but the real incredible news is that i am actually working as a physician assistant over here! i mean, what are the odds?! PAs originated in the US, there's at least one school in the UK, a brand new PA program in queensland, aus, and i don't know about any other foreign programs - but they may be out there. so, we moved to a country half way around the world that happens to be the second foreign country JUST beginning to educate PAs and we happen to land in the one town - adelaide - that is actually running a trial on PAs and trying to start a PA program of their own. AND they were hiring! so now, i work for the upper GI (gastrointestinal) team (ed - you taught me that internal organs are only for keeping the bones healthy, i can't understand all this liver and bowel stuff). i'm also helping write the curriculum for University of Adelaide's PA program - i've been pleasantly surprised to find out how much i enjoy that part of my job... maybe it's because all my patients look at me like i'm crazy when they say their belly hurts and i start examining their shoulder. i can't understand it. actually, not only have i made a field change here (from ortho to GI), but the medications all have different names (eg. tylenol = panadol here) and i'm having to get good at interpreting australian, british, irish, and indian accents. very interesting! it's good to be working again though. nova now goes to "school" three days a week and loves it. she actually naps better at school than home, so we rely on those three days for her to catch up on sleep after the weekend!
what else has been going on in the past few weeks? the adelaide international 3- day event was held here, right in the parklands surrounding the city just a couple kms from our house. i volunteered to fix jumps for both the cross country and show jumping. both days were long and hot, but it was a real treat to see olympic caliber horses up close - the obstacles they hurdle! wow! payton and nova enjoyed a father-daughter weekend and went to the christmas pageant (a parade held on november 14th, of all things. and i thought the US was a little early in promoting the christmas thing...). payton was pleased to announce he's never been to a christmas parade where the cheerleaders were "wearing so little!" and upon review of the pictures, we realized it was the first parade either of us had ever seen the three wise men on actual camels.
payton and i are hoping to learn to surf this summer, so we each took a lesson down in middleton, sa (near port elliot and victor harbour, for those of you familiar with the area). it seems like a pretty family-friendly sport (for beginners), since the beaches we visit have friendly surf and one of us can go play in the water while the other plays with nova on the beach. nova loves it too and spends all her time sprinting up and down the beach or into and out of the water. ...we cuddled our skis and boots before putting them away for a few years, and now we're looking for wetsuits and surf boards...
we celebrated an early american thanksgiving and late canadian thanksgiving with our friends brian and jessica - burgers and veggies on the barby after watcing the classic adelaide (car rally - lots of racing porsches and ferraris) come in from their final race. lots to be thankful for! hope everyone has a great thanksgiving on the actual day.
we're off to perth for a week. three days of vacation and three days of conference for payton (= six days of vacation for me and nova). should be fun.
cheers,
lindsey
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