Life in NZ!

Hello all! I realize that this is very overdue, but I have not been very good about getting on a computer to update you all! Things are going very well over here! I have been enjoying the sunny weather---although this weekend the weather was almost in the 40's (celsius). That is about 100 degrees for us back home! I live in a beautiful area which has lot of sheep and cows---it is quite fun to live in the country! I spent my first week here reconnecting with my friend Gwyn and getting to know her family. They have made me an honorary member of the Laybourn family now. I stayed with them in their sleepout--which was a shed they converted to a room. The kids enjoyed waking me up by singing a song I taught them from my camp days. Not sure why I taught them the song! Last week I moved into my flat in the town of Masterton (about 2o min from my friend). It has 2 bedrooms and is right across from the hospital. I started work last week and so far am enjoying getting back to work after not working for a month. It is a very rural hospital with 3 operating theatres. My co-workers are all quite nice and have been very helpful as I get settled in to my new environment. There are several American doctors so it makes me feel a bit more at home. There is even a doctor from Portland who is an anesthesiologist. Pretty small world!
It is amazing to me how many similarities there are with the equipment back home. It is interesting though at the same time to see the differences that abound. In the States we only have 2 nurses (or one nurse and a tech) who are involved in the surgery. Here in Masterton they have a nurse who assists the anesthesiologist, one who circulates, and one who scrubs with the surgeon. They don't have any surgical techs at the hospital where I work. And here they call surgeons Mr. Smith, instead of Dr. Smith. The anesthesiologist is referred to as Dr. Smith. My co-workers will find it funny that we have Ethicon suture and staplers all the way over here in NZ. Something that the doctors back home miss!
I haven't had much time to do a lot of traveling around the area yet, but am looking forward to getting the chance to do some exploring. Last weekend I joined a competitive race up Mt Holdsworth. One of my co-workers encouraged me to do the 24K (about 17 mile) race straight up this mountain because it was such a nice day. I found out later that this girl has taken other foreigners out "tramping" or hiking and gotten them in a bit over their heads. The local Kiwis are able to complete this race in over 3 hours, but it took us over 6 hours to complete the run/walk/crawl! My friend thought if I did more training I could complete it much quicker. I informed her that this was a one-time event for me! It was very beautiful though. We could see all the way to the South Island and from coast to coast of the North Island.
When I get more time I will try and download some pics of my trip so far. I haven't found any wireless areas yet so I am using the library computer for now and my work computer.
So far I have been feeling right at home, except for the driving! It is hard to remember to keep to the left side of the road!