Jeremy was up very bright and early this morning to catch a plane. He is off on his latest adventure, a rural medicine rotation in a town called Barcaldine. Barcaldine, or "Barky" as it's affectionately known by the locals, is know for a few things:
- The town is the administrative centre of the Barcaldine region (with a busting to the seams population of 1900!)
- Barcaldine's charming facade, one that has earned it the tag of 'Garden City of the West' hides tumultuous tales of a controversial past.
- Barcaldine played a significant role in the Australian labour movement and the birth of the Australian Labor Party. In 1891, it was one of the focal points of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike.
- An enduring symbol of the strike lives on today in the Tree of Knowledge, the imposing ghost gum in the town's main street where the strike meetings were held.
- Use Barcaldine as a base from which to explore the Central West of Queensland. The extensive range of accommodation and shopping facilities make Barcaldine a relaxing place to stay, recover and explore.
I think that last point may be just SLIGHTLY exaggerated. Extensive range of shopping facilities? There is one grocery store which resembles the one in Bourget. But whatever floats yer boat! Jeremy will be gone for 5-6 weeks and I know he's a bit sad about being away from home for that long, but also really excited about the experiences he'll get to have in such a rural place. Different people, different attitudes, interesting medical problems in a whole new setting. He called his supervising doctor yesterday (Dr. Fred, I believe?) who told him to let him know when he gets into town and they'll go have a "feed" together. Our friend Sean just got back from his rural rotation in (strangest of strage coincidences) Barcaldine and it sounds like Dr. Fred is a pretty stand up guy! Particularly nice since J just finished his med rotation with a scary consultant who sounded not unlike Dr. House from House.
So yes, Jeremy's flight left at 7 am which means he should be in Rockhampton by now. He will then drive for 7 hours to the place where he'll be living for the next while. Meanwhile, I'm back here in Brisbane with heaps of assignments...group assignments at that...my favourite. Today, though, will be a day of awesome fun. First, Sean and Louise are picking Lisa and I up and we're going to Sunnybank, home of all delicious Asian cuisine. We have a Yum Cha (otherwise known as Dim Sum) date at Landmark Restaurant, which I'm hoping will be delicious. Hold the shark fin dumplings though - I'm not a fan of fishy cartilage! We will fill ourselves with yumminess and then back home, where Jess will swing by after work to bring me to her house where we will hang out for a couple of hours until it's time to go see the FOO FIGHTERS! Yes, finally, I get to see them AND it's even for a flood benefit. Totally doing good here. Bahahaha. Yes, today will be enjoyable :)
Hm, one other big-ish piece of news. While Jeremy is away I'm living with a French couple, Anne-Solene and Alexandre. I really do dislike staying in the house alone and these guys are paying me so it all works out! They've been here for a week now and it's working out really well. I get to pratique mon Francais un petit peu and they are working on their English. Anne is quite good, but Alex barely knows any English at all! They came out Friday night to Jeremy's surprise going away party at the Polish Club and I think they had a pretty good time. Yes, we planned to go to the Polish Club with Sean and Louise but I secretly invited a whole bunch of people. Jeremy being Jeremy, he pretty much had to try to invite everyone we know in this country, so he kept being rejected because the people were already coming but it was a damn SURPRISE. So I think he actually spent Friday feeling sad and unloved, becuse every person he tried to invite had other more important plans and it didn't matter that he was going away for awhile. Obviously his misgivings were put to rest when we arrived and 17 or so people showed up to send him off. Awwww...so nice :)
Alright, must begin to get ready for day of fun fun fun!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Week of Excitement
I got a job!! Easiest job interview ever - just walked in, started filling out some papers, was called up first and the lady said "Yeah so you have the job and I'm putting you in corporate. You don't have to serve food and you get paid more". Gotta love connections - Jeremy's friend put in a good word for me and that was that! I'll be working at the Gabba Stadium (see above)
Canoodling with these lovely lads...
Although sadly they will be in uniform...Ok, fine. I won't be doing any canoodling with the Brisbane Lions players. But I get to kind of go to every AFL game this season (I think I may have mentioned before that I LOOOOOVE AFL) and get paid for it! And work in the swanky area doing data entry for corporate bigwig's "dockets" (Aussie for 'receipts')
Speaking of Aussie speak, still having random language hiccups every so often more than two years in. For example, last Friday after class:
Nicole: What are you doing now?
Leana: I think I'm going to go shopping I need to buy a planner.
Nicole: A what?
Leana: A planner...you know?
Nicole: Um....
Leana: Ok. An agenda?
Nicole; What???
Leana: Um. Gosh. ok...a book that you write things in, like appointments and due dates and stuff?!?
Nicole: OHHHHH you mean a DIARY!
Hayley: A diary...like with a little lock in the shape of a heart?
So is there really anything more exciting than getting one of those slips telling you there's a package for you at the post office? I love it! This week, I received not one but TWO parcels, which adds to the general coolness of life. Also, mail telling you that you get random money is great as well - another highlight of the week. Win win winning at life at the moment (just like Charlie Sheen - except NOT like Charlie Sheen!)
Yay. So my mum sent me a sweet package with goodies (e.g. maple syrup, peanut brittle), a cat toy to remind me of Max (you can see why we call her the crazy cat lady), make-up (Yes! So expensive here), socks, silk autumn leaves and various other things. Then today I got ANOTHER package which contained a really cool picture book of J and my wedding (which is already 2.5 years ago...can you believe it? Really??)
Friday, March 4, 2011
Alright, first of all - really good music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI7hU0e12kc
This is my friend Alastair's band. He deferred speech pathology for a year to focus on it, which is sad because he was an awesome study partner, but he really had to choose one or the other and something like this band opportunity doesn't come along very often. This is their first video. I think they're amazingly talented and I really hope they will go far. They have already gotten a ton of attention and are playing/have played numerous festivals and gigs. So cool! In case you're curious, Alastair is the guy sitting down playing the ukelele and also does some singing.
So this week was our first week back. It's odd to have an Alastair-less class. As one of only three guys in our class, he was pretty much the most vocal student. The lecturers and profs definitely knew who he was! This semester I have three classes and my research project. The one I'm most excited about is Psycholinguistics/Cognitive neuropsycholoy. I enjoy the lecturer's style of lecturing and humour, and I think the class itself would have been really useful to do before the block placement, since it discusses the underlying problems in the brain which cause the deficits. I also have Integrated Case Management, which isn't so exciting. It does, however, have a few lectures on Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) which is REALLY interesting to me so we'll see how that goes. Then finally there's another about the School Aged Child which will probably be ok. EVERY class has a group project. Yippee. Oh wait...I dislike group projects. Damn.
Jeremy seems to be going really well with his rotation. I know he's stressed about the exam, but he knows a lot and is getting good feedback on his presentations, which basically simulate the exam scenario. I would NOT want to do what he is doing! I'm stressed enough with my course!
This week was hot hot hot - despite it being the beginning of "Autumn". 33+, feels like 36, etc etc. Not a pleasant climate in which to bike to school. Now's it's raining, which means cooler...but still not pleasant to bike to school in!! The rain might be the reason that i have a very cuddly cat on my lap, which is kind of making this post difficult to write!
This is my friend Alastair's band. He deferred speech pathology for a year to focus on it, which is sad because he was an awesome study partner, but he really had to choose one or the other and something like this band opportunity doesn't come along very often. This is their first video. I think they're amazingly talented and I really hope they will go far. They have already gotten a ton of attention and are playing/have played numerous festivals and gigs. So cool! In case you're curious, Alastair is the guy sitting down playing the ukelele and also does some singing.
So this week was our first week back. It's odd to have an Alastair-less class. As one of only three guys in our class, he was pretty much the most vocal student. The lecturers and profs definitely knew who he was! This semester I have three classes and my research project. The one I'm most excited about is Psycholinguistics/Cognitive neuropsycholoy. I enjoy the lecturer's style of lecturing and humour, and I think the class itself would have been really useful to do before the block placement, since it discusses the underlying problems in the brain which cause the deficits. I also have Integrated Case Management, which isn't so exciting. It does, however, have a few lectures on Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) which is REALLY interesting to me so we'll see how that goes. Then finally there's another about the School Aged Child which will probably be ok. EVERY class has a group project. Yippee. Oh wait...I dislike group projects. Damn.
Jeremy seems to be going really well with his rotation. I know he's stressed about the exam, but he knows a lot and is getting good feedback on his presentations, which basically simulate the exam scenario. I would NOT want to do what he is doing! I'm stressed enough with my course!
This week was hot hot hot - despite it being the beginning of "Autumn". 33+, feels like 36, etc etc. Not a pleasant climate in which to bike to school. Now's it's raining, which means cooler...but still not pleasant to bike to school in!! The rain might be the reason that i have a very cuddly cat on my lap, which is kind of making this post difficult to write!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)