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Saturday 30 October 2010

interesting!?!

This advert was in the main Solomon Islands Newspaper and I thought it was amusing


Since my original posting, I have found out that the paper had to publish an apology for the language used in this advert.

Friday 29 October 2010

medical stuff

So there's actually another medical student here at the moment, and today we found out there's someone else joining us on Sunday for a couple of weeks. So I wont be getting too lonely! 


Haven't done much medically yet, but have just been getting used to how things run. It seems that everyone (and I mean everyone) seems to be on some form of antibiotic; but otherwise medications are fairly limited - only older, generic drugs and stocks seem to run out fairly regularly.


Otherwise, I'm looking forward to observing births as apparently the women are expected to give birth in complete silence and will be smacked by the midwives if they start to scream. I can only imagine the uproar if anyone tried that in the UK!
The Solomon Islanders seem to have an incredibly high pain threshold and many minor gynae operations are done with no anaesthetic at all. They don't have an anaesthetist, so no surgery is done under general anaesthetic - patients have to go to the capital Honiara if they need it. Otherwise, general surgery such as appendicectomies or hystorectomies are done under local anaesthetic or possibly spinal. I haven't actually seen any of these so not sure of all this so I'm hoping to see some next week.


Should be interesting........

Thursday 28 October 2010

Making it to Munda

The whole attitude towards time is very similar to Africa. “Solomon Time” seems to be very fluid and most people have no idea when you ask them how long something will take or what time something arrives.

An excellent example is my flight to Munda. I was concerned that they might give me trouble over the weight of my bags so decided to go to the airport about 70-90 mins before the plane was due to leave. However, after standing around for 5 mins looking for someone official to try and check-in with, a person in the crowd came over and asked me where I was going. So I told her and then she said – “Oh, your plane leaves in 10 mins, they’ve made it early [by and hour!]” Then she found someone to take my name and accept my bags. They didn’t ask for a single piece of ID, and barely even looked at my baggage, just writing down the weight. I did notice that they made one rather large man step on the scales
At the same time, there was an Australian girl who had been told her flight was cancelled. Still, unlike some places, they did pay for another night in her hotel and took her back (surfboard and all) in a taxi.

As there were no departure boards of any kind, I was a bit concerned that I wouldn’t know when to go through to the plane. However, I needn’t have worried, because someone must have told someone else, and suddenly the crowed surged towards the ‘departure gate’ (a tiny room to the side).  I then saw the size of the plane (a Dash8 apparently), looked at the group of people gathered, looked back at the plane and started to worry again. I was having visions of all of us rushing to get seats, and wondering how we were all going to get on there. As it happened, it turned out that anyone going on the plane had about 15 people seeing them off so it wasn’t any problem.

The flight was fairly uneventful and we landed in Munda an hour early. Luckily one of the hospital doctors had heard the plane landing so came down to pick me up. He and his wife are from the UK, and offered to give me some food that evening because all the markets had closed. They also took me out for a swim which was lovely although I’m not sure I’ll be going out again. That’s because when we got all the way out, Dr Jenny (apparently doctors are addressed by their first names here) warned me to keep a look-out for crocodiles which have been seen in the area.  Needless to say I was hypervigilant after that and made sure I was between the 2 of them for all the way back.
After dinner, it was completely dark, so Dr Graham walked me back by torchlight. I’m going to have to figure out what time sunset is here because after that, walking around is going to be VERY difficult, even with my little torch.
This is the road from the town to the hospital - right along the seaside

Honiara heat

From the minute our plane came in to land, I could see how much Honiara and the Solomon Islands was going to be similar to Africa.  From the run-down cars and buildings to the relaxed customs procedure and lack of information regarding where to go. To the Solomon Islander’s credit though, there was none of the officiousness and enjoyment of red tape that many African (or at least Zimbabwean) border control people seem to have.

Once through the airport, I exchanged some money and got a taxi to my b&b. Whilst it’s looks a bit more run down and dirty than the website, it really was quite lovely. I met a few other travellers there as well so it wasn’t too lonely.
I didn’t sleep very well though because I’m not used to sounds of (very loud) birds and various insects at night. Sharing a bedroom, bathroom and dining area with various creepy crawlies was also a novelty after so long in the UK. The geckos and lizards aren’t a problem but I did get a fright when a little crab moved out of the pebbles that form the floor of the shower.

The next day, I went in to town with a South African scientist who is travelling through the area – It was a bit easier to have a man to walk around with because I find it a little intimidating being a girl travelling alone. We used the local buses, which cost $3 (30p) as opposed to a taxi which would be $50 (£5) and when I say ‘bus’ – it’s actually just like an ET-Emergency Taxi in Zim. That is, it’s a small 10/11-seater van which is very beaten up and they just swerve off the road and pick up people as they are signalled. There is a kid in the back taking your money once you’re on the way. I was interested to see that the passengers signalled that they wanted to off by a simple sound – a bit like kissing teeth but louder. Very strange but effective.


I also noticed a lack of noise in the town centre. Back in Zim, I would expect crowds to be incredibly noisy, and even small groups tend to talk in shouts. However, the streets were pretty silent apart from the sound of cars and even the bustling market was very quiet. People also don’t try and sell you things in the same aggressive way. They just sit behind their stalls and wait for you to ask about the produce and then sort out the money very silently. I didn’t try and haggle because I get the feeling it’s not ‘the done thing’ here but hopefully I’ll be able to watch some people in action to make sure.

Monday 25 October 2010

Shopping in Brisbane

Landed in Brisbane yesterday morning, and spent a lovely day fighting off the jet-lag with my Mom. We were joined by old friends (only in terms of how long we've known them) Christine and Taryn and then later by Taryn's boyfriend Lee. It was so good to catch-up with them, but as is always the case with good friends, it only takes about 10 minutes to feel like nothing's changed and we're back in Bulawayo.


I was surprised by how much I like Brisbane as a city! It's far more eclectic than I expected with so much to do and see. Very hot yesterday but I managed to buy a hat, flip-flops and other sun essentials so feel a bit better prepared today. We're going to be doing more touristy stuff today, taking a look at the 'Valentino' exhibition and doing a boat tour along the river - should be great.

I leave for Honiara fairly early tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to my B&B there. It's the Rain tree bed and breakfast and looks like a little beach haven. I'm hoping it's good so I can stay there on the way back. Onwards from there, I'm really not sure what to expect - hopefully I can update this regularly but I may end up having to do it in retrospect once I get back to Australia.

Well that's all from me for a while. Have a good Halloween - oh, and Happy Birthday to Aunty Cha and Mark!

Nic

PS - Tip for all you travellers - going to watch a movie is probably not the best way to try and keep awake when fighting jet-lag. Especially if it's a slow-moving one like 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

Thursday 21 October 2010

Nearly ready to go

Everyone's been telling me that I should keep them up to date with my travels and experiences over the next few months. Now I'm not sure if they're (or should that be you're) actually interested or if just being polite. So.........I thought I'd call the bluff and give this whole blogging thing a try.

And since I can't be sure how much internet access I'll have I thought I'd set it up now - although this may also have something to do with my extensive 'to do' list including the one activity that I hate more than anything else - packing! 

I leave for the trip on Friday evening, landing in Brisbane first thing on Sunday morning. I then get to spend 2 days with my Mom before the first flight for the Solomon Islands. I fly to Munda via the capital Honiara (where I have to stay overnight). In summary, I'll basically be travelling for around 6 days. I will then be spending 6 weeks working at Helena Goldie Hospital - I don't really have any idea what to expect except that it's a small, rural mission hospital. 

We shall see.........exciting!

Nic

PS - the background photo is of a lagoon near the hospital, taken by a member of the Leeming family.......jealous yet?