Eau De Prince George

The sweet yet sour smell of skim milk powder, part chemical, part organic. It wafts across the valley and settles thinly over everything, permeating the environment. Apparently its from the pulp mill, the billowing towers you can see from most parts of town. As I open my front door in the darkness of early morning I get smacked in the gizzard both by the sharp, biting cold accompanied by the tangy odour singeing my nostrils. I've nearly been up here three months now, granted with a short interlude in Uganda, but it will rank among the best rotations of residency.

Its a strange medical community Prince George, like none other I've seen, they may have missed a memo. There's no open shaming and ridiculing of residents. No pointless scut work to help you build character. The attendings genuinely seem to care about your learning. Strange, very strange. Invites to obstetricians' houses to 'drop by whenever just to hang out', you tend to see your attendings in a different light after competing against them and their kids in Wii dancing.

I didn't know why everyone seemed to care about the HUGE solar flare that happened last week. Northern lights dumb city kid. Shimmering fluidly across the sky, only fading next to the full moon. PG is positively charming, I listetned to a home grown white boy reggae band on Friday night, not something I would have done in Vancouver. Although, unfortunately I started mocking them with the lead guitarist standing right behind me...shoot. Next to my front door are a pair of Sorel boots, snowshoes, hockey skates and cross-country skis...it just depends how much time I have and how cold it is.

The cold was a shock to my now pansy-fied Vancouver-accustomed system and the irony of spending an hour digging my car out of a snowdrift so I could go for a swim in the local pool was not lost on me. Also, FYI, snowshoeing at -32 C is not recommended without significant toe frostbite protection, my eyelashes were fluttering with ice at the end of it. But the benefit of the all too accessibly snow is that 15 minutes after you get off work you can be out at Otway skiing for a few hours, either as the sun sets, turning the clouds yellow to peach to brilliant orange or under the brightness of the stars above.

Whereas at other community rotation sites where residents have the highest chance of being called a ‘tard’ (as in retard) or ‘cretin’ for their OR skills, in PG you have the highest chance of being called ‘sweetie’, ‘buddy’ or ‘love’ and fed by the frequent OR ‘food fests’ to within inches of your life with delicious homemade dishes. I felt affirmed, respected and embraced as part of a team. Although I didn’t expect it, I would absolutely work here in the future if given a chance, my soul fund has been topped up.

And now back to the big smoke and the baby mill…well, with an Ecuadorian interlude that is.