Week 6 - Birthday Week, Presentations & Bar Hopping!

Hello Everybody...
It's certainly been an emotional old week. People have gone out of their way to make my birthday celebrations very memorable, but being away from family & friends during this time has been pretty tough too. I certainly feel like work is now in full swing, and it's been another week of meeting new people and finding funky little places to go for a dink / brew!

I'll talk a little 'business' before pleasure, as I'm feeling well and truly settled into my work role. I'm still meeting new clients, and still have plenty to learn about how many aspects of the service works. I have however met some very fascinating people with some difficult issues, which will provide many interesting and difficult challenges in the time ahead. I haven't seen too much difference in the presentation of mental health symptoms between New Zealand and my experiences in the UK. From my current understanding Wellington has a transient population, with many students coming through the 2 large universities here, and a steady number of New Zealanders who were born outside of Wellington living here. The City has a real artistic and creative side, which may also be a factor for the kind of people that use out service. I'm getting used to driving about it here too, though it seems many more clients are able to attend our work base than I experienced in similar services. I am keen of course to start doing more community therapy, and some group work, which I know happen in time. I'm presenting to my team this week, about my perceptions of what Occupational Therapy can achieve in this field of work. This will be my second presentation this week, after being the Lunch speaker for one of the local Rotary clubs last Friday. I talked about the cultural issues when trying to use OT across other cultures, and how we need to adapt our approaches to be culturally competent! (I'm still available for hire to do these talks - for conferences, lectures, birthdays, barmitzva's and weddings... ;) )

Birthday Cake at work!

My birthday weekend has been one of fun, food and drinks, all staring on Friday, when my colleagues helped me celebrate my birthday on Friday )Birthday was on Sat), with cake, see below...

The afternoon cake, was followed by a brilliant evening out straight from work, at the 'Bangalore Polo Club', for drinks and food. This place is known for it's peanuts - let me explain!  They give you free peanuts in shells, but they expect you to throw the shells on the floor, so you have to wade through lots of peanuts on the floor! Sounds strange I know. The food was totally delicious, have a look at some of the dishes!

Delicious!

My Roast Pork Hock!

Ella's Pizza

And here's a few of the pictures from the evening!

The work crowd!

Out with Work

Unusual bag stand!

My 'pod' mates Jen & Belinda

Jen & Bob with "Dan" (long story)

Anthony & Louisa 

Me with Derek & Steph

After the Friday celebrations, I spent Saturday morning speaking with the folks, and nana on the phone, before heading to the gym. I then had a nice surprise that I wasn't expecting when I got a get from Jessica (a member of the OT Board of NZ) who helped me get registration. I met her 2 weeks earlier to say thanks for all her help. On realizing it was my birthday, Jessica had not only got me a nice card but baked some very yummy biscuits (see picture), and gave them to me in another funky little cafe (Fidels on Cuba Street)!

Jess' present for me! 

As I was saying, there has been a really social week, with drinks with people from my apartment block on Thursday at the Bangalore Polo Club & the Library, Saturday Drinks at the Bruhaus to watch the rugby where I met a whole new lot of English friends! I even managed to go the Mac's Brewery bar this evening with my colleague Louisa. I can't wait for my mates Mark & Jenny to arrive in a few weeks to show them some of these funky little places. I even did a Sushi bar today!

Sushi Bar

Despite all the new places to socialize, nothing can really be compared to the natural scenery around the pace, and just today I went to 'Eastbourne' (no not the home of the pre-Wimbledn tennis tournament), but a little town just 20 mins drive from Wellington. I always enjoy a good scenes picture! Those of you that have been away with me, now I love a good sunset picture too, so enjoy these pictures!

Sunday Stroll

Sunday Stroll

Sunday Stroll

Sunday's Sunset from Eastbourne

Regards from New Zealand
Dan

Week 5 – 4 a.m. football matches, General work rules in NZ, & Chinese beatings!

Hello everybody! I’m guessing you’re all as impressed with England’s comeback against Sweden, as the 150 people in the pub at 06:45 on Saturday morning here were. Believe me, if you were feeling frustrated at the English teams defending in that first 15 mins of the second half, imagine how we all felt having gone to the pub for a 06:45 kick off! Still, as we all know the English team are pretty good at raising hopes before eventually snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We’ll see on Tues/Weds or whenever the final group game is.

Wind & Rain shelters on many a street corner!

 04:00 FOOTBALL:

This leads me to share a little event on Monday morning, where having contemplated if getting up for England’s first game of the tournament was a good idea or not, I decided that I would get up and set my alarm for Monday morning at 03:30 – time to wake up, put some clothes on and get to the pub. I not only managed to wake up at 03:30, but dressed myself in some half-decent clothes and arrived at the pub at 03:55 to be greeted by a strange sight…

The sight was that of 10 people sat in front of a big screen, it took a moment to realise why one of the guys was wearing a Barcelona shirt – The Spanish team appeared from the tunnel, followed by the Italians… IT WAS THE WRONG DAY! England were playing on Monday evening, = Tuesday morning here!  I had no choice but to stay and watch the game, then returned to bed for 90 mins before work. I arrived the next morning at 0400 knowing I had the right day as I could hear the English national anthem blasting from the pub as I approached. The pub had about 200 people (see video below) 

GENERAL WORK RULES:

I have learned a about some quite different work practices here over the last couple of weeks which may seem a little strict or odd to some of you. For example:

1)   You only get a total of 14 weeks maternity pay here, you can have the 12 month period off, but you better have saved up for it! Don’t worry folks, it’s not something that’s going to affect me for a long time yet!

2)   Whilst I have heard from people that arranging some unpaid leave is not so difficult here, you are ONLY ALLOWED 10 SICK DAYS EACH YEAR, after that, its unpaid leave! Quite a few of my ex colleagues would not be so quick to have the odd sick day off under these rules! 

3)   You have to pay to see a doctor here – it seems to range between $30-$60 per consultation – that’s 15-30 pounds! You also have to pay for your prescriptions (normal for most places), including if you need the medications to be put in a blister pack – though I have been told there is a yearly limit that once you reach (depending on your income) then allows you reduced rates.

4)   Annual leave – I have a set number of days of leave, though instead of starting the year with that time and then using the days up - I have to earn the time before having the holiday (again I have been told you can take a little more time than you have earned depending on circumstances). 

I wonder what other rules are here that I am yet to find out!

Love the name of this shop!

Modern shops eh! 

CHINESE BEATINGS:

Now throughout my travels and time overseas, I have experienced all kind of strange massage practices, and have experienced paying good money to experience pain in many forms (massage related).  Just this Saturday, and also two weeks ago, I went a Chinese massage place on Cuba Street (see picture below).

The  Massage place on Cuba Street!

The first visit I paid $40 for a back, neck, shoulders & foot massage. A small Chinese woman then appeared and took me into a partitioned ‘room’. I was asked to take off my shirt, and then place my feet in into a steaming hot bowl filled with water and flowers. All seemed well, until I suddenly felt a sharp knee in my back. I thought hey hey, must have been a mistake, then ow! Another knee to the back, and soon enough I was having my head twisted whilst my shoulders were pinned! Clearly liking such treatment I went back for more yesterday… I went for the full body massage this time $60 for 60 mins, and found myself in a proper room this time. When I looked up, the ceiling was quite high, and there was were metal bars above the massage table – what could they be for? I quickly thought it’s best not to know, and lay back for 60 mins of mild-moderate pain… feels great now! And just incase you were wondering about the metal bars… they were so the masseur had something to hold onto whilst walking on your back above the massage table!

See - the strange use of the word 'Manchester'

On a final note, I just wanted to say I met so many nice new people this week, especially a Steph’s birthday at the Shed 5 restaurant! So thanks for the invite, and also if anyone was thinking of going to watch the movie ‘Prometheus’ – don’t do it! It’s so ridiculous it’s almost a comedy! A brilliant line at the end whilst the female heroine is talking to the decapitated head of a robot:

Robot – “ I don’t understand that feeling”

Female character – “that’s because you are a robot and I am a human being” –classic!

Regards from New Zealand

Dan

Week 4 – Orientation, 6 degrees of separation, the first ‘All Blacks’ experience and more earthquake instructions:

My walk to work!

So welcome everybody! The pictures from the Queen’s Jubilee party looked amazing, and I was definitely sorry to have missed all the celebrations – especially the extra bank holiday! Ah well!I’m sat here in my studio flat this Sunday morning, almost finished my book ‘Charlotte Street’ by Danny Wallace, with a ‘passable’ cup of tea thinking about the past week. It’s been full of social stuff, which has really made me feel a little more like a local, and less like a visitor. That’s probably been the biggest change for me this week.

Friday night sunset, Wellington

So I had the 3^rd day of orientation this week on Tuesday – ‘General Orientation’. As with the previous week’s cultural orientation session, the day began with the appointed Maori Elder (speaking in Maori) as a welcome. The cultural day had begun with a ‘haka’ and Powhiri (formal greeting to a group of visitors) – where a ‘Karanga’ (call to welcome) by local Maori female allows us entry onto the premises.  During both days, Maori songs ‘waiata’ followed Whaikōrero (formal speeches), which gave a sense importance and respect to the culture here. Something else that definitely struck me was the sense of welcome, where not only the chief executive welcomed us all, but then everyone in the room (50+ people including us) were asked to say a little something about themselves. Not as many of you know, I don’t need much of an invitation to talk to a crowd, but I kept it reasonably short! I just really wanted to put across the sense of tradition and personal welcome that I felt was evident. I spoke with a few non-NZ people in the room that day, and we all had the same impressions.

Back towards Wellington

Now normally in almost all of the UK Health trusts I have worked for, the ‘Health & Safety / fire’ session is the one that will send you to sleep, and makes you wonder why you ever applied for the job – but here, they have some attention grabbing things to say! – EARTHQUAKES! He had my full attention!  This guy started showing ‘fault lines’ that ran right through the heart of Wellington, and basically showed that in the event of a major earthquake, we’d most likely have all transport routes cut off, and how the civil defence and police headquarters would most likely be taken out. He then went on to mention how many supplies we should have at home – put it this way – I need to clear my wardrobes out and start filling them with water containers (50 Litres)! (I’m going to leave out the details of  ‘double bagging’ the toilet –it’s not pleasant). I know I have previously mentioned the ‘E’ word, but I started to realise that I need to have some stuff prepared: with water, batteries and a torch top of the priority list!

Seals

Ok, onto more social matters, having been getting a little frustrated at the lack of fun and social outings, I had a surprisingly busy social calendar this week. On TUESDAY night, with strong winds and heavy rain making me think twice about heading out, I got a text from Hannah, (the barmaid from the big football pub), and so we met up for a bite to eat and then went to have a few games of pool,  (free I might add. oh it’s good to have contacts). Whilst neither of us covered ourselves in glory it the game count finished 2-2 , with a decider game yet to be arranged. Hannah being originally from Didsbury, and a ‘proper’ football fan, made it pretty easy to get on, and she’s got lots of contacts around the place, so I have to say a big thanks to her for a fun night.

WEDNESDAY turned into quite a surprise. You need to follow this next sentence carefully:- I had agreed to meet up with a couple called Derek & Steph, who had quite recently moved over here. (Derek is a former colleague, of my mate’s (Neil) wife, (Zoe) …..) did that make sense? Now by random chance Steph is an Occupational Therapist like me, but what was really bizarre was that after a few minutes of the conversation, I began to feel like I’d met Steph before. Then it hit me, I did know Steph, because Steph worked at Oldham Hospital when I during my first Job as a newly qualified OT…. A totally random event! Clearly proving the ‘you might know anyone in the world through the 6 degrees of separation’ rule…

THURSDAY evening led to an opportunity to have my first houseguest – my colleague Louisa, who is very shortly on her way to London, and wanted to ask a few questions about life there. So I had reason to get a few beers in, and we were able to swap stories and tips regarding both NZ & the UK. Yes I did show here my spectacular folding bed, but I stopped short of asking her if I could try and fold it up with her on it!

Looking at the South Island

SATURDAY was a fun day as after going to the gym for the first time, and buying yet another bag/rucksack (after my second one broke yesterday), I headed to the ‘Four Kings’ pub, which has almost as many TV screens as people – and there were lots and lots of people. This was because the ‘All Blacks’ (Rugby team) were playing the first of 3 games against the Irish. I was running a little late, and grabbed the first jacket/jumper I could before leaving the flat. I only realised my mistake when I entered a packed pub, in a scene that looked liked a funeral (with a sea of black jerseys), though sounded nothing like a funeral, with excited cries every time NZ looked like scoring.  My mistake had been to pick up a green top with bits of white on it, very similar colours to the Irish team! Still, the atmosphere was very friendly, and NZ gave Ireland a good beating… after grabbing a burger at half time, I decided to head over the road to ‘Molly Malones’ Iris bar, for the second half, with a more subdued atmosphere. I can’t wait for a really big game and the 8^th of September when the All Blacks will be playing here in Wellington! People love their rugby here. Oh and a quick note for dad – on the Maori channel every Saturday night they have a UK ‘Superleague’ game on.

Me @ Devil' Staircase

family day out - see the little one?

now 'roll over'

I did try getting up for the Euro 2012 Germany vs Portugal game this morning at 0645…I failed! I will get up for the England game tomorrow! 

on the rocks!

Sitting in the sun with the seals

Ok, off to the gym again now and to take a stroll in the sunshine!.... (that was my intention, I ended up going for a little drive/walk with my colleague Louisa - and these pictures were from today's walk - look at the cheeky seals!)

Oh and Liv/Jess – Glee is on normal TV here! Game on!

Regards from New Zealand

Dan

Week 3 - Earthquake rooms, A Salsa ball, The Queens Birthday, & EXPENSIVE shopping!

My 1st personalized stamp!

So this week might be a bit of a mish-mash of different topics, but as my new life here slowly reveals itself, there are lots of little things that make keep taking me by surprise!  The picture (left) is of my own work Stamp! I have my own work stamp for signing off documents! Maybe not exciting to many of you, but I have never had my own stamp so I got very excited about it!

I also had some more training at work, and just to make up for missing on the hot weather in the UK, I thought I’d show you the background scenery to the training session!

Training at Porirua

Keeping on the work theme, I forgot to mention last week that during my induction I was being shown around the office building, and was taken into a small room at the back of the building. Inside the room were several big containers of water, tinned food, and some other supplies. I though that maybe some of my colleagues were just big camping fans. Apparently I was wrong – this was the EARTHQUAKE SURVIVAL /SUPPLIES ROOM! I was also told to bring some spare clothes in to the office and store them under my desk. His got me thinking what else should I bring – my Glee Cd’s? Liverpool Shirt? And then I thought, bloody hell, I’m lucky that my new work colleagues are all nice and a good laugh, because if I was stuck with them in the building for a few days, as least we’d keep each other entertained!

I’ll start by saying that we have a long weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Birthday – nothing unusual about that you might think, because the whole UK is celebrating that right now! The unusual part is that they celebrate it here with a public holiday every year!  

I’m still living most of my life in Starbucks after work, to use the free internet, I even know the staff by name, I just need to remember that the people at the bus queue can see through the window what I’m doing on my computer and I often catch them seeing what I am looking at! So I was determined to do something social this week and set off to join a gym (something I still haven’t managed to do), and find a Salsa class. This I managed to achieve, and not only did I end up going to two Salsa classes, and met people form all over the place including Bolton! I was told that randomly this weekend was the NZ Pacific Salsa Congress, and so having a pretty empty social calendar, I thought it’d be good to go and dance and meet a few people on the Saturday night for the Salsa Ball. So here are a few pictures (and videos) if the internet lets me upload them!

I'll be learning this move next week ! lol...

The Band

 Now I don’t want to get into the habit if comparing everything with the UK, but some things I have saw on Sunday’s shopping trip were totally crazy expensive! After having bought lots of house things last week, I now needed to buy the extra bits of clothing for the upcoming Winter and a few extra bits and pieces for work, seeing as I don’t have a uniform in this job. I have spent most of Sunday shopping, because they have lots of discounts & sales this weekend. I have bought 3 shirts, 3 pairs of shoes, a pair of jeans, 2 jumpers, 4 books and a mobile internet device that doesn’t seem to work! Some things are sooooo expensive to the point I was GOBSMACKED to see prices like:

1)   A book (normal paper back) = $26 (13 pounds) - (7 pounds in UK)

2)   English Football shirts $139 (70 pounds) – (normally 40 pounds in UK)

3)   Football boots/trainers $100 minimum (50 pounds)

4)   Underwear / boxers $25 (12 pounds) for just 2 pairs!

Basically, some things are just very expensive! There are also a couple of weird things I noticed too:

1)   Most jeans have a ‘standard’ leg length, so you have to get the leg altered (at extra cost)

2)   Sizes are different – it’s the first place where I had to find ‘XS” extra small shirts in one particular shop.

On food related matters, I must say that I am yet to find the following important items:

1)   Decent tea (Twinnings ‘English Breakfast’ is not the same!)

2)   A good biscuit for tea dunking – closest are replica ‘ginger nuts’

3)   Cadbury’s chocolate – any!

So all in all, will any UK visitors please bring as much of those last three items, and Carl, please bring me a Liverpool Shirt – I can’t bring myself to pay 70 quid for it! I just can’t!

The story of my first (Chinese) massage will have to wait to next week, it was almost like paying to be assaulted!

P.S. LATEST NEWS FLASH - I have internet at home! not much (it's done on usage, but enough to get by and not pay rent at Starbucks), I must go say goodbye to my Starbucks room mates, whom I've grown fond of.

Regards from New Zealand

DAN