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Kerry Jones
2005_09_23 message...
Hey everyone,
So here, at last is my first circular! How slack am I? I´m so sorry. Life´s been a bit of a blur over the past few months, but just in case any of you doubted, I miss you all heaps. It´s when you are so far from home that you realise how wonderful the people in your life are....and I have some truly wonderful people in my life! Love & hugs.....
So.....I have made it to South America (see, it wasn´t all just pie-ion-the-sky) and I´m living in Buenos Aires for 5 weeks while I rapidly (and desperately) try to learn Spanish.
But to go back a little. I went and worked in Katherine in the Northern Territory for 4 months (April - July). This was an experience to say the least. The hospital case load is about 80% aboriginal and gave me a bit of an insight into the aboriginal lifestyle and associated issues. It also showed me how easy it is to sit back and theorise on what we need to do to fix it.....and it ain´t that easy!!!! It would seem that there´s a large amount of helplessness and low self esteem. If you don´t have a job and are unlikely to get one (even education doesn´t help if you´re aboriginal as there´s still a large amount of discrimination), really, what else would you do except drink? And I know that some may say that they don´t try, but along with lack of understanding and often a language barrier as english is not always their first language, those who do try have a hard time getting anywhere. (and also from other aboriginals who ¨humbug¨them for their money)
The other thing that Katherine showed me was that I need more training!!!! I was promoted from resident to ¨rural medical officer¨which meant that I had the same responsibility as any other Dr in the hospital, regardless of experience. I could ask someone more experienced,but there wasn´t as direct acess as I am accustomed to in the city and they had their own workload. Weekends and nights, I was alone in the emergency department which made for a steep learning curve (but there were always Drs a phone call away if I needed them). So the point of this...I applied for and was accepted into rural general practice training......in QLD. I chose the Tropical Medical Training program (top 2/3 of QLD) for a greater variety, lots of rural places to train where transferring the pt within 1/2 hr is not possible. (so I have to learn more about stabilising and treating them). It has aboriginal health - although it would appear that the aboriginal situation in QLD is better than in the NT - and they also have options of aviation medicine/flying Drs etc.....in summary: lots of variety. So, I am moving to QLD.....and again, I shall miss you all very much. In addition, for those who are interested, I passed the written exam for the Diploma of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and will sit the oral next year.
After Katherine, I drove back to Melb via Townsville (for my interview for TMT). For those I didn´t see, I was in Melb for only 1 crazily busy week and although I tried to make more fit....it didn´t! Maybe we can arrange something in the 10 days I´m back before I move to QLD... ;-)
So, now in Argentina. I now know what the phrase ¨living on top of each other¨means....I live on the 15th floor! (and our building goes to at least 25)! The city is huge and full of high rises. There are people EVERYWHERE. There is no such thing as being alone....and yet.....connecting with the Buenos Aires people can be hard work. Being the ONLY girl with short, blonde hair in the city, I get attention from boys, but actually making friends is harder. It´s almost funny given how crazy this city, how slow everyone moves....I´ve decided that this is so they don´t fall over one another!
In addition, I have learnt about Argentinian changeability. They say one thing and then do another. Apparently they rack up options for an evening for example and then choose their preference for that moment. My host mum has provided a few wonderful examples of this habit. Eg Ï have no plans for tomorrow, we should go to San Telmo together...¨ Ok. sounds great!¨ The next morning she asked what I was doing for the day. Confused, I said ¨I´m not sure¨. To which she replied ¨You should go to San Telmo¨. Really confused, I asked ¨What are you doing today?¨ Her answer: ¨oh, I think I´ll clean the house¨. When she asked me if I like pasta and I said yes, I didn´t really believe her when she said we´d have it for dinner the next day. Guess what.... we didn´t!
As I mentioned, I´m learning Spanish - with classes for 5 hours a day 5 days a week. In addition, I have about 6 hours of Tango classes a week. For all my dear swing friends.....stick to swing. Tango is sorta cool. But there´s no smiles and whilst it´s beautifully emotive and connected...it´s somber atmosphere doesn´t actually breed joy like swing does.
My spanish is coming.....slowly. There are 15 different conjugations for each verb and when you´ve learnt a word, you can see it written somewhere in a different form and be completely unaware that it´s still the same word you´d learned. Currently I can talk in the present tense with a little bit of future thrown in. Very frustrating when my host mum asks ¨How was your daÿ?¨and I answer ¨I go or I see....¨ which she automatically corrects to `I went´or `I saw´ trying to get me to speak in the past tense. I'm not sure how many times I´ve tried to explain that I don´t yet know how to!
An interesting feature of the spanish language: Married = casado which
is one letter different from cansado which means tired. It´s also
one letter different from cazado which means hunted. The word for spouse
is esposa. This word also means hand-cuffs. Is anyone else seeing a pattern
here?
What else can I tell you about Argentinian oddities….? They tend
not to eat their crusts and you can find sandwiches for sale all over
the city with the crusts cut off! Everything in Buenos Aires beeps...it
is the noisiest place I´ve ever been. The elevator beeps if you
leave the door open too long, there are lights and beeping contraptions
fitted to every apartment block garage which alerts the pedestrian to
the car coming out of the driveway, every truck beeps, there are planes
going overhead all the time....need I say ´noise´? The argentians
also have a thing for ´dulce de leche´- this is effectively
caramel flavoured nestle condensed milk....very sweet and in and on everything!
Do you want a banana....? Do you want dulce de leche on that? Whew....
The lonely planet talks about ubiquitous piles of dog....um...poop. It´s
all true. Sorry to break your heart, Belle, but these guys all own dogs
(including great danes) and keep them in their small apartments and then
walk them in this concrete city. As a result, the dogs do their thing
all over the pavement. It´s almost funny to watch store owners washing
down the concrete each morning.
It would seem that most Argentines try to forget the poverty that surrounds
them. Apparently there are many suburbs of ´villas´ (cardboard,
scrap metal homes etc) that surround the city – of course no-one
will take me there as it´s too rough. The poor are disadvantaged
in many ways and have the expected associated issues – poor education,
little income, poor health care, substance abuse (not as much) and domestic
violence. There is free health care and education, but often kids are
sent to beg money as opposed to school (and beaten if they don´t
bring home the cash) and as the hospitals are already short on supplies,
the poor are put as a last priority in most instances.
Homeless people are everywhere and every subway trip is dotted with crippled,
blind people and children doing the rounds of the carriage. They either
try to sell something eg stickers, or let their obvious incapacity or
sad story convince people to give. As I mentioned, many continue to try
to ignore all of this. When I´ve asked about it, the usual answer
is ´this is normal´or, ‘if they really wanted to, they
could get somewhere´. Even given the extremes, the average income
here is appalling – it´s good to get >500 pesos a month.
This is $250 AUD. A really good income is 1000 pesos/mth.
Since I began this email, I have spent a weekend in the country outside
Cordoba (700km west of BsAs) It was gorgeous, as are the people. I guess
it proves once again that I´m a country girl at heart!! I met up
with an old friend who I met when we were fellow exchange students in
Holland. In the past 11 yrs, Arturo (Guardia-Penfold) has grown up somewhat,
but at the same time, it was awesomely exactly the same to hang out together.
For the exchangees, he´s a lawyer/notary and works with his mum.
He is married to an wonderful canadian girl who he met when she was on
exchange in Argentina. His family is absolutely gorgeous.
That would be the summary of the last few months. If you made it this
far, guys, congratulations. If you don´t want to receive my group
emails, let me know. If I´ve accidently put your email address on
the list twice & you get two copies, let me know (and also if there´s
a preferred address)
Love and hugs to you all, Kerry
PS I forgot. My future plans for those who want to know/don´t know
yet. I´ll be in Ecuador for 2 months, New York for 2 weeks, Denver
for a weekend (Yay, Drew…….really can´t wait!) Switzerland
11-23 Dec & Holland 23 Dec – Jan 1. I start work in QLD Jan
16. For the nederlandsen: Als je zin hebben, ik zal het erg leuk vinden
als we tijd kan vinden om elkaar te kunnen zien. Ik zal je straks schrijven/contacten.
Tot binnenkort!!!
¡Chau todos! (I just had to use the upside down exclamation mark!)
-------------------------------- ---
Key Stats
Country of Origin:
Australia
Education/Next Steps post-Holland:
??
Birthday:
??
Current Address:
??
Current Phone Number:
+? ??-??
Preferred E-mail Address:
missjones@dodo.com.au
Current Profession or LifeGig:
nomadic medical chica (says ejr from reading her circular)
Favorite expression in Dutch:
??
Vote for a Rotary Exchange Holland Reunion (REHR):
??
Rotary club in Holland:
Info Forthcoming
Hosting Rotary club in home country:
Info Forthcoming
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Eric J. Reid
