Adventures of the Brown Kiwi's: I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Yesterday was my first day in my new city of Invercargill. I think that hearing so many not-so-positive things about this place had me expecting the worst. They could not have been more wrong. It is an awesome little town. The population is a tad over 50,000 and for me, that is perfect. There are no highways, no traffic, no pollution and even better, NO WALMARTS! I woke up this morning to the sound of strange creatures singing outside...I haven't seen anything like them in years...I think they are called birds...:)

Our backyard and my car! Note the white thingies in the background? Those are SHEEP!

My next door neighbors!

The day started out cold and sunny but then turned to a nice rain. I don't mind the rain and I dont mind the cold. It is perfet winter weather as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't snow here (rarely) and frost is few and far between. I'm not quite sure what to think about the time of the year. The way it feels outside I feel like I should be getting ready for Christmas but its almost July! For those of you who don't know, we are now in the Southern Hemisphere which means the seasons are exact opposites. June marks the beginning of winter here. Summer for us is when Thanksgiving and Christmas are for you back home. If you think that's confusing try to remember to write June 23rd on a check with gloves on!!! Totally blows my mind!!!!

I think that we totally lucked up with our housing accomodations. I don't think there could be anything more conveneint then where we live. I am literally, across the street from the hospital!!! I can roll out of bed and be at work in 10 minutes flat!!! It sends shivers down my spine to think about not having to commute to work for 45+ minutes every day!

View of the hospital from our front door

The front of our house

Our house is a cute little flat, 2 bedrooms (for you folk that SWEAR your gonna come visit!), 1 bath with a nice kitchen and family room. Most important, it is WARM! That seems to be the topic of conversation with most Kiwi's. Heating is very important. Pretty much because many Kiwi's built their homes more like tropical dwellings and this isn't exactly the tropics. So many homes here suffer from cold, drafty, damp conditions. I have to say we hit the lotto on this one! We have a heat pump which makes the house nice and cozy and I have discovered some of the best inventions known to man since i've been here!!!! A heating fan and an electric blanket!!!! OMG! The electric blanket should get the nobel prize! Its like being cradled in a warm cocoon all night!!!

Our Kiwi bedroom!

our kitchen

My new favorite thing...A heating FAN!!!

My biggest adventure yesterday was driving! Yep! I drove on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road! I was terrified at first but it almost seemed second nature. Once I started driving around and repeating the chant "Stay on the left, stay on the left"...it didn't seem that bad! The only bad thing was constantly trying to get in on the wrong side of the car.

I ventured out to the supermarket today. I was totally expecting to have a big ol list of things I would need to have sent back from the US but it wasn't much different from the US. The biggest thing was some of the prices...Juice is cheaper, meat is about the same and Coca Cola is about the same price of pure Columbian Cocaine! I guess I'll have to kick that habit quick!!!

Aside from my new found hobby of driving on the wrong side of the road I have been getting settled in. I start working next week and I'm a little nervous about having to learn a new system for practicing medicine.

Have to keep you posted on that one!