1 April, First Aid and Where I Live

I received my certificate today for "elementary first aid at sea" which, contrary to what you probably may think, means I can basically do anything a doctor can do. APRIL FOOLS! It doesn't mean that. But it does mean that I can aid in saving lives at sea should I be required to do so, which I think is pretty cool. However, as fun as it was for me, explaining the last two days of the course probably won't make for good reading. But I will give you a brief idea of the skills I now awesomely posses in the sentence after this one. I can bring a person back to life using CPR, deal with broken necks, spot the signs of heart attack, treat broken bones, treat burns, spot the signs of shock, etc.

With regards to where I am staying right now; it's pretty sweet. For this part of my course- the STCW '95 (standards of training for certified watchkeepers), I am staying at st. John's Lodge in an area of Capetown called Greenpoint. St. John's is a backpackers. While it may not exactly be "fine dining" it really is a lot of fun. Almost daily there are new foreigners coming in and I've made quite a few friends here. The lodge is sandwiched between Signal Hill (the hill right next to table mountain) at the back and the main road of Greenpoint, the stadium and V&A Waterfront at the front (It's about a 15 minute walk to the V&A waterfront.

What's really cool about the last and next two days of the course is that we walk to the STCW '95 building every morning and walk home every afternoon. It's about a 35 minute walk towards the city center but the weather, the view and the surroundings are beautiful; plus it's really great to get the exercise in the morning. Greenpoint is quite a trendy area so the buildings and shops along the way are really great. It almost has a European feel about it... a certain...what is the word...Je ne se quoi! On the way home every day, with the mountain (insert nostalgic Capetonian accent here) looming over us we stop at this super-uber-size Spar and get dinner, and a few beers for the night.

Anyway, I start my "Search and Rescue at sea" module tomorrow and finish it on Sunday. And then after that its onto the boat:):):):):) Can't wait. Still waiting for a computer that doesn't see my iPhone as a virus so that I can download some photo's. Until then... boom chica waah wah!