THE FIRST LETTER

Christchurch, NZ

Kia ora,

Aotearoa. 

Doesn’t that sound wonderful? Wonderful as in how the word forms softly in your mouth and wonderful as in mysterious?

It means the land of the white cloud. By now I have noticed that it is even more under the blue skies. Exciting, faraway, intriguing New Zealand, Aotearoa. Humans in here are very recent arrivals, only 700 years. The nature is abundantly present, and fluorishing, like in eternal Spring, on the geographically unique land. I will share my thoughts on human influence later. That also is dramatically visible here. 

Are you a visitor here, many ask, and I say yes, on an adventure professionally and personally with my family.  I am new here and thus have fresh senses. I am curious and here for learning, learning emergency medicine (EM) in a country where that particular area of medicine has been established for decades by now. In Finland emergency medicine is very young, ten years, as a speciality. It is looking for its place and respect in the eyes of many other professionals. I will always have to earn my personal respect by doing a good job and respecting others but in the bigger picture it will be interesting to get the more grounded EM vibes here.

I am a wonderer of life, human beings. I am a doctor who gets to see human lives at their most fragile moments. I felt the need to expand my knowledge, to experience more not only in emergency medicine, but this globe, different cultures and language. So, I took my family with me from Finland and landed in Christchurch, New Zealand seven months ago. We live on the edge of the beautiful Ports hills and I work as a registrar in the Christchurch hospital emergency department. 

Welcome to follow my tangled, curious letters about (emergency) medicine, New Zealand, Finland, nature and life. I promise to be irregular, a bit unorganised, but open. I would love to do this in correspondence with you, so comment and ask questions.

I feel deeply controversial about doing this in English, a foreign language to me, but I wanted to extend these thoughts to allow my multicultural friends and work mates join the ride along with my beloved Finnish family and friends. There may come a time I translate, and elaborate, these in Finnish, but for now bear with me.

Ngā mihi, Reetta