycemic shock, girl fainted twice at school, someone who just tested positiv for HIV, nasogastric tube. and more. We got to assist and observe...overall an interesting day with a lot of situations I learned a lot from. We even got a lot of positive fedback from one of the nurses when were done for the dayI´m looking forward to a lot more to learn the rest of the week there.
At the house we made tacos for one of the other student´s birthday.. we celebrated her birthday, with partyhats and cake:-)
We kind of got a rude awakeing when we walked into a morning meeting where the staff at Casualty were complaining about the students (The Namibians) that tend to disappers for hours and expect the staff to sign for them being there all day. "Oh shit" I thought, thinking that we will have to prove them wrong about us, the Norwegains. After the meeting was over everybody seems very nice, welcome us and we got a complete tour of Casualty and other "places", like Triage and more...
Then it was time to start...right away we were told to take Vitals of the patients coming in, set up IV, PVK, measure bloodsugar, give injections and get "this and that". It was no time to think, just jump into the action, like if we have been there many times before... It was a little hectic in the beginning since we didn´t know the routines and what to do or not to do, but I tried as best as I could. I got to give my 2nd intramuscular injection ever, but that went well, I think...and hope to get more chances at it while being in Casualty this week. I got to watch a guy getting his head getting stitched from having a epileptic seizure while driving his car, that resulted in him crashing the car. Then we were told that a lot of drivers get seizures while driving their cars but won´t admit that they have problems with seizures. We experienced patients with a big variety of problems like overdose, a girl getting hit by a car for the 2nd time, a little boy was bitten by a dog, fall in a stair, bartholin abcess, hypoglycemic shock, girl fainted twice at school, someone who just tested positiv for HIV, nasogastric tube. and more. We got to assist and observe...overall an interesting day with a lot of situations I learned a lot from. We even got a lot of positive fedback from one of the nurses when were done for the dayI´m looking forward to a lot more to learn the rest of the week there.
At the house we made tacos for one of the other student´s birthday.. we celebrated her birthday, with partyhats and cake:-)
Sunday, September 21, 2014
MY FIRST WEEKEND IN WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA
The weekend is over when I´m writing this.. I´m in bed and getting ready for my first full week at the hospital: at Casualty..
Anyway, I had a good weekend...lots of sleep, good food and great summer weather.
On Saturday I slept in late before catching up on some reading for the exam I will have once I get back to Norway..studying in the sun is sooo much better than staying at home in Norway where it is getting colder and darker every day. A lazy afternoon before we went out for dinner at Joe´s Beerhouse. What a cozy and unique restaurant. I had "Bushman Sosatie", a selection of crocodile, zebra, kudu, oryx and springbox...very good and also cheap...8 people ate, drank alcohol, soda and coffee and had dessert for 1900 N$ .. knowing we will back there many times while being here.
Sunday was another quiet and relaxing day at home, laying outside and reading for my exam.
I went for a walk with 3 of the other students before we went groceryshopping for dinner: chicken, rice with garlic sauce, garlig bread and salad. Once again a delicious meal..I can get used to all these nice dinners while being here:-)
Anyway, I had a good weekend...lots of sleep, good food and great summer weather.
On Saturday I slept in late before catching up on some reading for the exam I will have once I get back to Norway..studying in the sun is sooo much better than staying at home in Norway where it is getting colder and darker every day. A lazy afternoon before we went out for dinner at Joe´s Beerhouse. What a cozy and unique restaurant. I had "Bushman Sosatie", a selection of crocodile, zebra, kudu, oryx and springbox...very good and also cheap...8 people ate, drank alcohol, soda and coffee and had dessert for 1900 N$ .. knowing we will back there many times while being here.
Sunday was another quiet and relaxing day at home, laying outside and reading for my exam.
I went for a walk with 3 of the other students before we went groceryshopping for dinner: chicken, rice with garlic sauce, garlig bread and salad. Once again a delicious meal..I can get used to all these nice dinners while being here:-)
Friday..and our first weekend is here..
Today we went to UNAM, university of Namibia for a reflection meeting. We were together with other nursingstudents from Sweden, Finland and Denmark. We were talking about our experiences at the hospital, our thoughts and got to ask any questions we had. We were also told about how the healthcare system works and got some info about Katutura hospital, where we all we be place for the next 2 months.
Afterward we went to Maerua Mall, the largest mall in Namibia to do some shopping, clothes and groceries. Needless to say, but after a few hours there we left with a shopping cart full of groceries and many bags of clothes..
We spent the evening home, outside by the pool: drinking, talking, singing and laughing.
We ordered in some pizzas for dinner, and still amazed how cheap eveything is here, 5 medium pizzas for 400 N$. We also invited some other girls for cheese and wine but they never showed up, their loss loosing out on our great company...
As old as I am I was the first one to go to bed, but a few of my other roommates went to bed not much later than me...
Afterward we went to Maerua Mall, the largest mall in Namibia to do some shopping, clothes and groceries. Needless to say, but after a few hours there we left with a shopping cart full of groceries and many bags of clothes..
We spent the evening home, outside by the pool: drinking, talking, singing and laughing.
We ordered in some pizzas for dinner, and still amazed how cheap eveything is here, 5 medium pizzas for 400 N$. We also invited some other girls for cheese and wine but they never showed up, their loss loosing out on our great company...
As old as I am I was the first one to go to bed, but a few of my other roommates went to bed not much later than me...
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Thursday 18/09/14
Today I had my first day at the hospital. I was at the surgical ward...we were even 10 minutes late on our first day since the cab neer showed up at the time we ordered it for...
We bare introduced ourselves before we were put to work, to make beds..before following some Namibian students on their observation rounds, that is something totally different from how we do it in Norway; they bare speak to their patients, just measure their vitals, ask how they are doing and then walk out. In order to help patients with their morning hygiene they heat water in tank in the hallway. What we learned the most from was when we got to follow on the doctors visit and he talked about the patients diagnoses. Besides that it was a very quiet day there, but we still got to observe and see a lot of differences between the Namibian way of nursing and the Norwegian way routines and procedures are being done.
The rest of the afternoon were spent by the pool/front yard reading for our upcoming exam.
Todays outdoor dinner was "Silje´s chickensoup".
I was tired and went to bed quite early...have a good night everyone :-)
We bare introduced ourselves before we were put to work, to make beds..before following some Namibian students on their observation rounds, that is something totally different from how we do it in Norway; they bare speak to their patients, just measure their vitals, ask how they are doing and then walk out. In order to help patients with their morning hygiene they heat water in tank in the hallway. What we learned the most from was when we got to follow on the doctors visit and he talked about the patients diagnoses. Besides that it was a very quiet day there, but we still got to observe and see a lot of differences between the Namibian way of nursing and the Norwegian way routines and procedures are being done.
The rest of the afternoon were spent by the pool/front yard reading for our upcoming exam.
Todays outdoor dinner was "Silje´s chickensoup".
I was tired and went to bed quite early...have a good night everyone :-)
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Wednesday September 17th
Today we went to the hospital for the first time, just for a quick tour and deciding which wards we´d like to have our clinical practice at. We divided in 3 group since we always have to be 3 students at a time at each ward.
The hospital is the one of 2 state hospitals in Windhoek. The standard isn´t like in Norwegian hospitals but not as bad as we expected. It´s not very maintained but since it´s not a private hospital the equipment and facilities aren´t as modern as other hospitals...I guess..
The staff seemed nice and welcoming and I´m looking forward to starting my clinical practices there tomorrow, and hopefully learn as much as possible while I´m there.
To end our day at the hospital we decided to walk back home to the house we´re staying at, about an hour walk in the African sun...because Norwegains like to walk, and as future nurses we know that it is important to stay physical active..
In the afternoon we went back into the center of the city, to State Office to pick up our visas.
For some reasons they could only find 5 out of 9 passport so the rest of us, including me of course, had to wait for almost an hour, but with some patience we were lucky enough to get the visas only 3 days after we arrived in Namibia.
Then it was time for some grocery shopping and stocking up on bottles and bottles of water...as we future nurses know it is important to stay hydrated..
On today´s dinner menu was cheeseburgers, chili/cajun style. I was one of the 3 people in charge of dinner.. despite of lots of tears while chopping onions I could still enjoy a juicy and spicy burger with a smile that chased the tears away.
With a full tummy and having to get up at 6 am tomorrow morning it is wise of me to go to bed earlier than I normally do...so I can wake up and get my tired self into a waiting cab in the morning...
With this I will say goodnight, close my laptop and let the sound of barking dogs put me to sleep!
The hospital is the one of 2 state hospitals in Windhoek. The standard isn´t like in Norwegian hospitals but not as bad as we expected. It´s not very maintained but since it´s not a private hospital the equipment and facilities aren´t as modern as other hospitals...I guess..
The staff seemed nice and welcoming and I´m looking forward to starting my clinical practices there tomorrow, and hopefully learn as much as possible while I´m there.
To end our day at the hospital we decided to walk back home to the house we´re staying at, about an hour walk in the African sun...because Norwegains like to walk, and as future nurses we know that it is important to stay physical active..
In the afternoon we went back into the center of the city, to State Office to pick up our visas.
For some reasons they could only find 5 out of 9 passport so the rest of us, including me of course, had to wait for almost an hour, but with some patience we were lucky enough to get the visas only 3 days after we arrived in Namibia.
Then it was time for some grocery shopping and stocking up on bottles and bottles of water...as we future nurses know it is important to stay hydrated..
On today´s dinner menu was cheeseburgers, chili/cajun style. I was one of the 3 people in charge of dinner.. despite of lots of tears while chopping onions I could still enjoy a juicy and spicy burger with a smile that chased the tears away.
With a full tummy and having to get up at 6 am tomorrow morning it is wise of me to go to bed earlier than I normally do...so I can wake up and get my tired self into a waiting cab in the morning...
With this I will say goodnight, close my laptop and let the sound of barking dogs put me to sleep!
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Tuesday September 17th: Home of Good Hope
Today we went to a soup kitchen called "Home of Good Hope", that a lady named Monica started in the Goreanab slums in 2007 for children aged 1-16. "Home of Good Hope" serves food for about 500 children each day :-)
When the van opened all the children came rushing to great us, hold our hands, give hugs and wanted to get lifted up and carried around. The kids were so joyful and full of energy...and so darn cute!
We got to play with the kids and also helped serve a warm meal, fruit and drinks. It was impressive to see how organized everything was. The kids washed their hands before eating, quietly sat down to eat their meal, and cleaned up after themself so that we could do the dishes. The kids all sang for us and we got to sit down and play with the toys they had there. It was impressive how well mannered and polited the kids were.
It was a humble learning experience that made me think, put things in perspective and also appreciate how good life is back home. I feel lucky to have been a part of a day at "Home of Good Hope" and will make sure I go back there more time during my stay here in Windhoek.
If anyone want to help out and be a part of such a great project please visit " Home of Good Hope": http://www.homeofgoodhope.org , read about what Monica does and maybe that inspires some of you to make a donation :-)
I also found a video on youtube.com: http://youtu.be/c2iZcKwMza8
When the van opened all the children came rushing to great us, hold our hands, give hugs and wanted to get lifted up and carried around. The kids were so joyful and full of energy...and so darn cute!
We got to play with the kids and also helped serve a warm meal, fruit and drinks. It was impressive to see how organized everything was. The kids washed their hands before eating, quietly sat down to eat their meal, and cleaned up after themself so that we could do the dishes. The kids all sang for us and we got to sit down and play with the toys they had there. It was impressive how well mannered and polited the kids were.
It was a humble learning experience that made me think, put things in perspective and also appreciate how good life is back home. I feel lucky to have been a part of a day at "Home of Good Hope" and will make sure I go back there more time during my stay here in Windhoek.
If anyone want to help out and be a part of such a great project please visit " Home of Good Hope": http://www.homeofgoodhope.org , read about what Monica does and maybe that inspires some of you to make a donation :-)
I also found a video on youtube.com: http://youtu.be/c2iZcKwMza8
Monday, September 15, 2014
Monday 15/09/14... Check out: www.utvekslinginamibia.blogg.no for pics and postings in Norwegians
After a good night sleep and a nice breakfast outdoors we all got in the minivan and W (the driver, caretaker, chef, handyman, host ++++) were taking us to Home Affairs to get our visa situation taken care of....well, we thought we were going there...it seemed like W, due to lack of communication ( I think? ) thought we were going to The Home of Good Hope, a soup kitchen in the poor part of Katutura and was trying to drop us off there. We protested saying we have passports and papers with us ready to deal with our visas...so no chance we were gonna budge from that plan!
So off to Home Affairs we went. A few trip back and forth to different counters, floors, people to talk to and lines to wait in we were told to come back on Wednesday afternoon to pick up our visas...hopefully..
After some bargain shopping and a stop at KFC, we went to buy SIM cards and cellphones...maybe then we could blend in with the locals...lol.. More than 20 grocery bags later and 2 trips in Wayne's "little" car that couldn't fit 9 students and loads of groceries we made it back to the housein order to make dinner. One note for future cooking: have patience...the ovens here takes 3-4 times longer to bake/cook the food. Dinner then became a late night meal, what we Norwegians call "kveldsmat".
The highlight of the kitchen session was when one of the students said to W, in lack of an English word: Thank God you're such a good "kokk"! (meaning chef)...quite a statement that had a totally different meaning and gave us a good laugh :-)
After dinner We got to witness the craziest and brightest lightening ever..it was almost like fireworks. I captured some of it on camera before heading inside. The lighting and thunder became bigger and lounder and as I'm writing this the thunder was so lound and closeby, and it started raining...for the first time since March I was told. Now the rain, thunder and lightening stopped and it's time for me to get some zzzzzzz...
On the schedule for tomorrow is the soupkitchen!
Good night, sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite !:-)
So off to Home Affairs we went. A few trip back and forth to different counters, floors, people to talk to and lines to wait in we were told to come back on Wednesday afternoon to pick up our visas...hopefully..
After some bargain shopping and a stop at KFC, we went to buy SIM cards and cellphones...maybe then we could blend in with the locals...lol.. More than 20 grocery bags later and 2 trips in Wayne's "little" car that couldn't fit 9 students and loads of groceries we made it back to the housein order to make dinner. One note for future cooking: have patience...the ovens here takes 3-4 times longer to bake/cook the food. Dinner then became a late night meal, what we Norwegians call "kveldsmat".
The highlight of the kitchen session was when one of the students said to W, in lack of an English word: Thank God you're such a good "kokk"! (meaning chef)...quite a statement that had a totally different meaning and gave us a good laugh :-)
After dinner We got to witness the craziest and brightest lightening ever..it was almost like fireworks. I captured some of it on camera before heading inside. The lighting and thunder became bigger and lounder and as I'm writing this the thunder was so lound and closeby, and it started raining...for the first time since March I was told. Now the rain, thunder and lightening stopped and it's time for me to get some zzzzzzz...
On the schedule for tomorrow is the soupkitchen!
Good night, sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite !:-)
Clinical practices in Namibia...
I will be back...and I am :-)
This time I will try to use this as my diary while I am 3 months in Africa as a nursing student doing my clinical practice at Katutura hospital in Windhoek, Namibia. I arrived yesterday after travelling more than 20 hours, stopping in Frankfurt and Johannesburg before arriving in Windhoek. Of course I wouldn't do this journey all alone...but with 8 other students from my school.
So here we are and we did survive our first full day here. Maybe I should say, survived our trip from the airport, on the wrong side of the road..more than once we thought that the car was driving itself since there was no driver in the left frontseat, lol..
So back to Sunday, the day we arrived....We had to sign a paper saying we weren't coming from any countries where they have the Ebola virus before leaving the plane and a lady was standing outside the airport taking our temperature, I think..before letting the passengers enter the airport terminal. The first problem occured when we tried to get through customs when none of us had gotten the visa beforehand. We "barely" made it through getting strict instructions that we had to get our visas taken care of right away. Then thinking we could breath just in order to get stopped with all our hand sanitizers, 14 bottles each...but with some Norwegian charm we got to leave with bottles of leaking "antibac". 2 many big suitcases barely fit in the truck bringing that was taking us to were we're staying for the next few months. Before our first meal here, all 9 students thought it was a good idea that all of us went to the grocerystore to stuck up on food....needless to say that it was a caotic situation when a bunch of Norwegians trying to find items, deciding on what to buy, who is buying while cause "traffic" in the store...kinda stressful and quite a sight for the locals I believe.
But we got what we needed, made dinner and went to bed exhausted after a long journey....
This time I will try to use this as my diary while I am 3 months in Africa as a nursing student doing my clinical practice at Katutura hospital in Windhoek, Namibia. I arrived yesterday after travelling more than 20 hours, stopping in Frankfurt and Johannesburg before arriving in Windhoek. Of course I wouldn't do this journey all alone...but with 8 other students from my school.
So here we are and we did survive our first full day here. Maybe I should say, survived our trip from the airport, on the wrong side of the road..more than once we thought that the car was driving itself since there was no driver in the left frontseat, lol..
So back to Sunday, the day we arrived....We had to sign a paper saying we weren't coming from any countries where they have the Ebola virus before leaving the plane and a lady was standing outside the airport taking our temperature, I think..before letting the passengers enter the airport terminal. The first problem occured when we tried to get through customs when none of us had gotten the visa beforehand. We "barely" made it through getting strict instructions that we had to get our visas taken care of right away. Then thinking we could breath just in order to get stopped with all our hand sanitizers, 14 bottles each...but with some Norwegian charm we got to leave with bottles of leaking "antibac". 2 many big suitcases barely fit in the truck bringing that was taking us to were we're staying for the next few months. Before our first meal here, all 9 students thought it was a good idea that all of us went to the grocerystore to stuck up on food....needless to say that it was a caotic situation when a bunch of Norwegians trying to find items, deciding on what to buy, who is buying while cause "traffic" in the store...kinda stressful and quite a sight for the locals I believe.
But we got what we needed, made dinner and went to bed exhausted after a long journey....
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