And we'll have fun, fun, fun...

Driving up to New Plymouth on a cloudy Sunday morning, looking to spend the day at Puke' Ariki- our local museum but lo' and behold the clouds part and we scrap out 'educational' outing for some summer style fun at the New Plymouth Aquatic Center...'nuff said...look out below!

Eli, not quite ready for prime time.

Logan in the jungle.

Izaak, yeah!

Port Taranaki view

Dad are you sure that camera is waterproof ?

Big air!

Uh oh!

Bigger air!

Dad, Dad up here!

This is gonna hurt.

Free your mind! The rest will follow...

Taranaki at dusk.

A "Taste" of New Zealand

Stopping at a beach on the Kina Rd, on our way home from tramping around the Stony River Walkway, we saw many people out on the rocks. We asked what they were doing, they were collecting 'kina' and paua. We decided to see what we could find for ourselves....

Yes, I know...it's a small world......sheesh!

I am amazed by our small world and this is not a reference to how I am connected to Kevin Bacon by six degrees of separation. It is an oft abused notion and unfortunately associated with a song/tune, which is benign enough but due to the repetitive nature of a certain ride at Disneyworld, can no longer be listened to and enjoyed. Having said that, it is a small world after all.

As we prepared to leave for New Zealand, I was struck by how many in and around our hometown of Wilmington, VT had been to or knew people in New Zealand. Most notably, a friend, Nicki Steel who had lived and worked in NZ and has been quite the support before and since we have moved.

Here come the NMH Hoggers?

Therefore, I was not surprised to learn about a group of students visiting Opunake H.S. from the USA. Opunake being a small town, their hosts were aware of us being here from America and asked if we would join them for a visit at their marae (communal meeting place of sorts but really much more). At OHS they ran into Eli and he noticed a shirt one was wearing with the letters, "NMH"  and he asked did that stand for Northfield-Mount Hermon, and the answer was an astounding, "yes." And in fact several knew Eli's middle school classmate, Will Capitani, who is now a freshman at NMH. Eli ended up hanging out with the group at school, afterschool as they went to our beach and then spent the night with them at the Manaia marae. Since they had been welcomed and made "part " of the marae the night before they in turn now welcomed Eli and Shelley in a traditional way. NMH has sent a class here for the past 8 yrs under the tutelege of NZ ex-pat Glen, now an instructor at NMH, and Meg...who shepherd a group for 6 weeks travelling throughout NZ learning history, culture and seeing the sights. The following morning the NMH crew returned to Opunake Beach for what they assumed was to be a 'dry' lecture regarding marine biology etc. but were in fact treated to a lesson in surfing by the Opunake Board Riders ...giving Eli a bit of a hard time as he knew this the night before but failed to let them in on the deception. They did great!

Yes, yes, I know...I know.....

Off they went after their surf lesson to Mt. Taranaki and the rest of their travels and we were left as recipients of another example of our global village.

A one and da two and da tree..."It's a small world after all...it's a small world after all...it's a small world after all...it's a small, small, world.............."

Eli's athletics day

 


Hi there.  I'm bummed to be missing all that snow and snowboarding.  I see many of you are getting lots better this year.  Hopefully you won't leave me in the dust.  It's still summer here, which does have it's perks.  I've been learning to surf , but suffering a bit in the heat!  The school here is pretty cool.  We have groups like in Harry Potter that compete throughout the year.  I'm running for my team, Karo in the 200 meter race in the finals next week.  Next will be a day of swimming competitions.  Hope I don't drown!!  Enjoy the film my dorky mother took.

Goodbye, Farewell, Amen....now what?

Some reflections on getting here and being here so far....

Getting here....leaving was far more difficult and emotional than I could have imagined when Shelley and I first considered leaving and moving for one year. In our past we had spent time in different places and always had come out of the experience feeling blessed for it. And looking back it is difficult to recall the exact feelings which accompanied the decision to leave or the actual leaving. In other words it always seemed to be easy and felt right. This time after the decision was made to go it felt surreal and there were many doubts about it being the right thing to do.

The obvious answer is... back then it was just me, or just her, or just us (eg college, Omak/JVC, graduate school, residency) Now, we were determining the fate of our, "very happy to live in Vermont", well adjusted kids.

They all had/have trepidation, having known nowhere else but Wilmington as their home. Logan and Izaak, the younger two, often expressing their fear, anger and dismay. A poignant moment was when they drew out stick figures being eaten by sharks on their chalkboard with speech bubbles like, "Help, I am being eaten, this would not have happened if we did not move to New Zealand!"


The changing of one's life in mid stream for one year is difficult because of how we have changed, now rooted to a place and to the people in that place. Rooted by the roles we play in that place.

Arriving....we arrived to beautiful, sunny, warm days and had time to get used to our surroundings; to go to the beach, the library, the Tip Top dairy. We adjusted to driving on the left side of the road, to looking over the left shoulder while backing up, to using the turn signal, which is on the right side of the steering column instead of the windshield wipers and vice versa (how many times have I tried to signal to only see the wipers go back and forth furiously!), to the time zone, to getting the nuts and bolts down in terms of internet, phones etc. We oriented to new jobs, new schools, and new neighbors. We arrived to a walkable life. My commute is a killer, a whole 3.5 minutes by foot. Three dairies (think ice cream/candy shop) are easily accessed by my kids on foot, scooter or skateboard. Our schools, town pool, and community center/gym a mere 500 metres away.

Missing familiar foods, the food is close enough to home but is different enough to make us sad and in some ways the most homesick. Milk, yogurt, hot dogs, sausages, chocolate milk, cereal and ketchup, just weird enough to frustrate Shelley and the kids. 

Starting to engage and observe the bicultural nature of New Zealand, a land of settlers as the polynesian Maori arrived earliest and the Europeans arrived not so long ago...interesting how our experiences with American Indians while in Omak seem to be echoed here but with a twist. The Maori were never overtly subjugated like the Indians of North America and the Europeans have tried to structurally make amends for past abuses and move into the future side by side with the Maori. There are many unfortunate similarities to the Indian experience as well. Like Omak, my appearance seems to subconsciously help me working with Maori as they are not quite sure what I am (I could pass for a Maori/Asian mix).

This ethnic camouflage also appears to effect the kids as they meet kids around town and at school. Eli seems to be getting 'in' with the Maori kids at the high school and so is Logan, with Izaak having a surprisingly difficult time getting in with his classmates despite being my most gregarious child back in Vermont. I am not worried but surprised.

However, despite all the differences, which the kids are especially focused on and are always pointing out, and some early difficulties, I am excited and looking forward to the next 11 months. Already aware this time will pass quickly. Trying to take it all in, the good, the bad and the ugly. Our initial fears mostly dispelled, now we can focus on making a life for ourselves here, albeit a temporary one, and once again be able to look back upon another experience as one more blessing in our oft-blessed life.

Road trip to Rotorua!

Helpful driving advice on the forgotten highway!

Keeping our eyes open and trying not to puke!

Cool bird!

Farmland everywhere!

Using the underground thermal activity to heat food!

Pretty church in Maori village.

Dig your own hot tub, o.k. footbath at a hot water beach on the lake!

Hot Chocolate, lucky boy!

Our Kiwi adventure, with a little trick photo!

Some people refer to this area as Rotovegas, while it is more touristy than much of New zealand, not even close to Vegas.  Things we learned ...
1) Everywhere in New Zealand is farther away than you think. (We pulled into our cabin at 11pm (An hour after curfew)

2) Although most of New Zealand is coastal, most of New Zealand is not flat!

3) Wild goats are very cute and look like they are right from a Billy Goats Gruff picture book!

4) Flooding attracts really cool birds!

5) The nearby volcano erupted exactly 99 years before Peter & Shelley were married.

6) The Kiwi bird is a very strange bird indeed.  It has wings that are so tiny he can't use them and has a claw at the tip.  Has feathers that look like fur.  When explorers first sent a sample of this bird back to the mainland they were accused of playing a hoax.

7) Every town here, no matter how small seems to have an incredible playground, pool, and garden.

8) Inland New Zealand probably looks a lot like Vermont used to look.  In between towns and mountains it is nothing but farmland.  But I have to wonder, who is drinking all this milk.

9)  There are not very many people here.  We travelled to a touristy spot at a touristy time and rarely had to wait in line or traffic.

10)  After touring around a bit, we feel lucky we chose Opunake, just the right mix of everything that is important to us.

"Doc Hollywood chimes in"

Well now it is my turn. On the work side of things, just getting started as I am finishing my mandatory orientation as dictated by the Medical Council of New Zealand. Mostly getting used to the "system" here in terms of access and insurance etc. Of course no system is perfect but it is interesting here. Most have some access to care here, public and/or private. Public is slower in terms of waiting for big ticket items as they are done according to need. If you have private insurance or are willing to pay then you can get in quicker. Interestingly all "accidents" are covered by something called ACC which is separate from insurance. The stereotype of the tough Kiwi also seems mostly true. However, I am struck by the mostly true truism, "the more things change the more they stay the same." 


The practice itself is scary...in the sense it is as if I have fallen thru the rabbit hole and emerged in a parallel universe with my practice here to greet me. Small, rural, excellent nurses and staff, with lots of urgent care related to a rural lifestyle. There are nurses here who are lifetime members of the community, know everyone and are involved to the nth degree. They all love a 'cuppa' and good story but when the day is done they are ready to 'flick off' for the night. A small town approach towards care. I have already been called out to an emergency car accident. My new 'partner' had to call a helicopter as a farmer amputated several fingers and any hope of restoring them laid in a timely trip to the acute care hospital capable of handling this. He is a US family doc/sport medicine/surfer from San Diego and he will share the practice with me until May then he returns to the US. We are getting along well already. You have met his wife and sons on the previous blog entries.


As most of you who know me will not be surprised, I am already analyzing things and seeing what can I bring back to my practice at home from here and vice versa. This particular practice has been without regular care for so long, somewhat in crisis mode taking care of patients' primary need as opposed to the health care maintenance stuff. That plus the long waits, a colonoscopy on the public system is 1-2 yrs for pure screening, makes it hard to focus on it at all. But being me, starting to add to the long waiting lists for colonoscopies much to the dismay of my patients I am sure...2 yrs from now they will get a call to show up for their colonoscopy never remembering it was that crazy American doctor who did this to him...it is kind of like hit and run primary care! HA! 


The wonderful thing about doctoring here is that the ACC thing. As mentioned above, it was enacted in the 1970's as their answer to eliminating malpractice lawsuits...basically in exchange for fault free accident insurance Kiwis gave up the right to sue for damages. They can still file for criminal negligence etc. So the incentive to sue is 'nil. So, where I come in is that my notes are not fodder for the medicolegal system, that I write a note that is for transmitting info to myself or a colleague not to defend myself. So, I get my notes done before the next patient (mostly) and come home with no notes to complete, if I behave myself. I am having to type them as I have not tried to use my voice recognition system yet. However,  if the desire is there, there are a lot of screening recalls I can use to make sure patients are coming back for things that they do need so I am falling a bit behind but only as much as I easily catch up over the lunch hour or during morning or afternoon tea which is scheduled in. We will see how I do as my workload increases and I have been here awhile longer.  The take home message is when I am home I am home and available for spouse and kids and myself to surf, exercise, read, etc. 


For their system as a whole, it is not all milk and honey as they are losing primary care docs at an alarming rate, which is why many of us locums are here, due to aging/retirement and the loss of young docs to other countries notably Australia, and in the politics and bureaucracy behind the scenes as docs have lost more and more say in how health care is administered. At least it is my interpretation at this early stage thru the eyes of a few I have spoken to thus far.

Peter's new office...nope this is the Rotorua Museum...our camera drowned and so no pics of the office as of yet.

Well that is the boring 'Peter's work-life entry' for now. Just to remind everyone that it is not all vacation and beach and surf. Oh, boo hoo for Peter! HA! I am already glad, happy and convinced this was the right thing to do for me as I already feel refreshed and have a new view towards medicine. A new appreciation of what I had, what I currently have and what I will return to. Thanks to all who have made this possible. Much love and appreciation, Peter

The new kids Logan & Izaak

First day of school today!  These red hats protect them from the hole in the ozone!  No hats, no recess!  However, most kids are barefoot all day.  They also get to skateboard, swim, play tackle rugby and a game called "bullrush" at recess.  They also don't start school until 9am!  Everything is a trade off.  I think they look great, but they would like to go home.

Embarrassed Eli

Tomorrow is my first day of school. It should be interesting.. I have to wear a uniform with these absolutely ridiculous sandals. I think they are one of the weirdest things I have ever worn. I really do not think they are mens shoes. But people are telling me that everyone wears them, which I do not believe. I think everyone is just playing some dumb prank on me. I guess ill find out soon.