"How are you with cannulation?" She asked.
Does she really want to
know how proficient I am with placing a nasal cannula? How hard can it
be?
"Do you mean a nasal cannula?" I asked.
"No, no. Cannulation." Well that cleared it up.
"IV cannulation" she said.
"OH! Starting IVs! Haha! Got it. I'm pretty good. I don't really have trouble starting IVs!" I said. Close one.
"OK. Lovely."
And that's how my interview went with Louisa from the Pegasus Health
24-hour surgery clinic. It started off with a plan for her to call me at 9am NZ time on Tuesday (my Monday). All weekend I planned to talk to
her at 1pm, the standard 4 hours time difference I'd gotten used to
over the last several months. Thank goodness Scott reminded me of
daylight savings time. The interview was now at noon. 12'oclock noon
while I was on vacation with my husband. I wanted to be somewhere quiet,
with good cell reception.
Unfortunately, my parent's house in Benicia has the worst cell reception of all time. Like, worse than in a deep-sea submarine off the coast of Iceland. So their place was out for an interview spot. Coffee shop? Too loud. Library? Not supposed to talk. So oddly, we settled on inside the car, on the top level of a 6-story parking garage in Emeryville. At $2/hr no less. It wasn't until after the decision was made and the interview was underway that I realized the bay area has about 15 flying vehicles in the air at any given time (noisy), you're never less than 5 miles from a freeway of some kind (noisy), and everyone honks at each other (noisy). And if you've ever been part of an overseas phone interview, on a cell phone no less, you know that the reception just isn't the same. And I was on speakerphone with a panel. And they have Kiwi accents. And they're asking me about cannulation. Oh man.
Unfortunately, my parent's house in Benicia has the worst cell reception of all time. Like, worse than in a deep-sea submarine off the coast of Iceland. So their place was out for an interview spot. Coffee shop? Too loud. Library? Not supposed to talk. So oddly, we settled on inside the car, on the top level of a 6-story parking garage in Emeryville. At $2/hr no less. It wasn't until after the decision was made and the interview was underway that I realized the bay area has about 15 flying vehicles in the air at any given time (noisy), you're never less than 5 miles from a freeway of some kind (noisy), and everyone honks at each other (noisy). And if you've ever been part of an overseas phone interview, on a cell phone no less, you know that the reception just isn't the same. And I was on speakerphone with a panel. And they have Kiwi accents. And they're asking me about cannulation. Oh man.
Other highlights of my interview with Louisa, who was truly delightful:
- My fumbling through scenarios at a snail's pace, sweating in the
hot car on the HOT November day that it was, sweat dripping from heat
stroke and my actual pending stress-induced stroke
- Forgetting the name for Nitroglycerin ("That sub-lingual med. You know the one! N.... Nii... uhh... Nitro! That's it!") Pressure at it's finest...
- Forgetting the name for Nitroglycerin ("That sub-lingual med. You know the one! N.... Nii... uhh... Nitro! That's it!") Pressure at it's finest...
- Asking the other interviewer to repeat every single question she asked because I couldn't understand her beautiful whispering accent
- Rambling about the benefits of computerized order entry when they don't have it
- Louisa and my other interviewer laughing (at me, I think) quite a bit and saying "lovely" a lot
An hour and a half later ($3) with a nearly dead cell phone and a
nearly starved husband, my call ended and I felt good. Confused, but
good. And 30 minutes after that... I felt great!
Louisa called my recruiter, Kristin, and confirmed that she would
be offering me a position at Pegasus Health's 24-Hour Surgery in
Christchurch. Kristin called me immediately, and started gushing about
her love for the city and the area (she lives in Christchurch herself)
and encouraging me in regards to the state of the city after the earthquake.
I also learned that I would be cross-trained in a few different
specialties, all which are super interesting to me, AND I would be
working four 8-hour shifts per week. And that's considered full time! Talk about a
place that understands the work-life balance. I love New Zealand! I told
her that Scott and I would take the evening to consider the offer while
the official paperwork was being drawn up, but I already knew the
answer.
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| Christchurch - The Garden City |
Christchurch was our favorite city we visited while in New Zealand.
Queenstown was of course, amazing, but very touristy, and also prone to
major snow during the winter. We also loved a town named Alexandra, but
both agreed it would be too small for our settling. Christchurch is on
the coast, about 1/3 down the eastern edge of the south island. It is
the largest city on the south island, and was the location of the famous
2011 earthquake. The city center suffered the most damage, but as a
result, neighborhoods close to the city center have popped up with new
restaurants, bars, and shopping. There are huge botanical gardens and
parks everywhere, as well as phenomenal mountain biking, most of which
we have barely even had a taste of.
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| Enjoying Christchurch Cathedral, days before it fell. Pegasus is in the square, almost right behind us to the right |
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| Botanical gardens in the city center |
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| Yes, this is a small fraction of our city park |
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| Another small sample from Hagley Park in Christchurch |
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| Tourists punting down the Avon River, in Christchurch city center!! |
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| This is just a suburban green-way, a common "park" across the street from regular neighborhood houses. |
What happened to Nelson and Wellington, you may ask? Nelson was
always our first choice. It unarguably has the most fantastic mountain
biking, and Abel Tasman Park is obviously beautiful. There aren't really
drawbacks to Nelson other than it is so attractive to native New
Zealanders that they really don't need to hire from outside the country (aka: me).
Simple as that. And after our permanent residency is secured (8+ months
from now), we could still move there. We will see.
As for Wellington, the more time we spent researching it, the more confounded
we became. It is beautiful, on the water, with great mountain biking.
But it is on the north island, and we just want to be on the south island- where we fell in love with the country. Of course Welly is a short
plane/ferry ride from the south island, but that makes spur of the
moment trips almost impossible, and pricey. It's also pretty secluded
down there on the southern tip of the north island, so even if we did
want to travel out of the region, there's not really anything but
countryside for miles. Don't get me wrong, I have no evidence that
Wellington isn't one of the greatest places to live, and I still can't
wait to check it out. But as for fulfilling our dream of living on New
Zealand's south island, we just felt it was important to keep things how
we imagined them: Southern.
 |
| Some how Dunedin got cut off the bottom of the list, it's the southern most east (right side) heart |
Christchurch is on the beach, just over an hour from the south
island's premier ski-field (Mount Hutt), an hour from the rainforest, under 2 hours from the hot springs, 5 hours from Nelson, and 6 hours from
Queenstown (both destined to be favorite long-weekend getaway
destinations). It has a college, plenty of culture, and a median age of
34. The weather is actually quite a bit milder than Wellington- with there being less wind and rain. Christchurch is quite a bit cooler than our hometown of Chico though, with average summer highs in the 70s, and winter days in the 30s and 40s. There's far less rain in Christchurch than in most places in New Zealand (making bike riding particularly attractive) and there is an above average amount of sunshine per year compared to the rest of the country. Lastly, it has the major airport of the south island - so we expect
lots of visitors!!!
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| Enjoying the beaches of Christchurch before flying away (and spending the next 2 years thinking about this place) |
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| Hamner Springs : 1.75 hours north of the city |
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| Mt Hutt (not me- I don't ski!): less than 90 minutes away |
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| Scott riding in Christchurch- see the local spectator on the right? |
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| The bike wife... biking. (aka: yours truly) |
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| A little waterfall in the rainforest, est: 50 minute drive west out of Christchurch |
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| Lake Tekapo: 3 hours (max) south of Christchurch |
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| Mount Cook: 4 hours south of Christchurch |
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| Somewhere on Hwy 73, about 2 hours west of Christchurch... after the rain! |
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| Castle Hill, outside of Cragieburn Natn'l Forest - also about 2 hours west. That's me up there! |
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| One of the many beautiful glacial rivers - this one in southwest NZ |
We are super excited, but we have SO much to do. On tap for tomorrow: gathering as much information as possible together for our visas, including several letters verifying that my relationship with my husband is real and true (seriously). If anyone finds themselves with extra time on their hands... feel free to pen us an endorsement!! More on the extensive visa application process next time!
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