Life as a Hobbit

The relative rarity of truly entitled patients and families is such a delight.  My ward doesn't have an ice machine, and we also don't carry straws.  These would be mortal sins at any other hospital job I have ever had, and yet here nobody has ever made a big deal out of it. In New Zealand I have never had a patient scold or scream at me for pouring them "hot" (aka room temp) water.  Sure, people like their tea in a particular way, but they've been so sweet about correcting me if I get it wrong. Work-life balance has been a buzzy phrase since even before I was a nursing student (more than 15 years ago, how did that happen so fast?)  The emphasis is always on the individual, though, fix your own burnout, make sure that you balance your work and life.  I have hope that when the irreverent Gen Z nurses are in charge, their attitude towards work being for the paycheck can ripple through the culture. It’s so healthy.  Calling-schmalling. Sure, I'm drawn to hel...

    I am sometimes very caught off guard by the broad influence of American culture in New Zealand.  Case #523: I was walking along the Otakaro riverbank when I stumbled upon what I thought at first was a  hideous piece of industrial modern art.          This is my least favorite kind of modern sculpture, something that looks like it could almost be a fun piece of playground equipment but is clearly covered in enough knobbly bits and rusty nails that it isn't meant to be clambered on.  Unless you buy into a BigPharma tetanus booster conspiracy. The surface has no bright paint, no interesting materials, no evocative shapes, just an industrial abstraction of a corkscrew.      Luckily, I am a compulsive plaque reader, so I went over to study up on this bit of rusty steel getting in the way of the native plants and giving the pigeons another place perch. The first plaque reads:  A TRIBUTE TO FIREFIGHTERS  This sculpt...

Just a Thursday night with five Americans trying traditional Kiwi lollies (as I wrote before, all candy are lollies, not just hard candy). We tried to stick to short reviews, rather than mere star ratings.  The foreignness of some of these flavors and textures needed a more expressive rating system. Blue Volcanoes - Great name, terrible lolly. Carnuba wax.  Too chewy, tough and calloused.  Sweet? Brennan said it tasted of yeast, with a finish of public pool. Possibly the worst of the lot, an inauspicious beginning to the flavor journey. Green Apple and Raspberry Sherbert Fizz Generally enjoyable - good and tart.  Malic acid for the win. My flatmate Meg gave me this helpful recipe for "sherbert powder" https://www.chelsea.co.nz/recipes/browse-recipes/yummy-sherbet 1 tsp citric acid 1 tsp baking soda 1 Cup  Chelsea Icing Sugar 1 tsp jelly crystals (any flavour you prefer) Basically the same ingredients as Dip'n'Stick except the baking soda + citric acid combo make...

  I joined Vette City Roller Derby in 2009, when I still lived in the backwater of Bowling Green, KY.  Best thing that ever happened to me in BG was when some Corvettes fell into a sinkhole.  No, I mean, when I joined roller derby.  I did not learn that exercise or even sports could be fun until I was on roller skates. When I picked a place to live and work in New Zealand I created a map of the active roller derby leagues in the country, so that when I landed I would have a built-in group of humans I could count on to chat about at least this one super specific topic. DED, Christchurch's roller derby team welcomed me right away.  Yes their practice space is sometimes bitter cold, yes their officials crew has a long shared history, yes I'm the go-to person to ask questions about American political WTF-ery, but they're not clique-y, they value my ref skills, and they treat me as part of the team.  This is the antidote to some toxic and chilly-ass roller derby...

  Display text reads: "Pupurangi pride. These giant flesh eating snails are as unique to Aotearoa as kiwi, but with a perhaps understandably lower profile.  They feast on invertebrates like earthworms and grow huge - the largest specimens weigh as much as a tui.  In prehistoric Aotearoa their main predator was the weka, but now possums, rats, pigs, and even hedgehogs hunt them out for a protein-rich snack." Listen to this unexpectedly spicy narration from the Auckland Museum's wonderful Queerseum tour, where you get to know a lot about snail sex--you didn't even know what you didn't know about snail sex.  I strongly urge you to listen to this audio clip, because if you don't you will be missing the context for the phrase " emerging like a windsock from my well-lubed foot." From Te Papa in Wellington: Super-sucky snails. These giant meat eaters can suck up whole earthworms like spaghetti, using their rasping niho, teeth. Pupu rangi (tauira) - Giant l...

July 28-August 10 Timetable: Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Chi --> ChCh ChCh --> Wellington Wellington Wellington -> ChCh ChCh --> Greymouth Greymouth --> Arthur Arthu --> ChCh ChCh --> Stewart Island Stewart/Ulva Stewart --> ChCh ChCh ChCh ChCh --> Chi July 29th Mon  Recovery day B arrived. The traditional presentation of the local transit card was made. Six months was a long time too go without those really good hugs. Piwakawaka guards your transit funds. Sumner on a cloudy evening - The very steep Flower Trail (thus kicking off one theme of the trip "stairs." Only rained on a little. Spicy cold noodles made with love the day before in anticipation of Brennan's arrival. Brennan's notes: Excavator moving rocks one at a time onto the beach.  Exposition on the ubiquity of public restrooms in NZ. [I touted the ease of toileting in NZ, copious and often quite clean public restrooms.  This was demonstrated by toilets at Sumner's wee park, ...