Busy Bee

Time flies when you’re busy, and busy is an understatement for me these days! I arrive at the clinic at 8:30 in the a.m. and most of the time I don’t leave until at least 6 or 7. I then am on call some nights, having to come back for (usually) sick kids. Fortunately, the clinic has a 2 hour lunch break – which is AWESOME! I go non-stop all day, seeing patients, trying my hand at a bit of management, liaising between Alice Springs health offices, plus a million other things – it’s go, go, go. But, I’m learning a lot and that’s the point. My learning cure is at 90 degrees.

We’ve had a great group of nurses to come through here, which has been such an experience to get to meet all these new people that have so many interesting things to teach me – both clinically and ‘how in the world did you end up here, too?’. We all live together, so not only do we work together, we cook together, sleep together and are pretty much intricately intertwined. Fortunately, they’re all cool people and we have fun making the most out of this experience. Now, it’s down to me and another female, Prue, for the next week or so until the main nurse returns from holiday. I’m doing well at adjusting to remote life.

Arriving in a new place there's that need to ubicar, to locate, and not just external things like where the shop is or the trash pit, but to actually be ubicado, to feel yourself located in the place. It is a good process. I find that it's easy for me to exist in this environment and also find that it is far easier to accept the differences than not. It’s an adjustment – don’t get me wrong. However, overall, I’m glad to experience being able to easily exist in so many contexts, not having to have this or that to be happy...I'm not shocked.

Probably the only thing I wish were different was having alcohol! It would be nice to have a cold beer or glass of wine some nights. This community, however, is a voluntary ‘dry’ community, so no alcohol is allowed. Oh well…small issue in the grand scheme of things.

Outside of the clinic, I’m trying to also read several books, waking up to work out every morning before work (Thanks, Dendy & Heather!), spending lots of energy on Dave’s 2 dogs (we’ve mutually fallen in love w/ each other!), trying my hand at some drawing, fiddling around on the guitar, learning juicing and ways to cook w/ a random group of ingredients. I’m also attempting some travel writing and going to submit some to some online sites to see if any of it is good enough. Ultimately, I try each day to do something good for my mind, body and soul, giving each equal attention. However, I am gentle w/myself and don’t judge me on the days that I just want to go to bed at 8:00 after a long day!

According to my sister, my blog sometimes doesn’t say much, so I’ve included some video that might help tell the story. Be patient as I learn about this whole blogging world! Walking to work one day, driving out and working at a remote clinic that I man every Wed. afternoon -- red & dry!, random dust storms that I often see here, the totally adorable, yet terrible ears the dogs have (it’s so terrible, it's cute), and the house I’m house sitting now.

Thanks for keeping up and for all the encouragement.

Love and apples. (as my friend Casey B. adorably says)