I arrived in Prince Rupert on February 28th for
my 6 week contract. It was nice not to
have to travel two days to get here. It
was a quick and easy flight, but then you take a bus, to a ferry, to a bus then
to town. This is what happens when you
build towns and airports on islands.
Silly.
I’ve actually spent time in Prince Rupert 20 years ago. I used to date someone that lived up
here. Rupert is the center of the
province, coastal. It’s a solid 18 hour
drive from Vancouver and one of the rainiest cities in North America. I was always here in the summers so I’ve got
a whole new appreciation of how much it rains.
Not much of the town looked familiar but it has been a few decades. My first stop was the pub for lunch. THAT was still there and still the same.
Being next to the ocean has always been comforting to me and I was excited to
not feel as claustrophobic as I did in Inuvik.
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| stuffed |
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| not |
The town itself is about 12,000 people. They have housed me in a three bedroom
apartment right across the hospital so I have roughly a 90 second commute which
is nice. There is a huge flight of
cement stairs to and from town though and as I don’t have a car I need to be
efficient with my trips “downtown”.
Lugging bottle of Perrier in ones backpack and bags full of groceries up
these GD stairs in the rain and with wind got a little tiring. There
were occasional cab rides, not going to lie.
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The hospital is well organized. I’m one of two obstetric RN’s on at a
time. There are only 15 or so births per
month so I’ve only done a few deliveries.
I have a smaller workload then the rest of the RN’s, so 3 acute care
patients, and that is in case an labouring woman comes in I can easily hand off
my workload. I certainly can’t complain
about having 3 patients, and I have felt pretty guilty when the rest of them
are running around taking care of 6, so I do my best to help out and answer
call bells. So the work itself has been
pleasant. My schedule on the other had
has been horrible. Prince Rupert wins
for the worst rotation in this last 9 months of travel nursing. I haven’t had more than 48 hours off since
I’ve been here. I’m working a few
shifts, then 24 hours off, then a few more, then 36 hours off etc. I haven’t worked more than 3 or 4 shifts in a
row but still, not having a stretch off to regroup has just wrecked me. I’ve done probably 75% night shifts (all of
these shifts are 12 hours) and a lot of quick 24 hour turn arounds from nights to
days. Blah. I’m more burnt out than I’ve felt in a long
time.
Having said this about my schedule I really haven’t had a
chance to do much of anything up here. Not
having a car in a bigger city is a challenge too. I went to the gym quite a bit, (it’s called
“The Gym”) so that helped keep me sane.
I got a roommate from Nova Scotia who had a car because she was working
with Public Health so we went on a quick hike in the woods one day. I mentioned to my roommate that I worked with
a nurse from Nova Scotia up in Inuvik.
She said, “is her name Sherri?”.
Yes! Small world.
There are some fabulous, and I mean fabulous sushi
restaurants around town. Some of the best
I’ve ever eaten actually but VERY expensive.
Dinner averaged $40. It’s hard to
justify when I can get an 18 piece sushi special for $7.95 back home, but damn
it was good. Rupert has totems scattered
throughout town too, it’s a nice reminder that were are in beautiful coastal
BC.
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| I don't know how these bands of colour showed up. It's like the totems energy is oozing out. |
The highlight of the trip was an adventure to a small
community across the harbour from Prince Rupert called Dodge Cove, population
30. My roommate and one of her coworkers
were heading over so I got my butt out of bed after a night shift and a mere 2
hours of sleep to get the noon water taxi with them to this tiny hamlet. It was a Saturday that we went but
apparently the Monday-Friday water taxi captain is the very ex boyfriend that
brought me here 20 years ago. He was my
prom date back in 1995! The one and only time I mentioned his name was in the
community of Dodge Cove and they knew exactly who I was talking about because
he shuttles people back and forth into town in the water taxi for groceries
etc. I was ok with not running into
him. I told the weekend captain to tell
him I say hi and that I look fantastic ;-)
The water taxi was picking us up at 5pm again. I wasn’t quite sure how we were going to fill
the afternoon, especially in the pouring rain.
We were met on the dock by two characters in various stages of rubber
slickers and boots. My roommate’s
coworker hadn’t been to the community for 5 years and didn’t know many people
there herself, and I’m not entirely sure if even she knew who these two
gentlemen were but I got the impression they were the unofficial mascots of
Dodge Cove. They were waiting for us,
introduced themselves and we walked to Bill’s house for coffee.
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| These guys look far grumpier than they were. They weren't a fan of cameras I don't think... |
There are no cars in Dodge Cove, just a
gravel lane that all the houses are lined on.
It made for a quaint little place.
Bill’s house was eclectic to say the least. A bachelor pad for sure, full of books,
comics and knick knacks, all a little dusty but with character. Bill and the other guy, his friend Jan, were
kind of like the odd couple, full of sarcasm, quick wit, but gentle souls, who
were engaging and genuinely interested in why 2 nurses wanted to come to Dodge
Cove. I was just as interested to hear
their stories about how they came to be
living in such an obscure place. Jan was
a Public Health officer in the Canadian Military, originally from Denmark, Bill
was originally from Texas and ended up working in the National Guard in
Alaska. To be honest, I was so
enthralled by these stories alone, I still never really got how they ended up
in Dodge Cove. Regardless, it was
remarkable to hear how many of the people were Americans. There was a couple from Atlanta living in a
yurt down the lane. I mean really, how
does this happen?!
After spending probably 2 hours in Bill’s living room having
coffee and cookies (we were told to come bearing cookies) next stop was to Lu
and Jerimiah’s to see their garden. Lu
is a librarian in Rupert and Jerimiah is a seasonal spot prawn fisherman down
in Howe Sound and also planes wood to sell, maybe? Not sure. They had lot of wood lined up in
their yard. He was a forester in his
earlier years and said he started felling trees at 12 years old! We had stinging nettle and mint tea from Lu’s
garden and it was delicious. Again, we
spent two hours talking with total strangers who could not have been more
gracious and engrossing. I think I
probably asked them as many questions about their life then they asked about
mine. I got Jerimiah’s number so next
time he comes to Horseshoe Bay after spot prawning we are going to meet at
Trolls and have some fish and chips and a beer.
It’s like I had known these people all my life.
We made one more quick stop before the water taxi was
picking us up. Another couple, but I
can’t remember their names, sleep deprivation was kicking in. They were lovely too, had beautiful house, we
had a nice glass of wine and went to catch our boat back to Rupert. We gave big hugs to Bill and Jan, our two
mascots. It was such an inspiring
day. I love hearing the stories of how
people came to be where they are, how couples meet each other, how and where
they have lived. It makes me want to be
as fearless as they are in travel, in life, in love. It was a beautifully random day and I won’t
ever forget it. Sometimes it’s the most
simplest things that touch you the most.
I leave for home tomorrow.
I excited for my chapter of travel nursing to be over. There have been a lot of anxiety provoking first days of work. It’s been a great 9 months but tiring. I’m definitely working more than I ever would
at home. I have become very adaptable to new environments and that potential excites me. I’m home for 12 days and then
off to east Africa! I’m spending 3 weeks
volunteering at a medical clinic outside of Arusha, Tanzania then heading to
Zanzibar (an island off the coast of Tanzania and part of Tanzania) for a week
of R&R, then heading to Kenya to live with no running water or electricity for 3 weeks with the Maasai tribe and also volunteering and then 10 days in the
Seychelles. They are a group of 115
islands in the Indian Ocean north of Madagascar. I’m pretty excited. All this hard work paid off. I’m back to reality and my real job in
July. I’m looking forward to getting
back into a routine and being closer to friends. I have definitely had my bouts of being
homesick.
I won’t be blogging in Africa as I won’t be bringing my
computer so this is bye for now. I’ll
try to catch up when I come home for those of you not on Facebook, but for now,
this part of Tonya’s Big Adventure is coming to a close. Thank you for reading about my adventures.
Carpe Diem.
