Reality check

I have to admit that I came over here with false expectations. I see that now, but when you are excited about something, you are willing to overlook faults or, more likely, not go looking for faults you know must be there to some degree.

So as you get to know the real character, it almost feels goofy to think what you thought then. Don't get me wrong, I am still quite happy to be here. I just feel that I have gotten to know more of the real deal, not just some image of what I want it to be.

The loss of the luster really became apparent on a taxi ride back from Burwood Hospital (an revamped military hospital located on the northeast edge of town) to Christchurch Hospital (the main one smack in the center of town. Google map it). Because we occasionally have to bounce between them, they reimburse us for the mileage or they pay for the taxi trip. (This job is pretty nice.)

Point being that I found myself in another taxi, making this trip. Usually the driver is from a standard demographic, a relatively simple older guy who grew up somewhere on the south island, a nice guy who is satisfied talking about the direction the wind is blowing and the latest rugby score. But this time I was transported by a guy about 24 years old, an immigrant from India who had moved here two years ago with his wife. (Sounds like the flip side of a New York movie, right?)

Not too far into the trip, he asked me where I was from. I guess my accent fools no one. Next was the question as to my opinion of New Zealand. I gave my honest positive opinion and expected a similar one, so he caught me off guard when he said that at least it was a pretty country. Turns out he is not too fired up about the people. The racism was a little too great for him, which was strange because I had not seen any of it. He must have been hogging it all.

Turns out that the there must be a pretty good share of it. Doesn't make any sense considering the fact that this country is newer that ours, they really didn't have any slavery, the urban areas are very multicultural, and they honor the Maori heritage. The Maori thing is ubiquitous. Every sign (mottos, welcome, push) has a Maori interpretation. Whenever public land is sold, the Maori have first rights to purchasing it. Then there is the Haka at all the All Blacks rugby games, the Maori radio and television stations, special scholarships... You add on top of that that it seems no one is more than second generation Kiwi, so even if you were born here, a fair share of you friends must be from elsewhere. So it would seem that ethnic sensitivity runs deep here, maybe even too deep.

But our driver went on to tell me about the treatment he had received, especially through work. He was well-spoken, seemed fairly well educated, and had traveled a good bit. Nonetheless, he said he was regularly slandered. He particularly grumbled about how every passenger asked him where he was from and how long he had been there. I winced a bit, apologizing that I had asked the same only a minute before, but he shrugged it off, explaining how easy it was to tell the difference in the way that the question is asked. Usually it has the tone of, "What are you doing here?"

The absurdity of it came more to light with examples. Just a couple of weeks before, he had taken a boy-- sounded to be around six years old-- back to his parents' house. I don't know where he was coming from that his parents weren't with him, but the point was that he took the kid up to the doorstep and told the father the taxi fare, only to be met with the response, "I don't have to pay you. This is my country, not yours."

Even his cousin, who is a policeman here, has had similar problems. He got a similar retort as to why the tennant didn't have to open his front door when the policemann knocked to serve a warrant!

It's clear that both of them are in professions that expose them to the dregs of society, and that I was surprised by their experiences because I get a much better segment of the population in plastic surgery-- further support for my decision to abandon trauma and general surgery for hand surgery. In fact it is even better here than in the states, as doctors are held in higher esteem, trips to clinic are more significant, and they are grateful for treatment rather than suspicious. But I was glad to hear about different experiences and opinions of the country.