Welcome to My World.

1. The first week in any place entails adjustment and ‘learning the ropes’ – my first week in this Aboriginal community has certainly been a lot of both.
   
   It would require too many words to fully explain the culture, history, atmosphere and people, esp. for a mere blog. I’m learning so much! and one day can tell you more in person, if you care to know.
   
   Here is a snapshot of what my world has been like since arriving:
   
   Orientation of the clinic started with learning to change the oil and change the tire on the 4WD late-model Land Cruiser that I would be in charge of to drive to even further out communities to hold clinic. If I roll-over, have a flat, run into a cow – tough shit. No satellite phone and an hour’s drive from here. “Oh, and here’s a bag of water and toilet paper you should take with you ‘just in case’ you get in trouble”.
   
   My first night on call I had to coordinate evacuating a sick baby out of the community using the Royal Flying Doctor Service. At 2 a.m. I was driving the length of the landing strip to make sure there were no ‘roos, cows, horses or people in the way so the plane could land.
   
   On my first morning run, I ran with a stick to try and scare off all of the community/wild dogs that figured it was their business to bark/follow me. By 8:30 a.m. the entire clinic staff already knew that I had gone jogging that morning….getting used to a small community.
   
   A pack of wild brumby’s (horses) apparently come into town every night looking for water. As I was driving the ambulance home at 2 a.m. one morning, I had to wait for the pack to cross before I could continue.
   
   While seeing my very first patient, I about jumped out of my seat when a very loud squeal came out of no where. (As my family knows, I’m easily scared sometimes.) The patient had a good laugh at me … it was only the donkey outside of my window.
   
   Speaking of the donkeys: they seem to aimlessly wander around the community without any real purpose, except that one of them has learned to push down on the door handle with its mouth and open the door to the house! “No worries”… “He’s just saying Hi”, I was told.
   
   On the first day I was told that I was now in charge of the clinic and the house of the main nurse who has gone on holiday for 3 weeks. He left me with his keys, his house, the clinic and his 2 dogs. Not that they replace Buster what-so-ever, but it is nice to have the little things do excited flips when I come home. Oh yeah, and they shit in my bed the first night. Ugh.
   
   The cockroaches fly here.
   
   The fire pit, bright starry sky and the guitar that I’m learning on are my greatest forms of entertainment so far. That and the donkeys on the porch.
   
   A huge footy tournament (Australian Football League) is in town this weekend. Teams from all-over the NT drive up to 700 km to come to this particular community to play.
   
   The doctor out here ironically is also from the US. Nice guy with a colorful history who is teaching me all about his juicer!