My time in Cape Town is coming to a quick end. I cannot believe that it has been 3.5 months now. I look back on my previous entries and cannot believe how unhappy I was at first, just because I was nervous. I am in love with this country, I am in love with the people, I am in love with this place! It is amazing and it makes me sad to think that my time here is coming to an end. Where did the time go? I feel like I have been gone for maybe a month but not almost four. Part of me is ready to go home - I miss everybody so much but I know that once I go home, get back into the groove, I will miss Cape Town and I will be longing to return. All of the friends that I made this semester are leaving on Sunday. I still have to pack but I cannot bring myself to do it. Each day is a rush to buy things we didn't get before or to go places that we never got a chance to go to and it just makes me sad. The suitcases are coming out, the tears have started and the goodbyes have been occurring all week. This is the part that I hate - saying goodbye. How can I possibly say goodbye to this gorgeous country? I know that I have a couple more weeks because Amanda gets here on Sunday (which I am completely psyched about) but I really do think I am going to be sobbing on the plane. Can everybody I love just move here so I don't have to say goodbye to Africa? Sure it has its' crazies, psychotic killer bugs and its crime but where is this not present? Everybody should come here at least once in their life time - it is worth the flight.

So to recap what I have been doing since I haven't posted. I have been living life - trying to still find a roommate for John Hopkins next year, still trying to find a job for the summer which is a hassle when overseas. I am trying to spend as much time as possible with my friends here. I have finished, as much as I could have, my project at my internship for Dr. Rode. My study wound up including 105 patients (which means I looked at over 200 case files) and the only conclusion I could draw was that flame burns have a higher susceptibility to VAP whereas hot water burns had a higher susceptibility to nosocomial pneumonia. Obviously flame burns led to more inhalational burns which contributed to the VAP as well. When I showed Dr. Rode my results and everything I did, he was really pleased and said that he did not expect this much work out of me. If he didn't expect this work, I really don't know what he expected I was doing these past few months. My paper for this is not written, only the introduction and methods so I am going to correspond with Dr. Rode over the summer in order to finalize the paper and hopefully get it published in the South African Medical Journal.

I went downtown by myself, which is a first. Got on the minibus by myself (even after all of these muggings have happened lately), found my way to St. George's mall and Green market Square, by myself (which is not hard), and found Amanda and my hotel so I know how to orient myself. It is kind of fun, relaxing and liberating, being able to be that comfortable with this area in order to head downtown by myself using transportation that some locals are afraid to use. Yesterday I had an interesting encounter. I went to the beach with some friends and this man comes up to us. I was on my stomach reading a book but I could tell he was right behind me due to his shadow. He says "hi guys" and keeps saying this until I respond since everybody else is ignoring him, hoping he will go away. Now I thought he was one of the workers that go around the beaches selling cold drinks and ice cream. I was confused as to why I did not hear him say "GRANADILLA LOLLIE! COKE LIGHT! ICE COLD WATER FROM ICELAND!". Then and there I should have assumed that he was not one of those people selling things. Once I said hello, he walked around my towel and crouched in front of me. I looked in his face, saw the missing teeth and the dirty clothes and thought to myself "oh crap - what did I get myself into". It was obvious that he was homeless and was going to beg for money and food. He gave me this sheet of paper that was from an outpatient clinic explaining that he was coughing up blood in his sputum. The man explained this to me as well and I immediately thought TB. He mentioned that he had TB in the past and was on medication for it but can no longer afford the medication. Immediately, I thought of the fact that he was going to generate an MDR-TB which could spread to other people and that would be bad. Eventually, this man got to the crux of his story and said that he had no money for medication or food. I feel uncomfortable giving homeless/beggars money because you do not know what they are going to do with it. I went through my bag and found an apple and gave it to him. The man said thank you, looked at me like I should give him money and I explained that I had no money (a little white lie) but I did have an apple to give him. He looked like he put the apple in his bag and walked away. I turned to talk to my friend and realized that he had thrown the apple in the sand. How ungrateful! It was obvious that he was just looking for money and to do what with, I don't know. It is clear that he was not looking for food and it frustrates me that you give people the benefit of the doubt and they do this. That makes me not want to try to help others. Overall - I was astonished that it happened and I was a little angry. But, that is the only 'exciting' incident that has happened thus far since I last posted.

Amanda is coming in three days!! Soo excited and I cannot wait to show her South Africa. We are going to have a blast! I will be home in three weeks!