Jessica Hermanson

The Hospital

2009-07-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

OK. Back to current events.

Life at the hospital

After the first couple of days in the MOU, I decided to join Chris in the Trauma Unit. It's very small, there aren't separate rooms for patients, and it is rather zoo-like at times.. not to mention the lack of supplies, but they make do. One of the doctors we worked with said something along the lines of South Africa being ahead of the USA in terms of medicine, because they see more and have to rely more on their clinical skills. Of course I'm sure many people would disagree. The lack of supplies is the major difference from American hospitals that I have experienced. From time to time we are out of simple things such as gauze, forceps, or plaster to make casts. There are not enough wheelchairs, crutches or IV poles. The BP monitor tends to stop working as well. Therefore, although the staff's clinical skills maybe somewhat superior, the overall health system has much room for improvement.. but so does the healthcare in the US in certain aspects. In the past few weeks I have seen and experiences loads more than I ever would have in a US hospital. The patients that come into the Trauma Unit are much different that those that visit the ER in Fargo, ND.. or I should say the actually "Trauma" patients. I have come to the conclusion that no matter where in the world the hospital is located, there will always be people who think spider bites (not like tarantulas but the little microscopic kind), sore muscles, and As for actual emergencies, however, in the US the worst thing I saw volunteering in the ER was a fish hook in a child's eye. South Africa is a completely different story in that aspect. I've seen handfuls of stab wounds, gun shot wounds and assault cases. I've seen numerous chest drains put in to re-inflate collapsed lungs, and hundreds of patients with either TB or HIV/AIDS. Chris and I have been able to put on some POPs (Plaster of Paris, which is pretty much a cast) as well as put in IV's. We have also assisted in other procedures (Chris more than I seeing as his training is more extensive). I've also taken an idea from the first part of my trip. Ben had the great idea of bringing dum dum suckers with for children, so before Chris came I had him buy a bag. Now in the hospital when children come into trauma, either as patients or with parents, I give them a "lolly." I think I get more excited about it than they do most of the time, but I have gotten a few children to stop crying ;)

So for those of you who don't follow SA news, the doctors are currently on strike.. and rightfully so. Good time to be here right? The trauma centers are the few areas still open in government hospitals (Only the gov't hospital doctors are on strike, i think). The hospitals are set up in levels according to the needs they meet. I work in a primary hospital, which provides basic health care. If surgery or other specialties are needed, we transfer patients to the secondary and tertiary hospitals. Worst case scenario, the trauma units in the 2* and 3* facilities would get so back that we would be unable to transfer critical patients. It probably wont come to that. They are hoping to settle by Friday. If not, doctors have threatened to completely shutdown all health care facilities. Why do I think that the doctors have a right to strike? They get paid next to nothing on their fixed gov't income. That's why. I won't go into specifics, but if doctors were paid that much in the US we wouldn't have any. Seriously. It's bad.

Here are a couple of other blogs you should checkout:

1)"http://www.ctastad.wordpress.com" That is Chris's blog. He has been updating more frequently, and has some pictures as well
2)"www.madmedicinemayhem.blogspot.com"to read more about life working in the cape hospitals.. some stories may be graphic.

Guguletu II (Finally)

2009-07-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry that this is all scattered. Please go back and look at Guguletu I if it's confusing.

Wednesday: Day Three

We had some good lectures that morning on the reconciliation between blacks
and whites in South Africa. One speaker made a good point that charity
makes the mistake of deciding what is needed..what is best for people. But
restitution says—I'm sorry. What can we do to help? What do you need? He
went on to talk about a global issue with a lack of restitution and that
there are no great examples in the world currently.. that something needs
to be done to erase imbalances and lessen gaps of disparity.
It is interesting to think about charity in that way. But it is actually
true most of the time—that people donate or do what they think is
necessary or best instead of asking what would be the best way to help.
I've read some article about foreign aid making situations worse in some
cases, because it did just that. Helped in ways that weren't necessarily
the best.. sometimes creating more imbalances within the communities.

Lydia and Neo

In the afternoon we went to deliver food parcels from the center to members
of the community that could not, for one reason or another, provide food
for their families. One of those parcels went to a woman named Lydia and
her 6 year old son Neo. When we packed into their shack to deliver the food
and here her story, it was then that I cried for the first time on the
trip. I've seen poverty before.. although the conditions were harsh.. a way
of living I can't imagine.. it was the stories that had the greatest impact
on me.

Lydia was diagnosed with HIV about 18 years ago. After her diagnosis her
family would no longer let her live in the house. She and her son then
moved into a shack behind the house. Lydia not only has HIV, but she also
has breast cancer and is going blind. Neo has it even worse.. as if it
could get any worse. Besides being diagnosed with HIV, which was passed on
at birth, Neo has brain cancer, diabetes and has bad urinary tract infects.
Both of them need surgery, which is really costly. A couple of other
children have had the surgery Neo is supposed to have, but they died
shortly after, so Lydia does not want him to have surgery. It's a miracle
that he is still alive.

Lydia spends her time volunteering and telling her story, teaching people
about HIV/AIDS. In the recent months J L Zwane built the two of them a new
shack. It has electricity and is a lot nice than their previous one, but it
is still a shack.

Edwin mentioned that when he decided to build Lydia a newer, better shack,
many other church members affected by HIV/AIDS lined up wondering where
their new shacks were. In every decision that is made involving money and
food, someone is going to be left out, and there will be people who are
upset. Allocation of resources is very difficult for the center, especially
since resources are extremely limited.

Thursday: Day 4

In the afternoon we visited Stormont Primary School (an elementary school).
The kids, once again, LOVED posing for pictures and looking at them
afterwards. One little boy kept smiling and looking up at me. After a
little while he ran up and gave me a huge hug! It was adorable.
The classrooms were inside huge shipping crates for them most part. The
floors were just boards that were not sturdy. I almost fell through one. We
swept and help clean up the classrooms. It looked as though they hadn't
been cleans in months if not longer!

Some of the older boys were playing soccer in the courtyard using a
makeshift ball. We then learned the ball was actually a blown up condom
stuffed with plastic and wrapped in a bag. Ben had a good idea of buying
them a soccer ball. Joanna was with us and laid down the lawn. She got
their names and made them promise to take care of it. The next day when we
brought the ball back they were so excited. We all signed it for them.
Joanna actually wrote down rules for them to follow and that she better see
the ball each time she visits the school. And believe me.. she will make
them stick to their promise.

Joanna's Story

Joanna had quick working, she wanted to doing something meaningful for the
community. She currently volunteers for the center with the orphan program
and well as delivering food parcels, communion, and simply just visiting
people that need company. She's so inspiring. She had two sons, but one of
them was stabbed and killed in his own house by his cousin. Her other son
is in his twenties right now. That's only one facet of her difficult past,
but she is so good on focusing on the good things in her life and helping
others. She doesn't have a car, but will find ways to visit people even if
it means walking in the rain or hours on the bus.. and her health isn't
really up to par either.

Thursday: Day 5

We started out the day with a lecture from Rev. Spiwo Xapile. It was very
inspirational. Spiwo is extremely knowledgeable in regards to leadership.
He talked about the importance of knowing who you are as a leader, and not
losing hope. After apartheid, many blacks that were forced to live in
townships lost their ability to believe in themselves. They lost their self
esteem—especially those who are unable to receive an education. He
mentioned that even people in leadership positions have lost that hope. It
is very difficult to work with and inspire people when they do not believe
in themselves. In the United States children are brought up to be
independent, and parents work very hard to assure their children have an
adequate self esteem. In my opinion, it is a lot easier to act as a leader
when people who have a sense of direction in life. When people have
completely lost all hope it becomes very difficult. And while there are
many people in the United States that fall into this category, and while
there are many difficult situations in which people have lost all self
esteem, here it is an entire society—or at least the majority.
A big part of leadership here, is helping people to focus on the positive
as opposed to the negative. When most of one's memories are negative,
especially if some of them are truly horrible, I cannot imagine how
difficult it can be to focus on the positive experiences. A majority of
people in the United States are very fortunate. There is a larger middle
class than the lower and upper classes. I feel like here there is not much
of a middle class, but the upper and lower classes are extremes. I have met
some amazing people in Guguletu that do an amazing job at focusing on their
positive experiences. When circumstances in their lives are about as bad as
they can possibly be, they do not lose hope. Those are the real leaders.
The people who can lead by example.

It is truly inspiring to see people like Edwin, Spiwo, Joanna,
Lydia and many other do the amazing things they do, with the hope they
have, but in the situations they are in. Looking at leadership in different
cultures is important, because of the cultural differences. Different
histories, different problems, and different cultural norms results in
different leadership styles and ways of dealing with issues. I feel as if
it would be extremely challenging to be in the position of any of the
leaders we met within Guguletu. One of the things Spiwo said in his lecture
really stuck with me. He said, “God created everything out of nothing, so
when I see nothingness I imagine great things.” It is absolutely amazing
how much they believe their community and see the potential.

Long Street

2009-06-16T01:03:00.000-07:00

We still don't have wireless internet, or anywhere to use our laptops for that matter. I promise I will get the rest of my other blogs up ASAP. I think we will be getting a router at our house on Wednesday.

Yesterday was our first day at the hospital. After a tour, we were able to pick which areas we would like to spend more time in. Chris chose the trauma unit, and I worked in the maternity obstetrics unit.. the MOU. All of the acronyms are different here.

So in the first about 20min that I was there.. I saw/assisted in two births. It was interesting to say the least. They had to recycle all of their materials, because they are low on supplies. Also, I was surprised to see that neither the midwife, the person in charge, nor the nursing students wore gloves. They did have them.. I saw all of the boxes. And I wore some. There was a lot of blood as one can imagine.

The patent care is much different than in the US. At times it seemed as if the midwife was scolding the patient. One of the women in labor supposedly "wasn't pushing right," so they midwife just left her there and said she would be back when she decided to do it correctly. I had no idea what to do when she left me there. I just held her hand, talked to her and led her through breathing exercises.

For the nursing students to be able to deliver on their own all they have to do is watch, not even assist.. just watch, 5 births. So.. I should be delivering children by the end of the week. Just Kidding.

The administrator said that approximately 1000 patients are seen at the clinic everyday, about 60-70 in the MOU. And it's not a big clinic. Everything was jam-packed. We were told that unless people have an appointement, they most likely wait upwards of 3 hours. I can just imagine the complaints a hospital in the US would have if that were the case. When I volunteered in the ER, people would freakout if they waited over an hour.

Chris experienced some similar things. When ambulences brought in patients they had to wheel the stretcher through most of the hospital through all of the people packed in the waiting rooms, because there was only one enterance.

We are both really excited to go back tomorrow. Today is Youth Day, and Chris and I just spent the night in the Blue Mountain Backpacker on Long Street. Right by Stones, the Dubliner and Nando's for those of you that have been here. We will spend the rest of the day visiting Green Market Square and doing some shopping/sightseeing here in the city center.

Cheers!

Update

2009-06-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

So.. I am now on the second portion of my trip where I will be working in the Mitchell's Plain Day Hospital.

I still have a lot more to type about Guguletu and all of my reflections, however we do not have internet where we are staying. I am currently at an internet cafe, but don't have what I already wrote. Hopefullly in the coming week I will be able to post those blogs. The internet cafe we are in is inside of a mall, and I haven't seen any other white people thus far. I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me a little bit uncomfortable. Around Mowbray where we stayed with the group, there were occasionally white individuals. In Gugs there weren't too many but we were always with people that made us feel extremely safe. Here in the mall, it's just Chris and I. It's a little uncomfortable, but i'm sure we will be fine.

Chris arrived yesterday, and we spend our first night with the host family in Strandfontein, which is a suburb of Mitchell's Plain. It is a little bit different than what we have experienced thus far. They live in a coloured neighborhood, which is a little bit nicer than Gugs. I would consider the family were are staying with to be the "middle class" of what we have seen. It is interesting to hear their views on safety, education, politics, etc. and compare it to the views of people from Gugs.

Tomorrow we have our first day at the hospital. We are both very excited to start. Tuesday is a national holiday here..Youth Day, which commemorates the Soweto uprising. We will be spending Monday night and Tuesday around long street at a hostle-like place (a "backpacker"), so we can take part in the festivities.

I will try to update on the remainder of the first portion of my trip soon.

Guguletu Part I

2009-06-10T04:08:00.000-07:00

So.. our internet has been horrible since we've been home, which is why I haven't posted.

Sorry if this is an obnoxiously long post, but I'll just try and recap the week. I'll follow up when I can with some more reflective posts.

_______________

This past week was spent in the township of Guguletu. It is definitely one of the poorer areas where blacks were forced to live during apartheid. While some people live in homes that would not be comfortable to most Americans, many people in Guguletu, as well as other townships, live in shacks.

This poses a huge problem right now in their 'winter' season when it rains all of the time. Whether water is seaping in from the ground or leaking in from somewhere else, the shacks are not a suitable means of living for anyone. Unfortunately, these makeshift homes are all that money and space will allow for many people.

In Guguletu most people speak Xhosa (k-O-sa), but there is a click with the K. There are tons of stray dogs wandering the streets—similar to India, and though the roads and amout of trash/sewage on the streets are better here.

Monday: Day 1

Driving into Guguletu I was a little apprehensive. I've seen poverty before that is much worse that what I've seen here, but in India there was never a sense of danger. Driving into thetownship I know the church/host families were going to take good care of us, but there was still that chance of something bad happening.

We arrived at JL Zwane-the church/community center-and everyone was extremely welcoming. I met my host family—a “mama” named Titi, and her daughter Mamela who was just finishing college.

We also met a few other people who would play key roles in the remainder of our stay.

Edwin- who was one of the main coordinators for the center; he is also a pastor

Joanna- volunteers her time doing outreach for the center

Rev. Spiwo Xapile- the main pastor

Mel- an associate pastor who is actually from the US and is working in Guguletu for a couple of years

We had our first night with our host family. Titi and Mamela were so accommodating, and their home was small but nice, welcoming. The house was a lot nicer than I had expected—bad preconceived ideas. It was interesting though.. further down the street, and right outside my bedroom window in fact, there were tons of shacks. While I laid in bed I could hear people yelling and crying.. I think at one point there was a group of people singing. It was an interesting juxtaposition. It was weird/sad to know that I was staying in a really nice house, in a nice and warm bed when the people on the other side of the wall had to worry about keeping rain water out of their homes before they could sleep.

Tuesday: Day 2

So.. no showers. You would think—I thought—that there would be showers before tubs, but it's the other way around. I had to wash my hair in a round plastic basin.. similar to something toys would be kept in. That was interesting.

They REALLY like to feed us here. For breakfast we don't just have cereal, but granola, eggs, bacon, sausage (pretty much a hotdog), and toast/bread. At 6:30/7:00am that's a lot of food, and there was no letting up. In fact, Titi realized she was out of bread, which was absolutely fine with me, but she really, really wanted us to have bread I guess. So after many attempts to pursuade here otherwise, she went out.. in the dark.. in her nightgown to find us bread. About 30min later we had bread.

In the morning the group took a tour of Khaylitsha, the 2^nd largest township in South Africa after Soweto. In the afternoon we took a tour of Guguletu and visited a 19 year old girl who lives in a shack and takes care of her younger brother. They were both orphaned when their mother died. Their shack was built by church members and all of their needs (food, clothes, etc.) are met by J L Zwane when possible. The girl talked about how many times she wanted kill herself, but she knew she needed to take care of her brother. There are many child-led households in the townships. Stories like hers are not uncommon.

We also visited Xolani, our bus driver's house. He's such a nice, good guy. We also got to meet his 4 year old son and his wife. Xolani also started taking care of his nieces and nephews after his brother past away. Unfortunately, they still live in a shack.

We had a interesting talk with Mel (the associate pastor) about where people live and why. Since apartheid is over, why haven't people left? Part of it could be resources.. some people just can't afford to. For others.. that is where their family and friends are. And still for some.. that is where they grew up. It's the only home they've ever known. It's hard to say/guess.

Can you understand the plight of a woman if you are not a woman?

Can you understand the plight of the poor if you are not poor?

only to an extent.

We helped out at an afterschool program through the center called the Rainbow Program. I worked with a girl named Siphokazi helping her with homework. She rad me a very interesting story that was all about a child's rights and knowing that adults cannot treata child inappropriately. It was very graphic and straight to the point. It shocked me a little.

It was great to hangout with the kids and hear that many of them had big dreams. There were a lot of doctors, lawers, even an international hotel owner.

Later at our group dinner, I spoke with a lady named Amanda who lives in Guguletu. She told me her story and her past as a social worker. She currently works for the government doing one thing or another. I can't remember exactly.. but whatever she does, it is a difficult job. She said it was very challenging because she has to hear about children (ages 2-12) being kidnapped and killed. One story was about a girl who was abducted in her neighborhood. The perp. was eventually caught, and he confessed to raping and murdering this girl then throwing her body into the ocean. Her body was never found. There was another story of an 11 year old young girl whose body was found in the attic of her ouw house. Her mother's boyfriends had raped, killed and hid her there.

I asked Amanda if these were just extreme stories, but unfortunately she said that the stories are very common. I also asked what is being done to help prevent these things from happening. She said that because most of the people committing these crimes are family, neighbors or people that know the children, all they can do is educate the children. It was kind of ironic that I heard these stories just after reading that book on children's rights earlier in the day. It came as a shock to me, because we saw children everywhere in the streets of Guguletu. I never would have realized there was such an issue.

We will boing going to climb Table Mountain soon. I will try to post more about Guguletu this evening.

The End of Week 1

2009-05-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

So this last week has been full of excitement.

On Thursday we has a full day of seeing the sights. We started the day off taking a boat to an island of seals. It was a complete downpour on the way, so everyone was crammed in the little inside area. Once we got there and the rain let up, however, it was great. The view from pretty much anywhere in Cape Town is amazing with all of the surrounding mountains.

We then went to the beach of penguins! I was so excited for this part. We couldn't touch them though..they bite. There was a 500R (~62USD) fine for touching them, which I would be more than willing to pay to pet one of them.. maybe take it home.

Our next stop was the Cape of Good Hope—the most southwestern point of Africa. There was a huge mountain with a lighthouse at the top that we climbed to. Erika and I went off on our own taking some offshoot paths around the other side of the mountain. We found some little lizards. We also found that is much much harder to go back up the steep paths. We had to cut our adventure short, but hope to go back there as a group on one of our afternoons off. We will continue our adventure then.

We also visited Kirstenbosch, which was this huge botanical garden-thing. It was really pretty, and everything was really big. It felt like we were in Jurassic Park. By this point we were all exhausted and ready for our nice warm beds.

On Friday we had our discussion up at the UCT campus. Our afternoon plans of going to Robben Island were canceled due to rain. After a group lunch around 2:30 we got back to the house. Naturally, Erika and I wanted to go hiking/exploring again, but because the sun sets around 5:30, we wouldn't have had enough time to climb to the top of Table Mountain (right by our house) and back down again. So.. we went as far as we could.

Matt ended up coming with us as well. Our goal was a Cecil Rhodes monument slightly about the UCT campus, but after finding a shortcut we had a ton of extra time. At the monument there was a huge lookout with an amazing view of the city, bay and surrounding mountains. We still had time before sunset, so we decided to explore some more.

One of our original paths to the monument forked off in the direction we wanted. We were looking to get on the other side of this hill? To have a better view of the sunset. During our walk we encountered a closed chain link fence. There was no lock, and there were no signs. So obvious response.. we went in.

We were a little hesitant. Going up the hill I saw some animal droppings roughly larger than animal poop, but was assured that it was nothing to worry about. Then we encountered larger, about the size of a chicken egg poop in large quantities. “Oh, it's probably horse poop,” they said. Nope, I knew it wasn't. Too small. But we kept on going. The droppings became more and more frequent. We we were about 800m from the gate we saw them.. a heard of wildebeests. I had no idea if they were dangerous. All I know is a stampede of them killed Simba's dad on the Lion King, and they have big horn-things. They started walking toward us, so we slowly, but freaking out of course, walked toward the gate. Erika and I got safely to the gate while Matt tried to take a picture. While he was turning back toward the gate one of the Wildebeests started running at him. We freaked out. We got out safely and everything. But we did learn one important thing... Gate are to either keep stuff or keep things out. In this case it was both.

Yesterday, Saturday, we went on a Safari. It was freezing!! I was shivering the whole time.. felt like I was back in Minnesota. It was really great though. We saw cheetahs, rhinos, springboks, lions, giraffes, and of course wildebeests. (I guess they don't actually harm humans. They just try to scare them away.) The safari can be most adequately describe through pictures, which I will upload to facebook next weekend.

Which leads me to today. In a few hours we will be heading to church in the township of Gugulethu where we will be staying with a host family until next Friday. I will not have access to my computer, so no one will hear from me until we return to our house.

I am extremely excited to go into the townships. I don't feel like I have seen much of the culture thus far. We have a paper due on Monday surrounding the cultural differences and similarities between the US and South Africa. Most of what we have seen has been part of the tourist industry, which does not clearly depict actual African cultural and behavioral patterns. The best insight we have been given into the culture this far resides within Rodenbosch and the UCT campus areas. Even in these areas a very small percentage of South Africans are represented, as campus life can be a whole other culture within itself. Therefore, the observations I make are clearly subjective.

This coming week is what we are here for. I am very excited to see where everyone is at by the end of this next week. Its will surely have a different affect on each one of us.

Talk to you Friday,
Jessica

P.S. Sorry there aren't any pictures. I'm having to post from someone else's computer, because I can't sign on from mine.

In the beginning..

2009-05-27T15:04:00.000-07:00

So I don't really know where to start or what to say. I've never written a blog before, so bare with me.

I arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday after a whole lot of flying, lost luggage and hardly any sleep. It gets better. Don't worry. For starters.. I got my luggage back finally :)

Myself and 9 other students are staying in a cute little lavender house just at the base of Table Mountain. It's a really great house.. a lot better than I expected. It's kind of weird being locked in however. So.. We have a locked, fenced in yard with an electric fencing on top, an outer door with bars and a padlock, and a regular door with a lock. All of the doors always remain locked. It's not so scary that we have to do that. It's just a necessity here-- their way of life, and I feel really safe inside the house. In fact, I'm here alone right now (mom, don't freak out).

Over the past couple of days we have toured the University of Cape Town campus, which is absolutely gorgeous, and many local restaurants. Yesterday we went to the V&A Waterfront. It's amazing! There was a huge mall, nice hotels, we could see the new World Cup Stadium being built, and we rode on a Pirate Ship! (See facebook for pictures)

Today we had our first lecture about South African History at the University. The professor was great, but no matter what the topic I don't think any teacher could hold my attention for three hours. He had very good insight on the politics of South African history as well as many other topics. He told us about their educational system and how he feels it needs to be reformed because the system is mostly turning out analytical thinkers versus critical thinkers.

He said his students meerly want to know what will be on tests and how to get a good grade in the course. I couldn't help but think that our education is the same way. There are many courses that I am required to take but have little interest in where all I care about is the grade.
Our primary educational systems, or at least the ones I was brought in, produce analytical thinkers. It's great in a lot of cases and is definitely necessary, but there needs to be a mix. I know there are currently many reforms going on in education in the US, and in my former school district in particular, and I think that is something that needs to be considered. An analytical thinking looks a problem and scientifically breaks it down. A critical thinker reflects on the purpose of what one does or believes while determining the significance of what is observed. To move forward in society and enact social change, critical thinking skills are imperative, but I digress. If you want to know more about the lecture you can visit Christen's blog.

Today we also went to a museum about District Six, which was a former residential area in Cape Town where tens of thousands of black Africans were forces to leave by the apartheid in the 70's. Afterward, we went to a market to shop around. There are many great things to look at. Some of our group members had their first experience of beggars. It can be hard to see people, especially children like in our case, and not want to help them.

So far on this trip we have been playing the role of tourists. Everything has been set up nicely for us. We haven't really been in uncomfortable situations thus far. I've been comparing this trip to one I took a few years ago to India. It is interesting to see the similarities and differences of how poverty has affected the areas. In India we saw some pretty harsh conditions, so I'm really excited to go into the townships and experience their way of life. I'm also interested to hear the thoughts of my group members during/after the township experience.

My group is great. Everyone has a completely different personality, but we all kind of found our little niche. It really fun, and usually obnoxious, when we hangout, but I do enjoy my alone time.

Emily (one of my group members) made a list of interesting things, which I really liked. So I am going to steal her idea.

so.. Things I've learned on my trip thus far:

I hate cockroaches
UCT campus kicks the U of M campus's butt in beauty
Diet coke is referred to as coke lite
The currency exchange rate is 8 rand to 1 dollar, so everything is cheap
Don't trust NWA with your luggage, especially when they admit they are confused
We really are obnoxious Americans to other cultures
Dave makes a really great raptor impression
Buses are called Jammies
"Deep" means "cool"
Everyone says "Cheers" instead of "thank you" or "you're welcome"