Kimberly Down Under

Day 30: May 30, 2009

2009-05-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

I worked on my paper all morning. Fun stuff. It is coming along, but I am just taking forever! Around four o'clock we left to head into Melbourne to a stake center across from the temple for a fireside. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland was in the country and he was giving a YSA fireside, so we were allowed to attend. It was absolutely amazing. The spirit was so strong, I can't even describe it. I love how Elder Holland is able to combine humor, power, authority, and testimony. His talk was fantastic. I took notes like crazy and I filled up over two pages of college-ruled notebook paper. He bore such a strong witness of the truthfulness of the gospel. He is an apostle of the Lord and it was evident as he spoke. He spoke to us about being "righteous in the dark" as Brigham Young said. It was amazing. He pleaded with us to, "be somebody God can count on." He needs us to stand strong amist the dark times. It was great. I will have to write more about it later. I left with a stronger testimony of this gospel and that the apostles are special witnesses of Christ. It was one of those, "it was exactly what I needed to hear" moments. The Church is true! I love the gospel!

Day 29: May 29, 2009

2009-05-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today we headed into Melbourne for the last time, just to explore a bit. We went to the Vic Market to purchase a few last minute items and then we headed to Federation Square to find a museum. We found a cool museum with aboriginal art. I enjoyed seeing their basket weaving pieces the most. They were so resourceful! We also saw a decorated toilet. Weird, I know. But, some artist decorated the stall of the toilet in a public bathroom by this museum. So, the toilet is a work of art. We took pictures and it gave me quite a laugh. While our group of about 8 of us was taking pictures of this toilet, other ladies walked in and looked at us like we were crazy! I suppose we did look a little out of place taking photos of a toilet! After the museum, we walked and found some gardens. It was basically just a big park in the middle of the city, but with pretty landscaping. I was really pretty. We ate our lunch there--peanut butter and jelly, yet again. Then we headed back home. It was fun to explore the city a bit. I don't know that I could ever live in a big city for an extended period of time. They are fun to visit, but I like smaller cities better! (I guess it would depend the city and circumstances though.) Anyway, Melbourne is a fun city and we had a great day wandering around. Oh, and I won't miss the smokers and littered streets. I love clean Provo!

Day 28: May 28, 2009

2009-05-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Another crazy crazy day full of homework. We had to finish our group community assessment project in the morning and present it in the afternoon (to our instructors). It was chaos and we were all stressed and annoyed with the silly assignment, but we got it done! It was great to finally be done with our presentations--what a relief. Now I just have to write a paper and then I am done with homework! After we rested for a bit, we made more plans for our New Zealand trip. I am so excited for it! It sounds like we are going to have a lot of fun. We had Dominos pizza for dinner and then later in the evening we went to get ice cream cones from McDonald's. The fifty cent cones here are quite a good size--plus that means that it is really only about 35 cents in the U.S.--what a bargain! The only downfall is that they only have vanilla cones. But I quite enjoyed the ice cream. It was a very refreshing treat after a big day.

Day 27: May 27, 2009

2009-05-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

We had quite the interesting experience today....hahaha it makes me laugh just to think about it! We went on a "walk-about" in Melbourne. We had an aboriginal woman as our tour guide. We walked to a few spots in Melbourne and she told us about the history of the aboriginal people there/what the land was like in the early years of Australia. It was interesting, until she started getting quite passionate about it. Then I kind of felt like she was lecturing us and was upset with white men then and now (even though she lives like we live now too). We were walking around in a big group to a new site and when we arrived there, she informed us that we had killed 70% of your children/posterity (or something odd like that). She then explained that because we were walking so carelessly across the land (i.e. not in a straight line) that we had killed the land and therefore in turned killed our posterity. Mind you we are walking on cement. Not through the jungle where we get our food! And then she proceeded to make us walk in a line to our next site! So, we looked quite silly walking through the city of Melbourne in a single file line. Haha! It was freezing while she was talking to us too, so we all just wanted her to be done speaking, but she liked to talk :) My favorite part had to be at the end though. She had us all stand in a circle. Next we had to bend down and touch the ground. She gave us a moment to think about the land we were on and collect our thoughts. Then she wanted to know how it made us feel. So, we were squatting in a circle in the middle of a shopping area, touching filthy cement. ( it isn't like we were in the jungle!) Haha, so I was thinking, "Can we stop touching this nasty ground yet?" But I decided that might offend her so I didn't say that I promise. Haha the whole experience made me giggle. I was quite relieved when we got to go warm up inside for lunch!

After lunch we went to the 55th floor of a tall sky-scraper. We got to see a beautiful view of Melbourne, so that was very neat. After, we went to an aboriginal museum which had some neat art piece. I was also able to try on a possum blanket. It was pretty soft actually. Our day in Melbourne was quite funny, but it was good to get out of the house!

We got home and had a couple of hours before we had to catch a bus to the church for Enrichment. Six of us taught the relief society sisters about nutrition and childhood illnesses. The sisters sure loved to talk! I guess that was a good thing because it helped ensure that our presentations were long enough :) Before the meeting started, two of the Relief Society sisters fed our group a spaghetti dinner. It was very nice of them and the food was great! I love the unity of the Relief Society, no matter where you are in the world. The Relief Society sisters are amazing!!--they are so generous and fun to talk to. It has been a fun experience to interact with them for the few weeks we have been here.

Day 26: May 26, 2009

2009-05-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

Another day of homework--exactly what I want to be doing in Australia---oh well, I guess I am technically in school still. We gave our global health presentations today, so that was three hours of presentations! Actually it was quite interesting, it was just a long time to sit! It was Emily's birthday today (one of our instructors), so we had cupcakes after dinner to celebrate. Yum!

Day 25: May 25, 2009

2009-05-29T05:46:00.000-07:00

Homework day! I worked on homework all morning. At one we went on a tour of Gordon Institute. It is a local college. I was basically asleep on my feet the entire time! They took us on a tour of the college, which is probably as big as Timpview High School. It was ummmm cool, I guess. At the end we met with their nursing students. There were close to 100 of then I would guess. Two of the girls in our group gave a presentation to them about our nursing program/nursing in America. Before we left they gave us some treats in their "tea room." That was the best part, although the deserts were only mediocre. Then we got to work on homework again! Later that night we were all burned out. It was time to watch, "Rudy." What a great movie!!

Watching "Rudy" in our living room.

Day 24: May 24, 2009

2009-05-29T04:29:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday again, and we went to church for the last time in our normal building (next week we have a stake church meeting). Our bus driver was the same nice man that dropped us off at McDonald's yesterday, even though his route was done. When you ride the bus system, you have to ring a bell to let the bus driver know that you want to get off at the next stop. When we rang the bell to get off at the church, he slowed down but instead of stopping at the stop like usual, he turned up the street that we have to walk up to get to church. He told us that he was ahead of schedule so he had time to drop us off. How sweet! He knew we were going to church, and he was kind enough to drop us off right in front of the building. I think very highly of this nice bus driver! What a good man.

Sunday school in the Geelong Ward--they have a special young adult Sunday school class.

At church, one of the young adult girls brought a cake just for fun/to say goodbye to us. It was a perfect Sunday School treat and it was very yummy. We waited the 45 minutes for our bus as usual, and make it home safely. Oh the joys of public transportation. It makes me very grateful for a church that is close to my home. Rae Jeanne (our instructor) made enchiladas for dinner, which was very nice of her. After dinner we went on our usual Sunday walk. Wearing pants and a sweater, it was quite a pleasant evening. We couldn't resist taking silly pictures as we walked around the streets :)

Day 23: May 23, 2009

2009-05-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

Ariels!!!

Well, that is me in the middle of doing a back-flip....the picture looks a lot better when it is bigger.

Our day was spent at the beach in Tourqey (about 30 minutes away from Geelong). It was pretty chilly but it was fun just to be on the beach. We read and listened to the ocean so I had a blast. I also got to play photographer for a few of the girl while they took jumping pictures---after they did that I was cold so I decided to tumble to get the blood circulating again! One of the girls that I had taken jumping pictures of offered to try to get pictures of me tumbling on the beach. So I did that for a while and it was quite fun! I enjoyed it a lot because it has been a long time since I have gotten to flip so much in one day!

On our way home we stopped off at a Roxy/Rip Curl outlet mall to see if they had good deals. It was chaos there. Clothes were just shoved into bins and it was so messy. I don't enjoy shopping that way so I was quite ready to leave an hour later! We had the nicest bus driver though...when our bus got back to the train station, which is within walking distance of our house, we asked him if the route was continuing on the McDonald's. He replied that he could take us there. He even made sure we were on the same side of the street as McDonald's (we live across the street, but he thought our destination was McDonald's, so it was very sweet of him.) Once we got there he turn the bus sing to "Not taking passengers." His route was supposed to end at the train station and he had gone out of his way just to take us there. How nice! Once we got home, we worked on homework for the rest of the night. Our internet wasn't working so we headed over to McDonald's across the street to use their free internet. Gotta love homework :)

This is just a picture of one of the crosswalk signs in Australia. I had to take it for memory sake!

Day 22: May 22, 2009

2009-05-22T03:12:00.000-07:00

Melbourne, Australia Temple

I love to see the temple! We went to the Melbourne Temple today to do baptisms. Waking up at 5:30am to leave at 6:20am to catch our train, makes for an early morning, but it was definitely 100% worth a little less sleep. It was so cool. I love to see the gospel spread all over the world. It is a small temple and having 12 girls in the baptistery was more than they are used to! We squished in though and everything worked out great. The spirit was amazing in the temple. I am so grateful for the gospel, and the peace and joy it brings to my life.

Our group at the Melbourne temple.

Australia Roommates!

After the temple we went to the Vic Market again for an hour before we caught our train to head home. Ah the trains--that is something I won't miss too much. I like having the freedom of having cars to drive where you want to go, when you want to go! We got home around 4:30pm, ate some dinner, and then I have worked on homework the rest of the night. Today was a great day!

Day 21: May 21, 2009

2009-05-21T01:42:00.000-07:00

Last Clinical Day!!! I spent my last clincal day in the CCU (coronary care unit) at Geelong Private Hospital. It was actually quite a fun day. I was kept busy and my nurse was really great. I have found that, in general, male nurses really like to teach the technical/procedural stuff, so i learn a lot with them. I got to see an angioplasty and stent placement so that was quite cool. It took them forever to place it, but when it was fixed the pictures look fabulous. It was cool to see the blockage fixed! Wow, isn't modern medicine amazing, we can fix human hearts!

My nurse let me take vitals all by myself :) I felt so skilled and free! Haha. It was like my first day in med-surg...I was proud to take vitals. Good times. To make things even better, he let me chart them too! At the end of my shift I was able to watch while he removed the IV catheter from her femoral artery. It is quite the process...with a pressurized thingy that keeps it from bleeding and allows a clot to slowly form over the hole. He let me write down the charting as we did this, I felt so helpful :). Anyway, I like CCU the best out of the three wards I went to. The work was more interesting because it was more critical care. It was a great day to end on! For the last week we just get to do presentations and stuf--way exciting. That is all for now!

Day 20: May 20, 2009

2009-05-21T01:27:00.000-07:00

I was in the surgical unit at Geelong Private today. It was basically the same as the medical unit except they were mostly postoperative patients, and most of them had IVs running. It was a pretty good day, nothing too eventful. I took care of the woman who had foot surgery on Monday, so that was fun to see her recovering. Poor lady though, she had quite the number done on her entire lower leg--that will be hard to recover from. I attended their BLS (basic life support) training class. They are training everyone in the hospital over the next few weeks to make sure they are trained in CPR etc. I was actually quite shocked at how little some of the nurses knew. Some of them were bending their elbows when doing compressions, and they couldn't answer simple questions. Granted it is hard sometimes to come up with answers on the spot in simulated situations, but still it surprised me some of the simple things they missed. The miss things that go along with the acronym, DR. ABC: danger (check the area for danger to the victim and yourself before doing anything), response (try to talk to them or gently shake them to see if they are conscious), airway (Is anything obstructing their airway, tongue/food), breathing (Look, listen, and feel for breathing), circulation (Check for a pulse. If it isn't there do chest compressions with the correct technique! 30 compressions to 2 rescue breaths). I was taken off guard at some of the simple things the missed. That class helped give me a refresher too, so that was helpful!

Day 19: May 19,2009

2009-05-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

Well, today wasn't very eventful. I was at Geelong Private Hospital again on the medical floor. So basically the patients were just your typical pneumonia, fractured ribs from a fall, etc. type patients. I am not really allowed to do anything except follow my nurse around and help her make beds! I did take oxygen sats a couple times, fed a lady, and I even stood by a patient while she walked to the toilet...I did these things all by myself!!! Oh and I learned how to make my first cup of tea.....they love tea over here. So that was pretty much my clinical day. The nurses are really nice, and so are the patients. They love to chat so that makes the days go by faster.

Tonight we made fajitas for dinner. My new thing is to bring the speakers from the computer here into the kitchen and connect my iPod so that we have music while making dinner. So that has been a fun, new discovery.

Hmmm well that was a boring post, but I am off to bed so I can wake up and be at the hospital at 7am tomorrow morning again!

Day 18: May 18, 2009

2009-05-18T05:29:00.001-07:00

I had clinical today at Geelong Private Hospital. I was in the operating room, or at they call it, the theater. At first the nurse was going to place my in the endoscopy room….joy….but they had too many people in there so I couldn’t do that. Bummer, haha not! Instead I got to watch orthopedic surgeries, so I was quite relieved! The doctor explained quite a bit so that was helpful. Granted, half the time I could understand what he was saying between his accent and the masks that we have to wear! I just observed all day, but they let me practice ‘scrubbing in’ (washing, gowning, and gloving sterilely so that you can be up close during the procedure).

One of the surgeries was because of an ankle injury. Poor girl, she is not gonna be a happy camper for a while. She had four incisions in one leg, ouch! They took a tendon from her hamstring and used it to replace a torn tibialis posterior tendon. It was so interesting to see though. For all of you familiar with anatomy, you could see the medial malleolus and a piece of the tendon close by, but about half way up her leg was the rest of the tendon. It was quite amazing to watch them repair it. They had to double over the hamstring tendon so that it would be strong enough to handle the demands of the ankle.

One of the other surgeries was a bunion surgery. How ironic. It was very similar to the procedure I will probably have to have someday, except mine is the more complex version because of how crooked my toe is. So, it was interesting to say the least. But it didn’t help my enthusiasm to get surgery. So thinking of it from that perspective it was aweful. I am thinking I will just opt out of the surgery thing and hope my toes hold out on me. It wasn’t fun to picture myself in that position. Urgh. But on the bright side it was rather interesting and now I understand a lot better what they will have to do to me!

For dinner we made hamburgers. Since our group was in charge of FHE and dinner we decided to play the dinner curses game. I laughed a lot! I still think my favorite time was when we played that game and Mom had Jeff running around the table every time Nicole talked….hahaha I don’t think he got to eat very much :)

Day 17: May 17, 2009

2009-05-18T05:28:00.001-07:00

Today was church again. I can’t think of anything too eventful to report, but it was a good day. My group was in charge of dinner so we made French toast and breakfast burritos. It was a bit of an adventure because of kitchen is from the 18^th century! Haha, and we were running out of eggs so we our French toast had more milk than egg! Oh dear! Fortunately it all worked out and tasted fine, but for a while I was worried! This weekend has been great!

Day 16: May 16, 2009

2009-05-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

I was finally able to talk to my family! They figured out skype so they can call my landline here. Good work to them figuring it out! And thanks to Uncle Joel for setting it up! I love my family!!!

The Footy Game!

Around 1 o’clock we we went to a footy game (Australian rules football). It is a big deal here. We went in support of the Geelong Cats. They were champions two years ago and lost in an upset last year. So far, they are undefeated this year. It was quite fun to see their version of football. I think I would really get into it if I was Australian. Who knows maybe I’ll start following it from the US! It was pretty chilly standing in the stadium, but it wasn't as cold as it has been at many BYU football games!

So I have officially decided that eating out here is not worth it. Tonight I had my second meal that we have eaten out in Geelong, and it is just not that great. I am going to live on oatmeal instead and just go out for dessert!!

Day 15: May 15, 2009

2009-05-18T05:17:00.000-07:00

Wow, today was absolutely amazing. We left our house around 10:30am and drove about two and a half hours to Phillip Island. After a long bus ride I was looking forward to seeing the animals at the Wild Life Park. When we walked into the building our instructors handed each of us a bag of animal feed. We then read a sign that detailed all the animals that we were allowed to feed. Kangaroo and Wallaby were on the list! I knew we were going to get to see the animals, but I had no idea that we would get to feed them. Next we walked out the door into the park and there were wallaby just hopping around right outside the doors! They were not afraid of us and I got to feed them! I am in love with wallaby; they are so adorable. I walked around the park and fed them for a while. I saw some sleeping koala, but I was a bit preoccupied with the wallaby. I might just have to bring one home! I also saw emu, dingos, and kookaburra. I am sure I saw others, but those were the high lights.

The first wallaby I ever fed :)

What can I say, they love me! Well, I guess they are using me for food....

A cute little baby wallaby!

Next we found the kangaroo area. In the part the have fences, but the animals can still roam quite freely. I got to feed and pet kangaroo! Can you believe it!?! They are as big as I would have imagined. The bigger ones might come up to my shoulder level. When they stand up on their hind legs and stretch they can reach higher though. They were very cute. I basically stood in the midst of the kangaroo for an hour. It was so entertaining. The males got a bit aggressive with our food. A few of the girls got their feed bags ripped out of their hands. I was quite protective of mine though, but a few times I had to move quickly away. They are smart and figure out where you hide the food! Some of the mothers actually had baby kangaroo in their pouches. It was quite a funny sight when all you could see were legs sticking out of the pouch. Sometimes their little heads were poking out and that was adorable. Overall I liked feeding the wallaby more because they weren’t so demanding! It was such a blast.

I love kangaroo and wallaby.

Feeding my first Kangaroo!

Next we drove around to a gorgeous cliff outlook point to try to see some seals. It was SO windy so I all the seals were hiding. We saw some beautiful scenes and took some great pictures though so we had a great time even without the seals.

It was SO windy! It was quite a funny experience!

The Beautiful Ocean....I wish I could have captured the waves crashing against the rocks. It was absolutely increadible. The tide was so powerful and the waves were huge when they would crash and spray all over! So gorgeous.

Our final adventure for the day was the Penguin Parade. This is when the penguins swim in from the ocean for the night. The penguins are called Little Penguins. They really are so tiny and they weight about one kilo (2.2 pounds). They would swim in on a wave and then try to waddle as fast as they could up the beach before another wave came. Sometimes if they weren’t fast enough they would get knocked down by the next wave and pull back and they’d have to start all over again. They would swim in usually in groups of about 7-15 penguins and then they would line up as they waddled up the beach. We watched them from stadium seating that they have build on the coast. After they made it up the beach they had to being their trek inland. They have boardwalk trails that we were able to follow them in their trek. They are so tiny. It was very fun to watch them waddle around! I wish I could have taken pictures but they wouldn’t allow photography. I wanted to pick on up and put them in my bag. I may just show up at home with two more pets—a wallaby and little penguin!

I couldn't take a picture of the real little penguins, so this is the best I could do....Little penguins don't have puffy cheeks, but it make for a better picture :)

Friday was a blast. I love(d) seeing the wild life in Australia.

Day 14: May 14, 2009

2009-05-18T04:23:00.000-07:00

Today was yet another day at Whitehorse. We went on a walk with a walking group that meets every Thursday. It is a group of elderly people and one of the Whitehorse employees that get together to walk to promote a health lifestyle. The employee explained that these are the adults/elderly that are not comfortable going to gyms and are a bit socially awkward, so this group is beneficial in helping them have a group to walk with, otherwise they may not exercise. After that we attended a class where they were teaching adults how to manage diabetes. It was actually interesting to listen in on and learn how to teach patients more effectively. That was a valuable and I felt like it was worth my time being there.

Day 13: May 13, 2009

2009-05-18T04:22:00.001-07:00

Today at Whitehorse we attended a class where they taught pre-diabetic individuals how to prevent/delay the onset of diabetes. It was an ok class because I was very entertained by some of the comments the “students” were making! They were very funny. They were kind of bashing on the busy work involved in the class. Haha it was funny since I am a student too. They were like, “we are already doing this so why do I need to do this worksheet.” Haha. After the class we went on a drive around the Whitehorse area so that we could see the community. It was semi boring because we just drove around residential areas and tried not to let the care lull us to sleep!

After the drive, a lady taught us about a program they have called the “Needle and Syringe Program” or NSP. I know we had this a little in the US a few years ago, but it caused great controversy so we don’t really have it anymore. Basically they provide clean needles and syringes for drug users so they won’t spread blood born diseases. The idea is quite controversial so it was interesting to hear about it from their perspective.

Day 12: May 12, 2009

2009-05-18T04:20:00.002-07:00

We began our morning by waiting an extra half an hour at the train station. I guess they were having train problems so our usual train wasn’t running so the train right after it was completely full because of this problem. We had to wait and catch the next train. So that was exciting. Fortunately it wasn’t too cold to wait outside. At Whitehorse we walked around the Boxhill suburb and did a community assessment that they had outlined for us. It was interesting to observe the area and the population. It also make me grateful for Provo! After the community assessment we went to the gym again. This time, the gym was made available for people with cardiovascular/chronic illness problems. They are able to come exercise while being monitored closely.

Day 12: May 12, 2009

2009-05-18T04:20:00.001-07:00

Day 11: May 11, 2009

2009-05-18T04:15:00.000-07:00

This week our group is heading into Melbourne for clinical. We go to Whitehorse Community Health Service and see the different programs they have each day. We left at 7:30 to catch the train and make the two hour journey into Melbourne and the suburb where Whitehorse is located. Today we went to see the gym that they have in their building. Elderly people are able to come use the gym Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am to 12pm. It is nice because they each have a personalized program that they are supposed to follow. The idea of the program is to give them a boost in creating good exercise habits.

That was all they had for us to do, so for a couple hours we exercised with the elderly people, lifting weights and playing on the exercise balls. Then we got to head home. So we made it home by about 4 o clock so that was very nice.

Day 10: May 10, 2009

2009-05-18T04:14:00.000-07:00

Church again. We went to church and it was much the same as last week. Fortunately this week they were prepared and had seats already set up for us in the back so that we didn’t have to cause a big scene as we came in and set up our chairs. We went on a walk by the ocean in the evening which was so much fun. I love being able to walk five minutes and see the ocean!

Our group after church

We have to wait 45 minutes after church for the bus to pick us up. So this is us waiting for the bus!

Sail boats down at the pier.

Our Sunday walk...it gets a bit chilly in the evenings, especially down by the pier (hence the jeans and sweatshirt!)

Day 9: May 9, 2009

2009-05-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

Riding the train to Melbourne: On our way to Vic Market

Today was Queen Victoria Market day. We left at about 8:30am and went shopping at the open air market. They have shops set up mostly under canopies. The do have a part that is in a building, where they sell meats and other food. These shops aren’t walk in shops though, you just order at the counter up front. The meat was just hanging in the front of the shops…that doesn’t seem very sanitary to me. I guess I am just used to the U.S cause other countries do that all the time. But it was fun to see. The rest of the market was full of trinkets and souvenirs of every variety. It was fun, but I had my fill of shopping by the time we left at 2:30pm. The market is in Melbourne so by the time we traveled we didn’t get back until 5 ish and I was worn out! Haha, but it was fun to experience the Vic market.

Day 8: May 8, 2009

2009-05-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Day 8: May 8, 2009

Party, it is the Weekend!!! During the week it didn’t really feel like we are in a different country. Well, I guess is seems different in many ways, but it isn’t the fun and exciting thrill of being in a different country. But this weekend the real fun began! We went on the “Great Ocean Road” drive. Wow, it was gorgeous. We started our drive by stopping off at a place with aboriginal art which was very interesting to see.

Aboriginal Art

They use dot art a lot in their paintings.

Then we basically just drove down the coast for the next three hours, stopping at several view points. We stopped at a light house, a field to see kangaroo, and a beach where we could walk out on the sand for a bit. After lunch we continued on our drive until we reached the Twelve Apostles rock stacks. The stacks are the remnants of erosion that occurs on the limestone cliffs on the coast. The view of the ocean was incredible. Australia has cliffs that drop down to small beaches before reaching the magnificent ocean. I was in heaven, except when I thought that our old creaky bus was going to break down! There were times that I really thought we were going too fast and that our bus was going to snap in half. Other than that it was fabulous! It makes me want to live by the ocean. I love the water so I was on cloud nine trying so hard to soak it all in!

Erin (one of my cute roommates) and I went exploring. We walked down from the cliffs onto the beach and this is what we found. I thought it was cool.

A lookout point

An old light house that they still use today....except now it is run by electricity!

Artistic photo eh?

Jumping Just for Fun: for the record, I wasn't even the one to suggest a jumping picture or the handstands, but I thought they were great ideas :)

The Twelve Apostles rock stacks

Twelve apostles again...

Day 7: May 7, 2009

2009-05-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

Back at St. Laurence for clinical today. Fun stuff. Actually it was better because I followed the meds nurses around instead of working as a CNA. So instead, I watched them give insulin and put on medication patches….tricky stuff haha. For all you nurses, they don’t alcohol the spot before they inject the insulin, they reuse the needle for multiple stick on a single patient, and the nurse never wore gloves. I thought that was all odd. And gloves in the entire facility are scarce. I had to learn to shove a bunch in my pocket so I would have them if I wanted them. They also don’t have avagaurd (hand sanitizer) in every room. If you want it you have to walk all the way down the hall which is a pain. That doesn’t exactly promote hand hygiene!

In the early afternoon, a man came to play music for the elderly people. He woiuld play the back ground on his electronic key board (actually he would program his keyboard and it would play) while they sang along. They were all old songs and I didn’t recognize a single one! It was cute though: one of the women there is kind of out of it to say the least. She is a great deal shorter than me and she is so exuberant and funny, but 90 percent of the time I can’t understand her gibberish. Any way, she was clapping and singing along, and she stood up at the front of the room and started dancing by alone. Then one of the cute older gentleman at the facility when up and danced with her. It was precious. He was way tall and she was tiny but it was so cute of him. He danced with her probably six times during the course of the concert. She would get so excited when he would come up to dance with her. She would try to lead them, but he was just so patient. Oh I just thought it was so sweet of him to dance with her (he seemed with it and like he was doing it to be nice).

Day 6: May 6, 2009

2009-05-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

Flashback to first semester! I was back in the nursing home today. What a party. One thing I can definitely say for this rotation is that I am quite confident in my decision that this is not the unit I want to work in. We travel out to a city called Lara (about a 20 minute train ride) to work at the St. Laurence rest home facility. The facility is quite nice actually. They have a garden and a petting zoo for the residents---complete with pigs (I got to feed them hahaha they eat bread and you feed them like you’d feed a dog haha). Alee and I both went to this rotation today and we left to catch the train at 6:20 am. Fortunately my body is still set on an early schedule, so it wasn’t that early to me.

We were each assigned to a Patient Care worker (basically equivalent to our CNA). We heard report at 7:15am and then basically did CNA work until 2 when we were done with our shift. Exciting. They do have a “no lift” policy so that is very very nice. They have lifts available and it is policy to have two people helping when moving a patient. I quite appreciate those rules because it makes our job a lot easier. The day was fine but it was very much the same as working in a rest home in the US. I don’t like the smells and I don’t want to be a CNA---ever. Haha. The people were really nice to talk to though. They were all so cute about wanting us to have a fun time while we were in the country.

Day 5: May 5, 2009

2009-05-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I awoke bright and early. My body thinks it is time to wake up around 5/6 am anyway (due to the time change and that we go to bed so early). I actually like this go to bed, get up early schedule…we’ll see how long it lasts though! It was my day to sleep a little later, but I was as awake as could be! Alee and I went out with an agency called, “Best of Care,” for clinical. They are a community health agency around the Geelong area. We went to a singing group for elderly individuals with dementia. It was held out at a rest home because they let them use the club house room for the singing time. It was the first day they had held this group so it was really interesting to watch. Two ladies led the singing, one of them accompanied with a guitar. About 30 elderly adults were there. We all sat in a circle and sang songs like “When the Saints Come Marching In,” and “Down by the Bay,” and “Bring Back My Bonnie to Me.” It was really quite fun. It was so neat to watch these talented ladies pull the shy and mentally declining people into the group. Some of the participants got so excited; it was very cute to watch.

After we were done singing we had “tea time” (which I am learning is a very important time for Australians. Every morning and afternoon we have tea time! It is great for us to have a break, but kind of awkward to decline their enthusiastic offers for us to have some tea or coffee :) )During this time they decided to have some singing around the piano. One of the older gentlemen with dementia started playing the piano. Apparently he hadn’t played for years, and his daughter was shocked. You could tell he was so happy to be playing again. It is hard to see him remember things like notes on the piano, but that he can’t function very well because of his dementia. I don’t want to get old like that. It makes me count my blessings.

Day 4: May 4, 2009

2009-05-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a long day. We went around to all of our clinical sites for an orientation at each place today. We left around 8am and didn’t get back until about 8pm. We had to travel all the way to Melbourne and then in further in the city to get to one of our clinicals (about a 2 hour train ride), so it was very exhausting. I wouldn’t have imagined that sitting on a train would zap your energy, but it sure does! Anyway, it was good to get a feel for the clinical placements we are attending for the three weeks were are here. One is a rest home, one is a private hospital, and the other is a community health service. We came home from our long day, ate leftovers and headed to bed. I have never gone to bed so early as I do here!

Day 3: May 3, 2009

2009-05-17T05:15:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the bus....

Sunday we caught our ten o’clock bus to head to church. Unfortunately for us, church begins at 10 am, but the first bus doesn’t even come until 10. So, we plan on arriving 20 minutes late every week. I wish we could just walk, but the building is way too far away for us to walk. It was kind of awkward because we had to open up the overflow and set up seats so that we could fit. That was in the middle of the meeting, so I felt bad causing such a commotion. The people in the ward didn’t seem to mind though. They are very welcoming and helpful. Aussie’s in general are very nice and friendly people. That makes traveling so much easier. They are always offering suggestions about places to visit and the love to talk. We live about a five minute walk away from a pier, so on in the evening we went on a walk and took pictures. I love the water---so picturesque.

Sunset at the Pier (about a five minute walk down the street from our house)

Day 2: May 2, 2009

2009-05-17T05:06:00.000-07:00

So we landed safely in Melbourne, made it through security, found our luggage, and loaded a bus to head to the city of Geelong. We are staying in a bed and breakfast called the Gate house in Geelong, which is about an hour outside of Melbourne. Because of the time change we completely skipped May 1, 2009 (notice the dates corresponding to days 1 and 2 above). Weird. We arrived at our house in the early afternoon. After finding our rooms, we all didn’t know what to do. Our bodies said it was time to sleep, but we had to wait until at least a semi reasonable hour so we had to stay awake. Rae Jeanne, our instructor, took us on a walk around Geelong to show us where things were and then we went to the grocery store. A lady from the ward had brought soup for us for dinner so that was very of her. We appreciated it greatly! After dinner we unpacked and wandered around trying to stay awake. We may have skipped May first, but the second was the longest day ever. I fell asleep around 8 o’clock….I can’t remember the last time I went to bed that early.

Day 1: April 30, 2009

2009-05-17T02:05:00.000-07:00

Our group at the SLC airport....notice the masks in our hands :)

After a chaotic day of packing and running around Provo, I left SLC at 6:20pm, beginning our journey to the land down under! After a two hour-ish flight, we had a 3 hour layover in LAX. We then departed on Air New Zealand to fly over seas for 13 hours! We landed in the Auckland, NZ airport where we had another quick layover before flying onto Melbourne, Australia (a five hour ish flight). I was able to sleep quite well on the planes. Fortunately our long flight wasn’t full so I had an empty seat next to me and I was able to located a couple extra of the tiny airplane pillows. I was able to get into a few relatively comfortable positions and sleep quite well. One of the blessings of being small is more comfortable travel! I woke up a bunch to change positions, but over all I slept quite well. It was weird to wake up and have absolutely no concept of time. I didn’t know how long I had been asleep, how long we had been on the flight, what time I was/should be used to, or what time it was in our new time zone. I felt quite disoriented haha!

Airport security was kind of a pain. I forgot that they make you take off your shoes, jackets, electronic devices, etc to go through the security scanners. That was annoying. We went through a ton of those things and every time it I was a mess trying to remember everything that I needed to pull out of my backpack…and then two seconds later, make sure I got it all back in! By the end of our travels, I had a pretty good system down. I was also paranoid that I was going to lose my passort/tickets/credit card! They gave us paper tickets and I did NOT want the responsibility of carrying them! I would have rather our instructor held onto them for us, but I guess I have to act like I am an adult. I was so nervous that I would lose it though, so I am sure my cortisol levels were very high…not good for my immune system….that could have been bad with all of this swine flu going around :)

Speaking of swine flu, airport security was going bananas about this virus. We had to fill out several papers about our health, where we would be for the next week so they could contact us, contact information here and at home, etc. It just made me laugh. Some people were wearing masks all around the airport. I don’t think they would do very much, but I didn’t tell them that. We had masks too, but none of us wore them ever, well except to take a picture. The blue mask clashed with my maroon sweater so I decided it wasn’t worth wearing a masks on our 13 hour flight! On the plane they kept reminding us that that if we were exhibiting symptoms of the flu we were supposed to notify the fight attendant. Just before we landed in New Zealand they announced that we must all stay on the plane until health officials came on and inspected a few people on our flight who had symptoms of the flu. Haha. I am pretty sure they just had symptoms like a cough or nausea. But to our great relief J they cleared our plane and let us continue on! When we go to Melbourne, we all had to walk through a sensor that took our temperature to make sure we weren’t fevered and carrying the swine flu into their country.