Who are we?

This blog is an agglomeration of the thoughts and experiences of two American girls who packed up and moved to South Africa on a whim. Caz from Fairfield, Connecticut and Mandy from Milwaukee, Wisconsin first met as roommates in 4127 on Semester at Sea in Fall of 2010.
In the interim, Caz returned to finish her Bachelor of Science with a double major in Biology (concentration in Microbiology) and Geography with a minor in Chemistry at the University of Miami in Florida, while Mandy took a hiatus to rediscover her real passion working with pregnant women, advocating for home birth and delivering babies outside of a hospital environment. We reconvened to follow both of our fields of study (read: hopes, dreams, asiprations, life goals, etc.) outside of the United States. Hello South Africa?

We are both here for at least a year and a half, though the more time we spend falling in love with South Africa, the more we'd like to think it'll be longer. We are both starting jobs in November/December: Caz working with infectious disease at a hospital clinic and Mandy beginning her training to become a certified midwife. Before then, we are both writing a book about our experiences leading up to this adventure as well as the multitude of serendipitous happenings that led us here.

As always, feel free to comment or ask questions. If you have an interest in a topic, let us know and we will surely oblige you (within reason). Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

One Month in Africa with Angry Geese

I've been in Cape Town now for just over a month. It feels simultaneously like I just got here yesterday and that I've been here for months. I feel like I just saw my boyfriend last weekend, but I miss him so much it's pretty pathetic. I cannot wait for him to experience Cape Town with me. So, since Caroline had to flee to New York to avoid deportation by the South African government, Buddha and I are chillin alone this week. This morning we spent a few hours in the Company Gardens so the apartment's maid could do her thing in peace. While we were there we were chased by a flock of angry Egyptian Geese. I'm not kidding. Normally the geese can be heard angrily squaking as soon as Buddha enters the park lane, all the way down to the other end. Today they were ready for us. About 5 minutes into the park I was hearing the familiar noises of pissed off parental geese, but when I looked behind me at the mounting chorus of honking, there were at least 10 of them. All of them feathers puffed out, wings open, and beaks ready for blood. Normally Buddha could care less about the displeased angry birds that yell at him when he gets too close to their nests or general standing area, but even he was getting worried and trying to tuck tail ahead of me away from the advancing troops. We picked up our pace, but they were moving faster and getting louder. Just as I thought I was going to have to open up to a full sprint away from the psychotic avian hoard that really was after Buddha, I ducked through a gate into another part of the Gardens. They huddled at the threshold making certain we wouldn't try to turn around and head back their way. We definitely did not! After that trying experience, we found a nice quiet bench to sit at and eat a snack while Buddha protected me from the squirrels. It was a beautiful morning, so even the scary birds didn't upset me.


I have found that I really do enjoy being alone. I don't feel lonely, especially with Buddha around, and it gives me no excuse to put off my writing for the book. I have hammered out so many details of the book in the last few days I was seeing words on the back of my eyelids as I tried to fall asleep last night. This project is really starting to take a tangible shape other than a few scattered ideas floating around. It's been a good month in Africa.

Mandy
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