Happy Birthday Barb

Well, today is Barb's 35th birthday.  She had only one class this morning. We went out for celebratory Whoppers at Hungry Jacks. And are planning on seeing a movie tonight.Tomorrow we are going to a Renaissance Faire the Abbey Medieval Tournament.  Here are what our costumes look like.  More info about it tomorrow.

Job FTW

Those of you on Facebook already know this, but I am no longer an unemployed bum.  I got a job doing tech support at a girl's school on the south side of Brisbane.  It is a temp position for two months while the guy that is currently does it goes and sabbatical with his wife to the USA.  (She's a prof).  It is for 8 weeks in August & September.  I have already worked there for  three days doing a video for a new school they are starting.  I am excited that I have a job and it's even something I think I will love doing.  HURRAY!!!

O’ Canada

Found a store here is Brisbane that sells Canadian stuff.  They have real KD mac & cheese,  Canada Dry ginger ale,  Root beer, & Cheez Whiz....

We just ordered 90 bucks worth of stuff.  To be fair, most of it is groceries.  Should be ready for pickup tomorrow or the next day.  This also means Barb has access to a local source of Tim Horton's coffee.

Oops… Link fixed now

Sorry everybody.  Two posts back was supposed to be a link to a story that ran in the local paper about foreign medical students.  Unfortunately the link didn't work then, but now it does.  Here it is again.

Canada Day & sort of a job

A couple of blogs ago I mentioned I had a job interview a at girls school.  I still haven't hear if I got the job, but they called be in last Wednesday to make a promotional video for a new school they are starting.  On Monday I am going in to do some more computer work.  Not sure if I have the actual job, but obviously they don't hate me too much.

On Canada Day we had a bit of a party here.    We watched the Olympic men's hockey game and then an episode of Corner Gas.  We barbecued, Barb made some poutine and Naniamo bars.  This is quite an accomplishment as we have been unable to find cheese curds (used soft Mozzarella) or graham wafers  (used cookie crumbles).

We thought about getting some Canuck beer.  I even found a company in Perth that imports Molson Canadian, but they wanted $90per case plus $30 shipping.  I figure $5/bottle is a bit much, but then again I case would last us months and months.  Either way It would of never of made here on time.

Barb was very giving and shared some of her Tim Horton's coffee stash.  I am informed that Timmies uses Colombian coffee, whereas most of the coffee here is Arabica.  I am told this makes a difference.  Although I actually enjoy the smell of coffee, I just think it all tastes like burn beans.

UQ Med Students in Local Paper

This morning there was an article in the local paper about foreign medical students at the University of Queensland.  You can read yourself

 

 Barb & I both commented on it as did at least one other med student

 Here is basically what I added plus a bit more that would not fit in the comment section:

"We would love to stay here and work in rural Australia. With the various roadblocks put in place for foreign students we may not be able to.  Why would you not want people that are passionate enough about medicine that they move half way round the world and pay 4x as much just to be able to go medical school? Are these not the kinds of people you want in your rural hospitals?

Just to answer a few questions; the reason there are so many Canadians coming to UQ is because the various federal and provincial governments have very few medical school positions available.  For example the province of Alberta with a population equal to Queensland has only 150 seats each year, whereas UQ alone has about 400 seats.  They figure it is cheaper to bring in fully trained doctors from South Africa, India, the UK, etc. instead.  As one who grew up in a remote rural area I can tell you that it doesn't help rural medicine in the long term. The doctors stay in the rural area for the minimum requirement and then move to the city.  Why not train doctors that want to work rural?"