Hello all and Happy St. Patrick’s Day weekend! A picture from Ireland to put you in the spirit.

I was hoping to go out Friday night, but the cold wind and rain kept me from pursuing going into the city to the Irish pubs I pass on my way into work.  Hopefully Sunday will be nice for us to go to the Green Gathering; a market event in the city with bands and crafts to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  There were quite of few people dressed up and hitting the town that I saw on Friday coming home from work, so at least some Australians celebrate it, even if my work people forgot.   This week we had off and on sun, but mostly clouds and drizzle which seems to be carrying over to the weekend.  One minute it is bright and sunny outside, the next pouring and crazy wind.  This is I guess typical for Sydney, but frustrating to make plans to do things that require outside travel or going to a park to get out of the house.  Oh well.  We can stay in and entertain the cats.  This week we got both our cat tree and automatic feeder.  Caprica hasn’t figured it out yet and still pesters us in the morning, but Fiyero is quiet.  They both have played on the cat tree, which is smaller than we thought it would be, but works all the same.

Work continues to go well for me.  We started training another Veterinary Nurse since one of the longer time nurses is leaving.  My training was officially over this week and I was a full fledged scheduled person.  It is comforting to know that I am knowledgeable enough to train someone else after being there for two weeks.  I have come a long way and am getting more comfortable with how they do things.  Dr. Matthew who does all their surgeries, is very confident in me and is hoping that together we can help make their surgery flow run smoother and more efficiently.  The three positions that all the nurses float between are Vet Assistant who aides the vets in the room and making up meds and herb scripts, surgery nurse who is in charge of setting up, checking in, monitoring anesthesia, cleaning up, stocking, discharging, and caring for the surgery patients all day. Receptionist is out front checking in patients, taking phone calls, doing call backs, sending confirmations, and dealing with emails.  Receptionist is the hardest and most time consuming to me.  It is really a two or three person job to get it all done and keep up with it all throughout the day.  Clients email a lot of updates, histories are sent, and there are always herb orders, refills and sales from our website.  Thankfully, it is the position I have been getting the most experience in, and everyone is very helpful.  Our clinic is paper light.  Meaning our paper files are only used for vet notes during the visit, but everything else is on the computer.  We use a program called Cornerstone and it is ok.  A little odd on how you can search for clients and move between screens, but functional for our uses. I have also been shown ordering and receiving orders, we do all our own cleaning, and also end of day banking and totaling too.  In my previous clinics, these jobs were delegated, so it is odd for me as a vet nurse to be responsible for it all. Because I will be senior head nurse once I am trained up, I will be even more responsible that everything goes smoothly and everything gets done properly, along with the main one to do the order stuff and the schedule etc.  Thankfully the drs and practice manager are understanding that this may take a bit for me to take things over since I am only just learning it all.

Some fun things about Australia- they call scotch tape sticky tape, though, they do not have unsticky tape.  They have different shaped electrical outlets that have higher voltage so we have adapters to make our US electronics charge.  All the plugs here too have little switches on them to turn them off when not in use.  So you can leave your toaster plugged in, your iron, etc and just turn the outlet off which is really smart.  The toilets here all have two buttons; one for a small flush (number 1, minimal TP) and one for a big flush (a number 2) to conserve water.  They have hot pots which are teapots that plug in to get boiling water in minutes used for tea and coffee.  (Also popular in Europe)  There was just an article about these that the rest of the world was in shock that the US didn’t know about or have them.  Tea and coffee are staples here any time of day.  The coffee is delicious and strong, but given in way smaller amounts than in the US.  12 oz is a medium, 14 oz is a large.  I got a keep cup from my coworker for my Birthday, a to go cup that holds 14 oz.  I do have a travel mug coming in our shipment, but it would be way too big.  Most Aussies are appalled at the amounts of coffee and soda convenience stores and McDonalds give out.  They like the smaller amts of sugar and calories.  There are cafes everywhere that have the amazing coffee and also baked goods and sandwiches for breakfast and lunch.  Most cafes close by three.  Most shops also close early; 5-6 evenings and 2-3 on the weekend, giving a more family run vibe, even in the city

Enjoy the informative pictures. Please comment with any questions or thoughts. 🙂

Edit: Plans for the Green Gathering failed, they cancelled due to the rain and the ground being too wet.  Such sadness.  We may have to go sit in an Irish pub and drink our sorrows away.  Sunday-we went for a walk to Kurraba Point because it was sort of sunny.  Ended up sprinkling on our back, but we did find some awesome furniture for our next place by the side of the road; a TV stand and a night stand.  Pretty exciting!  We have seen some nice stuff along the road before, but without a car, we couldn’t haul it.  This was 1 block from our place so we just hoofed it in the rain.  🙂