I’m the only kiwi that I know of in the neuro theatres. The ODP had loads of fun on my first day after we had a chat about his recent DIY projects at home. Apparently he’s made himself a patio. Much hilarity when I asked him about his new deck. Variations on “my wife loves playing on my big new deck” went on for the rest of the day. It was as much as I could do to bring the conversation back round to the weather.
Another day, a registrar asked me where I was from. When I said New Zealand, she very excitedly said “Oh the surgical fellow is from Australia!” “Be still my beating heart!” I thought, but I didn’t say anything sarcastic to her because she meant well, poor thing – and actually, when I went into his theatre later on, it was quite nice to hear a semi familiar accent. He picked me out as a Kiwi straight away. I did feel slightly guilty later for sabotaging him in front of his boss by giving him something radio opaque to put behind the patients skull when he was looking for the trigeminal nerve under II, but it was a useful learning experience for him. I’m sure he’ll be grateful when he’s had a chance to reflect.