Did I mention my preceptor brought me her own bike?

I think it's about time for an explanation of why Dawson Creek is so awesome.

The people here are so nice. SO NICE. Like, go wildly out of their way to make you feel welcome and awesome. 

To start?

Without my asking, my preceptor found me a place to stay. When I got to said place (the lady is a retired RD herself), turns out they weren't really planning on charging me rent, despite the fact that I was going to be here for 3 weeks. When I asked her about it (and she'd already been super flexible, since I got here a month early after a last minute schedule change), she waved her hands and said, 'We can talk about it later. You can be my guest!' And it never came up again.

Cue jaw drop. I really can't see that happening in the lower mainland. They treat me like their kid. I eat dinner with them every night (which is delicious!), they always ask about my day, they make mashed potatoes without milk for me, gave me an old pair of sunglasses when I said I love them, took me around town to see the farmer's market and other cool places, and the lady even came in today to tell me she washed my sheets and towels (I'd already done them this weekend, but whatevs!) They even put my bike away if the shed is locked and I can't get in.

The farmer's market was awesome. I got free tea and free fresh-roasted corn. I also bought a jar of crabapple butter, because let's face it, it's apple butter but BETTER.

Ze Swiss bakery

Dinosaur footprint!

We went to a pioneer village, but it was closed.
Up here, that doesn't mean you can't go in. It just
means you go peek in all the windows at no charge.

Which leads to how super nice my preceptor is. I mentioned I was going to see if I could borrow a bike from someone, and this weekend, she came by with her bike, bike lock, and helmet and said she'd pick it up in 2 weeks when I left, took me up to see the wicked cool windmills, and took me home with her to feed me dinner.

There's like 32 of these windmills all lining the top of a hill, maybe 100 m apart from each other. We went for a walk up to see them in the scorching sun; until today it's been 25-27 degrees Celcius everyday. It falls to about 2 degrees at night, the range is just bizarre, and yet when I go running at just over 0 you can't feel the cold. What everyone says about dry vs wet cold is totally true.

Being the only intern at a very small site has some serious perks, too. Today, my preceptor had a 3 hour meeting, and there was no point to my going. Did she give me set tasks? No. She basically said 'you have your own patients or you can help in the diabetes clinic. Go to.' True enough, I have 3 of my own patients already under way, and am doing chart reviews for 2 more which will also be mine. Most of my patients are in reasonably good shape (nothing too confusing for my first few), although I just had one go from a bit stubborn and totally with it to completely non-responsive and potentially palliative in under a week. I also slipped into the DEC for a bit just to help out since the actual RD was in said meeting. The diabetes nurse is fantastic, and asked me everything she'd normally ask the RD, always checking first that I was comfortable handling it. My preceptor, of course, has to sign my charting, but she just goes up later, checks it, and signs. It is partly to due with the fact that I know my way around a hospital, and partly due to the fact that she's supervised me a lot already with these guys and knows what's going on, but it's nice to be trusted :-)

That said, I did manage to tick off, annoy, or frazzle a unit clerk, a nurse, and the kitchen staff all in one day. The worst part? It was a totally legit reason to be mad in each case; I should have done something differently. At least now I know, and when I got home there was this lovely pooch to give me some love and furry cuddles:

Lola

Next time: CHETWYND. Also, the lovely husband of the lady who agreed to take me flies his own little plane, and wants to take me up maybe this weekend. Cool and a bit scary.