How can I sum up Cape Town in a
final blog post? It is a city full of opposing forces. There is beauty and
darkness, mountains and oceans, towers and shacks, light and dark skin, locals
and foreigners, rich and poor, hope and sorrow. But to love something is to
love everything about it, including the dark side. I have found every aspect of
Cape Town fascinating, intriguing, and very special. We are very lucky to have
experienced every part of the city, and for that I am very grateful and truly
appreciate the city so much more for it. One of the reasons I am sad our
departure is so soon is because I will miss the amazing people I’ve met here.
The Sisters at Tafelsig Clinic are the kindest and most selfless people I know
and I am honored and blessed to have been able to work alongside them and learn
from them.
A quick side-note about Sister Castle,
the nurse we work most closely with; she brought us to her cake decorating
teacher’s house so that we would be able to decorate Easter eggs because we are
so far away from home. It was such a fun trip and her teacher is one of the
most patient and kind people in the world for teaching our group anything
artistic. This truly touched me because Sister Castle went above and beyond her
role as our supervisor to make us feel at home and have fun both in and outside
of work. This is found nowhere in her job description, but that is just the
type of person she is, like so many others in Cape Town.
With our departure date rapidly
approaching I’ll miss the city dearly and fully intend to return for some
length of time. I’ll miss the beautiful downtown. I’ll never forget the amazing
meals we have tried, some strange and some normal, but all delicious
(especially the sushi!). I’ll really miss living in a crazy house with 19
people that were strangers, but I now love. Looking back I can’t even be all
that mad about the continuous pile of dirty dishes. I will very much miss the
stunning backdrop of Table Mountain, and the easy access to all sort of fun
activities. But these things are not what truly made my experience.
The parts of Cape Town I cherish
the most are the simple interactions that I have everyday with the kindest and
most inspiring people in the world. These sound like grandiose statements, but
they are one hundred percent true. It is almost impossible to put into writing,
or vocalize, but there is no better feeling then being adopted and loved by a
group of people so far away from home. No crazy adrenaline rush, or amazing
meal could ever compare to this. Because of these people Cape Town became my
home in these past three and half months.
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