Week 30 - Santa runs to prepare for Xmas, A spontaneous weekend in Auckland with Mary Poppins, and Carols in the park!

A festive hello to you all!
This week has really started to feel like the Christmas season, and especially this weekend, so I wanted to share some of the festive fun from this 30th Week in Wellington!

WEDNESDAY 5TH DECEMBER - Having failed to round up enough people from the DHB (District Health Board) to enter a 'team' in the Kids charity 'Santa Fun Run', I impulsively signed up for to run on Tuesday night. (I really should have checked the weather first!). It turned out to be one of the worst days of weather since I arrived, with torrential rain showers and storms in the afternoon. Fortunately, the rain stopped at least, but the wind didn't! Still the 500+ other people who had signed up for the run, didn't let the weather spoil the fun! Everyone received a santa suit (male/female) depending what you have requested - see picture below! 

Guess the Santa?

The warm up for the event included a mass Zumba class, have a look for yourself at what must have looked like a crazy sight for any passers by!

The beginning of the race must have also looked quite funny, with a small path on the 3k run around the waterfront packed with santas of all shapes and sizes! The zumba warm up had caused a wardrobe malfunction, and I need to employ all my OT skills to design a make shift belt that would hold up my 'one size fits all' santa trousers!

At the start line!

Santa Run, Wellington

FRIDAY 7TH DECEMBER - After a random discussion with my neighbour Kala, on Tuesday, about the opportunity to go and watch Mary Poppins the musical in Auckland, the plan quickly took shape. I quickly called my mate in Auckland (Tony), and had cheap tickets booked (just $60 / £30 there), and a little more on the way back. Wellington airport is small, but always full of surprises, and had once again had outdone itself with yet more Hobbit decorations! (Check out the signage, baggage carousel and latest edition to the waiting area....)

Genuine signs at Wellington Airport...

Wellington Baggage Carousel 

Who's behind the baggage carousel window?

Wellington Airport...

SATURDAY / SUNDAY 8TH/9TH DECEMBER - 

After Tony and Monica had been fantastic hosts and picked us up at the airport, fed us, and then cooked a lovely breakfast, we headed out to the city to enjoy some seriously beautiful weather! Walking around the wharf in Auckland is becoming a regular event on my trips here, and this weekend  certainly did not disappoint. It's always great to catch up with Tony as we can talk a little 'shop' (work), and I can learn more about mental health work in a different part of New Zealand. Also the Wellington vs Auckland rivalry / debate about the merits of each place is always a fun conversation. 

Here's a few pictures from a sunny Auckland city! 

Out & About in Auckland...

Me & Tony in Auckland

Finding Santa - Auckland

MARY POPPINS - Saturday night was all about going to a beautiful theatre - the 'Civic Theatre', in the city centre. I was not expecting such a stunning building, and funky decor! The show itself was brilliant, (no pictures allowed), but I can show a few pictures from the theatre itself and one of Auckland by night. I'd definitely go back to Auckland, to see a good show at this theatre!

At the theatre...

At Mary Poppins!

Auckland by night....

SUNDAY- A day spent in more glorious sunshine, (In both Auckland & Wellington)! Looking around some funky little markets, followed by a great lunch (I ordered a large 'breakfast'), with some of Tony & Monica's friends. One of the couples had a little girl, and I only mention this to explain where I got the hat from in the photo below. Even though I had been putting sun cream on, I was in desperate of a hat, as my head gets burned too easy from the intense sun! I need to get a decent hat here, and accept I'm going to have to have short hair in summer! 

Sunday Markets, Auckland

In desperate need of new sun hat!

On returning to a gorgeous evening in Wellington, I felt like going home and having a good sleep, but I also really wanted to go to see some of the 'Carol by Candlelight' concert in Waitangi park! So getting a bus straight from the 'Hobbit' airport, to Courtney Place, meant I could go straight to the concert. Here's a couple of pictures and maybe a video from the event, which started at 19:30 and was a family friendly event- meaning no alcohol or smoking in the public grounds... so many families, and groups of friends from all age groups sat around having picnics and enjoying the Christmas atmosphere... such a wonderful evening!

Wellington's 'Carols by candlelight'

Reindeers come to town....

Now I simply have to prepare for the 'Manchester derby' (Man City vs Man UTD Football) game, which kicks off at 02:30 here. Do I watch this game, or the 05:00 West ham UTD vs Liverpool game??? Tough choices! 

Hope you all enjoy the blog... I hope that where ever you are in the world, you are enjoying the festive season!

Regards from New Zealand! 

Week 29 - Hobbit World Premiere, Burlesque Shows - Hobbit Style & Beating the 'All Blacks'!

Starbucks going for the Hobbit Theme!

Hello everyone!

There is no way around talking about the 'BIG EVENT' this week here in Wellington (MIDDLE OF MIDLE EARTH) - The World Premiere of the Hobbit Part I, movie. Not only did we have Hobbit markets, Lord of the Rings (LOTR) free film showings, and the main event itself, but there was even Burlesque shows with the Hobbit theme!

Needless to say, that I have been incredibly busy at work too, especially with dealing with service wide communication issues, and OT group presentations.

First up this week was the Hobbit markets and the FREE SCREENINGS of the LOTR films open-air style. It was nowhere near as warm as in Australia, but as the pictures show, there were plenty of people, wrapped up ready for the Wellington wind enjoying the free movies! This was the third of the LOTR films, on Tuesday night, and it was almost panto like, with cheers, gasps and applause from the 1000+ audience! 

Free Lord of the Rings screening

Free LOTR screening 

Free LOTR Screening

Following the free screenings of the LOTR movies Sunday - Tuesday evenings at 6pm, the big day finally arrived! Wednesday the 28th November, and the World Premiere of the Hobbit movie rolled into town. Roads were closed, traffic diverted around the city, and fans had slept overnight on the street to get a good view along the 600m red carpet walk through COURTNEY PLACE, heading to the Embassy Theatre. I was working til 5, but finished a little early to try and at least get a sense of the atmosphere. The film started at 7pm, but celebrities started the long walk down the red carpet from 4:30pm. (It was a long red carpet.) There were big screens, and even a low flying specially decorated 'Hobbit Plane' flew past!  Here's a few pictures of the day...

Hobbit - World Premiere

Channel 3 news - with the crowd.

The Embassy Cinema,

Check the banner on the window ledge

Start of the long red carpet....

People were trying to get a view anywhere they could...

Special low fly by - Hobbit decorated plane!

THE WEEKEND - After the major event what else could Wellington possibly offer???? Well how about a Burlesque dance performance with a Hobbit theme! After Friday night drinks with my neighbours, Saturday lunch with a friend & colleague (Faye), myself and my friend/neighbour (Kala) thought we'd try and add a both of culture to the weekend. We started with attending the Circa Theatre - 2013 programme unveiling, with free food and drinks, with a description of next year's shows...

Circa Theatre - Programme launch

We followed the more classy event at the Theater by heading to the 'Fringe Bar' (a pretty grotty place -which should have told us about the kind of performance we were about to witness), and were looking forward to the Burlesque show BARE & BACK AGAIN - A JOURNEY TO MIDDLE EARH (see picture below....)

The poster says it all...

The show was pretty 'Bare' and not exactly family friendly, so I'm afraid for copyright reasons, (and the  family friendly nature of this blog) I'll keep the pictures to a minimum. Needless to say that whilst the performers had their own talents, comparisons to middle earth were minimal, It was an entertaining night but it'll be unlikely that I'll be returning to the Wellington Burlesque scene anytime soon. We left swiftly after the show finished, but not before getting a cheeky photo.

Me with a Burlesque performer

Burlesque dancers

I could not possibly go without mentioning the huge sporting weekend as I pretty much didn't sleep Saturday night (not just because I was still recovering from the Burlesque viewing), but also because I stayed up to watch the football and rugby! Watching Liverpool win another game, was pretty good, but nothing compared to watching England beat New Zealand 38-21 (Largest ever winning margin over NZ), and the only team to beat NZ this year. A brilliant day to be an Englishman in NZ!

Regards from New Zealand.

Dan 

Week 28 - It's all about a Hobbit & Crisis Management at work.

Hello Everybody!

For any Lord Of The Rings fan, you'll know that the WORLD PREMIERE of 'The Hobbit' shows here in Wellington on Wednesday night. I will no doubt go down, (as close as I can get to the red carpet), to see if I can get any pictures, or maybe a seat in the back row? 

Just walking around Wellington this week you will see all sorts of Hobbit related posters, adverts and events. One of the merger events are the 'Hobbit Artisan Markets' - see pictures below. This is in an open plan area by the waterfront and famous 'Te Papa' museum, and is an open vent for the next 3 days leading up to Wednesday night's opening of the movie! 

Hobbit Markets

Hobbit Markets

Hobbit Markets

Hobbit Markets

One of the best things about this festival, is that from tonight (Sunday) until Tuesday there will be free showings of the 3 Lord Of The Rings Films, one each night at 6pm. So I'll try and get some pictures of that later. The problem for me is that it's also the final of New Zealand's Got Talent tonight, and my mate has text about meeting up! Choices choices! I might go along there later just for a look around! It won't be warm like in the open air cinema in Brisbane! Just to show you Hobbit fever, look what Starbucks did to the outside of their shop for the event.... (I originally thought it was a Christmas decoration, but if you look closely it's 'middle earth'! 

Starbucks in the 'Shire'

Socially it's been a reasonable week! In between episodes of Homeland & Glee, cups of tea with my neighbour Kala, Yoga and the gym, I had a fun day yesterday after being invited for lunch with a group of young women, (friends of a friend). After an Indian lunch, we headed off to the movies to watch the new James Bond movie - 'SKYFALL'. It was pretty good I must say! I've also met up with the guy I am doing some youth mentoring for, and had a fun afternoon of Go-Karting and Laser Quest! I probably should let him win next time! That's the problem with teenagers, they just make you want to beat them! 

AT WORK it's been a pretty hectic week, with more than one of my clients in some kind of crisis, and plenty of people needing some really intensive support. I discussed the issue of 'vicarious trauma' a couple of weeks ago, but I have to mention the team ethic, here and just how important it has been this week, with lots of us needing others support to manage some quite risky situations. Having a good team to share the sense of responsibility is essential. There had been quite a few difficult conversations held this week in the course of this kind of work, and it's the kind of thing that you didn't really get taught about at University, something that simply comes with experience, and hopefully through great colleagues to learn from. (Here I should mention Brian Giblin, Sue Negas, Wendy Daniels, James Vignon, to name a few - who taught me so much about how to deal with emotionally charged situations in mental health). My learning continues, 10 years in to my professional career, and I can't wait to share that learning with my upcoming student! 

To finish the post, I should share this photo of a scene I saw yesterday on the main pedestrian shopping street here in the city, yesterday.

City Centre Meditation

You have to love these random things that go on here all over the city! 

Regards from New Zealand! 

WEEK 27 - Solution Focused Therapy, 6 months is up, & new volunteer position starts up!

So hello everybody!

I keeping hearing that winter is coming, the Christmas feel, lights and markets are up around UK towns and cities, and the weather is starting to get cold... well good bye to that world! Whilst I am looking forward to the warmth that a southern hemisphere winter may bring, I'm going to miss the idea of feeling cold and the chance of snow....

... so what is 'winter' going to hold for me? So far it means, artificial trees, Starbucks xmas paper cups, and most worrying of all, it means quite a few sightings of people wearing shorts in the work place! I had a discussion about this today with colleagues, who asked me when I would start to wear shorts for work? One of them seemed pretty shocked when I said, (unless I was doing sports with a client), I would 'never' be seen in shorts at work, as I'm from a place where it would be frowned on.... and I personally don't think it gives the right professional image for the kind of work we are doing. (I know I'm in palace were some people clearly don't share that opinion), and that's ok with me. I see plenty of people here walking down the street in bare feet (no shoes), it's a pretty normal thing here, not something I'm likely to do myself, but totally normal sight here! 

Training handbook

On to other professional matters, and I just wanted to share a little bit of one of the most interesting and possibly inspirational work seminars / training courses that I have been to in many years! 

SOLUTION FOCUSED BRIEF THERAPY - Delivered by Michael Durrant (An Australian Psychologist, but a nice Aussie!) This kind of therapy can be delivered (or certainly tried) with all kinds of clients or indeed person where people are seeking change. The basic idea is not to focus on diagnostic labels (a frequent conversation I have with my team psychologists) and ask very simple questions in a set procedure that uses only information provided from the person. There are no value judgements or suggestions from the 'Therapist', and done correctly, his kind of therapy can make the person seeking change feel really empowered. The style of questioning 'HOW DID YOU THAT?' and WHAT 'WOULD BE DIFFERENT?' offers a person to consider their PREFERRED FUTURE, and realise if they are actually achieving parts of that further already. The use of a 'MIRACLE QUESTION' is the bit I really like, but you have to make sure you get the wording right, or you can leave yourself confused! I already started trying to use this style of questioning with some of my clients today with some success! They always say that your clients know when you have been on training... and today was no different, as my clients were giving me 'that look' that said - you're being a bit weird today, asking me these odd kind of questions!

6 MONTHS IN - It was 6 months last week that I have been here (14th November), and that milestone probably would have hit me harder if I hadn't been on training! 6 months ago I packed my bag for an uncertain future, and now 6 months in, I have the beginnings of a new life, which includes some great upcoming travels, fun neighbours, a smaller waist line, and a local pizza store that knows my name! (I only go once a week, honest mum!) It also includes some interesting professional opportunities, which I haven;t been able to say for a good few years! 

Circa Theatre

I celebrate this week with 2 trips to the Theatre (Circa Theatre) by the waterfront. the second trip there on Friday Night was to see a 'Pantomime' - Cinderella. Pantomimes being an English Christmas tradition, I was surprised they kept a pretty similar theme in performance, with audience participation and poor jokes! However, the director thought it clever to use his own songs, wrote in a 'comedy duo' that were not funny at all - It was professional apparently, though maybe that was the problem - panto is often best done by amateurs! (Oh Yes it is!)

VOLUNTEERING: 

As the volunteering role with the Basketball group doesn't start up again until February/March 2013, I wanted to put my time to some good use other than doing healthy staff, or watching Homeland, NZGT and Glee! So I have started doing some 'youth mentoring' volunteering, for an organization here in Wellington. The general gist is spending time doing 'fun' stuff with young people / teenagers who have had, or have pretty tough lives for various reasons. I met the young guy that I will be paired with, this weekend and had 4 hours to kill. I have to say he was a great kid, and basically spent the most time teaching me about fishing, places in New Zealand and marine biology - he loves fishing! He pretty much gave me a guided tour of the huge museum here! I think this is going to be far more of a learning experience for me than the other way round! The volunteering process for this kind of work seems far more relaxed than my previous experiences, so it's going to be a learning curve I'm sure! Now I have to come up fun stuff to do with this young guy! 

Ok, so due to having to do some preparation for an upcoming presentation, and a 6 month report to the OT Board to have my 'scope of practice lifted, - the blog was a little late! Soon I'll officially be able to have students, supervise people and pretty much rule the world! - Well you get my point! 

Regards from New Zealand! 

Week 26 - 'Guy Fawkes Night' - Alice's Tea pots & reminders of life's fragility.

Waterside Fireworks!

Hello everyone,

I guess I'd just like to say a huge thank you to everyone who reacted to last week's blog by sending nice messages this week. My intention is always to try and share aspects of living and working as an OT in difference parts of the world, without too much censoring. So sharing a bit of personal information and reporting the good and bad is important.

This week there has been plenty of stuff happening here in Wellington, both within my OT role, and within my role as a Wellington citizen!

GUY FAWKES NIGHT

Mnday November 5th, (usually known to me as 'Bonfire night' in the UK), is known here as 'Guy Fawkes Night'. Most people I spoke to understood the history of the celebration (Guy Fawkes failed plot to blow up the houses of parliament - and he was executed for the attempt!). It's just the 'Bonfire' tradition, and the 'penny for the guy' (where children make a dressed up dummy Guy Fawkes) is not something that is done here.  

Guy Fawkes Fireworks!

My apartment friends!

So, I headed off to Wellington's Waterfront with some friends, see below, and whilst waiting for the grand 15 minute Firework display, we got soaked by a passing rain shower! Still, it was worth the wait as the fireworks were not too shabby! I've tried adding video to give you a flavour of the display!

The rest of the week, was pretty much a haze of working and trying to keep healthy by going to the gym! Slowly getting there! Wednesday night I went to the movies to see 'Ice Age 4 as part of the CANS FILM FESTIVAL as discussed in last weeks blog! A free movie for a can of beans! It's just brilliant!
FRIDAY FUN!

Tea Pots in Alice!

Another neighborhood get together was arranged on Friday night, starting at the usual 'Bangalore Polo Club'. Myself and few others who live, of have lived at my apartments, had a few beers, and a catch up about Wellington life...
As has happened in the past, we moved on to 'Boogie Wonderland' and the little side bar called 'Alices' - and the famous tea pot cocktails - named after the Alice In Wonderland characters. As the pictures below show, even with 'alcoholic' tea, you are still required to follow tea drinking etiquette.

Late night tea anyone?

 THE PHOENIX GO DOWN IN FLAMES

Today I returned to the now familiar 'West Pac Stadium' to watch my hometown team - Wellington Phoenix play their 3rd home game of the season. With a win and a draw at home, I was optimistic about the chances of a win. At just $32 a ticket (£16) it's pretty accessible sport for most people. The atmosphere of the 6,500 was a bit muted, and the clouds and wind were rolling around the stadium. Unfortunately, despite plenty of possession the Wellington players seemed to lack the desire, and often the ability to cross the ball into the penalty area, leading a dull game! the low temperatures helped the crowd stay awake long enough to see the away team (Central Coast Mariners) score a pretty good winning goal in the early part of the second half. Being the only NZ team in the Australian league it helps the Wellington fans have some pretty standard chants like: 'Same old Aussies, Always cheating!' 

The Phoenix enter....

An 'almost' moment!

IN REMEMBRANCE:

I'm very sad to report that on Saturday morning, I received a text telling me that one of my friends had died, after a long battle with cancer, aged just 33. I have seen so many families, in quite a few different hospitals watching the reactions of people's friends and families deal with this kind of event. It's never quite the same when you're in the situation yourself. Support comes in all ways, and I've been lucky to have that. So, to my friend, Reena, may you rest in peace, and may your family, friends, and fiancé feel your spirit where ever they may go. Your bravery, fight and spirit in the face of difficulty says everything about you. A reminder to us all, to look around and ensure that we don't take the important things for granted.

Regards from New Zealand.

Dan

Week 25 - Dealing with vicarious trauma, 'CANS' Film Festival, and Harry Potter comes to town (kind of)!

Hello Everybody!

Well it's been quite a week here in Windy Wellington, and probably one of the more difficult weeks I've had since being here. I'll talk a little about the work issue, then end with a more pleasant end to the week.

I knew after such a relaxing week away, I would come back to a busy work schedule, and that's pretty much what happened! Now working in this kind of work (Mental Health) can be emotionally difficult, especially with some of the people and illnesses that I have worked with in my career. Sometimes people have some unbelievably difficult situations, with all kind of challenging delusional beliefs, risk issues (drug & alcohol) or complex emotions and behavior (thoughts of suicide / self-harm). When working as a 'Care Co-ordinator' / 'Case Manager' it's hard sometimes to find the boundary of where your professional level of responsibility lies, for the safety of people you work with. Despite policies and procedures being in place, when working with people, there are always times when you might feel responsible for them. Even in the circumstances where you know where your responsibility starts & ends, dealing with other people's traumas, on a day to day basis, mean that sometimes you feel that trauma as if it's part of your own (vicarious trauma)... or at the very least, you need to recognise that you are using up your own (limited) supply of emotional energy to deal with other people's traumas. 

In the past, and still common in the health professions (especially in nursing), people have just accepted this as 'part of the job' - and expected to 'just deal with it'. This is an issues I always like to discuss with students and new graduates, as now we have to recognise and raise awareness of this issue and find ways to deal with the emotion of the process. Needles to say I have been having to deal with some quite heavy stuff this week, which has been draining for two reasons. 1) I just have not had enough hours in the day to feel like I'm able to do everything at work. 2) In past times, I have had good mates around and a fairly busy social calendar which helped me deal with stresses like these at work, but here my emotional supports are still pretty limited by comparison. Fortunately, my work colleagues, the few friends I do have here, and on-line supports have been great. A few gym sessions and a quiet weekend have also helped!

CANS FILM FESTIVAL

How to get a free movie ticket!

I heard of a brilliant event going on in Wellington this week, (and apparently it's a NZ-wide thing and been going on a few years). You've all heard of the International 'Cannes' Film Festival in France - well here they have a yearly 'CANS' Film Festival - It's on Wednesday November 7th, and if you take in a 'Watties' CAN to a participating cinema, they will give you a free ticket to a selected film! Being greedy I took 3 cans to the multiplex cinema at Courtney place and got 3 tickets to Ice Age 4 ! Bargain! what brilliant idea. For every can that gets handed in the cinema donates a can too, and they go to charity! 

HARRY POTTER COMES TO TOWN

For weeks now I had been wanting to go to one of the theaters here in Wellington. This week, on Halloween no less, there was a show on called 'POTTED POTTER' - yes I know what some of you  are thinking, but no, it was not a drugged up Harry Potter adult show! On the contrary, it was a family show, where they comically reviewed all 7 books on stage in about 80 mins, with just 2 actors! It included a mass game of Quiditch with the audience! I was joined by my neighbour, Kala, who kindly agreed to accompany me, to prevent me looking very dodgy as a 33yr old man sitting amongst a young audience! 

At the Theatre!

My neighbour 

FRIDAY NIGHT TV.... helped me to relax after a long week, and just to make me feel a little more at home, and quite old. TV1 had three very old English comedy TV shows on to make me laugh and chuckle the night away! Not only did the shows (guess what they are??????)

Friday TV

Friday night TV

Friday TV

Friday TV

= MR BEAN, FAWLTY TOWERS & ARE YOU BEING SERVED, have me laughing away, the Fawlty Towers episode had 'the' top comedy moment - Basil beating his car up with a branch!

SUNDAY CYCLES.... Saturday was a really crap day - weather wise - but Sunday was much better with sunny skies and another chance to get my bicycle out. I had already been busy at the gym - 10K run, 10k Cross-trainer, and so I added another 30k+ bike ride around the bays again. This is becoming quite a nice ride once I get my breath after going up the hills! Ice Cream always helps the ride too! 

Sunday Cycles

Not Sure what's happened to me since I moved here but I seem to be adopting the Kiwi zest for outdoor activity!

Coming up this week we have Monday - GUY-FAWKES NIGHT '(bonfire night as we know it in UK), Wednesday's CANS FILM FESTIVAL, and next Saturday might be having a whole new experience to share - more on that next week! I woke up for the Man UTD vs ARSENAL game, which was disappointing, lets hope Liverpool vs Newcastle is better tonight!

P.S. - I have been allocated my first OT student here in NZ - coming from Otago OT School in February for 6 weeks. I'm quite excited by this, as I haven't had a student for way too long! More on this to come! 

Regards from New Zealand!

Dan