Buddha v. Dad

I'm officially in count-down mode. This time next week, I'll be home! .... and I'm so freakin' excited, I simply can't stand it. Mississippi is calling my name (my double name, of course...).

Admittedly, If I were not a complete miser and were willing to dish out 'even more' money to Qantas to bump my flight up, I'd be coming home today. But, alas, I'm a cheapskate and am happy (ier) wasting time until 11:00 a.m. rolls around next Sunday....

So, I'm in Brisbane now with with my official pen-pal. Who has pen pals these days? I do. "Old school & Proud" should be my motto. Rebecca & I lived together for only about 6 months in 2005 in Melbourne. She is one of the best roommates I've ever had. We became fast friends and life was good.  After all these years, despite the international-ness of our friendship, we have managed to stay very close. I've spent Christmas with her family in New Zealand, ended up in Brisbane with her after her 2 years in Tonga with VIDA and we've written letters to each other for more than 5 years! I feel like we've barely been apart. We hardly ever talk, ever email, only letters. I love it.


Plus, as if I needed even MORE alone time, I've somehow come to the decision that I should spend this week at a Buddhist Retreat. This is interesting given that I've spent the last 6 months in a near silent mode with plenty of reflection and getting-to-know-my-soul-time. What am I thinking???
However, this place comes highly recommended to me and I'm very curious, so I decided to make the plunge. I've never really done the 'meditation thing' except for several weeks at an ashram in India. Meditation was not my goal there (doing medical work was) but indirectly I was brought into the folds of the place and the next thing I know I'm in silence, eating only vego food and dressed in white! Interesting times....

Anyways, I'm sure my time at the Buddhist retreat will be great and just as memorable as my last. My protestant-loving-bible-belt-thinking-Dad naively told me to tell Buddha Hi. weirdo. ha

Here's to even more centering...

 

Community Life. Imanpa.

Meeting With Those I Meet Along the Way

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One of the joys of working as a casual/contract worker is the disposability (is that a word?) of your position. (I say this with huge jest! ) After being shifted between two communities this week, alas - I returned back to Imanpa, where I was posted only a few weeks ago. After a 2 second frustration spell, I thought : "Who the hell cares?" and off I went. As all things do, everything worked out in the end : I'm in a HUGE house, my own garden, nestled in a beautiful valley showcasing the most memorable sunrises and sunsets -- plus it's paved the whole way here! This is nice mainly because I'm fairly easy to get to so two friends are coming for a visit to see what Aboriginal life is all about. Yea for visitors! I think they get a kick out of being picked up in an Ambulance at a Roadhouse - Ha.   Here's to the good life.

As a side note, interesting people w/ a multitude of stories to tell cross my paths often out here. I admit that I sometimes lie in bed at night plagued by the idea that so many of these oldies will die off and their stories will go with them -- thinking that maybe I should be recording tales instead of doling out pills! Nevertheless, one of these men is Brownie Doolan, an old tracker. With a name like that, I'd be interested to know if he knew Betty Crocker. (joke) I recently met him in Finke. Anyways, Old fellow, skin that has seen many moons and a sweet disposition as he spends his days mostly in his front yard watching the world go by. He's been around, for sure, and has seen alot. A body of history. Literally.

Finke, Northern Territory

Don't have much time nor access to write much other than posting the map as to where I've landed now...Finke. Right down South near the border to South Australia.

After a bumpy 4 hour drive from Alice Springs today, I'm glad to be in one spot. Cute place. Clean place (!). I think I'm going to like it here.

Much history, including the annual Finke Desert Race...crazy! Right now I can hear loud music throughout the community from the Dept of Recreation & Entertainment. Don't know what that's all about, but it's nice.

Imanpa, Northern Territory

Without meaning to, I've arrived, worked and am now leaving my 3rd community: Imanpa. After Elizabeth left last week, I returned to the Northern Territory for a short contract in this community.


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Roughly about 2 hours East of Ayers Rock (Uluru) and 3 hours from Alice Springs, Imanpa is a small community of only a few hundred people. It's nestled within a little valley, which creates a fantastic sunrise and sunset daily! Although work is most of my day, I've spent all of my spare time running and reading to prepare for classes that I'm taking next week in Alice Springs: this one and this one.

I hope everyone is doing well -- happy, healthy and whole. I'm doing great and, despite the isolated frustrations, am filled more and more by the beauty of the people, places and experiences I'm gathering on this journey. Yet, daily I still miss Buster and iced tea! (along w/ much more.)

Also, thanks so much for all the support since I've been gone. The correspondence, be it snail mail, emails, packages or gifts go a long, long way when you're this isolated from everything and everyone, esp. family and friends. For those of you who have lived remotely before, I know you can empathize. Just for someone to go out of their way to connect is priceless!  Truly, Thank you! I'll never forget it.

Much love to you all, Stephanie jane

           Things that make me smile these days:

~~my life. sunrise runs into wide, open spaces. loveable, adorable kids. the sheer anticipation! of a proper coffee in town. surprise letters from friends I haven't spoken to for nearly 10 years. planning my sunflower field. long chats over tea with women in the community. knowing I am free. planning to be home in May. videos from home of new tricks my dog has learned. living out of one suitcase.

Great Barrier Reef

A Short Fable for my Simple Minded/Short On Time Readers

My sister and I went on a trip. We went on a diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef. This reef is one of the world's 7 natural wonders, although we both forgot that at the time!

Our trip was a liveaboard trip (3 days/2 nights on a boat that takes you far off the coast) with a company called Deep Sea Diver's Den. They were great.

Our boat was huge! which was nice and scary-touristy in the beginning. We lucked up and had the whole place to ourselves (plus only 9 others!). Karma was looking over us.

We lived in our bathing suits and "Scuba Steve" gear the entire time, which made me look rather goofy. The weather was great and usually not a cloud in the sky. Elizabeth was scared of being sunburned. She's really white.

We did 12 dives in 3 days, including 2 night dives where we only went down with a small flashlight (or "torch" as they say in Australia). I saw 4 sharks the first night. It wasn't scary but wasn't fun either. Day light is much better to me.

During the day, we saw everything. The reef is beautiful and so colorful when visibility is good and we could stay within 35 feet, which was hardly the case when anyone other than myself was leading the dive.

We saw more sharks!

and stingrays

and turtles

and jellyfish!

It was a great trip. You should go.

Aside from the diving, new friends were made!

New friends with underwater cameras Rock!

Thanks, Mat!

The End.

ps-More pictures and details to come. Thanks to American Airlines, Elizabeth's bag w/ the CD full of photos got lost on the way home. Till then...

Ti Tree Musings from EJH

Am I being ridiculous to call Elizabeth a "guest blogger"?? Welcome her to the site and maybe she'll appear more often!

Elizabeth's Reflections from Ti Tree:

I have not felt this fantastic in a long time! Life in the Northern Territory has been a balance of mind, body, and soul for me. In medical school, my schedule has been weighted, and I have had a difficult time balancing mind with body and soul. Every day, I tell Stephanie Jane a simplicity of her reality that I appreciate. One morning, I counted the steps from our door to the threshold of the clinic, a total of 150 steps. As we undertake our commute, the ground comes alive. Hidden amongst the red dirt and sporadic tuffs of grass, grasshoppers prelude your arrival, scattering in disarray like popcorn in hot oil having no order to their chaotic retreat. Life is so vivid and raw here!

Most mornings begin with watching the sunrise over the horizon while we jog along red dirt paths. I love watching sunrises, or sunsets. The sun is a daily reminder to be true to oneself. The sun rises and sets without fail. Every morning the sun will rise in the east and every evening the sun will set in the west; it is a constant that we can rely on. We must be honest to ourselves about what makes us happy, what our goals are, and what we find important in life. There is one life to live, and when the sun sets on mine, I want to know that I lived it to the fullest. Medicine has a peculiar way of swallowing you whole and spitting you out well-educated, but incomplete, financially incompetent, and, for the first time, no directional advice. It is a continual struggle to maintain balance. Ti Tree has been a time of reflection for me, a time for me to revisit my motivations, my aspirations, and my goals. Ti Tree is the sunrise that I need before I enter the next era of my medical training.

Some of my favorite parts of Ti Tree have been the night sky with a string of constellations, seeing either a sunset or a sunrise (or both!) every day, red dirt contrasted by the green trees, morning runs, and afternoon tea time. I love the simplicity of the Aboriginal people. But my most favorit-est part of Ti Tree has been time. Time to do anything with nothing to accomplish. I journal, I exercise, I read, I nap. I think about my garden this spring, about Monte’s upcoming retraining-training regime, and the color of my bedroom next year. I plan my marathon training schedule, a financial budget on a resident’s salary, and the night’s meal. I love to think about anything and everything. I aimlessly wander among my field of thought and when I come across and enticing thought, I think about it more.

Stephanie Jane has constantly challenged me to explore parts of myself that have lain dormant for the past several years. This ‘guest posting’ was, needless to say, her idea. I loathe the idea of writing because I feel I can never convey my thoughts appropriately. As I write, she is chiding me with a smile and ‘I told you so’s’ from across the room because I have spent an entire Saturday morning writing. I am so thankful that even though distance usually separates us, we maintain a closeness that only sisters can have. She knows how to encourage like a big sister and to let no answer be the best answer like a best friend. I have loved being part of her reality this past month!

So, here’s to completing my guest/first-ever post and to wholeness! Cheers!

Our Schedule

I always get the question: "What are you doing out there?". This is a difficult one to sum up easily, so with Elizabeth's help, I came up with the following. Maybe this will help.

A Day in the Life at Ti Tree

5:46 Phone alarm goes off to the sweet tunes of an ascending ringtone.

5:46:02 Snooze button already battered twice. Recount dreams, stretch, make excuses not to get out of bed. Elizabeth is usually already brushing her teeth and lacing up her tennis shoes.

6:00 Alarm clock goes off for the second time. I hear Elizabeth in the kitchen taking her morning Vit C (she has had nasal drainage since she has been here!) ready to insert the P90X DVD of choice.

6:15 After fumbling around, having some cold water and wiping the sleep out of my eyes, I join Elizabeth for the six minutes of stretching before exercise begins. I try to make Elizabeth start the mornings off with a trot, but she insists on approaching the mornings as a locomotive bound for New York.

7:08 We dump the vinegar out of the electric kettle. Vinegar is used to clean the overwhelming calcium deposits off the coils so we can boil water for our morning coffee. No worries about osteoporosis in the Northern Territory. The water has the highest content of calcium that I have ever ingested.

7:10 Water is boiling.

7:30 Shower, Breakfast and freeze-dried coffee in alternating order. Ti Tree is not a main consumer of Costa Rican beans so we are forced to the local alternative.

7:59:59 Head out the door to clinic. Our door is steps from the clinic. As we walk, we dodge colliding grasshoppers (no, seriously, these grasshoppers are the size of small birds!) we stir up in the grasses. There are also packs of dogs that escort us to clinic. We have our favorites, esp the Pit/ Rat Terrier pup that has one low slung ear and one perky ear.

8:00 Clinic Starts. Elizabeth starts her mornings off with a thorough reading of the previous night’s emails from America. I start with recording the daily temperature of the various frigs in the clinic waiting for the patients to arrive.

This past week I have been splitting my time between seeing patients and helping get the visiting doctor acquainted with her new space. Elizabeth meanders in and out of each of the rooms with no particular favorite. She sits in with me while I flush flies out of kids’ ears and then mingles back in with the DMO to listen to the management of uncontrolled diabetes.

EJH analogy: The day in a remote Aboriginal clinic is like tripping on mushrooms while watching a Planet Earth series of unsuspecting ants being consumed by a beetle.

SJH analogy: The day in a remote Aboriginal clinic is like licking honey off a thorn.

Too many things can happen in a day, so here is a snapshot of our last 2 weeks:

Antenatal checks. STI treatments. Flushing out stones/tree particles from ears. Filling medicine boxes. Rheumatic Heart prophylaxis. Scabies education. Vaccination administration. Centrifuging blood. Facilitating Hearing checks w/ the ENT team. Impetigo identification. Growth charts. ECG lessons. IV fluids. Toothbrushing demonstration. Deworming protocols. Iron injections. Diabetic ulcer dressing changes. Responding to domestic violence assaults. Death. Medicare enrollment. Asthma nebulizers. Insulin injections. Glomerular filtration rates vs. Albumin/Creatinine Ratio. Lancing boils. Pneumonia diagnosing. Loving on kids. Wiping away tears. Getting frustrated with poor parenting. Removing calcium deposits in the hot water kettle. Changing sheets. Checking oxygen tanks. Drug counts. Writing medical certificates. Arranging transport into town. Fracture identification. Pain management. Strongilydosis labs. Giarrhdia samples. Oral Rehydration education. IV lessons.…..Always, always, always learning.

12:00 Lunch

12:10 Naptime! Elizabeth’s favorite part of the day. I usually read.

12:59:59 Back to the clinic for the afternoon session

15:30 Tea Time! Elizabeth always sneaks back a couple of cookies in her bag after lunch to munch on while we drink Bushel’s tea, sugar, and cream.

17:00 Clinic ends. The days are always so busy, time flies!

17:01 Internet time!

18:00 Elizabeth is prepping for the night’s meal. She seems to think that she needs to use all the vegetables and fruit in every meal she cooks, so it takes her a lot of prep time.

18:30 This part of the day depends on what the mood calls for. Sometimes go for another run (if Elizabeth can talk me into it), read, sew, laugh/chat/tell stories (yes, mom, lots of long conversations), listen to music, and teach Elizabeth computer skills.

20:00 Meal time! It has been fantastic having Elizabeth here. She adorns the self-designated title of “master chef.” Somewhere amongst staple traveler’s food supply, Elizabeth designs a creative masterpiece nightly.

20:15 Wind-down time. I clean the dishes while Elizabeth takes a shower which I follow suit not too far behind.

21:00 By this time we are several pages into our books with our eyelids falling slowly. Not too much longer, turn the lights out and quickly fall asleep. (yes, going to bed early is our speed...)

Ampilatwatja Video

Due to the constraints of working within a government run/"Big Brother" health clinic, this video is a bit overdue 2/2 not being able to access most sites. Nevertheless, hope you like it!


Saving 1000's of words: Ampilatwatja 2010 from Stephanie Holcombe on Vimeo.

Shooting Photos In Melbourne

I feel like a photojournalism amateur, but above is my recent trip to Melbourne through my eyes.

Melbourne is my absolute favorite city I've ever lived. god, I love that place. enough said.

On to the next spot: Ti Tree!

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I'm on to my next community: a tiny little spot right on the main Stuart Highway (that goes from Alice Springs to Darwin directly). It's me and 2 other nurses/midwife here at the moment, responsible for this plus 5 other neighboring communities. So far, all is well. I've already seen alot and realized again why I like this work so much.

I go home every night with so many stories in my head, but what made my day today was a 9 yr old little girl. She came in by herself after school, very poised and articulate, ready to show me the sore on her foot. Aside from the sore, she was so excited to show me she had 6 toes on the foot. Like, soo excited -- as in she was soooo excited! I thought it was the cutest thing ever. We both had a giggle. She left and I thought how much fun it would be to also have 6 toes to show off to unsuspecting strangers!

It reminded my yet again of how the little things are the most important.

The most exciting thing is that my sister will arrive this week. Actually, she is somewhere high over the Pacific as I write this. I am so super excited that I can barely stand it! For all intensive purposes she is already a little Miss MD (she graduates in May) but has arranged for this to be an "away rotation" for school credit. She will work out here for the duration of my assignment with us and have it count in Jackson, MS. How cool is she?

Thanks for keeping up!
Love, Stephanie

New Music: Shark Speed

A great new-ish band from Utah, Shark Speed. I really like their sound, but am especially liking King of the World. Check them out!

Once In a Blue Moon

I have an aversion to prescribed fun. By this I am referring to those instances when by the nature of the date, event, person or place, you are required to have a profoundly wild time. This just is not the way I work. In fact, it usually backfires on me because of the mind set that I am “supposed” to be a certain way. I don’t like anything that feels forced and New Years Eve always has felt that way to me. Needless to say,this night has never been an overly hyped night in my world.

Yes, there have been some magical moments like the year I spend NYE in Paris on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, wildly dancing and kissing some really good-looking Frenchman or the time I spent the night in a dark, seedy club in Melbourne dressed to the 9’s, high-heels, red lipstick - the works. Other than that, quite frankly, none have been worth reporting; they’ve essentially been regular nights. In the most recent past, they have been spent at our camphouse in front of a roaring fire with my family. I am happy to report whether in Paris or in Cairo, MS, I am just as happy.

This year I will add a firepit in Ampilatawatja to my illustrious list of New Years Eve places. Much to my Mother’s dismay, I will be celebrating it alone, next to a campfire with my out-of-tune guitar (to play my mere 3 learned chords) and my journal. Apparently my brother spent a Christmas alone in Australia many years ago on a riverbank with a 6 pack of beer. She is haunted by this, afraid I too will appear just as abandoned at my one woman NYE party. Don’t worry Mom, I will be just fine. Actually, I am pretty excited.

I am also further excited by the blue moon that is to appear tonight. How cool will it be, I thought, to see a blue moon? Well….no, not actually. A blue moon is not blue, it’s just another full moon.

After a little bit of research, this is what I discovered:

The New Year's Eve blue moon will be visible in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up until New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.

However, the Eastern Hemisphere can celebrate with a partial lunar eclipse on New Year's Eve when part of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The eclipse will not be visible in the Americas.

A full moon occurs every 29.5 days, and most years have 12. On average, an extra full moon in a month -- a blue moon -- occurs every 2.5 years. The last time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year's Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't come again until 2028.

Wherever you are, I hope the skies are clear tonight as that brilliant orb rises over the horizon. In an overly metaphorical sense, may you pause and allow it illuminate your past and give direction to your future. Sending much love from my fire pit to yours…Cheers for 2010!

My Christmas Card 2009

For those of you whose email address I didn't have.
Merry Xmas. sj

Christmas Reflections

It’s Christmas time! Is it?

I’ve just come home from judging the Christmas light contest, so I guess maybe it is. Is tomorrow really Christmas Eve? The calendar says so. I otherwise never would have known. The land of hype and honey feels very far away.

It’s interesting how much 'place' dictates your thoughts and emotions. A complete paradigm shift happens after a change in location. It’s strange like that. A mere flight can flip your reality, and thus your thoughts, upside down. Typically this is my most favorite time of the year and I am usually everything akin to a jolly little elf during this season. But, right now, Christmas feels a long way away. I have none of the usual emotions. It’s weird and pretty sad for me. I tell myself it should come as no surprise. Nothing here is familiar, nothing is decorated (hardly) and it’s hot. If anything, I learned that I prefer N. Hemisphere Xmas over Southern. This summer time and Santa just don't seem to go together.

I’ve done this before – that is being away from home on the holidays – and every day except today and tomorrow make it feel like it’s always a good decision. But, these days are sad; there is no denying that. For at least 48 hours straight, I wish I were at home. But, the good thing is that I have a happy spirit about it and will certainly make the most of being away and use this time to chalk up yet another experience in my record books. I’m sure this Christmas will end up being full of memories that I’ll never have again. In fact, it already is:

Instead of celebrating a baby Jesus, this community is celebrating the baby donkey that was just born!

I somehow was chosen by the shop owners to be the judge of the Christmas light contest. Little did I know how unforgiving this contest really is. People were driving up to 4 hours to purchase Xmas lights! I thought it was going to be a friendly little game of ‘who can put up the most’ but I learned quickly that some were out to win at all costs. This week I have been ‘invited’ over at night to come and have a look at their houses, having to walk around it, admire all of their hard-work. People would come to the clinic just to make sure that I was coming to see their house. It was all humorous to me, until I realized the 1^st place prize was a couch! 2^nd: two tables. What?! Yeah... pretty hard core. I took the easy way out and got a 7 yr. old to be my ‘official’ judge.

My best present so far has been a pint of $6.50 strawberries from the shop and a can of whipped cream that the doctor I work with gave me. (I ate it all in one night.)

A kid here has never heard of popcorn strands for the Xmas tree (most don’t really do much for Xmas), so we’re making some at my place tonight.


Prue & Heath made me my own Xmas tree potted in red dirt before they left and were even so kind as to leave me stolen toffee and a gift underneath wrapped in absorbent towels from the clinic. I was flattered.
mail plane came and went...no presents for me :(


I hope everyone is surrounded by as much family and love as possible this year. Missing many of you in so many ways.

Merry Christmas to you all. SJ

Movie Maker?

For many of you blog followers out there, it might come as no surprise that I am motivated to do my own video work. After spending the summer with my friend Casey (whose videos I posted on here of our travels—see July postings below on the left), I am now inspired to use movie editing software to document my own travels. Please, though, do not compare mine to his; I’m still learning!

Hope you like my first attempts.

My Abode from Stephanie Holcombe on Vimeo.

Join Me on the Air Strip from Stephanie Holcombe on Vimeo.

Mangy Dog Madness.

I'm motivated to do a collage of pics called 'Mangy Dogs'. I can't believe they are alive--and each day I see one worse than the day before! Blows my mind.

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)

Ampilatwatja

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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!