The Heaviness of Catcall Culture

One sunny afternoon in mid-2019, I was walking home from the physiotherapy clinic when I heard a voice shout out from a car, “heyyyyyyy sexy!” I stopped in my tracks, shocked and confused. It’s not that I have never experienced such catcalling before. After all, I did spend a year of my life in the … Continue reading →

Adaptation

On my first trip back to Australia in 2019, about 9 months after moving to Canada, I was delighted by one tiny detail; I did not have to pack a power adaptor. At that time, all my electronic devices still had Australian charging cables, adapting to their new Canadian sockets via an assortment of boxy … Continue reading →

The mass humanity clinic

Every four minutes a new person comes over and sits down in the chair across from me. I ask them some pertinent details about themselves and we make a little small talk. I write their name on a card and then they leave, bound for the next chair. No, it’s not speed dating. The trigger … Continue reading →

There’s no place like home

True story: In my younger days I performed in TWO separate school productions of the Wizard of Oz. I have twice stepped into my ruby slippers for costume parties and I have owned the book in both English and French. It’s fair to say I have quite an affinity for Miss Dorothy Gale. Like Dorothy, … Continue reading →

Walking the Walk

On January 1st 2020, I set out to walk 2020 kilometers in one year as a way to ground myself in a world of uncertainty and turmoil. Little did I know how much more uncertain and tumultous the world would become, or how beneficial those kilometers would prove to be. At first it was a … Continue reading →

Gratitude and pumpkin pie

A small confession: my third year in Canada and I haven’t yet developed a taste for turkey and pumkpin pie. Give me a lamb roast and a slice of pavlova any day! But if there’s one Canadian Thanksgiving tradition I can really sink my teeth into, it’s the whole, well, giving-of-thanks bit. No doubt, being … Continue reading →

2020: One foot in front of the other

The turning of a new year is always a funny time. The sun rises and sets just as profoundly on every other day, and yet, something about this particular day causes us to stop and naval gaze a little more deeply than usual. My 2019 has been a bit of a mixed bag. My health … Continue reading →

Between one year and forever

“Somewhere between one year and forever” It’s been my standard reponse whenever anyone has asked me how long I plan to stay in Canada. It’s typically accompanied by a non-committal shrug of the shoulders and a look that says don’t ask me hard questions. I recently celebrated that one year milestone with a steep hike … Continue reading →

How are you going?…Really?

I’d been living in Canada for about 4 months before I realised that “how are you going?” is a funny, Australian thing to ask. Further enquiry with colleagues and patients revealed that “how’s it going?” or “how are you doing?” are perfectly acceptable. But the hybrid “how are you going?”… Nope. That’s just weird, apparently. … Continue reading →

The life saving heroes of medicine

I saved a life today! Although… I don’t know who it was or how I did it. Maybe it was the routine pap smear that will come back as a high-grade precancerous lesion and be surgically removed before it turns nasty. Maybe it was the pertussis vaccination I gave to a pregnant patient that will … Continue reading →