Hello everyone.
Welcome to our blog! I apologize
for the delay in getting it up and running, but as expected, the process of
connecting to the internet has been a long and tedious one. We are still struggling with the difficulties,
and time, required to upload a
photograph, so for now you will have to do without pictures.
We are doing very well. We have already been
here just over a month and feeling quite settled. Australia was a lot of
fun. Our initial plan to travel south down the coast to Melbourne was aborted pretty quickly
once we learned of the heat wave (42 degrees) that was heading to the Melbourne
area. Instead we headed north to
Newcastle and Forster. Incredible beaches and great play in the big surf. We
spent one day dragging the kids through the wineries which Sean and I really
enjoyed. We did eventually make it down
to Melbourne after the temperatures cooled, and had the opportunity to go to
the Australian Open. We spent one day
watching some great tennis. We did struggle a little with Anna initially as she
refused to enjoy anything for the first 4 days.
However, she quickly realized she was missing out and turned herself
around.
We arrived on Tanna Island on Jan 25th, after spending a
very busy 4 days in Port Vila. Island life
seems to suit us, as we are very much embracing the slower pace that is
required here. The weather has been very
hot and humid, affecting some of us more than others. Sean seems to hardly notice it whereas I tend
to wilt in the afternoon heat. It has
taken us a month of feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the new things, but we
have now established our daily routine. One goes to work at 8:00 a.m. and
usually is done by around 3:00 p.m. The
other goes to the market, preps meals and homeschools the girls from 9-12.
The latter is probably the more challenging job. The girls have been
quite good but are hard to keep focused at times. French is definitely
suffering. Math and language arts have been the bulk of the school
focus. Art is by far their favourite subject, and I have to say I am
impressed with their work. Little artists if you give them the right
canvas!
Anna is revered by the young girls in the
neighbourhood who show up at the back door at around 3:30. They have just
returned from their school and they just want to play outside. Anna is so great with all of them, and
pays particular attention to the youngest ones who seem to be hanging off her
most of the time. She has already changed so much; very helpful
with the meals and washing up, always wanting to bake, much more tolerant of
the slight discomforts. She and Sasha still fight but not as
frequently. I think they recognize the need for an ally
and count on the other more. This experience has already brought the
family closer together and we spend lots of time just playing games or, imagine
this, talking.
Sasha has been amazingly adaptive. She just
goes along with all of it. As long as she has Anna, she is fine.
She doesn’t like to initiate contact with others but if Anna is there, she is
full on energy and play. She too has become much more helpful around the
house. She looks like a local as she
climbs the trees no problem, and swings from everything. I think she
grounds Anna. The two of them laugh a lot more together, and have shared
some pretty amazing experiences already.
Anna had an amazing day 2 weeks ago. I took the girls up to the
maternity ward so they could see the newborn (2 hours old) that I had
assisted doing the C section on. Anna had packed a little bag of
clothes, some soap and a towel and a bib in a bag and taken it with her to give
to the family. They were very appreciative. When I asked the family
if they had named the baby girl yet, they asked if Anna would name her because
she had brought the baby a present. Anna didn’t know what to say but was
very sweet and obviously very touched by their incredible gesture. The
family then decided they would name the new little baby Anna, after our
Anna. You can imagine how happy it made her feel. Very special
moment for her.
The food has
been great but we are starting to run out of our Bon Marche treats. We
eat a lot of chicken, eggs, sweet potatoe and fruit. Nothing but white
bread. Last
week, we were taught how to make a traditional meal laplap by Kathleen,
the housekeeper. It was fun
to make, but definitely requires some getting used to. It uses island
cabbage which is a little disgusting (slimey) and ground manioc root
wrapped in banana leaves. The
combination is then cooked over an open fire.
We do a lot of driving whether it is to a nearby
beach, or our weekly trip to one of the
various dispensaries on the Island. The roads here are notoriously bad, meaning
it is rare to get into 3rd gear, but lately have been no problem in
terms of rain and getting stuck. I have a new respect for four wheel
drive and am often awed by what we can go over. I can’t imagine what it
feels like to crack 30 km per hour, and think that most locals would be
horrified by the experience of being on a highway. A smooth road seems
like an impossibility these days. We did
however break the record last week by picking up 11 passengers on the way to a
dispensary visit. Anna and Sasha have
been striving to get more than 13 in the truck, which was said to be the most
ever. They were pretty happy when a
group of 11 young school girls needed a ride.
The swimming, beaches, and sunsets are
amazing. Loving the play in the waves. We haven’t had much
snorkelling because of the big swell that is fairly constant. It will
come once the wind and the swell settles.
The ocean water remains quite turbid making visibility an issue. Having
said that, we did have an amazing day 3 days ago when we snorkelled out past
the reef and saw huge turtles swimming beneath us. Sasha and Anna both did great, particularly
in light of the fact that it was the first time they were snorkeling in deep
water. They were thrilled to see the
turtles, and didn’t seem to notice that we were quite a ways off shore. Very cool.
Sean managed to get a paddle board and 2
boogie sent here and they arrived last week. Paddling should be great but
surfing could be challenging as almost the entire coast line is hemmed by reef.
The best place to surf does have great waves, but so far too big for us. We are
a little green yet for double overhead barrel waves.
The medical
side of things has been really exciting and challenging. There are 2 other doctors here since Jan 2014: Dr Wilma and Dr Johnson. Dr Wilma is an
obstetrician and her husband Dr Johnson is an ophthalmologist who also does
some general surgery. There is certainly enough work for all of us! The
OR is up and running and is used almost daily for C sec, TL, and more
superficial surgeries like hernia repairs, large lipoma dissections. Dr
Johnson really doesn’t do intra-abdominal surgeries unless absolutely
necessary.
Dr Wilma does almost all the complicated maternity.
She only gets called if there is a major problem. She does round on the
maternity patients first thing and then I usually meet her on the paeds
ward. I have done several deliveries which has been great. I love
it. Just last week I delivered a footling breech only to discover that
she had twins. SURPRISE. The second baby delivered easily and all was
well. FUN!
I try to help with all the C-sections and she is
gearing me up to do them on my own. Lots of tubal ligations. There
seems to be a bit of a natural pairing of Wilma and I working together in the
OR, and Sean and Johnston in the
OR.
Sean and I
spend a good chunk of the morning doing rounds on the mens and womens ward.
We then run clinics 3 days a week reviewing patients who show up through the
outpatient department or have been asked to follow up by us. We see all sorts of interesting ailments that
you would rarely see at home. The language remains a barrier but we are
getting better at it. Bislama is a
fascinating language that is a form of pidgin English. You have to let go of the idea of conjugating
verbs, singular vs plural, describing tenses.
When you start speaking it you almost feel like you are patronizing the
recipient by speaking very simplistically.
We have also developed skills in u/s and are both
relied upon to perform imaging when needed. I really love the obstetrical
imaging and am constantly seeing more detail with more confidence.
Johnson, Sean and I share weekly call on a rotating
basis. This is the after hours
service. This is often the opportunity
where one gets to see quite dramatic things, whether it is trauma or a very
sick patient that the nurse practitioners feel can’t wait until the
morning. Lots of very sick infants that
often don’t survive overwhelming infections or severe dehydration. Very sad to see but the reality here.
Well, I think that is a pretty good start to the
communications. So far so good. Time has already seemed to have flown
by. We have lots of new friends here
already and feel very much at home.
Having said that, we miss all our amazing friends and family at
home. Hope you all enjoyed the read and
we will post more news regularly.
Please feel free to add comments and enlighten us
with news from home. Also feel free to pass on the blog address to those you
think might enjoy. Big hugs,
Andrea
