It is Sunday evening and time to reflect on our first week. It feels as though we have been here much longer than that. Some of our days have been very busy, others not so, but it has all been about new experiences. There have been new customs, new languages, new friends, new colleagues and very new working environments. All off this has been exhilarating but also quite exhausting. This isn’t helped by the dawn chorus outside our bedroom window and more recently socialising late into the evening!!
The limited experience I have had at work so far has been a little shocking. I had been very well prepared by colleagues who had been to QE II (the hospital) before as to what to expect, but nonetheless it vastly different from the NHS with a lot of young people suffering very serious disease. My main focus last week was learning the system. I shall be doing more of the same this week, but as the days go by I will look at doing more. I will write more about the experience of the QEII in due course.
To fill you all in on the weekend... we drove to Bloemfontein on Saturday morning. It was a pleasant 2 hour drive – much more interesting than the M4 to London!! We didn’t see that much of the city as we were on a schedule to get back for the first of the Six Nations (England v Wales). Despite that we did manage a little tour in the car (we got a little lost!) and ended up looking around two shopping centres. We had a lovely lunch in one (the Waterfront) looking out over a lake. Amazingly we bumped into one of the few people we actually know on the continent on two occasions whilst in Bloem!!
The rugby was an unusual experience! We were sat in the bar of the Maseru Golf Clubhouse with a modest group of young expats and our Welsh teacher friends we had met on Thursday; apart from the Castle and Maluti beers, we could have easily been in a pub in the UK. The teachers came across a month ago, through the same charity (Dolen Cymru) that assisted Kit and I. Not all of the group are Welsh, but the vocal ones certainly were. Unfortunately (for them) there wasn’t a great deal to cheer about as England won quite convincingly. I will admit I felt a little bit torn... sorry Peter! After the game, we joined the other expats for an eighties party at one of their houses.
Today hasn’t been quite so hectic. We managed to do some home improvements and go for a little sunset explore east of the city. We have attached some pictures of the views. It felt like we were on top of the world looking down on Maseru and surrounds. I somehow think we might be saying that a lot over the months to come.
Monday morning and a new week beckons.
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