Well, I could fill an entire blog with the debate over whether including only Christian doctrine in Religious Education classes in a secular school system is justified, but instead I will leave you comforted by the knowledge that God has a new team member.
My son is evidently more inclusionist than the Australian religious curriculum and has decided to incorporate ex-Jedi, Sith Lord, Dark side head-honcho and all round bad guy Darth Vader into God's Team. Gotta love that....
Haven't had the results from James' assessment yet, though they are due this week, but he does seem to be settling in better at school, he has not become a social outcast and in fact has a wide circle of friends (who may or may not also be on God's Team - who knows?) The latest craze is or Bakugan toys (kind of Top Trumps meets Transformers) and James is now in with the in crowd having spent three weeks worth of pocket money on them last week. Think this is the first time he has really got why pocket money is something worth having.
This week James was Pupil of the Week in his class and got to stand up on stage during assembly - parents get to attend assembly too and I confess to having a small speck of sentiment in my eye when he was up there... He was trying to look nonchalant, but secretly I think he was chuffed to bits too.
This is his class photo too - hadn't occurred to me that we don't seem to get these in Scotland anymore, though I still have all of mine from primary school.
His best friends are Marcus, Ben and Lachlan, but mentions most of the boys on a regular basis. Mairead (two to the right of James) is also Scottish - her parents moved here in January - and Lachlan's dad is Scottish too, and Lachlan also has a 7 month old sister called Phoebe!
OK, OK, I know it's been ages since my last post, but children just keep getting in the way, and there's so darn many of them. I'm not even sure they're all ours... Anyway, I am determined to get this blog up to date today, so first of all, Nick...Nick's job is not going according to plan so far. In theory, a visiting fellow should (a) have at least one operating list a week which is all his, (b) be attached to one specific surgeon and (c) ideally be able to contribute to the on call rota in order to supplement income.
Sadly, in Nick's case, none of the above is true. As it stands now, he is pretty much only observing in theatre as every time he goes to an operation, there is an Australian registrar in attendance at the public hospital and a 'surgical assistant' (bored GP) in attendance at the private hospital. No-one has indicated that he has any kind of priority to assist, in fact one surgeon said when he turned up 'What are you doing here? You don't need to be here.' I don't think it was meant in a nasty way - but still...
I think he has wielded a scalpel once so far, and this was for an ACL (soft tissue knee repair) which he has no interest in doing long term and is not supposed to be focusing on here.
He is not attached to one single surgeon, but rather gets a list of what three or four of the main surgeons are doing each week and where he might want to go (clinic and theatre)
There does not appear to be any possibility of contributing to the registrars' on call rota.
In addition to all of the above, - we discovered after arriving that Nick is actually working on a self-employed basis, and therefore we had to wait for his ABN (Australian Business Number) to be issued before he could bill for his time
- in addition to the ABN, it took a month to get a tax file number before he could bill...
- because of this status, he is taxed at 30% on 100% of his income - which we are responsible for putting to one side (oh heck..)
- after finally getting state registration, turns out they have mistakenly only listed him as working at two out of the three hospitals and have missed Geelong Private - without registration he cannot get a provider number, without a provider number he cannot bill for any private assisting...
- under the terms of Nick's visa, he can only work at the three (two!) Geelong hospitals he is registered for, so therefore can't do locum shifts elsewhere though they are desperate for Orthopaedic surgeons here
- they have just employed a locum GENERAL surgeon for a week to cover staff absences here in Geelong because they couldn't get an Orthopod and never thought to ask Nick. Though of course with no provider number, he couldn't have done it anyway...
So anyway, he has spoken to his boss (R), shown him the volume and complexity of surgery he has been doing at home and told him that the fellowship as it stands neither lives up to its description nor meets Nick's requirements. R said Nick can expect to be first assistant or lead surgeon anytime a consultant does not have a local trainee, otherwise just to go to whichever surgeon's list has the surgery which interests him and observe. Unfortunately, when Nick told one of the other surgeons last week that he would be joining him at his hip list, he didn't seem too chuffed and said he would need to speak to R... So obviously the message isn't filtering through the department.
Doesn't seem to me like there is any buy in from any of the surgeons apart from R - no-one seems to know what to do with a fellow or even seem to want one. I don't see why Nick should have to muscle his way into theatre and I don't see why the unit should get the kudos of offering a fellowship without everyone supporting it. Nick is getting mighty cheesed off - as he said, he is supposed to be honing his skills, not becoming de-skilled, but he is going to see how the next couple of weeks go and take it from there.
It's not possible to change hospitals on the visa we are on (and I don't think my sanity could take another Australian visa application) but we could of course go elsewhere - like New Zealand!! - so anyone planning a visit, hold off for a wee while till we know what country we are going to be in!!
So, what's been happening to me? Well, pretty much just like home, without the enjoyable chat...
Have been mostly settling into normal life with school runs, nursery runs and playgroup, swimming, shopping... and the weather is still pretty much shocking, so not really 'gone Aussie' yet in terms of spending more time outside.
But something marvellous happened yesterday - we got FIVE care packages from Auntie Kim with DVD's and other bits and bobs for the children and (woo hoo!) Pampers Active Fit nappies for Phoebe. I can happily confirm that she has fully tested them already and they have passed with flying colours. Auntie Kim also sent me Aussie Mega shampoo and conditioner. Kimmie Lou, I love you more than is wholly appropriate at the moment!!
Still haven't really managed to meet anyone else socially, but playgroup on a Tuesday is looking promising - lots of lovely ladies, Ella and Phoebe fitting in nicely, and tea and cake to boot. Still haven't exchanged a word with anyone at school - because there is a 15 minute drop off and pick up window, it's impossible to tell who might be another parent from James' class - there is no standing about like in Dunbar. And they don't come out in their classes after school - so James is as likely to appear out the door with someone in Grade 6 as someone in his own class. But he at least is starting to settle - he seems a lot happier and apparently his behaviour is greatly improved too.
One of the other mums at Will's kinder introduced herself the other day too - it was like a miracle!! And in addition, I decided to take the bull by the horns and find my own friends by placing an advert on the expat forum, and am meeting up with an Irish girl next week.
Apart from that, I have tennis elbow. No really, stop laughing, I do. Those of you who know me will know that the likelihood of me picking up a tennis racquet at all is not high, let alone wielding it long enough to cause any damage. I did in fact manage to injure myself during a high speed dash through Vancouver airport carrying a heavy baby in a heavy car seat, and it's been getting worse ever since. Husband dearest has procured me a support bandage which is apparently known as a w***strap. Nice...
And apart from that the latest news is that we may be moving (within Geelong for the time being) as the people who own this place want to sell. Nick and I think they want to sell as they have had to cough up for a new oven, microwave, kitchen cabinetry, locksmith and heating engineer because of issues we have raised since we moved in. But hey, it's not like we are making up problems - the house is lovely, but certain things have not been maintained and now need fixed or replaced. And anyway, it's all a bit suspect as apparently they have a buyer though the house is not actually on the market. Because we have signed a fixed-term lease, they cannot actually throw us out before June 09, but I don't think we really want to stay somewhere the landlords want us out - it's asking for trouble and nit-picking I think. So anyway, we have said that we will move if they cover our removal costs so we will wait and see. We saw one place at the weekend which was superb but of course we will have to be approved as applicants and I think there will be a lot of competition! - fingers crossed.
And finally, went to see Mamma Mia a couple of weeks ago. Feel it is entirely possible that this may be the best film ever made. God I love Abba.
