Take your rusks and run!

Sitting in the mall parking lot last night: before Lisa got out to go pay her parking ticket she said, "If they want the car, give it to them. Take your rusks and run!" For those of you who have experienced the delicious sweet treats that are South African rusks, you understand this completely. What good life lessons I'm learning here in SA.

Had to snap a picture of my nickname,
even if it is accompanied by zebra rears

Yesterday was spent observing the intern biokineticists on and off at the campus gym. In American terms, I believe a biokineticist ("bio") would most likely still be considered a physical therapist in the States. They are the ones who see patients after they’ve been treated by a physiotherapist ("physio"), but before they can begin the rehabilitation process a patient must be pain free. If pain is present upon evaluation, a patient will be sent back to the physio. Bios remind me of some sports PTs I have observed in the States. They have the Four Phases of Rehab each patient goes through: Phase I involves core strengthening/balance, Phase II involves strength training, Phase III works on plyometric/explosive movements, and Phase IV focuses on specific sport(s) performance. College differs greatly between the States and SA. After completion of Grade 12, students begin university (aka college) in SA like we do, but they choose a professional field right off the bat and pursue that for the 4-5 years. The whole "undergraduate school" concept is taken right off the table. For instance, physio students study for four years after high school and are then a qualified therapist! Students here cannot believe the fact that I will have to do seven years total of schooling, and Eric will have to do even more for medical school. Although a shorter time in school initially sounds like a great idea, I can see the pros and cons to both systems. The States' undergrad system gives students time to decide what profession they want to pursue, as well as the opportunity to take a variety of classes that do not necessarily contribute to a specific field of study. But for people like me who basically knew I wanted to pursue PT during my first year at ASU, I would not have minded this year marking the end of ALL of my schooling, unless I had wanted to pursue a Masters (which some students do in SA). Then again, those four years would have been much more jam-packed with all day classes, practicals, and even required work experience on campus or in the community. In my mind I would have missed out on the whole "college" experience, but not having three more years of PT school to pay for/applications to work on the day I get back to the States sounds pretty appealing right now.

Drummers that led the processional
of professors

We thought it was neat that the graduates walked
between two rows of their professors before entering

After watching part of the Masters and Doctoral students’ graduation ceremony this morning, we have spent the day trying to pay our accommodation fees, which has proven more difficult than expected. We will meet with Marlene, the Sport & Exercise Medicine Research Coordinator, later today to give feedback about the program. She has been a significant part of our time here at UFS, sort of like our campus mom. Once she found out we were required to pay for certain transportation to clinics, she took it upon herself to organize rides and free transport. We do not have much else scheduled for the next couple days as our program winds down. I cannot believe it is already coming to a close!

Looked similar to something you'd see in the States,
except for the chancellor sitting in a throne-like chair that
students stopped at to do a sort of bow and shake his hand

Only two days left of my South African adventure!