South Africa 2021-2022

 I came to South Africa in November 2021, 6 weeks earlier than originally planned to try and get surgery for my shoulder. I managed to get an appointment with a surgeon on the 29th of November and he was able to perform the surgery on the 1st of December. (For those who are interested it was a MUA/ACR with acromioplasty - a key hole type surgery). Here I am with Mom about an hour after surgery - they gave me a nerve block so I had no pain for the first 24 hours! 

I spent most of December recovering from surgery, and then Mom and I got Covid (Omicron) just before Christmas... So it was just "us" for Christmas day, but we still made it festive! 

I started with physio already in December, but changed to another physio in January and she was absolutely fabulous. She found ways to make the exercises fun for me, and having access to the pool at my Mom's has definitely been a key ingredient in moving my rehab along quicker than expected. But that said, even with the surgery, there is a long road of recovery until my shoulder is completely recovered. Thankfully, now, the good days are far outweighing the bad, and I am in much less pain than I was before. Here are two videos I made along the way - in January and in February

I was able to enjoy being at my home church, and even got the opportunity to preach while I was here: Click here to see it on Facebook

I did enjoy my time in South Africa, spending time with my Mom and with friends and other family. Here are just some of the things I got up to: 

With Mom at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens:

Out for a show with the "Awesome Aunties" (My mom's sister and oldest friend):

Hanging with my friend, Keren, in Kalk Bay: 

Hosting a braai (barbecue) for some of my YWAM friends from Europe who just happened to be in South Africa for a YWAM training: 

Hanging out with some of my oldest friends at another braai at my mom's place: 

Mom and I also hosted the "Smith" side of the family for our family reunion, which was lovely:

While I was here I was doing some digging on my genealogy as I did a DNA test last year along with my friends, Sina and Ljilja, and I discovered that along with being 25% Polish (my mom's dad) and 30% English/Scottish/Irish, there was also 27,8% German! I didn't expect that at all. So I went sniffing for the German relatives... Early on, I was told that on the Smith side (so Dad's mom side), my Great-Great-Grandmother was German, but that wouldn't give me that high of a percentage. So there was definitely someone else. In chatting to my Aunt Pam, she told me I had a "French" Great-Granny who had died before my Grandfather was 4 years old. I immediately suspected that she was not French but German as I don't have that much French DNA. And I was correct, she turned out to be very German,  but obviously when she died (in 1914) it was better to propogate the story of her being French rather than German... so the mystery was solved. 

In the meanwhile I discovered a family tree that had been made for the German Great-Great Granny online... and it goes back to the 1600s! Our family tree goes back to the first Dutch settlers in the Cape and also to the first Hugenotes (French settlers)! So there is French blood, it is just further back and on the other side. It was a fascinating walk back in time and we talked all about it at the family reunion... 

And one of my favourite things that Mom and I did a lot this time, was to go on the walkway from Muizenberg to St James and stop off at Bailey's cottage (about half way). We scattered Dad's ashes there so we would stop off and have "lunch with Dad" before heading back to Muizenberg for a jump in the waves (when my arm as better enough and if the wind wasn't howling too much!).

I am always sad to leave South Africa, to go back to Bosnia Herzegovina, but I can't complain - this has been a lovely time with family, friends, and my church. And I am glad that I had the opportunity also to rehab my shoulder so well to go back much better than when I came!