Great read Dan! As an Irish doctor working in Australia, there were always funny moments of recognition, silent or otherwise, whenever I met another Irish doc.
Welp. Where do I begin? We lit out to New Zealand in April 2008 when our kids were in primary school. Enrolled them in a Catholic 'integrated' school where the teachers were right our of central casting for Pink Floyd's The Wall. We don't need no education / we don't need no thought control / no dark sarcasm in the classroom / Teacher! Leave those kids alone. If you don't eat your meat, how can you have any pudding? How can you have any putting if you don't eat your meat?
But I digress...
We too have benefited from the public health system in Aotearoa, where in Wellington we have a world-class cardiologist which did things for me the super expensive private system in the US could not. That said, we have paid for private insurance the entire time we have been here and last year were glad we had it, because (we think) it got a family member with breast cancer treated more quickly in a plush "private" hospital & cancer ward.
When people ask where I am from, which in my line of work is a lot because my job involves meeting new people regularly, I tell them I was born in Oregon USA, that we still have whanau there and visit as often as practical - but New Zealand is our home. Warts and all.
Great read Dan! As an Irish doctor working in Australia, there were always funny moments of recognition, silent or otherwise, whenever I met another Irish doc.
Glad you dug it! We find our people out there, whether or not they want to be found...
Welp. Where do I begin? We lit out to New Zealand in April 2008 when our kids were in primary school. Enrolled them in a Catholic 'integrated' school where the teachers were right our of central casting for Pink Floyd's The Wall. We don't need no education / we don't need no thought control / no dark sarcasm in the classroom / Teacher! Leave those kids alone. If you don't eat your meat, how can you have any pudding? How can you have any putting if you don't eat your meat?
But I digress...
We too have benefited from the public health system in Aotearoa, where in Wellington we have a world-class cardiologist which did things for me the super expensive private system in the US could not. That said, we have paid for private insurance the entire time we have been here and last year were glad we had it, because (we think) it got a family member with breast cancer treated more quickly in a plush "private" hospital & cancer ward.
When people ask where I am from, which in my line of work is a lot because my job involves meeting new people regularly, I tell them I was born in Oregon USA, that we still have whanau there and visit as often as practical - but New Zealand is our home. Warts and all.
Thanks, and great to chat the other day. I love the Oregon fam named as whanau, whether Oregon would know the term or not. Such a beautiful word!
loved it. Thoughtful. Even with loads traveling, I can't begin to understand the mindset of the expat. Thanks for this bit of insight into that.
Thanks! It's weird headspace indeed. Not unpleasant. Just weird :)