South Africa. What a country!
I have to admit that in my naivete I thought all of Africa would be swelteringly hot. Not so. In case you also thought the way I did, let me inform you that in Johannesburg, South Africa it is currently 43°. Not cool. Cold.
I arrived last Friday and spent the night at a hostel. I thought I was going to freeze to death in that hostel room as the heater kept dying, but somehow God brought me through the night. The next morning I went bright and early to get my car from the airport, but the Hertz man told me that my license was unacceptable. It took two hours and a trip to both the airport and municipal police along with some reasoning and a wee bit of begging to finally allow him to give me the car. Thank God he didn't follow me to the car after he handed me the keys. I had been diligently reading up on how to drive stick-shift for a few days before I rented the car knowing it would be a challenge. I stalled the first four times I started the engine, and on one of them moved about 2 feet out of the parking space. I was so worried one of the rental car dudes was going to come over and tell me I had to give the hard-earned keys back.
Don't ask me how I drove the 5ks across the highways and up hills back to the hostel. Or the 30ks later that afternoon to the family I'm staying with now. God must have been protecting me. The next day, I had to reverse my car out of the family's driveway and as the two daughters sat in the cars prepared to move out after me (it's a complicated arrangement with six cars and one driveway), I proceeded to start, stall, and hop out of the driveway. One of the girls likened my style to that of a kangaroo. I think I can safely say that I've received more flattering comments.
Tomorrow I have a meeting with the CEO of a hospital division, a scheduled tour of the world's largest hospital (or so wiki claims it is), and an important meeting with a researcher. Pray they go well.
Now for the more 'solid' stuff (as solid as fluffy, female literature can get-all persons not-interested in my didacticism can stop reading here. Or here. Gotcha. Knew you'd keep reading. anyways, enough of my childishness...)
We've watched Anne of Greene Gables over the past week, and I have to say that after not seeing those movies for about 8 years, it was quite an enjoyable refresher. What a solid set of films. Gil's choices as a doctor made me think about my aspirations to go to 'the greatest' medical school. Ever since I got rejected at Yale as an undergrad, I've had this inner desire to 'prove' myself to academia and get into a good school and be the posh ivy-league kid. What rubbish. Being 'poor' is far better than changing yourself to something you don't really want. The beginning of this verse from proverbs says, 'what is desired in a man is steadfast love.' Gil loved home, and he didn't need to go out and prove himself-that's ultimately why Anne fell for him (literally-cue the beach scene from the beginning of the 3rd film).
What do I really love? I love working with people, doing public health researcher, talking about philosophy and faith, and exploring new places. I don't love biochemistry research. While the details are hard to get into here, I've felt an overwhelming need to become a researcher so I can go to a research based institution like Harvard or Yale. What a cop-out. I know what I want to become-a doctor working overseas. If I don't get into the best med schools, that's fine. I'm just going to take it one day at a time.
