"Do you have the time to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once?"

I came home from work today and found a random voicemail message waiting for me on Skype. A voice that said something like,"Hi Allison, this is Sam (?) just trying out this Skype thing, sorry for calling you...." I clicked on his Skype userID which was unclothedmars and discovered his name is Sameer and he lives in Minneapolis. I have no idea who he is, or how he found my skypeID, or why he called me, and proceeded to leave a message- because I assume I am as much of a stranger to him as he is to me. As I said - random.

The physio that I work with asked me this morning whether I have been enjoying my time in England thus far. And I said that I'm still adjusting, given that everything hasn't gone exactly as planned, or exactly as I saw it in my head (but then again, what ever does?)...but I said that I've been excited lately because I've started to plan out my trips and vacation time. And I reflected out loud that that was important since the other half of my reasons for coming over here, my professional reasons, were currently kind of falling flat on their face. Which of course begged some sort of explanation for Annette, the OT Assistant and Angelica, the physio, even though my Falls Group patients were waiting for class to begin (well, not mine per se, but Ann is just back from vacation, and asked me if I wouldn't mind doing her class again this week). So I said, you have to understand, I was working in an inpatient rehab hospital in NJ, where on average I had 13-15 patients a day ("a DAY?!" was the reaction from Angelica), and I'm not learning anything sitting here trying to look busy every afternoon. At which point Annette chimed in to say, yes I think we don't really need a full-time OT here, Ann and I manage, and I can see where this isn't of benefit to you professionally. So then I mentioned that I also wasn't aware before I arrived that the rotations are doled out based on preference sheets that each of the Basic Grade OTs hand in two months or so before the next rotation - and that Barbara tries to be fair in assigning the rotations. Thus, if someone has put down that they want stroke rehab for the past two or three rotations and not yet had it, they would get it over me, the newcomer. So Annette told me I should make it clear to Barbara that I had come over here specifically with the intention of getting experience in neuro and specifically stroke rehab, and that I deserved to get stroke rehab (that second part is Annette speaking, not that I should say to Barbara "I deserve..."). She went on to say the last Basic Grade they'd had at the Day Hospital had moved on to the stroke rehab unit and really didn't have the skills to have done so. As much as I was flattered by Annette's implied compliments, and as much as I REALLY want the stroke unit, it burns me up because I do respect what Barbara has tried to do with the rotations. They are in place for OTs to learn, and you'd have all kinds of problems if you didn't do the assignments as fairly as possible. Meaning, you can't be assigning all the "choice" rotations always to the same OTs, even if they are the most skilled or best performers or whatever. The Basic Grade position is meant to help new OTs learn, and if they aren't challenged, they won't gain clinical experience. Which gives me another reason to scream silently AGGGGGGGH because my almost a year's worth of experience in the US amounts to pretty much nothing...I should be entitled to apply for a Senior II rotation based on work experience (and my skills, now that I've seen the level the other Basic Grades are performing at!), but you know us American OTs, who knows whether we'll be any good!

Sorry...but that made me feel better :) Anyway, so I was saying I've been happily making travel plans recently, and Angelica was saying how great that was, that I'm able to at least fulfill the personal goals I had in coming over here. She's talking about how she'd like to live in NYC for awhile, but won't be able to work there as a physio, or most places for that matter, so she's feeling a bit trapped and stagnated at the moment. I've been talking with her about Italy, which she might join me for, but if not, she said she's definitely up for a long weekend in Prague. I'll be in Oxford for part of this upcoming weekend, I've been invited out to Kristy's sister's house for the following weekend, and I'm hoping to make plans with Nicole Levesque pretty soon - she arrives on Friday! Hawaii and Vermont in July, someplace beachy in August (Turkey, Spain, Morocco?). I'm thinking Oktoberfest as well, maybe the Christmas markets in early December, and who knows how many weekend trips in between. Like the Scottish Highlands this summer...mmm, that would be nice.

In the short term, my roommates and I have just about decided on throwing a small Cinco de Mayo party (bringing a bit of that 'Americans will take any excuse to celebrate' culture to England!), small because we each probably only know 3-4 people to invite. I'm excited about the menu of course, and was trying to persuade my roommates we should have one just so I could have an excuse to make homemade guacamole and homemade sangria! Fiesta!! Or better yet...TEQUILA! Duh-duh-da-duh-da-duh-duh-da (you have to hear the sax in your head, I can't do it justice with da's and duh's)