Oooops, not updated in a while, sorry!
My excuse is that I have been terribly busy over the last few weeks. So what have I been up to? I think you last heard from me when I had malaria and was feeling pretty rubbish, well, you'll be glad to hear, I'm fully recovered and raring to go!
Vic visited last week, which was awesome. We went to Senga bay on the west of Lake Malawi, which was beautiful. A tropical paradise. We didn't do anything too strenuous, apart from a lazy swim and a gentle stroll up the beach for lunch one day. It was lovely to sit and natter which a cold soda and catch up on our lives. We also played plenty of rummy which I am champion :-) Hehe! Our travel there was typically African, the minibus took ages to Salima and then our pick up truck hitching ride was extremely packed, even to the point of the Africans saying there was no more room! We got to Senga bay at sundown and then hiked 3 km in the dark to our accomodation, scary and daunting at times but we made it. The next day we saw the beauty of God's creation around the lake, it was stunning :-)
We had an easier time travelling down from Senga bay to Blantyre though it did take about 9 hours in total. Tuesday was spent seeing the sights of Blantyre including most importantly La Caverna which is a cafe in gorgeous gardens and provides very good coffee and passion fruit cake. Wednesday we took advantage of the fact Phil and Aaron were up Zomba mountain doing repairs on the McGrath's chalet and travelled to the base of the mountain by minibus and caught a lift up in their car. We hiked around Zomba all day seeing the William's falls and Dam, we even saw a troop of baboons with babies which was cute. Thursday was the coffee shop trip out past Limbe market where we bought lots of beans and ground coffee and sat and tasted a new blend of coffee, I also showed Vic the hopsital and clubfoot clinic to show her what I get up to at work. Vic had an unexpected extra day on friday as the bus left in the evening to Lilongwe rather than the morning so we went into town again and found the material shop and the wood market and then went to spices for lunch.
Saturday I watched the Scotland South Africa game amongst many South African's at a friends house and gloated when the Scots won :-) Bring on this weeks match England v SA!
This week has been spent getting back into work. I have a lot of things to do including finishing up my project, staring a case presentation on metabolic bone disease, and writing a letter to world vision to ask them to fund my project. Please pray that I will have the wisdom to orgainise what I need to do when and the motivation to complete everything.
This weekend I hope to go to Club Mak which is a venue on the south part of the Lake. Some friends are taking part in the 'club Mak mile' which is a swimming race in the lake. We'll also hopefully watch the rugby match up there :-)
TTFN
H xx
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Monday 8 November 2010
Malaria and Mozambique
Hope you all had a happy Guy Fawkes night!
Unfortunately this last week I have been ill with malaria, but am now well on the way to recovery and getting more energy back each day. Thanks for all you prayers for a quick recovery – they worked well :-)
Well, it seems like ages away already but Mozambique was AMAZING! I had the most lovely relaxing week, lying on the beach, swimming in the very warm water, and even attempting to waterski – which I did manage for approximately 2 metres :-) we also did ‘tubing’ which is being pulled very fast along behind the speed boat on a rubber dingy ring! That was FUN :-)
We (Me, Phil, and Martyn) travelled up from Blantyre to the Mozambique border last Thursday and stayed the night at the Cowley’s (a mission family just the other side of the border in the Mozambique town of Mandimba). We then with the Cowley’s and their 4 kids travelled to Lichinga where we met with about 4 other families going to the ski camp and headed out to the lake near Meponda. The scenery was stunning and the water extremely clear. We piched our tents right next to the beach, and spent all of the 3 days in the water! We even went crocodile hunting in the evenings, we saw some crocs but they wern’t longer than a metre, it was actually more crocodile sight-seeing as we didn’t catch them! On the way back we stayed another night at the Cowley’s before travelling back on Tuesday to get back in time for lentil curry and bible study :-)
Well it is only 4 days until Vic gets here which I am massively looking forward to, it is really strange to think I’ve not seen any of my family or friends for 3 months now. We are planning to go to the Malawi side of the lake for the weekend and then travel back down to Blantyre to show her the sights and meet my Malawian family and friends! Please therefore pray for my health and hers that we will enjoy our time together. Also pray for our safe travels especially my coach travel up to Lilongwe to meet Vic, and for Vic’s long flight via Ethiopia and that her connections go well.
I enjoyed helping out with the McGrath youth group on Friday despite the malaria, especially since they had fireworks and sparklers! It was very strange having fireworks night on a hot evening, I miss the cold and frosty, hat and scarf wearing night that usually accompanies Guy Fawkes night, I’ll even got to have a sparkler without wearing my gloves – the shock!
The last thing I would like prayer for is the fact that specialty applications for NHS training have now started up. I have this month of November to refine my CV and portfolio and decide which applications to go for to start work in August 2011. I need to decide whether to apply for general surgery for 2 years then go into orthopaedics for the 6 years following that or a straight 8 years of orthopaedics. At the beginning of December i have to submit my various applications ready for shortlisting and interviews when I am back in the UK in January. The prayer would be for wisdom in what to apply for and that God would clearly show me the way He has planned.
H xx
Unfortunately this last week I have been ill with malaria, but am now well on the way to recovery and getting more energy back each day. Thanks for all you prayers for a quick recovery – they worked well :-)
Well, it seems like ages away already but Mozambique was AMAZING! I had the most lovely relaxing week, lying on the beach, swimming in the very warm water, and even attempting to waterski – which I did manage for approximately 2 metres :-) we also did ‘tubing’ which is being pulled very fast along behind the speed boat on a rubber dingy ring! That was FUN :-)
We (Me, Phil, and Martyn) travelled up from Blantyre to the Mozambique border last Thursday and stayed the night at the Cowley’s (a mission family just the other side of the border in the Mozambique town of Mandimba). We then with the Cowley’s and their 4 kids travelled to Lichinga where we met with about 4 other families going to the ski camp and headed out to the lake near Meponda. The scenery was stunning and the water extremely clear. We piched our tents right next to the beach, and spent all of the 3 days in the water! We even went crocodile hunting in the evenings, we saw some crocs but they wern’t longer than a metre, it was actually more crocodile sight-seeing as we didn’t catch them! On the way back we stayed another night at the Cowley’s before travelling back on Tuesday to get back in time for lentil curry and bible study :-)
Well it is only 4 days until Vic gets here which I am massively looking forward to, it is really strange to think I’ve not seen any of my family or friends for 3 months now. We are planning to go to the Malawi side of the lake for the weekend and then travel back down to Blantyre to show her the sights and meet my Malawian family and friends! Please therefore pray for my health and hers that we will enjoy our time together. Also pray for our safe travels especially my coach travel up to Lilongwe to meet Vic, and for Vic’s long flight via Ethiopia and that her connections go well.
I enjoyed helping out with the McGrath youth group on Friday despite the malaria, especially since they had fireworks and sparklers! It was very strange having fireworks night on a hot evening, I miss the cold and frosty, hat and scarf wearing night that usually accompanies Guy Fawkes night, I’ll even got to have a sparkler without wearing my gloves – the shock!
The last thing I would like prayer for is the fact that specialty applications for NHS training have now started up. I have this month of November to refine my CV and portfolio and decide which applications to go for to start work in August 2011. I need to decide whether to apply for general surgery for 2 years then go into orthopaedics for the 6 years following that or a straight 8 years of orthopaedics. At the beginning of December i have to submit my various applications ready for shortlisting and interviews when I am back in the UK in January. The prayer would be for wisdom in what to apply for and that God would clearly show me the way He has planned.
H xx
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