Rural Week 07

Well its back again - the time of the year when everyone does their utmost to plug 'rural-ness' to us little med students. This year they are taking us up north to Turners Beach (Camp Clayton) where we'll visit the rural clinical school a few times, then to Launceston to see the clinical school there and then home via Agfest! The good thing is that all we have to pay for is our lunch at Agfest! It could be interesting - I'm hoping for the best. It will be good to not have masses of new content to learn but then there is a case for the week so maybe we will actually learn stuff! Anyway - it might be the lull before the storm because when we come back it will probably be time to get into exam studying all over again. That's if it is a lull at all!

It doesn't seem like that long since last time I locked myself away to study. Ok thats a lie - Jack and Ruth and I were shut in together... had to remind ourselves to leave the house occasionally, and that we did each have our own homes! But thats ok - mostly we were at mine or Jack's and they are both good (so long as you have blankets at Jack's).

Well, having never been to Agfest... it could be quite an experience! My friend Tom says he's looking forward to seeing the irrigators. But then he's in the business! I'll keep you posted about my highlights - which may or may not include riding tractors.

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[Some of the] PROMISED PHOTOS

Not sure who I promised to, or what exactly I promised, but I have at a number of times said I'd put up more photos. Here are some of them...

We have here me dressed as a 'portrait' for a 'P' party, (Ruth was a prisoner and Jack was a protestor with an anti P-Party placard); There were some other good ones - pirates, 'personal space-invader' (Jeremy!), Parachuters, Parcel, Present, and of course some Prince and Princess.





Next there's the new baby Angus who I claim as my nephew (via adopted brother Hugh and his wife Jess). He's very cute - and has surprisingly big hands! It will be fun to watch him get bigger.














And here is Ruth and I before Med cocktail party. The theme was Horror and Halloween theme. I'm Death... with a scythe that has proven amusing for creeping up on people in my house. Ruth is a goth - and proud of her op-shop buys.

The last photo is evidence (in case anyone was worried) that I don't spend all my time studying... maybe I should but still. This is 'Game of Thrones' which I played for the first time in the Easter break - 5&1/2 hours later we were in the 6th turn out of 10. I think we made it to the 8th before requiring a break - and we haven't gone back to it yet! Maybe we will... but it took some getting to grips with and was quite intense! And I was tired and didn't like getting attacked.

Dress up Jesus and 300

Not entirely sure what I think about this one... I don't want to be overley precious about things and have no sense of humour - and I can see this could be amusing. So long as it doesn't offend people or distract from the importance of the fact this bloke Jesus really was put on a cross-without the bunny rabbit slippers, flippers, snorkel, tutu or pirate clothes, and really did die. And thats not where it ended. Hurrah.

I had a pleasant Easter day - I had breakfast with my friend Kat from up North, had lunch with Mum, Hamish and Jill and did some study before going to a party at the house Tahnee and Andrew are housesitting. Decent place - pool, tennis court, projector onto wall for large TV/movie viewing, fusball table, playstation with dance mats and singstar... lots of fun things that I could't justify owning, but am willing to make us of! And they have stunning view over water from Tinderbox. I missed out on church on Easter Sunday (ironic as for some people it might be the only time they do go!) but enjoyed the Tenebrae service I went to on Good Friday. I always quite liked the Tenebrae services at school with just readings, quiet, candles and maybe a few songs. This one was quite good although as well as readings, there were some comments about them and they seemed a bit simple and annoying - I would have preferred to reflect without the comments of 'When Jesus said 'it is finished' he meant that it was finished...'. Maybe they were slightly more in depth... but not much! Afterwards we had hot cross buns at Ruth's house with lots of people, before running away to the movies to see 300.



An interesting choice for Good Friday - plenty of reminders of brutal killing.... certainly Tahnee was right in her description of 'gory with lots of ugly people'. Still, it was enjoyable enough. And there was lots of yelling - things like 'FOR SPARTA', 'WE ARE SPARTANS' 'FOR GLORY'. Actually there were quite cheesy lines:

Persian Officer: Fools! Our arrows will blot out the sun.
Stelios: Then we will fight in the shade!

Spartan King Leonidas: SPARTANS! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... FOR TONIGHT, WE DINE IN HELL! [ok I added the caps but that's how it was said!]

Xerxes: Imagine what horrible fate awaits my enemies when I would gladly kill any of my own men for victory.
Spartan King Leonidas: And I would die for any of mine.

Perfectly Normal... don't you think?

So there's this program 'photobooth' on macs... we had a play...
Me, Jack and Ruth... a 'special' bunch.
A masterpiece in the making

The five of us:

I think this is what med does to your head...

Two thumbs up. Or maybe just one.

Hot Cross Buns

Dad knocked on my bedroom door this morning to offer my hot cross buns for breakfast - I was trying to still be asleep, but quickly gave up that idea and joined him and Kate for toasted buns for breakfast. Although there are many more things I could be doing now, I decided to have a quick look into the background of hot cross buns at Easter/Good Friday. My friends currently in the US said they don't have any hot cross buns there, and not really any eggs - and some strange candy. I still have to buy Easter eggs for people - although I do partly object to the commercial aspect. Also a friend of mine won't buy chocolate unless its fair trade - and I couldn't find any fair trade Easter chocolate... I have to decide what I'll get (may depend on whats left!!)

But back to the hot cross buns... Many recipes say the cross on the top is icing, but in most shop ones I've had its just white stuf. This is clearly symbolic of Jesus being put on the cross. From a very brief amount of reading on the internet, they seem to have an English heritage. Apparently first recorded mention is in 1733, however some people claim there are pagan origins. It seems that recently in the UK, several schools banned serving hot cross buns out of political correctness. The most bizarre triviva I found was that there is a pub in East London (The Widow's Son pub in Bromley-by-Bow) where in the 19th century, the widow who lived there put out a hot cross bun out on good friday her son - a sailor expected to return that day. Sadly he didn't, however the tradition has continued and a sailor still puts out a hot cross bun every year.

I found this blog post 'hot cross buns' which is part of 'The Old Foodie' - a blog with a recipe and some historical significance for linked with every day of the year. While I didn't get around to making any hot cross buns this year (I've said before that I will one day) I have friends that make lots and do a 'bun-run' each year - very impressive I say! But watch out- Diabetes New Zealand has warned of the health risks - one bun is equivalent to 2 or 3 pieces of bread and they should be considered a treat not a meal... I guess breakfast and lunch might be a treat today!!