And so, it begins...

Tonight's listening suggestion:
Hell's Kitchen - Dream Theater

A little over twenty four hours before departing for the other hemisphere, I find myself taken aback by the frightening list of things which remain to be done. Pick up a camera, buy a head lamp, store Charlotte (one of my two motorcycles) for the winter, pack my luggage, say goodbye to friends, and tie up some loose ends with the CaRMS application process which will determine how I will live the next five years of my life and what shape my career in Emergency Medicine will take. In response to such ominous tasks, I naturally decided to start a blog.

I am leaving for the crime capital of Johannesburg for a month-long internship in Traumatology at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital which - at three thousand beds - is one of the largest health care centres in the world. Roughly one year ago, I had found myself two thousand kilometres north of Montreal in the isolated Inuit communities of Salluit and Puvirnituq overlooking the frozen waters of the Arctic. How things have changed since...

Over a time where career ambitions became clear as day and romantic life a strange puzzle, I exchanged a diamond ring for a rugged motorcycle, a fancy condo for a student apartment, free time at home for free time on muddy trails, and trotted along my merry medical student way. I listened to the insane laments of the mentally ill and sung lullabies for minuscule early-birds. From soon-to-be mothers to dishevelled daughters. From seizing infants to grieving husbands. The past year as been nothing short of a rollercoaster: exhilarating and exhausting, joyful and sad, fascinating and dreadful.

With the upcoming CaRMS process, I am hoping South Africa will be an appropriate cherry on the sundae that was my nine year university stint. A busy trauma service in a crime-riddled city on  a backdrop of motorcycling in the South African savannah is quite a flamboyant way to go out with a bang. Perhaps also an attempt at disconnection and rediscovery. Seriously. Who the fuck am I? I am pretty sure I had it figured out back in the Arctic. But I digress... Lets talk about the trip.

I will be living in Johannesburg and working at "Bara" in the South Western Township of Soweto. For my commuting, exploring, and amusement, I have rented a BMW 650GS Sertao motorcycle which will be a trusty steed on the South African trails. Joining me will be two friends from Ottawa: Kevin and Jeff, both medical students also doing internships at Bara. There will of course be a lot of work to be done at the hospital and knowingly so, I have prepared accordingly with professional workshops or ATLS training. I have tested my stoicism in acute emergency cases in adult hospitals so far but my kryptonite lies in children. With trauma being particularly infectious in the young, I am somehow afraid that I might leave this country more broken hearted than I will enter it. Only time will tell.

On a touristic point of view, I am dying to learn more about the cultures that make up the Rainbow Nation. Eleven official languages. A baby democracy that saw its birth not through bloody revolution, but through peaceful passing away of one of the most reprehensible political systems in modern history. There is a human wealth to be sampled in the coming month and I am so very exited. Nature will also certainly grab my distractable attention: the Drakensberg mountains, the safaris trying to spot the Big Five (elephant, lion, rhinoceros, buffalo, leopard), and the Indian ocean to name a few. I am not even gone and I already wish I had more time!

Whatever happens, I hope to have the proper writing skills to adequately portray my adventure in South Africa.
Cheers folks,
TF