Bowlarama

That’s right, ten pin bowling has taken hold of New Zealand. Last night we held a team bonding social event at the local bowling alley in New Plymouth. Most of the office had either never bowled a game of ten pin in their life, or had only done so a few times before. So, having played a few frames in my years, I took the liberty to show them some tried and true techniques. Namely, the granny bowl method. After first watching one of the clinic nurses struggle to “throw” the ball down the lane, I informed her there was another method that was quite legal, ie the granny bowl. Simple stand at the end of the lane and roll the ball from between your legs. Legal? Well, maybe not in the truest sense. Fun to watch? Definitely! Successful? Well, let’s just say she was the only one to bowl two strikes in a row. I think that speaks for itself.

People from Hawera get around

This is a phrase Jason has reiterated several times recently. Having come from Hawera himself, he should know. While this phrase lends itself to a sexual suggestion, I’m referring to it in a more global sense. In other words, people from Hawera travel far and wide and can be found anywhere. Prime example, I was chatting with a patient Tuesday afternoon and mentioned that I was moving up to Hamilton as I’d met a nice kiwi bloke. She replied that all the American women like our kiwi men, and one had actually taken hold of her son and convinced him to move to the states. Inquiring as to where they were living, she replied, “Caldwell, Idaho.” You can imagine my surprise. Not only was he living in the states, but in a town not 45 minutes from where I grew up. Without sounding mean, a fare number of people from the states don’t even have a good concept of where Idaho is located, but this lady from a wee town in New Zealand knew all about it.

Cosmic Connection

I’ve been a little weary lately with all the changes about to happen. It’s a natural process of second guessing that I go through with every major decision I make. I guess my recent decision to move up North has come with more ambivalence then usual. I have no doubt that I want to move, cohabitate, and experience a new part of New Zealand. However, it means yet another move to unfamiliar territory, making new friends in a new city, and taking a chance. It’s a process I’ve repeated almost every eighteen months for the last five years. It’s getting a little old. I suppose I’m starting to feel disconnected from friends I’ve made in the states and a feeling of floating alone in the middle of the ocean has come over me periodically of late. Then something strange happened. As if my friends and family felt my discomfort and anxiety, I received numerous emails and text messages from them all today. Friends I hadn’t heard from in weeks or months all made contact on the same day, as if summoned by some cosmic calling. It just reminds me that no matter where I am, I’m never alone. It also makes me wonder, how would I have coped without modern technology?