The Memoirs of a Qualified Student Physio: Legends of Mosvold

In the space of 1 month I have had the unfortunate task of saying goodbye to 2 dear friends - this is significant when one considers the limited "youthful" population in the delightful hamlet of Ingwavuma. The young population that I have the privilege of rubbing shoulders with comes from a number of sources namely fellow comm serves, other hospital employees and elective students (elective students are studying something in the medical profession, they come to Mosvold Hospital to gain exposure in their field of interest). Each person who has come and gone has shared something with us, whether it's a life changing lesson, a fantastical memory or something totally insignificant yet memorable.

Dr Yan, Daisy and The Germans

Dr Yan was an Australian student from the University of Queensland in her final year of medicine. Dr Yan came at a "sensitive" time ie our 2nd week of comm serve and remained with us for 2 months. We had many escapades with Dr Yan, she introduced us the fantastical Panasonic Lumix camera (which I would dearly like to possess-anyone who is kind enough to donate one to me will be my Bestie forev's yo!) she also taught us the amazing asymmetrical plait which I sport on a regular basis. In addition to this she imparted the microwave chocolate cake recipe to us-this recipe has brought many a chocoholic through their withdrawal. A month after Dr Yan came we were joined by Daisy and The Germans from Scotland and Germany respectively. Daisy and The Germans were also medical students who stayed for 1 month. With this lot of lovely ladies we developed the Sodwana Bay Party Patrol where we courageously fought off Vervet monkies, suffered the consequences of falling asleep on deck chairs, squeezed 6 ladies into an Opel Corsa and braved cyclone Irena insearch of the Big 5 at Tembe elephant park - during this expedition we coined the phrase "Germans on the roof". These ladies brought much delight to our lives in the form of sundowners on the airstrip, baked goods, many laughs and general merriment.

Dr Yan

Daisy

German 1

German 2

Sweet-Cheeks and Schmilkins

Sweet-Cheeks and Schmilkins were 2 delightful young lads from UCT who graced us with their presence for 1 month; they came bearing Swiss army knives, Shox and woven friendship bangles. With them around we found ourselves foraging for firewood, summiting the water tower for star gazing purposes and sauntering down the mountain side to enjoy sundowners overlooking Swaziland (you have to take guys with to this spot, it's too risky going with ladies only). Schmilkins and Sweet-Cheeks taught us the importance of knocking on a closed door before entering and introduced us to a rather liberating version of Social Research (aka "open" Facebook stalking). "Open" Facebook stalking differs from everyday stalking as the Stalker researches the Facebook page of the Stalk-ee (iow the newly added friend) in the presence of the Stalk-ee. In doing so the Stalk-ee is able to give running commentary of their virtual life and the Stalker is able ask any questions regarding mutual friends, wall posts, bystanders in profile pictures etc. In my opinion of life in general this method of research should be practised as it dispels any doubts, fears and illusions.

Schmilkins

Sweet-Cheeks

Brook Shields and McDizzle

The latest addition to the Mosvold wall of Legends are Brook Shields and McDizzle, 2 very promising second year physio students from Tukkies. Although their stay was the shortest (1 week) it was most splendid. With these 2 ladies at our side we enjoyed far too much chocolate, ukulele jam sessions and charades. During this week I observed the marked difference that the presence of a 4x4 makes on a 4x4 trail, the joy of playing the shaker- as it is the "cherry on top" in all songs; in addition to this I perfected my charading skills as I had the joy of to "supervising" them-with every patient I saw with them I assumed a different persona of past lecturers.

Brook Shields

McDizzle

Ton-Dawg and Baby Spice

Ton-Dawg and Baby Spice have been the life and soul of my day-to-day party for the past 5 months. They say that home is not a place instead it's a feeling-I was blessed to have 2 friends who made the Voomles home for me within a matter of days. If it was not for these 2 treasure pies I would have up and left Ingwavuma 7 months ago!

Ton-Dawg is a dietician who survived the thriving metropolis of Ingwavuma for a whopping 2.5 years, by default she has been dubbed Mama Mosvold. Since Mama Mosvold was here the longest and has figured out the workings behind the Mosvold Circus she became my go-to person. Whether it was to determine the road worthiness of an otherwise questionable hospital vehicle or to find out how/who to go to to get a job done Mama Mosvold was always a phone call away. Prior to coming to Mosvold I managed to get more info out of her regarding my accommodation than I got out of the guys at HR. Mama Mosvold was more than just a mama of hospital admin she is also a Master Chef with a wicked sense of humour and a fantastical streak of mischief (which lends itself out to hiding in car boots to scare security on occasion).

Ton-Dawg

Baby Spice is a dietician who hails from the wonderful West Coast in the Western Cape, this treasure pie allowed me to bask in her presence for 5 whole months. Baby Spice acted as my beach buddy, my running buddy and my buddy buddy. She has seen me at my best (namely basking in the sun on the beach with a chocolate product in reach) and at my worst (after clinic with dangerously low sugar levels and after running up yet another murderous hill in Ingwavuma). With Baby Spice around I witnessed Women's Health in its true form, drove with woman who had driving skills likened to those of Michael Schumaker and learnt many fantastical recipes.

Baby Spice

And there you have it the list Legends of Mosvold to date. Moral of the story-come to Mosvold-we have goats, cows, epic sunsets and summer in the middle of winter.