A New Flat, Twenty-one Films, & a Passle of Primates

Early Morning Caroline Bay, Timaru

The first challenge we faced on returning to NZ in July was an unexpected move. Our then landlady had rented her house to us with the stated plan of living in a caravan with her elderly mother throughout New Zealand for two years. Can you spot the potential flaw in this concept? The property manager told us the owner was back in town, and after only three months she would like to re-occupy her house if we could find another place. We had only signed a six-month lease, so we would have to vacate no later than late September. It was our good fortune that the long-time Diabetic Nurse Specialist at the hospital (Pat A.) had a downstairs furnished flat becoming vacant, so we grabbed it while we could.
Pat and her husband John are great people, and the flat is below their house, facing the small back yard.

There is a large living/dining/kitchen area....

an ample master BR and adequate second guest BR....

Master BR

Guest BR

and most pleasantly for Fayne, our first bathtub here in NZ!

This place is farther from the hospital, about a 40 minute walk that takes me through Caroline Bay park (see the pictures at the top and below) and over the railroad tracks, just before dawn now (as it is still winter here). It is quite a lovely way to start most work days.

Margriet Windhausen's "Face of Peace" sculpture, Caroline Bay

Cabbage Trees

Crossing the RR Overpass

So how do we spend our time here? Well for me, there is work. I am finding ways to add to my usefulness besides attending on the medical wards and twice a week outpatient clinics. This job includes a position with the University of Otago School of Medicine teaching medical students, which also includes a responsibility to stay current myself. A few other US docs here are working along with me to meet all the new requirements to keep the American Board of Internal Medicine happy.
The longer I am here, the more I find areas that can use sprucing up, from developing useful clinical protocols, to chart audits and review of complications and deaths.My challenge is to find the "sweet spot" of projects that are simple enough to actually be fruitful and not spend time and energy on larger, more long-standing and complex systemic issues unlikely to change in my work life-span. Entrenched bureaucracy seems universal.

There is still time for plenty of extracurricular activities beyond regular Tuesday night dinners with fellow Senior Medical Officers and spirited Wednesday Pub Quiz (ie: trivia) challenges at the Sail & Anchor, such as going over to Geraldine Winter Lights Festival last month. The name is somewhat grandiose for a quintessentially quirky and charming small town event. There were strings of colored lights, very modest fireworks, local food, crafts, music, and dance to enjoy in frosty weather, dining on bales of hay: in short, our kind of thing.

Geraldine's Morris Dance Troupe celebrating winter, or perhaps a Druid god?

Another preoccupation in August was the New Zealand International Film Festival, a celebration of cinema from all over. Although centered in Auckland, many of the films are shown throughout the country. We caught up with a butt-numbing 21 films over a four-week span, some in Dunedin, and some here in Timaru. If you have ever attended a film festival and read the program notes, every film sounds FANTASTIC! When you see them in a festival setting, everyone is primed to love the films. That being noted, I will make a few capsule recommendations for films worth seeking out. This link will have more detailed descriptions of each film.
The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet : A fable set in Montana (filmed in Alberta, Canada)- the most beautiful and magical use of 3D I have ever seen, and a very good family film.
Frank : If you are into movies, you will have read about this (currently in US theaters), an quirky indie film notable for Michael Fassbender in a large paper mache head. Don't think of it as a Fassbender film, think of it as a slyly humorous and surprisingly moving tale of the trials and tribulations of being in a band, fame vs. art, and mental health and illness.
In Order of Disappearance (Kraftidioten) : Norwegian with subtitles (wait, wait, don't leave yet!) with Stellan Skarsgård as the revenge-seeking father in the icy north, Bruno Ganz as an Albanian gangster, and the best pony-tailed, vegan villain called "the Count" you will ever seen. Think Fargo in Norwegian with giant snow-blowers. Bloody fun.
Locke : Again, well-reviewed but hardly seen in the states (now on DVD). One guy in a car (Tom Hardy), driving to London while his life is falling apart, told in a very gripping fashion. His performance is not to be missed, and the voice actors for his en route mobile calls are excellent.
Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed : A small Spanish road film inspired by a real incident of a school teacher trying to meet John Lennon when he was filming How I Won the War in 1966, featuring a beautiful young actress, Natalia de Molina.
Faith Connections : Indian documentary weaving three stories from the Kumbh Mela, the inconceivably immense sacred Hindu pilgrimage which occurs every three years. Estimates are up to 100 million people arrive in six weeks and maybe 80 million people came on one day, February 14, 2013. It will take you to a world far removed from what most of us will ever experienced.
Particle Fever : This dazzling and suspenseful chronicle of Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider and the search for the Higgs boson (AKA "God Particle") is dramatically and clearly told.

Two weekends of the NZIFF 2014 were spent in Dunedin, and between flicks we were able to enjoy more of the city.

Hillside View Across Dunedin

Salvation Army Spire...

guarded by bronze penguin.

Old Dunedin Graveyard

Instillation Alongside Otago Harbour: Harbour Mouth Molars

P.S.- Having nothing to do with me or New Zealand directly, I thought I would share some primate-related photos.
A fellow physician here, Camille, just returned from two weeks of "shoveling orangutang poo" as a volunteer at a sanctuary on Borneo.

Camille's new friend

Also, a friend of the family Amanda is following her passion and studying baboons in Botswana. Here are some beautiful photos she took, and here is the link to her blog if you want to see more.

Botswana Sunset (Sunrise?)

(We will be back Stateside again in just a few days!)