Frankly, I Don't Know What Season It Is. Let's Eat!!!

Winter is over, and we head into Spring then Summer......or do we? It is confusing because the weather is so changeable on the islands, and a surprising number of times the iPhone weather in Timaru, NZ and Fort Bragg, CA are nearly identical. Nevertheless, the calendar says it is spring, so we will go with that.

Wellington Harbour, September 2015

The end of September we treated ourselves to a long weekend in Wellington to take in the WoW (World of Wearable Art) show with our friend Florry O'Connell, always fun to visit. The WoW show is a long-standing New Zealand celebration of imagination and design that has gotten bigger each year since 1987. They currently are partnered with the Cirque du Soleil to put on the show, and the results will be familiar with anyone who has seen a Cirque production: music, acrobats, and a vague and enigmatic "narrative". 

Our seats were not great, but it was worth experiencing the spectacle..

The unique part of the event is seeing the creative and fantastic outfits.Here are a few.

"The Piper of the Lights" by Chris and Gary Wilson

‘Diva’s Dreamscape’ by Peter Wakeman

'Templa Mentis' by Daniella Sasvari

There is always lots to see and do in Wellington, such as visiting The Beehive", the affectionate nickname given to the New Zealand Parliament building. We made the time to take the informative tour and learned a bit more of how this system works.

A stately statue of Richard "Dick" Seddon, 19th C Prime Minister in front of The Beehive

I snapped this picture of a NZ flag recovered from Ground Zero after 9/11, before I was informed photos were not allowed, .

To commemorate the centennial of WWI and New Zealand's participation in it, two large special exhibits have been staged. The Great War Exhibition designed by Peter Jackson is a special presentation and runs through 2018,

Even more impressive is Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War, a unique collaboration of the National Museum Te Papa and the Weta Workshop, the award-winning special effects masters. They have chosen to tell the tragic story of the first major combat seen by the combined New Zealand and Australian ANZAC forces in Asia Minor through the eyes of eight real-life participants. At the centerpiece of each tale is a meticulously detailed sculpture 2.4 times human size. These works of art were taken from still photos and took over 24,000 hours to prepare. Surrounding displays embellish the stories of each of these ordinary Kiwis in extraordinary times and circumstances, and critical battles are illuminated using 3-D maps, projections, and dioramas. 

Surgeon Lieutenant Colonel Percival Fenwick

Private Jack Dunn

Rikihana Carkeek, Friday Hawkins, and Colin Warden at Chunuk Bair

Of course Te Papa has more gentile exhibits too, like this display of Tivaevae, traditional quilts from the Cook islands.

 

On a much lighter note, before leaving town, Florry helped us pick out a Good Fortune Beckoning Cat for the new house. In order to activate the kitty, I had to follow cryptic instructions, such as "One NO 5 battery providing the power, enabling to automatically beckon the hand for months, setting it at any position, never affected by the lights".

Chinese feline with its Mexican Tequila buddy

On a sad note, but in the spirit of local reportage, Timaru made NZ national news when a mama elephant seal birthed a pup at Caroline Bay. It was very unusual occurrence and caused quite a sensation, but the baby was unwell from the start and died after a few weeks.

Mother and baby in better times.

As time goes by, the creeping influence of American popular culture, movies and TV mostly, conquers the rest of the world. So Guy Fawkes Day celebrations morph into Halloween. One of the Yank docs hosted a party October 31st. I decided to go as wounded All Blacks legendary loosehead prop Tony Woodcock. Notice the resemblance?

[As an aside, you norteamericanos may not have noticed, but the very next day the All Blacks confirmed their position as the world's best rugby union team by becoming the first to win back-to-back World Cup titles, defeating Australia in London 34-17. It has been our honor to be in NZ to see Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, two GOATs (Greatest Of All Time), at the end of their AB careers.]
Other famous characters showed up:

Lil' Darth V, packing a little extra heat

T-man and Dorothy Gale

Off-duty Batman chillin' with a brew and two Zombie Chicks

One more feast awaited us. Last year, my fellow Americans in Timaru were pining for Thanksgiving so we had a turkey dinner and invited our friends. It was a big hit, but this year I decided to go back stateside for Thanksgiving. This caused a great deal of distress and, led by agent provocateur Dr. Camille Hemlock, we were told we were to have an early Turkey Fest at our new place. So this last Saturday November 14 we hosted about 30 people for a combination T-Day/housewarming.

I keep forgetting to take the "before" picture

Desserts

Victoria Horne, House Surgeon, displays the cake she made for the housewarming

All in all, a very satisfying and memorable day. Tomorrow we are off back to the States through January 2016. I am guessing that airport security will be super-high after last week's attacks in Paris. What an unspeakable tragedy for all Parisians, and for everyone who has ever been or wanted to go to City of Lights. I process events like this, 9/11, and others in my own idiosyncratic way:

• Logically- It is impossible to make the illogical logical, but humans tend to act in certain stereotypical ways. People become convinced their path is the only true way, others are not fully human and their lives matter less, and in extremes that they are will to give up their own lives in murderous acts for future rewards;
• Trying to exam the lessons of history- These acts are not unprecedented, and are not even close to the worst ever. Study WWI or WWII, for example. We will get through this, but let's not go down the path to WWIII, if possible;
• It is the perpetrators, not the religion or the ethnicity or the nationalities. There are 2.2 billion Christians and 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. The overwhelming majority are more alike than different and desire the same things: peace, food, shelter, and to protect and provide for their families. In my life and travels I have had the privilege to get to work with, to know, and to like Muslims, Germans, and Mexicans, and to discover and dispel preconceptions and biases I didn't know I had.
• Travel is a great way to discover these things, but unfortunately will be decreased due to these events.
• Prudence and caution are wise, but try not to act and react out of fear. Fear, like pain, will cloud our thinking.
• Despite all this, recognizing and being disgusted by how awful our species can behave, I remain a cautious optimist. It will get better, people can get along; and least I want to believe that.

Sorry if that was a little "soapboxy", and forgive me if it was.
See some of you soon!

Spring in the Timaru Botanic Garden

P.S.This should significantly brighten your day if you haven't seen it. It is the most joyous thing I have seen in a long while: Bruno Mars Uptown Funk mashed up with Golden Age Hollywood dance routines (by Nerd Fest UK). Magic!

Movies and Moving.....But Going Nowhere

“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” – Mark Twain

[First, an apology to my patient regular blog readers (you know who you are) for the large gap between posts. In addition to inertia, procrastination, and maybe a bit of writer's block, the following entry may exonerate me somewhat.]
We have been back in Timaru from the USA since the end of June and haven't been far out of town since. There are several reasons for this. I was away in the states for six weeks and felt the need to put in a longer stretch of working, in part to accumulate future time off. It was very busy at work. The hospital has been unusually full during this cold winter. In particular there has been a lot of serious cases of influenza in younger, healthier people. Australasia is considered a good predictor as for the epidemic headed to the Northern Hemisphere for the 2015-16 flu season, so please, get your flu shot (or as they say here, "flu jab"). The cold weather makes the roads more treacherous with ice and snow, and bundling Fayne up for a ski trip will coincide with Hades featuring ice skating. In New Zealand, they believe Spring begins on September 1, but they failed to inform the meteorologists.

Satellite View of Snow on the Southern Alps Mid South Island, NZ

The view from the hospital remains quite stunning: to the East the ocean and to the West the snow-capped peaks.
Work remains a constant challenge. Just in the last few weeks I have learned of several strange and interesting diseases, which unfortunately almost always means bad news for the patients. It is not an exaggeration to say that genetic research and expanding diagnostic capabilities have led to an exponential growth in medical knowledge. This can be either from defining new illnesses or better understanding old ones. Sadly, it doesn't mean we have better ways to treat them all.
As I spend more time here, it is clear that while healthcare systems differ, human behavior is fairly universal. In the US, doctors still generally earn more if they do more and malpractice worries can lead to many unnecessary procedures. In NZ, there is no incentive to see more patients or do more, and malpractice is not a real worry. As a result, a cardiologist may be in no hurry to catheterize a patient, and if a delay leads to a potentially preventable heart attack, there is little consequence. I see less urgency for quality improvement. One of my colleagues says there are two types of patients here with aortic stenosis: those that are too early for surgery, and those that are too late. Bottom line: I suspect overall mortality and life expectancy is about the same in both countries. 

The Fourth of July was soon after our return. This ranks alongside Thanksgiving as American holidays for which there is no real Kiwi equivalent. So, a group of us Yankee ex-pats gathered at Camille H.'s place for a semblance of an All-American BBQ.

I baked a cake

Six Yanks and a Kiwi- July 4th 2015- Nic, Olivia, Roxanna, Judd, me, my better half, & Joe

We felt it wouldn't be right without some pyrotechnics. Camille even looked up a recipe for cooking up your own sparklers at home. Eyebrows were raised when she attempted to buy some potentially incendiary agricultural products, so fortunately Louise the pharmacist donated a box of "Safe and Sane" explosives left over from Guy Fawkes Day 2014, the only period you can legally buy them here. Thanks Louise!

No fingers were lost

Modest, but festive

Part of the price I pay for being so far away from home is missing important milestones. This included my father's 90th birthday, September 3, 2015. The family was well-represented by my sisters and nieces making the effort to go down to San Diego/Coronado to celebrate the big day. 

(L to R: Moo, Koo, Char, Ruth, Birthday Boy, X, Em.)

 It looked like fun!

My Dad riding his trike with Xania

The next week, Athena and Xania took off for a trip to Cuba......I'm so jealous!

A picture is worth 1,000 words

The Movies

 The New Zealand International Film Festival came to Timaru in August, and as in years past, we enthusiastically dove in, gorging on 13 films in 11 days. A brief rundown for those interested:

1. Sherpa - An excellent documentary about the 2014 climbing season at Everest through the eyes of the natives.
2. Maru - Another doc, a great companion piece to #1 about three climbers trying to scale previously unclimbed Himalayan peak.
3. Grandma - Lily Tomlin is great as a crusty widowed professor helping her granddaughter through a tough time. The whole cast is great.
4. Clouds of Sils Maria - For true film buffs, enigmatic, outstanding performances from Juliet Binoche, Kristen Stewart (yes, that Kristen S.), and Chloë Grace Moretz in Swittzerland. Seems like it should be in French, but is in English.
5. The Second Mother - Brazilian film in Portuguese with a remarkably believable portrayal of a maid (Regina Casé) for a rich São Paulo family, visited by her daughter from the country.
6. Latin Lover - A fun Italian film with the last screen appearance of Virna Lisi, also with Almodóvar regular Marisa Paredes playing ex-wives of a late great Italian film star. The families he collected through his international career gather in his memory. It is an homage to cinema of the 50's through '80's, funny and fun.
7. Amy - The life of chanteuse Amy Winehouse by the director of Senna, notable for amazing private footage of her early years. What a talent, but the predictable unraveling of her short life was hard to watch after the first hour.
8. Tale of Tales -Italian director Matteo Garrone did the acclaimed film Gomorrah (2008). This film is described in the brochure aptly as "Python meets Passolini", a vivid, beautiful, strange, unsettling, and funny anthology of three 17th century Neopolitan folk stories. It has an international cast, is in English but feels like it is in Italian; not for everyone, but not boring.
9. 45 Years -Classy British adult film with Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay about to celebrate their 45th anniversary...secrets are revealed! Or are they??
10. Umrika - Indian film in Hindi about a young man wanting to leave his village and go to the mythical land of the title (AKA America). Not great; I wanted to like it more.
11. Phoenix - German film with some good reviews, but I found it a slow, improbable tale of a Jewish holocaust-survivor looking to reunite with her husband who probably turned her in.
12. Going Clear - The Scientology doc, well done, but you should probably know or suspect most of this by now. Spooky Tom Cruise-fu.
13. The Mafia Only kills in Summer - An Italian comedy about the Mafia in Sicily and their eventual comeuppance. Made by Pierfrancesco "Pif" Diliberto, the "Italian Jon Stewart": Not as good as he thinks it is.

The Movings

By far the greatest amount of time, energy, and stress over the last two months here has involved two significant moves, almost simultaneously. First, the Hospital administration decided it was time to move back into the Gardens Block, the former nurses' dorm that was used for offices prior to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. They relocated all the doctors' offices to the old brick administration building, but then decided that it was less earthquake-proof than the Gardens Block. So after four years and plenty of reinforcing beams later it was back again to the GB. There are some advantages of going from a large common room with five physicians to single private spaces, but.......................

My new office

The Hallway to my office

....they have only finished about 50% of the work! There is dust and wet paint in the hallways, noisy drilling and sanding, and dangling electrical wires which we must navigate around multiple times a day. I feel I should wear a hardhat. It is not clear why they didn't just wait another few months until the work was done to move us in.

Level One entry hall....

with this friendly welcome posted by a helpful worker.

The bigger change was moving out of the flat we have rented for the last year into a wee house much closer to the hospital and Botanic Garden. Compact but efficient, there is plenty of room for guests (hint hint), with three bedrooms (one we will use as a dining room) and his and her bathrooms. As it is unfurnished, we had a lot of shopping to do. Those who are familiar with our condo in Richmond may notice a similar decorating style. We call it "Middle Briscoes" after a Crate and Barrel/ Pottery Barn-like chain in NZ. (BTW, dealing with the cable company is just as frustrating here as at home.)

So you can see, it has been a busy time here. The next trip back stateside will from before Thanksgiving until after New Years. See you then?

The winter gloaming, Caroline Bay, Timaru