[ Posted by Janka
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:17:21 GMT ]
Now that we have lived in the area for a couple of years, finally something is happening and places around me are becoming mine.
The grocery store close by, the amazing M-market of Laaksolahti, has been "our grocery store" for some time now. Beside it, there is our waffle cafeteria combined with a tea store, and next to that resides my hair-dresser. Our mall is the one in Leppävaara, and I got two libraries: the big one at the mall and the small one on the way to the grocery store. Next to our school. Or what would be our school if any school-aged people lived here. There's our beach by the lake and our forests all around.
I like it. I have not really felt "home" this way since I was school-aged myself.
Now if there only were "our" health care center I could work in. But unlike in the case of the the big library, I do not seem to be able to feel that health care centers catering for fifth of the city are "ours".
Posted in Plain English | Tags life, life | 1 comment
[ Posted by Janka
Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:08:45 GMT ]
If you want to have placemats on your tables, you should have them.
If you don't want to have any, you shouldn't.
If you want to have some for celebrations and not for everyday, that's fine.
If you do not want to have them but get them because that's what people in your social class do, that's just stupid and conformist.
And here comes the punchline: if you'd like some, but don't get any, because people might think you got them just because you thought you should because that's what people in your social class do, that's stupid and conformist too.
(Thanks to the guilty parties -- you kno who you are -- for initiating this line of thought.)
Posted in Plain English | Tags unsolicited advice | 3 comments
[ Posted by Janka
Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:43:49 GMT ]
Well, so much for writing a blog weekly while trying to adjust to a new job and writing a PhD thesis at the same time.
Since people always ask the question, here is the answer.
Working at a basic health care center has been fun. A lot of that is, I suspect, because of the unit I am at, which is small, has an ethic of doing things sensibly instead of what stands in the book, has a team leader with a brain in his head and his feet solidly on the ground, and has gotten away with ignoring a lot of the most crazy city standard ways of doing things by being some sort of a "pilot unit" for changes.
Patients are mostly nice. Their agenda regarding their health and what should I do for them is not always parallel with my idea of the same, but that's life. It is not all "eternal flu and complaining granmas" as the prejudice seems to go; in fact the way the work is orgnanized results into there being relatively little of that unless you happen to be the walk-in nurse or doctor for the day.
Contrary to another nightmare, I am also allowed a fair amount of control in how much I work. I make my own daily schedules, deciding how many patients I see, etc, and while I am nowhere close to the numbers my more experienced colleagues are able to handle so far no one's complained -- actually quite the opposite, I have been told to make sure I won't overdo it and take enough time to think while learning.
Speaking of learning, I find the tutoring system for beginners at the location excellent. We have a consulting doctor dedicated to answering questions from new colleagues, and she actually answers her phone pretty much always, and at least knows who knows if she doesn't herself. She also come to where we work to consult me and another beginner for an hour weekly, for less urgent questions. So we are well covered.
Downsides? It's gods-damn hard work, compared. Yes, I know, over-worked researchers constantly worrying about whether their contract is continued, yadda-yadda, etc, are going to be offended by this comparison, but truth is, writing my thesis full-time is a vacation. As another downside, this particular unit is in the arse end of the town, and the commute is a killer, so it won't be a permanent solution. That's about it.
The blog will now return officially to unscheduled random ramblings and sermons of Life(tm).
Posted in Plain English | Tags Salt mines | 2 comments
