There are many ways in which I know I am my father's daughter. My sense of humour and blue eyes are two of the more obvious ones. The one that is not so obvious was my choice of profession.
When I was young my father had a business. He was a pharmacist and owned a pharmacy. I have fond memories of "working" for my dad when I was younger. I started by fronting shelves, making them all pretty looking by bringing stock to the fronts of shelves so it could easily be seen and reached by customers. I graduated to stocking and pricing. I learned to work the cash machines. As I got older I helped out in the pharmacy too. I learned to alphabetize by filing prescriptions in file drawers, long before the age of computers. I even helped count pills, in the days before pharmacy technicians did that. I saw a lot of sides of being a business owner and being a pharmacist.
When it came time to choose a career path my dad suggested pharmacy. I knew standing behind a pharmacy counter was not my thing. I wanted more action in my youth, ha ha. Still, I liked the idea of a medical career and helping people so I went into nursing. Even though I didn't choose pharmacy it still never really left my blood.
I think I have photos of pharmacies in every foreign place I've ever visited. When I accompanied dh to Germany on a business trip last year, we stopped into Heidelberg Castle and visited the German Museum of Pharmacology. It was fascinating seeing what pharmacists have done through the ages.
Moving to another country with 3 young children meant that eventually, I would be needing to visit a pharmacy. I couldn't wait to compare and contrast.
Just after we arrived dd had a loose tooth. It was sore and eventually I ran out of the Tylenol and Advil that we had brought from Canada. So, off I went to the pharmacy.
I looked everywhere on the main shelves, but couldn't find Tylenol or Advil, so I figured I should ask at the counter. I knew I was in trouble when the staff had no idea what Tylenol or Advil were. So I tried the generic names acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Still no idea, so she suggested I speak with the pharmacist. It turns out they really don't have acetaminophen here, they have paracetamol. Trade name Panado. They do have ibuprofen, but the trade name is Nurofen not Advil. The pharmacist was kind enough to show me the different products that I could use.
I found out in that visit, that here, pharmacies here are divided into 2 sections. The first is the pharmacy itself where pharmacists dispense prescription medication and what we would know of in Canada as the non prescription over the counter medications. The second is a staffed section that has pain killers of non prescription strength and some other things.
A few weeks later ds #2 had a terrible head cold. So off I went to the pharmacy again to look for something to help ease his congestion. This time the product, also not anything familiar, was behind the pharmacy counter, but when I went to pay they didn't have a cash in the pharmacy. Instead, they put the purchase in a small cage and secured it with a cable tie. I was told to take it to the front cash and pay for it. The front cash cut the cable tie and took out the product to scan and bag it. I can only assume that this is related to what was in the product, that it was a controlled substance of some kind.
As a nurse I have always had the advantage of knowing what it is my kids are taking. What the various ingredients are and how they interact. My problem here, is that because things have different generic names I find I am having to look up all of the ingredients before my nursey self is willing to give it to my kids.
I have always said that I learn something new every day and that has never been more true, now that we are living in a different country. Just in the medically related mother arena, drug names are different, band-aids are called plasters, and ultrasounds are called sonar scans (a friends daughter needed one, not my kids). It's a whole different medical world over here. I can only be glad that I am not trying to navigate it from within as a practitioner, but instead as an outside observer.
Wednesday 14 September 2011
Monday 12 September 2011
Me and my big mouth
I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. Sorry about that folks. It's not that I've been doing anything overly exciting really, just very, very, very, busy.
But let's start at the beginning shall we. Not long after we arrived, and I started this blog, I think I mentioned that I had attended a SAALED (South African Association for Learning and Educational Differences) congress. I had the great fortune to meet the music teacher at the kids school that day and we spent a long time talking about kids and the arts. I should have stopped at that point, but when she said that the kids school was doing a musical this year I just had to open up my big mouth. I told her about how I had done musical theatre all through high school, university (varsity in SA) and a couple of years beyond.
Fast forward to the beginning of August. Said teacher calls and says, "Do you remember how you told me all about your love of musical theatre? Well I need some help."
If you know me, you know that I have one weakness. No, not chocolate or alcohol. My one big weakness is my inability to say no to someone in need. When she told me "There are 2 other mothers who are really on board with this, but they don't have your background in the theatre and we need sets" I caved and said yes.
What I didn't recall at the time of accepting the job was that dh was going to be out of town on business for 2 weeks. What I couldn't have known, was that I was also to be the set designer, as nothing had been planned beyond some "visions" in the directors head. Add to it that we had 2 1/2 weeks to get it done and almost zero budget and we 3 gals had our work cut out for us.
As part of dh's job he has always had to travel. Not such a big deal when you live less than a kilometer away from the one school that all your kids attend and both sets of grandparents are close enough to lend a hand. That was Canada. Ah, the good old days.
Dh did go away in July for 1 or 2 nights to Joburg, but neither dd nor ds#1 were in school at that point, or maybe it was during school holidays I can't remember, but it wasn't a big deal. This time he was off to Detroit, Michigan for 3 days and then Brussels, Belgium for 7. Add 4 days worth of flying time and he was going to be gone for 2 weeks.
I couldn't back out of the musical. So, I soldiered on and here is how day one went.
0530 Wake up, grumble, shower, grumble, dry hair, grumble, get dressed, grumble some more
0600 Make large pot of strong coffee
0605 Wake up children
0610 Finish children's lunches, empty dishwasher, put away dinner dishes
0620 Wake up children
0625 Make breakfast for children
0630 Loudly, but politely suggest to children that it is time to wake up
0635 Quietly thank children for coming down to eat and suggest that they should eat faster
0645 Tell children breakfast is over, time to get dressed
0650 Give children 5 minutes to shoes warning
0651 Give children 4 minutes to shoes warning
0652 Finish packing backpacks and putting them in the car
0654 Give children 1 minute to shoes warning
0655 Realize that 2 of 3 children don't even have their underwear on yet
0656 Dress children
0700 Help children put on shoes
0705 Pile in the van for school
0710 Realize that my thermal travel mug of coffee is keeping the kitchen counter warm
0735 Drop ds #1 at school.
0750 Drive halfway back home to drop ds #2 at school
0755 Peel dd off my leg and leave her in the capable hands of the teachers at school
0800 Arrive at the hall of ds #2 school to make sets for the musical
0900 Receive call from the front gate of the housing complex that someone has shown up
0905 Race back home to let in said trades person who never told me they were coming
0910 Drink cold morning coffee
1000 Drive back to the school to build, paint, hang sets
1230 Pick up dd at school, drive to ds #2 school and sit in car until...
1250 Pick up ds #2 at school, drive to ds #1 school and sit in car until....
1400 Pick up ds #1 at school
1430 Arrive at home
1500 Homework
1530 Make dinner
1600 Eat dinner
1630 Drive back to school for evening rehearsal, wait listening to sibling sighs of boredom
1815 Return home
1830 Clean up kitchen and finish homework
1900 Bathe 3 children and set out next days uniforms
1905 Realize that uniforms are dirty and start a load of laundry
1930 Bed time snack
2000 Put 3 children to bed
2030 Make lunches, set out clothes, put laundry in dryer, clean up snack
2100 Realize that I forgot to feed the poor dog and myself all day
2105 Feed ravenous dog, eat the kids leftover supper
2115 Fall exhausted into bed thinking how my poor blog was being sorely negleczzzzzzzzzz.
Repeat x 13. Thankfully, day one was the worst. The kids got used to waking a little earlier and getting ready a little faster. I remembered to take my coffee mug after day 4 or so, which helped immensly. The trades people didn't come everyday, but most days.
It was a crazy 2 weeks. Needless to say I was very happy when dh got home. Within 24 hours, my two weeks caught up with me and I had a chest and head cold. So much for the welcome home party.
After dh got home there was still a week of performances. Daytime performances for local schools and evening ones for the families. The musical was amazing. Hopefully, I didn't ruined it for anyone else with all my coughing. Our little team of 3, with some help from 5 or 6 other parents got it "done and dusted" as they would say here in SA. We were pretty proud of what we managed.
1 of the 6 sets that we built was this Italian villiage scene.
Ds #1 had his last performance today at school. Because all of the children in the school participate onstage, in one role or another, they do one last performance for themselves. They sit in the audience until it is their time to be on stage, they do their part and return to the audience to watch the rest. It gives them a chance to see the show as a whole instead of just the act that they weren't in.
Busy as I was, and sick as I am, I am glad I made the time to do this. It gave me a chance to get to know some more of the moms and to truly become a part of the school community. I have my photo on the school webpage to prove it. I wouldn't change a thing, but I am glad they only do this every other year :)
But let's start at the beginning shall we. Not long after we arrived, and I started this blog, I think I mentioned that I had attended a SAALED (South African Association for Learning and Educational Differences) congress. I had the great fortune to meet the music teacher at the kids school that day and we spent a long time talking about kids and the arts. I should have stopped at that point, but when she said that the kids school was doing a musical this year I just had to open up my big mouth. I told her about how I had done musical theatre all through high school, university (varsity in SA) and a couple of years beyond.
Fast forward to the beginning of August. Said teacher calls and says, "Do you remember how you told me all about your love of musical theatre? Well I need some help."
If you know me, you know that I have one weakness. No, not chocolate or alcohol. My one big weakness is my inability to say no to someone in need. When she told me "There are 2 other mothers who are really on board with this, but they don't have your background in the theatre and we need sets" I caved and said yes.
What I didn't recall at the time of accepting the job was that dh was going to be out of town on business for 2 weeks. What I couldn't have known, was that I was also to be the set designer, as nothing had been planned beyond some "visions" in the directors head. Add to it that we had 2 1/2 weeks to get it done and almost zero budget and we 3 gals had our work cut out for us.
As part of dh's job he has always had to travel. Not such a big deal when you live less than a kilometer away from the one school that all your kids attend and both sets of grandparents are close enough to lend a hand. That was Canada. Ah, the good old days.
Dh did go away in July for 1 or 2 nights to Joburg, but neither dd nor ds#1 were in school at that point, or maybe it was during school holidays I can't remember, but it wasn't a big deal. This time he was off to Detroit, Michigan for 3 days and then Brussels, Belgium for 7. Add 4 days worth of flying time and he was going to be gone for 2 weeks.
I couldn't back out of the musical. So, I soldiered on and here is how day one went.
0530 Wake up, grumble, shower, grumble, dry hair, grumble, get dressed, grumble some more
0600 Make large pot of strong coffee
0605 Wake up children
0610 Finish children's lunches, empty dishwasher, put away dinner dishes
0620 Wake up children
0625 Make breakfast for children
0630 Loudly, but politely suggest to children that it is time to wake up
0635 Quietly thank children for coming down to eat and suggest that they should eat faster
0645 Tell children breakfast is over, time to get dressed
0650 Give children 5 minutes to shoes warning
0651 Give children 4 minutes to shoes warning
0652 Finish packing backpacks and putting them in the car
0654 Give children 1 minute to shoes warning
0655 Realize that 2 of 3 children don't even have their underwear on yet
0656 Dress children
0700 Help children put on shoes
0705 Pile in the van for school
0710 Realize that my thermal travel mug of coffee is keeping the kitchen counter warm
0735 Drop ds #1 at school.
0750 Drive halfway back home to drop ds #2 at school
0755 Peel dd off my leg and leave her in the capable hands of the teachers at school
0800 Arrive at the hall of ds #2 school to make sets for the musical
0900 Receive call from the front gate of the housing complex that someone has shown up
0905 Race back home to let in said trades person who never told me they were coming
0910 Drink cold morning coffee
1000 Drive back to the school to build, paint, hang sets
1230 Pick up dd at school, drive to ds #2 school and sit in car until...
1250 Pick up ds #2 at school, drive to ds #1 school and sit in car until....
1400 Pick up ds #1 at school
1430 Arrive at home
1500 Homework
1530 Make dinner
1600 Eat dinner
1630 Drive back to school for evening rehearsal, wait listening to sibling sighs of boredom
1815 Return home
1830 Clean up kitchen and finish homework
1900 Bathe 3 children and set out next days uniforms
1905 Realize that uniforms are dirty and start a load of laundry
1930 Bed time snack
2000 Put 3 children to bed
2030 Make lunches, set out clothes, put laundry in dryer, clean up snack
2100 Realize that I forgot to feed the poor dog and myself all day
2105 Feed ravenous dog, eat the kids leftover supper
2115 Fall exhausted into bed thinking how my poor blog was being sorely negleczzzzzzzzzz.
Repeat x 13. Thankfully, day one was the worst. The kids got used to waking a little earlier and getting ready a little faster. I remembered to take my coffee mug after day 4 or so, which helped immensly. The trades people didn't come everyday, but most days.
It was a crazy 2 weeks. Needless to say I was very happy when dh got home. Within 24 hours, my two weeks caught up with me and I had a chest and head cold. So much for the welcome home party.
After dh got home there was still a week of performances. Daytime performances for local schools and evening ones for the families. The musical was amazing. Hopefully, I didn't ruined it for anyone else with all my coughing. Our little team of 3, with some help from 5 or 6 other parents got it "done and dusted" as they would say here in SA. We were pretty proud of what we managed.
1 of the 6 sets that we built was this Italian villiage scene.
Ds #1 had his last performance today at school. Because all of the children in the school participate onstage, in one role or another, they do one last performance for themselves. They sit in the audience until it is their time to be on stage, they do their part and return to the audience to watch the rest. It gives them a chance to see the show as a whole instead of just the act that they weren't in.
Busy as I was, and sick as I am, I am glad I made the time to do this. It gave me a chance to get to know some more of the moms and to truly become a part of the school community. I have my photo on the school webpage to prove it. I wouldn't change a thing, but I am glad they only do this every other year :)
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