The hospital has been wringing every possible shift out of Mark before he's gone for good, so he worked all week again, covering for Lynn who's on leave. Sherry finally had her first Orthopaedics appointment this week, and the surgeon suspects she not only tore her MCL, but her ACL and meniscus as well! She also got a new "RoboCop brace," which keeps her knee much more stable, but is a bit unwieldy. Sherry wasn't able to get the car back to Mark at the hospital that evening, so he decided to walk home instead of hailing a cab. It was a nice night, and the harbour looked absolutely beautiful as he crossed the new bridge. The port was still buzzing with activity as a cargo ship was loaded, a few fishermen were out on the breakwater at the marina, and more than a few startled rabbits hopped across Mark's path. The walk took him about an hour and 45 minutes, finally arriving home just before 2am.
Container ship getting topped off
Tauranga Bridge Marina in the wee hours
Exhausted after a long week, Mark slept in this morning while Sherry took Ro to Drury Park. As Ro played with a few other kids at the park, a few teenagers in sleeping bags poked their heads up groggily, looking perplexed as to why their slumber was disturbed at 7:30am. "They obviously aren't around little kids much," Sherry and the other mums observed of the teens' poor choice of places to crash. As usual, Sherry got a lot of attention at the park due to her brace, attracting unsolicited comments from anyone who's ever had a knee injury, sharing their war stories and scars. Even after a year, we are continually reminded of the stark differences between NZ and the USA: here, the people sleeping in city parks are teens on holiday!
Kite surfers taking advantage of a windy Pilot Bay
Ro took this
Ro played at the pool for much of the afternoon, hanging out with neighbor Sharon's grandkids. After Ro was fed and bathed, our babysitter Teagan came over with her girlfriend. Since Teagan only had a learner's permit, her friend drove. Leaving the Mount late on a Saturday night with a restricted license would have been inviting trouble from the police, so we got two sitters for the price of one. Ro didn't mind the extra attention one bit.
Ro jumps into Sharon's arms
We hopped a cab into Tauranga to attend a little going-away get together for Mark thrown by David, his fellow ED doc from the States. David had quite the spread, so our Kiwi and British house officers got to try some American delicacies such as Buffalo wings and chili slaw dogs. Since David and Sherry both grew up in Asheboro, small world stories abounded as they discovered all the people and places they both knew.
David's long search for "American Mustard" was a success
Andre & Cindy sample their first Carolina-style dogs
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