There were some differences in how the doctor acted. We literally walked into his office to be treated. He sat at his desk, and we sat next to him. We didn't see any nurses. The doctor went and got our chart and called us to his office. He handed me his card and asked what was wrong. I liked that I didn't have to explain to 3 different people what was going on with my kid. The visit was short and casual. I don't even think the doctor was wearing a lab coat. I get the impression that in the US, the doctors are the top dog. It didn't seem like that here. They were just another dude doing their job.
Adelaide is very nice. It is a city, but not a crowded and hectic one. Adelaide is one of those places that people say is boring or dying, but to me it seems like a nice little college town. Like a lot of Australian cities, it is built around the CBD (Central Business District). The difference with Adelaide is that it is a planned city. The CBD is surrounded by parkland which gives way to the suburbs. All of the suburbs are somewhat self contained with nice places to eat or shop. At one time, Adelaide was a big manufacturing town where they built super cars. Unlike our hubs of manufacturing, it didn't see the marked decline when a lot of it went overseas. Instead, houses prices have continued to increase, although not at the rate of other cities.
Mr. T. has a aunt that lives here. We went to their house the day after we got here. They live north of town in quiet little suburb overlooking the sea. There were grand kids for for the kids to play with. Mr. T.'s aunt bought the kids each a toy which was a nice surprise for them. In the last couple of days, the kids are rarely more than 2 feet from the toys that they got. We had a bar-b-que and some sticky date cake. This little branch of the family is much different than the other sides I have met. They have their own business that keeps them traveling a lot. They all seem to get along well with the kids and in-laws all working together in the same shop assembling wenches for marine use.
Mr. T. still has one set of friends that live in Adelaide. We had a really nice day with them prior to taking sicky sickelstein to the walk in doctor to get his antibiotics. In hindsite, which is always 20/20, I should have taken him in when I had the chance. In the future, I am going to fill a script for antibiotics for both kids prior to going abroad. Not that in Australia they don't have access to medicine, but it just takes so much danged time for something I could get cheaper and fast at home.
Today we did a tour through the wine country. We went all around where Mr. T. used to train when he was at the National Institute of Sport here. It was some very lush and beautiful areas we saw. We went to the Jacob's Creek winery. As we were walking in, I heard Peanut say “oohhh, there are worms everywhere.” Sure enough, there were little black milipieds all over the place. You couldn't really walk without stepping on them. Evidently, the wet weather sends them out of their hiding holes. The visitor's center for Jacob's creek is really beautiful, so it was a little odd to be stepping on milipieds the whole time. At least there weren't as many inside as there were outside. The winery also had en enclosure with some native animals. We got to take pictures of kangaroos and emu's. BabyP was so excited when one of them got up and hopped around.
We rounded out the evening with another visit from Mr. T's aunt Shauna and Uncle Dean. It made me feel good that they would travel down to the suburb we are in to see us before we left. Maybe we didn't scare them off the first time afterall. Tomorrow we head out for Perth to final visit Mr. T.'s mom. I can't wait to see her.
During the day, Peanut pit into a nectarine which made her tooth loose. She was pretty concerned about it for a while. She understood the whole premise of the tooth fairy, but I think the tooth hurt her more than she cared to let on. Later in the trip, we found the tooth next to it was also loose.
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