Get Outdoors...: October 2006

I got a call from the local pharmacist last wednesday asking if we wanted to go surfing after work. Well, the patients were talkative and i finally found a used wetsuit that seemed warm enough and booties and a hood for the frigid water here...by then they were gone!

Well, we decided to head into town over the weekend (Dunedin's the closest for actually good gear--three hours away). Much to our surprise we found a very clean and hilly city...something between london and san francisco but on a much smaller scale we decided. Drove up and ran down the "steepest street in the world" (according to guiness book of world records). it was a little scary but we have 4WD.

New additions--Kimball got a surfboard (a "fish" because it's smaller and has a tail cut out). it will be mailed to our house. and now we both have super warm wetsuits and gear. Took the bikes out to Sandy point again (invercargill). a race was just finishing so we got to try out their track. it was fun with the mud and corners, tree trunks and stumps. oh yeah, i got a flyfishing pole...have to try it out and see if it's any good. I'm more excited about just playing in and around the river so this will give me a good excuse.

This weekend kimball's off to the states for boards...we'll both be thrilled when he's done and can play after work. The sun's out until almost 9pm so lots of time for enjoying the NZ activities.

We're still looking for a trip to antartica that we can afford. have considered going with the NZ dept of conservation and volunteering if that makes it cheaper (or free).

Keeping in touch with Guam and talked to the medical director there who's excited about us coming out next year...

Work's fun...different. the main thing is people really love to talk. about the weather, calving, lambing, fishing, sports, whatever! it's good when not too busy. also you notice no one expects to pay for anything because of the govt system. they can get most meds, ER visits, specialists care for free. they only thing they have to pay for is over the counter meds and visiting me, their local general practitioner (as i am known here..since they don't have the system of residency programs like in america). so it's a toss up...they can come to me and pay, or go to the pharmacy and pay. but if i don't give them a prescription, beware, one patient tried to take off with the office computer when she didn't get her money back for not getting the prescription she wanted (true story!)

I'm having good experiences with my version of psychotherapy. since most people can't make it into the govt system we end up dealing with alot of complicated patients in primary care and i'm able to do quite a bit of therapy and get people on medication if necessary. Kimball and i've realized much of the problems stems from the macho image men have to portray here. There is a ton of stigma with any mental health issues, much worse than america!