Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Will You Welcome Us With Open Arms???


Our time here in Zambia is slowly starting to come to an end. We only have 5 weeks left to wrap things up and say our good-byes. It was so nice to have the Barker crew, Fay, Bill, and Gary out to show them all what we have been up to. They prepped us for coming home, gave us a taste of North America, and really made us start to think about what to do next….

The reality is starting to sink in..we are leaving! That reality just got a bit of a turbo boost the other day.. We were outside doing yoga on the front porch of our little house in the convent. Sister Christina strolls by and we start chatting (Sister is a great little chatter, we have learned so much from her. Yesterday she even taught us how to make Mumbole Jam. Mumbole’s are little fruit here in Zambia that taste like plums) To make a long story short we discover that we are supposed to be out of our house at the end of this month! What! We start racking our brains of who we can stay with for the month of December…maybe our nursing students will let us stay with them in their hostels??? But all is well, we solved our little housing issue and are now going to live with another ‘Makuwa’ friend. His name is Tyler, he just so happens to have a huge house all to himself in Mongu, and doesn’t seem to mind two nurses shacking up with him for the next few weeks. Did we mention the house has AC and the security guard cleans and does laundry (Ok they have had a few break-ins, but don’t worry moms we will be safe!)…This will be very nice for the last few weeks. Plus it is closer to the school.

Now that everyone has left we have had the chance to think about what it will be like to come back home. To be honest: it scares us a bit! Ok, maybe a lot. In fact we have both been having nightmares about work…Remember when you were a new grad and had dreams about not knowing what to do on the ward…we are there…..again!! We can say that the first thing we are going to do when we get home is have sushi. We have been missing it... a lot. How will we reintegrate ourselves back into Canadian society? We are now Zambians after all! What will it be like to go back and work in the hospital again? Where will our career paths take us now? Ohhh so many questions. Good thing we have 2 more months to figure it all out. Society, be gentle on us….


Jess and Lianne

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey guys;
the hospitals are still short staffed, so they will pull you in faster than you want. people are the same everywhere when they are sick[ although maybe we tend to expect more and whine more]. you can tell them how lucky they are! large order of sushi comming right up. see you soon. mom and dad

Anonymous said...

Hello!

Wow, only 5 weeks eh? I can't wait to see you both and hear all your stories in person :) I've loved reading your blogs and have really enjoyed reading about all your adventures (very envious!).

Thank you also for the lovely gifts, that was very sweet and thoughtful of you both.

Keep up the good work and have a safe trip home, and of course we will all be here with open arms :)


Love Zoe.xx

Anonymous said...

I hear you about reverse culture shock. I think all the choices at the grocery store will be overwhelming!

I hear there's a cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. Are you guys seeing any effects of that?

Luc