Only read thee following if you want to hear the Samoan version of ER. Tee hee!
About once or twice a year, our little hospital with its very few staff and even fewer supporting services gets a big MVA thrown at us (motor vehicle accident). Always, it is tragic, and always there is a dramatic story behind it. None of the typical drunken driver cases.
Last year a young priest and his wife flew to the hospital at lightening speed because he wife had gone into labour very quickly. Unfortunately before they made it to the hospital they crashed, likely due to a small misjudgement of handling a very fast car which was driven by panic of course. The husband died instantly. The wife was in critical condition, was stabilised at our hospital and spent the next few weeks in intensive care in Apia. Her baby (still unborn) was found to have died inside her, and when she awoke from a coma, had to be told that she had lost both her husband and her unborn child. That is a sentence I would never wish upon even my worst enemy. I can not imagine how she manages to still breath and hold her head up today, if it were me i;m sure I would shoot myself, because that’s how weak I am…
Yesterday not far from our hospital, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle belonging to the local po-pos (you know AKA upholders of law and justice?). Now this is something that really eggs me , because I drive past their headquarters to work everyday and ALWAYS I encounter the po-pos either flying at way too far above the speed limit or bloody driving at 2mph and being who they are, 20 cars behind them therefore feel obliged NOT to overtake…talk about funeral procession. The pedestrian was struck with such a force that he was thrown off his feet, some distance from where the accident occurred. LUCKILY, that distance was only a skip and a hop away from the hospital, so he landed on our front door FAST. UNFORTUNATELY he suffered multiple serious injuries, multiple broken bones, lacerations a punctured lung and internal bleeding. He was rushed to the main hospital and we are praying he makes it. Now, continuing on the po-pos that egg me, shame on them big time. Upholders of the law except there is absolutely NO leading by example. They can’t even stick to the laws themselves, then they go a commit the crimes. These are the po-pos I have grown up with and always known. Never have I ever felt safe, protected or even sure in the sense that if I did something RIGHT they would verify that. Some specific examples that colour my opinions of them are
- My brother drove down the main beach road in Apia one day when a cop who stood right across from the fire station flagged him down. Yes, he stood right where those no parking yellow lines are painted all over a 10 square metre portion of the road in front of the building is. So my brother diligently drove past the lines and then pulled over. So the po-po had to walk a whole 2 meters and 30 cm to get to him, which by the time he did, made him possessed with such rage which manifested as the following – popo “WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU STOP WHEN I SAID STOP” my bro “oh, I was just trying to get past the no parking area” popo “HOW DARE YOU ANSWER ME BACK YOU LITTLE SMART ASS, IF I SAY STOP WHERE EVER IT IS YOU BLOODY WELL STOP RIGHT AWAY AND DON’T THINK YOU CAN JUST DRIVE OFF YOU LITTLE *&%$!” all in samoan of course, no attempts by my brother to defend himself were met with any form of understanding. And he didnt even stop him for any reason in particular, just a random BS registration and licence check. So the lessen he learnt was, cops are always right, you’re always wrong, if they tell you to do something, even if its against the law (of the road) just do it…cos otherwise you’re a smartass little shit.
- Another time, myself the hubby and 2 week old baby were struck in our car from behind by a large concrete truck. The initial popos were thorough, reasonable and sympathetic. They quickly deduced by the skid marks on the road, the bystanders who saw the accident and the way the car received dents, that it was the trucks fault, and they told him so in front of us much to our relief, because it was infact his fault. When we got to the station to put our reports down in paper, another older more senior cop shows up…he laughs at the truck driver and mumbles something along the lines of “not you again” and smiles at him, then looks at our car, the truck, talks to the driver, and then comes and tells us infact, we can not press charges cos its our fault too blab la bla..i cant even remember what the BS reason was cause I was in so much shock, and the initial investigating cops could only sit there and say sorry , that they have to take what he says cause he was more senior then them, and that was that. The truck sustained no damage, we were left we a hefty bill and a shaken belief that the popos are their to help, they are not. one could say we should take them to court (the truck the po-pos) but we live on another island, we both have Jobs, a a young family, hardly spend any time in APia, it is just not feasable..
Now getting back to our pedestrian now struggling for his life in intensive care. The popos had the nerve to come snooping round the hospital after the patient had left to see if he was actually drunk as they had perceived. HE WAS NOT. He was a well dressed young man, walking somewhere to do something meaningful to him, on a Wednesday afternoon when he became the victim of a terrible tragedy. SHAME ON THE PO_POS for trying to fret around looking for excuses to cover up their shady existence.
I just thought, you should all know this. I know there are some goodies out there, some good friends of mines are po-pos themselves, but the crap ones just ruin the whole force its a damned shame.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
tired..
Its a new year, and for a moment on the 31st of December I tried to work out some resolutions. eat better, exercise, spend more time with bubba, and hubba, figure out what the hell I want to do with my life...kinda big resolutions huh, recycled ones too. But now well into January...I still don't know how to go about tackling some of those big questions in my life.
I recently read a friends blog, where she asks- why are we here?(in Samoa- Apia to be specific) where are we going? and questions along those lines, you know, those long philosophical ones that can only have long philosophical answers. I'm tired of asking the same questions every year...truth is. I don't want to work anymore, but i feel so gut wrenchingly obliged to do so, and so overwhelming bad when i dont, that its a vicious cycle, when i dont work, i have this annoying cloud hanging over my head raining the same moral melancholic song on me- not enough people there, and you're sitting at home with your legs up (but i can not remember the last time i sat down with my legs up...its my life, am i not entitled to chose??) when i do, i grow so frustrated of it at times i feel like tearing my hair out and biting my limbs off, that's how crazy i get.Can not be healthy for me.
My husband says "alu fua study ga mea'' in a joking way, as if i brought it all on myself (I did- I just didn't know it) when he says that (even if it is in a joking way) to me, even he feels I should be there, at work, even if its for peanuts and the pay is late and is giving me a splitting headache and high blood pressure. But I do 'like' my job, i think in a better environment , I would even love it. But loving it over here, in Savaii...is oh so many decades away, for I know that the changes needed there, are many and the pace of change here is slower then that of a snails'...People are so damned reluctant to change.."this is the way its been for years, and its fine'' is what they all think but don't say.
You just have to look at peoples faces, when you are making suggestions with excitement on how to improve things, its like, one eyebrow raised, eyes still fixed on that piece of paper they were reading before, its like they hear you but don't want to hear you, but you know that's what they are thinking. Its like in order to change, someone who sits on their big behind all day scribbling on paper (yes, I acknowledge it may be ALOT of paper) in an aircon office, has to get up and do a bit of running around. Oh lord have mercy.Its as if I had just asked someone to go run a Marathon or something (might actually do them some good, change from sitting in the office growing sideways all year....) so my suggestions often fall on deaf ears.
So what am I going to do?am I going to give up...and just be a stay at home mum? bar the bakery on the side and the waitressing in the restaurant with the hubba (sounds like true bliss to me, no huge worrying decisions to make regarding peoples lives!!)eh, I dunno..maybe. Gonna give a few more tactics of change a go...see what happens.Read an article in the observer today by a disgruntled patient...never easy to hear the criticism but it was all true and I take off my hat to them for voicing their opinion...more people need to do it I reckon.
as for me now, gonna go kick it with the baby, spend some quality time and not have to think about these big decisions...
I recently read a friends blog, where she asks- why are we here?(in Samoa- Apia to be specific) where are we going? and questions along those lines, you know, those long philosophical ones that can only have long philosophical answers. I'm tired of asking the same questions every year...truth is. I don't want to work anymore, but i feel so gut wrenchingly obliged to do so, and so overwhelming bad when i dont, that its a vicious cycle, when i dont work, i have this annoying cloud hanging over my head raining the same moral melancholic song on me- not enough people there, and you're sitting at home with your legs up (but i can not remember the last time i sat down with my legs up...its my life, am i not entitled to chose??) when i do, i grow so frustrated of it at times i feel like tearing my hair out and biting my limbs off, that's how crazy i get.Can not be healthy for me.
My husband says "alu fua study ga mea'' in a joking way, as if i brought it all on myself (I did- I just didn't know it) when he says that (even if it is in a joking way) to me, even he feels I should be there, at work, even if its for peanuts and the pay is late and is giving me a splitting headache and high blood pressure. But I do 'like' my job, i think in a better environment , I would even love it. But loving it over here, in Savaii...is oh so many decades away, for I know that the changes needed there, are many and the pace of change here is slower then that of a snails'...People are so damned reluctant to change.."this is the way its been for years, and its fine'' is what they all think but don't say.
You just have to look at peoples faces, when you are making suggestions with excitement on how to improve things, its like, one eyebrow raised, eyes still fixed on that piece of paper they were reading before, its like they hear you but don't want to hear you, but you know that's what they are thinking. Its like in order to change, someone who sits on their big behind all day scribbling on paper (yes, I acknowledge it may be ALOT of paper) in an aircon office, has to get up and do a bit of running around. Oh lord have mercy.Its as if I had just asked someone to go run a Marathon or something (might actually do them some good, change from sitting in the office growing sideways all year....) so my suggestions often fall on deaf ears.
So what am I going to do?am I going to give up...and just be a stay at home mum? bar the bakery on the side and the waitressing in the restaurant with the hubba (sounds like true bliss to me, no huge worrying decisions to make regarding peoples lives!!)eh, I dunno..maybe. Gonna give a few more tactics of change a go...see what happens.Read an article in the observer today by a disgruntled patient...never easy to hear the criticism but it was all true and I take off my hat to them for voicing their opinion...more people need to do it I reckon.
as for me now, gonna go kick it with the baby, spend some quality time and not have to think about these big decisions...
Sunday, December 07, 2008
a lazy sunday afternoon
Its Sunday afternoon ...already. just a moment ago, before I yawned, it was Thursday and I was waiting effortfully for the weekend to arrive. And now its been and gone, and i dont feel rejuvinated whatsoever.arrg. I suppose this is the plight of mothers all around the world, constant lack of sleep, and hoping to catch some much needed cat-nips here are there never summount to enough of anything to relieve me of this constant yawning syndrome.
Its raining, and its bloomin cold. I have a thermometer and it reads 25, but I swear its 18...if it were any colder I am sure I could see my breadth mist and relive a moment from good old wellington or dunedin even!!
where did me weekend go? standing by at the resturaunt, while the chef goes to a fogo. dont worry, just call me (on one of 2 mobiles..digicel or go mobile of course) if anyone shows. someone did, called, switched off, dead. so I decided to don the chefs apron, with the help of my nervous wreck of a worker who has some phobia of meeting strangers..and yet has been working at a hotel for the last 10 years almost...I cooked. almost blew a fuse because, two people wanted eggs and there were only 3 left -grrrr(so 1.5 each???) thats because we had omeletts for dinner last night, so omelette times 4 men and me = no more eggs in the resturaunt. had to improvise and made them scrambled with alot of milk (dont worry all ye customers out there reading this, this will NEVER happen again i promise) then they wanted sausages and there were NO SUASAGES..shit. so gave them ham instead...they were pleased. but. where were all the sausages?? "we finished them all with that big order we did for who a who...remember''...yes darlin, that was exactly 7 days ago. 200m down the road is a shop that sells sausages...RESTOCK..eh. this is why the kitchen in all those hells kitchen shows are 80degrees and everyone is yelling. i dont usually work here but i wanted to yell, but didnt really want to yell at our nervous wreck of a worker incase she died of shock- and then i would not only have to cook, but serve as well. In her defence she doesnt usually have to wait on the customers, but our usual waitress up and left of indefinite maternity leave. just the day before and we have yet to find a substitute.
work.has been much the same. The sermon today was great at church. was about the church as a hospital for those with 'illnesses' or the spirit etc, but he also touched on the attitude of patients at the local hospital, and how everyone gets angry at the doc for showing up a 9am (when they all arrived on the 6am bus of their own accord) despite knowing the doc has to do rounds first, and the fact that if its a young doc, people feel they have the right to abuse (verbally) to vent their anger at the doc. Im the only young doc at the hospital and that is certainly me. luckily, unlike the doc in the sermon that gets frustrated at the patients and takes the day off abandoning them ( i would love to do that) i have mastered the 'walk the death plank' walk through the patients to get to the clinic door, with my 'eyes fixed firmly on a spot on the door and 200miles per hour walk' that sees me jet from the corridor to the clinic with only so much as a 'eh' being heard....yay. on a bad day, i.e if its wet and i cant master the 200mlPH pace, i hear all the 'magaia a guku a le foma'i lea e...., & fiu se e faakali...and 'la'a kuu a makou e vaai e inkia...' dang it, spoils my day.BUT OH WELL. i should get a shirt made with "the more you complain, the shorter i plan to work at this hospital'- then you can keep seeing your inkias (who are good by the way) whose only fault is the extent of their explanations due to language barriers means all you get is 'inu vai lea, tolu aso, fa' and not my dramatic drawings of what your liver and gallbladder look like and how blood gets circulated and how clots and strokes develop, and short tutorials on how to take your inhalers properly and what the signs of a heart attack are. yes. i love my work sometimes, but not the part where people throw dirt at my for their own impatience.
thats about all. gonna go try to enjoy the rest of my sunday:)
Its raining, and its bloomin cold. I have a thermometer and it reads 25, but I swear its 18...if it were any colder I am sure I could see my breadth mist and relive a moment from good old wellington or dunedin even!!
where did me weekend go? standing by at the resturaunt, while the chef goes to a fogo. dont worry, just call me (on one of 2 mobiles..digicel or go mobile of course) if anyone shows. someone did, called, switched off, dead. so I decided to don the chefs apron, with the help of my nervous wreck of a worker who has some phobia of meeting strangers..and yet has been working at a hotel for the last 10 years almost...I cooked. almost blew a fuse because, two people wanted eggs and there were only 3 left -grrrr(so 1.5 each???) thats because we had omeletts for dinner last night, so omelette times 4 men and me = no more eggs in the resturaunt. had to improvise and made them scrambled with alot of milk (dont worry all ye customers out there reading this, this will NEVER happen again i promise) then they wanted sausages and there were NO SUASAGES..shit. so gave them ham instead...they were pleased. but. where were all the sausages?? "we finished them all with that big order we did for who a who...remember''...yes darlin, that was exactly 7 days ago. 200m down the road is a shop that sells sausages...RESTOCK..eh. this is why the kitchen in all those hells kitchen shows are 80degrees and everyone is yelling. i dont usually work here but i wanted to yell, but didnt really want to yell at our nervous wreck of a worker incase she died of shock- and then i would not only have to cook, but serve as well. In her defence she doesnt usually have to wait on the customers, but our usual waitress up and left of indefinite maternity leave. just the day before and we have yet to find a substitute.
work.has been much the same. The sermon today was great at church. was about the church as a hospital for those with 'illnesses' or the spirit etc, but he also touched on the attitude of patients at the local hospital, and how everyone gets angry at the doc for showing up a 9am (when they all arrived on the 6am bus of their own accord) despite knowing the doc has to do rounds first, and the fact that if its a young doc, people feel they have the right to abuse (verbally) to vent their anger at the doc. Im the only young doc at the hospital and that is certainly me. luckily, unlike the doc in the sermon that gets frustrated at the patients and takes the day off abandoning them ( i would love to do that) i have mastered the 'walk the death plank' walk through the patients to get to the clinic door, with my 'eyes fixed firmly on a spot on the door and 200miles per hour walk' that sees me jet from the corridor to the clinic with only so much as a 'eh' being heard....yay. on a bad day, i.e if its wet and i cant master the 200mlPH pace, i hear all the 'magaia a guku a le foma'i lea e...., & fiu se e faakali...and 'la'a kuu a makou e vaai e inkia...' dang it, spoils my day.BUT OH WELL. i should get a shirt made with "the more you complain, the shorter i plan to work at this hospital'- then you can keep seeing your inkias (who are good by the way) whose only fault is the extent of their explanations due to language barriers means all you get is 'inu vai lea, tolu aso, fa' and not my dramatic drawings of what your liver and gallbladder look like and how blood gets circulated and how clots and strokes develop, and short tutorials on how to take your inhalers properly and what the signs of a heart attack are. yes. i love my work sometimes, but not the part where people throw dirt at my for their own impatience.
thats about all. gonna go try to enjoy the rest of my sunday:)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
overdue ramblings
A good friend of mine wrote recently that she has a dozen unfinished drafts of blogs yet to be posted. I find I am in the same boat, with an 11monther under my belt, have just had no time to edit clean and post half a dozen episodes of drama, disaster and just the usual everyday Savaii Banter! So here are snippets of a few.
4 days of freedom??
Last week the hubby and I decided to take the little one (and ourselves YAY!) over to Apia to visit the folks (my family yay!!) after I cant even remember now, how many months. EXCITEMENT set in!! of course, so many things I needed (?wanted to do) such as- get a hair cut and colour, maybe even a facial massage, buy some overdue new clothes/bras/knickers/cutlery/nice vegetables including pepper/capsicum/avocadoes/and even ripe banana…cause the folks down at salelologa market just don’t seem interested in selling those things (yes, even ripe bananas..Oh and niu!!) I guess most people here are within a few meters of banana trees so if you want to eat a ripe one just go look for an older aufa’I and not actually expect to buy one.
Yes, also need some new cutlery/ toys for Adria some seasoning for cooking some DVDs some stationary and the list goes on. Need to catch up with a million friends go to the movies/restaurants/cafés and all those fancy things that the lucky city dwellers get to do (that I adored doing!!).
Alas the weekend came, and like a Samoan at a buffet table, I think my eyes were bigger then my stomach cos I didn’t even do half the things I wanted. I managed to do a little shopping (cutlery/bras) caught up with 2 friends- who were all long overdue happy hour at the millennia, we all got a bit toasted on a mere 3 glasses of assorted drinks (baileys pinacolada and midori)- shows how long its been, what a shame!! Tried to get the hubby to do some shopping, but on one of our days there he just slept ALL day (because he went to the airport and drinking the night before) grrr…although I managed to leave baby with him for a few hours and went visiting my relies! Yay! now I’m back in Savaii, regretting that I've still got the same boring as eyesore of a wardrobe …so uninvitingly beckoning me to sift through and mix and match the same 4 tops 3 skirts and 6 pants/shorts to work/home etc etc etc.no new veges no café try outs or restaurant reviews no new movies conquered (and I used to be such a cinema junkie…all the latest movies!) the same mangoes from under the old mango tree…now convincing myself to just buy a whole unripe aufa’I from the market and string it up and faapula it just to appease my appetite. eh, don’t know when we are going to be quiet enough with home/work to make it over again…to top it off someone said to go to a certain little ‘guest fale’ restaurant cos they do food like sunrise (yay) and yea, whatever, go in last night and they have falai I’a and se-a and rice on the menu. And when I ask about the sunrise-like food (sweet n sour egg fu young etc ) they made such a big deal of it- they meaning the girl at the restaurant, the owners son who I was referred to, the owner who I eventually got sent up to the office to see to discuss my ‘makaupu’with! It’s like goddamit I just want some takeaway sweet-sour and eggfuyong like someone told me you serve last week. In the end they made it, made me come back in a hour- a take away plate with servings half the size of sunrise, of egg fu yong, sweet n sour 1 small drumstick a piece of taro and coleslaw for $25!!Hmmm…it didn’t taste that bad though so I guess Ill give em that! Dont think I'm going back though….
Work
Is a b_$#@!some days so much so that I wish everyone got exposed to a gas that made us speak freely, speak our minds and only speak the truth!!Lies, people here lie so much is gets a bit draining at times. Not everyone so ill try not to make it a generalisation, but a lot of people. People with boils the size of their own heads saying “it just popped up yesterday!” BS, kids so dehydrated from weeks of illness at the fofo- who “afukua Ma’I a ananafi” yea whatever. Babies with skin sepsis, sores and scars and boils all over that mums apparently “just noticed last night” It just makes me want to rip my hair out because occasionally, this information is actually useful for me, to try to figure out what kind of bug you have, and how to treat it. But everyone is so paranoid that they’ll look like they have neglected their kids themselves their older parents (which is EXACTLY what they were doing they just don’t want to admit to it and always want to appear as if they are saints) they lie through their teeth again and again it makes me want to stand outside and yell “SINNERS you are ALL SINNERS!” yes, and then everyone will think I am crazy. But that’s ok. If it means less people come to me, that’s ok, because it doesn’t please me to have to see 100 people a day. 50 would be better.
4 days of freedom??
Last week the hubby and I decided to take the little one (and ourselves YAY!) over to Apia to visit the folks (my family yay!!) after I cant even remember now, how many months. EXCITEMENT set in!! of course, so many things I needed (?wanted to do) such as- get a hair cut and colour, maybe even a facial massage, buy some overdue new clothes/bras/knickers/cutlery/nice vegetables including pepper/capsicum/avocadoes/and even ripe banana…cause the folks down at salelologa market just don’t seem interested in selling those things (yes, even ripe bananas..Oh and niu!!) I guess most people here are within a few meters of banana trees so if you want to eat a ripe one just go look for an older aufa’I and not actually expect to buy one.
Yes, also need some new cutlery/ toys for Adria some seasoning for cooking some DVDs some stationary and the list goes on. Need to catch up with a million friends go to the movies/restaurants/cafés and all those fancy things that the lucky city dwellers get to do (that I adored doing!!).
Alas the weekend came, and like a Samoan at a buffet table, I think my eyes were bigger then my stomach cos I didn’t even do half the things I wanted. I managed to do a little shopping (cutlery/bras) caught up with 2 friends- who were all long overdue happy hour at the millennia, we all got a bit toasted on a mere 3 glasses of assorted drinks (baileys pinacolada and midori)- shows how long its been, what a shame!! Tried to get the hubby to do some shopping, but on one of our days there he just slept ALL day (because he went to the airport and drinking the night before) grrr…although I managed to leave baby with him for a few hours and went visiting my relies! Yay! now I’m back in Savaii, regretting that I've still got the same boring as eyesore of a wardrobe …so uninvitingly beckoning me to sift through and mix and match the same 4 tops 3 skirts and 6 pants/shorts to work/home etc etc etc.no new veges no café try outs or restaurant reviews no new movies conquered (and I used to be such a cinema junkie…all the latest movies!) the same mangoes from under the old mango tree…now convincing myself to just buy a whole unripe aufa’I from the market and string it up and faapula it just to appease my appetite. eh, don’t know when we are going to be quiet enough with home/work to make it over again…to top it off someone said to go to a certain little ‘guest fale’ restaurant cos they do food like sunrise (yay) and yea, whatever, go in last night and they have falai I’a and se-a and rice on the menu. And when I ask about the sunrise-like food (sweet n sour egg fu young etc ) they made such a big deal of it- they meaning the girl at the restaurant, the owners son who I was referred to, the owner who I eventually got sent up to the office to see to discuss my ‘makaupu’with! It’s like goddamit I just want some takeaway sweet-sour and eggfuyong like someone told me you serve last week. In the end they made it, made me come back in a hour- a take away plate with servings half the size of sunrise, of egg fu yong, sweet n sour 1 small drumstick a piece of taro and coleslaw for $25!!Hmmm…it didn’t taste that bad though so I guess Ill give em that! Dont think I'm going back though….
Work
Is a b_$#@!some days so much so that I wish everyone got exposed to a gas that made us speak freely, speak our minds and only speak the truth!!Lies, people here lie so much is gets a bit draining at times. Not everyone so ill try not to make it a generalisation, but a lot of people. People with boils the size of their own heads saying “it just popped up yesterday!” BS, kids so dehydrated from weeks of illness at the fofo- who “afukua Ma’I a ananafi” yea whatever. Babies with skin sepsis, sores and scars and boils all over that mums apparently “just noticed last night” It just makes me want to rip my hair out because occasionally, this information is actually useful for me, to try to figure out what kind of bug you have, and how to treat it. But everyone is so paranoid that they’ll look like they have neglected their kids themselves their older parents (which is EXACTLY what they were doing they just don’t want to admit to it and always want to appear as if they are saints) they lie through their teeth again and again it makes me want to stand outside and yell “SINNERS you are ALL SINNERS!” yes, and then everyone will think I am crazy. But that’s ok. If it means less people come to me, that’s ok, because it doesn’t please me to have to see 100 people a day. 50 would be better.
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