At the theater

Still livin it up in Pretoria. I've had the most incredible luck getting my wisdom teeth taken out. Another volunteer serving in Madagascar arrived in Pretoria right after my flight on Sunday, med-evac'd for wisdom teeth extraction as well. We saw the same oral surgeon, scheduled our surgery for the same day, went to the hospital together, and have recouped together. It was so fortuitous to have someone distract me from the horrific dramas I would have inevitably played out in my mind time and time again waiting for the surgery; once we'd been admitted to the day ward, Kelsy started doing Tai-chi to get her circulation going. I followed along through a couple of routines, and then the anaesthesiologist swept me out of the room into the theater. That's right, surgeons perform in theaters here rather than operating rooms. Finally! Some culture!

So it was nice to go to the theater with someone else rather than completely alone. I think our surgeon was wonderful; I felt terrific the evening after the operation, felt exhausted and swollen yesterday, but haven't been in pain so long as I stay on the medication he prescribed. The worst part was just being in a hospital as a patient rather than visitor and dreading the general anaesthesia. Thankfully, I didn't wake up sobbing or vomiting, and the hospital staff was super nice.

Went to see Kensey last night and loved it. I'm out of the loop regarding the movies that are out now, but the volunteer from Madagascar is into family planning and sexual health, so she knew who Kensey was and drug some of us to the cinema to see it. There was a wine tasting at the mall that night but my mouth was so sore. Today, however, I can't resist; none of my meds say no alcohol, so I'm going to zip by and have some of South Africa's finest. Then maybe a musical tonight and Veronica Paeper's La Traviata ballet tomorrow afternoon.

It's horrible that Jason's stuck up in the North while I have access to so much here. He would love to go to all these events, and I wish he was here to laugh at my puffy cheeks and tell me which wine is the best. It seems as though he will be starting school without me as the earliest I can be back is Wednesday, and I needed to be there for that. But I can't leave until the Peace Corps doctor talks to me, and as Monday is the U.S. Memorial Day, it will be a few days. Depending on how things turn out, Jas and I might make it to Cape Town at some point and enjoy South Africa together.

Love to you all, and hope you're enjoying the end-of-school festivities. A PCV next to me is playing a live feed of the Wolf--a country station out of Dallas. Country isn't my favourite genre, but it sure makes me homesick. Iuh miss ya.