dominion and deceit

Romans 7:21-24 (NIV)
So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;
but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

We find the solution in chapter 8 :)

some final shots...

...because I just can't help myself.

{sunrise at 0600 hours}

{leaving work early one day}

{the view from my driveway every morning}

it's good to be back, but also quite exhausting. i guess i haven't quite adjusted back to the fast-paced life of the city ;)

Last week in the country!

In one week, I'll be on a bus bound for home. I can't wait. As lovely as it is being surrounded by the ocean, I cannot explain the compelling force I feel every morning as I drive to my tutorials and see the TransWA busses at the terminal.

Yesterday was a bit of a housewife day for me- grocery shopping, cooking, baking, dishwashing, ironing. I have learnt that being a housewife requires a lot of frontal lobe processing. Really, there is an awful lot of executive planning going on- and if not, then there is an awful lot of food wastage. Fortunately, it has been a stepwise learning process from my elective experience, and I am managing to cope reasonably well.

{rice for dinner}

{cake for dessert}

I also had about 2 minutes' worth of fishing before my hook and sinker broke off and that was the end of it. I was quite upset and I imagine I must have had a very dark expression on my face, but I was slightly cheered by the friendly country folk who said things like, "you look very professional, did you catch anything?" and "did you leave any fish for me?". It's a nice change from "welcome to Australia", and "you speak beautiful English".

The folk here are very friendly. And the nurses are wonderful. I know I've already said this, but I am definitely going to miss having the beach at my doorstep- nice, quiet, small, and absolutely lovely. It has that special quality of your local kopitiam- knowing that your house is just a stone's throw away.

Of course there's always the flipside; not being able to ring a friend and ask them to come over and hang out. It's something that I hardly ever do, but it's nice to have the option. Either way, that's one thing I'll miss- the comfort of proximity.

Verse of the day- 2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (KJV)

the empty house

people keep asking me how i'm finding it down here. the short answer is, i really like it. it is very beautiful and peaceful. i have never ever considered myself a beach person, but i can already see how i will miss it when it is time for me to leave.

i guess the only real downside is the fact that i'm here alone. it is a shame to be surrounded by beauty and have nobody to enjoy it with. having said that though, i've really been blessed with good company. i now understand why people throw 'housewarming' parties- it really does make a difference living in a house full of warm memories.

here are some photos i took when j was in town:

{observatory point}

{twilight cove}

the learning here is pretty good too. there are regular (good) tutorials, and lots of hands on experience. i spent all day today consulting patients, with the gp standing in the corner. i usually put in very long hours, but today i actually managed to get a proper lunch break and leave by 5pm! i ended up taking a walk along the jetty, and look who i saw:

{sammy the sealion!}

i eventually turned around to walk back because the sun was setting:

just as i was nearing the end, one of the ladies urgently asked me to turn around, so i did...


we took our cameras out and snapped for a few minutes, but my photos do no justice to reality. eventually i simply stood and watched as the large, ethereal moon floated over the distant archipelago.

rural!

Hello from rural Australia! I'm going to be living in the country for the next four weeks as part of my rural rotation.

It's been surprisingly good (and busy!) so far. My parents drove down behind the bus (not directly) to settle me in, so I've been trying to spend as much time with them as possible. This involves trying to surreptitiously not be present at the practice.

Unfortunately, today TWO GPs requested my phone number. I knew this day could not be avoided indefinitely.

{me & my parents at a rather overrated little beach}

Most people are very friendly here. I spent the day with my allocated GP today. He is a most eccentric character, and I very much like him. Examples:
- he tries to sneak up from behind me when I call to ask where he is
- he takes me on home visits in his land rover, and when I point out rather primly that this is barbaric and I am inappropriately dressed in stockings and a pencil skirt, he pats a handle and says "there's the monkey bar, go on, up you go"
- he has a dingo (who followed us for the home visit)
- he answers his phone with "batman speaking", often followed by "I'm in the batmobile"
- he teaches, and also lets me get my hands dirty (PR and curette today, with the promise of future proctoscopy)

So... that's it in brief. I haven't really returned home yet so I'm not sure how I'll feel about having a big, empty home all to myself. More on that later, perhaps.