Posted on December 1, 2010 - by Jennifer

Melbourne Diaries, Week 5: Remover of Obstacles

A succulent from ZenFX in St. Kilda

So, while we wait for our ship to arrive with a few framed photographs and pieces of artwork that will make our apartment feel more like a home, I have been trolling Melbourne’s markets and Salvos (Salvation Army stores) for something unique and affordable that would provide a little color and whimsy to balance the hyper-modern glass and high design of our apartment.¬† First, I thought, we need plants!¬† And since we are in Melbourne, I decided to indulge my love of succulents (think cacti, aloe, agave) which grow really well in this climate.¬† Succulents have always fascinated me because they come in such an array of colors and shapes and they have this sculptural quality that I love.¬† So, I found a local garden store run by a Chilean mother and son who also run a Bonsai school. ¬† The mother helped me pick out some plants and then I found some colorful pots at the Chinese Supa store. ¬†I arranged (and then re-arranged) them around the apartment. But, still, something was missing.¬† And then, quite by accident, I found the missing piece at the Chapel Street Bazaar.¬† The Chapel Street Bazaar is a paradise for the “trash and treasure” seeker.¬† It is a maze of¬† tightly packed stalls crammed with¬† painted biscuit tins from France and carved wooden chairs from Kenya and a giant plastic Marilyn Monroe and miniatures of famous “footy” players and‚Ķin Stall 8‚Ķa beautiful, slightly worn, carved wooden statue of Ganesha from Bali.¬† One of the things I love about the bazaar is that there is no hovering vendor watching as you dig through and around and over and under the heaps of items. It’s a sort of collective where every stall simply has a number and you pick out what you want and then go to a central counter where you pay and are issued a receipt.¬† So, you can wander and dig and never have to make polite conversation or feel like you’ve wasted some vendor’s time because if you’re not going to buy that stuffed owl you should put it back and move on, dammit! ¬† So, I was having a browse and wandered past Stall 8 and saw a sign that said “Everything 50 % off – one week only”.¬† The sign had its intended effect and I wandered in.¬† The items were mostly wood, from delicate japanese boxes to large sturdy tables.¬† And hidden behind several items and facing away from me, I spotted a carved wooden statue.¬† I had to sort of shimmy and squeeze my way up to it and then kind of wrap myself around a table to extricate it but it was worth the effort because soon I was holding a two-foot, hand-carved wooden statue of Ganesha, a Hindu god of special significance in south India where Akhil was born.

Ganesha, for those of you who have never seen an image, has the head of an elephant and the body of a human and sometimes has four arms.¬† Although depictions have changed over thousands of years, Ganesha is often shown with his trunk curving left, seated on a throne or dancing joyfully.¬† He often has a large, round belly and coupled with his elephant head seems very friendly and approachable, almost goofy (in spite of the weapons he is sometimes waving in his four arms) But, Ganesha has some pretty serious powers.¬† He is worshipped as the “remover of obstacles” and is associated with either placing obstacles in your path when you get too full of yourself or removing obstacles when you have the grace to ask for help.¬† He is also associated with art and learning, particularly with writing.¬† And “he” is sometimes depicted as a “she” since gender is much more fluid amongst hindu gods and goddesses, representing not biological sex but masculine and feminine aspects of our nature.¬† And, ladies, wisdom is a feminine aspect!¬† This Ganesha is different than most I have seen as he stands upright in a very strong and stately manner, like a confident warrior, but he cups his trunk in his hands very humbly. Really, there is something about the way the artist sculpted this Ganesha’s hands cupping his trunk that radiates grace – almost as if instead of you making an offering to Ganesha, he is making an offering to you.¬† I sort of fell in love. And at 50% off , we could afford it!¬† So, I brought Akhil back a day later and we agreed to take it home where it now stands in front of the white column that divides our living and dining area, welcoming visitors.

Ganesha and I plan our next move

So, now we had the “remover of obstacles” in our home.¬† And I did not want to abuse his powers – I just wanted help with a few small things like removing the obstacles to us getting wired for home internet.¬† Or the obstacles that apparently have kept the ship with all of our stuff from arriving in port.

So, first to the internet.¬† Because we do not want or need a home phone, what we are trying to get is something the Aussie’s call “naked DSL”, meaning we do not bundle phone and internet.¬† There is no fiber optic network here (apparently, they’ve just now realized it would be a good idea to have one so they will begin building the infrastructure soon‚Ķsigh‚Ķ)¬† Currently, DSL is the fastest available service.¬† Like many countries, Australia used to have one government run company, Telstra that provided all services.¬† The marketplace has now been opened up to competition but, much like Verizon in the U.S., the competitors all have to use Telstra infrastructure.¬† So, that complicates things.¬† And if you want to go “naked”, for reasons I don’t understand, it is more complicated (why is it always more complicated to do something simple?).¬† We did some comparison shopping, contacted a company, signed a contract, and they informed us that we should have internet in about 3 weeks.¬† At which point I started yelling things like, “Isn’t someone just flipping a switch somewhere?¬† How can this take three weeks?”‚ĶAnd Akhil sighed.¬† Then, about a week or so later, the company informed us that they were having trouble “finding our building”.¬† Now for those of you who have not seen the pictures, we live in a massive steel and glass building on a very major road in Melbourne.¬† We are kind of hard to miss.¬† So, at this point I’m yelling, “What the f***?!¬† We’re the massive steel thing.¬† Should I stand on the roof and wave?!” ‚Ķ Again, sound of Akhil sighing.¬† Now I do understand that they don’t literally mean find the building on a map.¬† But, rather locate the network of wires and cables (or maybe glued-together plastic straws?) that route a signal to our building and more specifically to our apartment.¬† But, their feeble explanation that our building is new seemed, well, feeble.¬† The building is, after all, 4 years old.¬† So, you’d think someone would have “found it” by now.¬† But our building manager tells us this is a frequent problem for many service providers. ¬† Strange since other people in our building have phones and television and internet so clearly the building has been “found” before and you’d think someone would jot it down somewhere for the next time.¬† So, by now I am appealing to Ganesha to please remove the obstacle of UTTER INCOMPETENCE.¬† Unfortunately, Ganesha cannot radiate signals from his elephant trunk detectable by this company and he also cannot use his four arms to strangle them, but he wisely found another way when a colleague of Akhil’s loaned us a phone so we could be “found”.¬† We connected the phone and dialed a number and, the company said, “Oh, there you are!” and the problem was solved.¬† Mysteriously, it still took another two weeks for us to have the internet.¬† Ganesha and I just rolled our eyes and sighed‚Ķ

In addition to helping us with our internet problem, Ganesha actually also helped me overcome another obstacle – finding a yoga teacher in Melbourne. ¬† Everyone kept telling me that there is “heaps” of yoga in Melbourne but I had tried a few studios and done a lot of online research and just wasn’t finding what I was looking for.¬† Lots of hot yoga.¬† Lots of Iyengar yoga.¬† Lots of yoga to tone and sculpt.¬† But, not what I was seeking.¬† Well, when Akhil and I returned to the Chapel Street Bazaar to get the Ganesha, I noticed a little sign for a yoga studio above the bazaar and some flyers from the teachers who offer classes there.¬† So, I took the flyers and had a look and went back for a class a few days later.¬† The studio space was inviting with¬† purple, red, and gold fabric draped across the ceiling to take the edges off what had been an industrial space and statues of Hindu deities and buddhas surrounded by offerings of plants and flowers.¬† It sort of reminded me of the ashram where I did my first yoga teacher training.¬† The other students who arrived for the class greeted me, something that had not happened at the other studios.¬† And the teacher, when he entered, radiated a warmth that kind of made me want to stay in his presence.¬† As it turns out, Andrew of Divine Grace yoga is a really gifted teacher and one of his gifts is storytelling.¬† He has been al lifelong student of mythology and he gives every class a theme and weaves in references to stories modern and classic, from Star Wars to the Ramayana.¬† He uses these epic stories in an engaging and sometimes provocative way to probe what we are really seeking on our yoga mats. Together with his insight about alignment and his sense of humor, the practice feels really complete.¬† So, I am enjoying my time in his classes and know that he will help me grow as a teacher.

So, with Andrew to guide me on the yogic path, it was time to turn my attention to another aspect of our health and well-being here in Australia – navigating the medical system.¬† Having now visited a chiropractor, an ObGyn, and a dermatologist, I feel qualified to make a few observations.¬† First, I should explain that Akhil and I are not the norm here in Australia.¬† The norm is to participate in the public, Medicare system.¬† This covers all the basics for Australian citizens.¬† It may cover the full cost of a service or a part of the cost. Whatever it doesn’t cover is called the “gap” and you are responsible for paying the “gap”.¬† One thing that is great about the system is the financial transparency.¬† Any website for a medical practice lists the rates for services.¬† If you call and speak to a receptionist, she or he can immediately tell you the cost of any standard service. So, you know the cost right up front. And with doctor’s visits, time is literally money.¬† So, a 15 into consultation costs “x”amount and a 30 minute consultation costs “y” amount.¬† It’s all quite cut and dry.¬† Generally speaking, everyone pays out of pocket immediately and then gets reimbursed by medicare.¬† In some cases, there is a process called “bulk billing” where you can actually have your claim processed on the spot and get an instant refund of the amount owed to you.¬† Akhil and I are kind of anomalous in this system because we live and work in Australia but are not medicare eligible.¬† We are instead insured by Akhil’s company who contract with an American health insurance company to cover their employees, who in turn contract with an Australian insurance company to cover us.¬† Whew!¬† What that means is that we have ONLY private health insurance which pretty much confuses every doctor we go to see because here private insurance is largely supplemental, meaning it is generally purchased to covers extras like acupuncture or remedial massage rather than the basics.¬† But, confusing as it can be for the system, the up-side is it allows us to skirt some red tape.¬† In Medicare, like in an HMO, you are often required to have referrals to see a specialist in order to be reimbursed.¬† But, when you have private insurance, you do not need a referral.¬† So, I basically just do the research, pick a doctor, and go see one.¬† And our private insurance is fairly comprehensive, covering not only doctor visits and hospital care etc but also chiropractic care and other wellness services.¬† I for, example, have not paid a dime for my multiple visits to the chiropractor.

Our Australian health insurance provider, GU Health, are also¬† really, really nice and helpful.¬† I’m going to repeat that.¬† They are really, really nice and helpful.¬† I called them often in the beginning because the whole “pay out of pocket” thing was new to me and I wanted to be certain that we really could go to any doctor that would see us and that as long as we had the correct paperwork, we would be reimbursed.¬† When I called, I was quickly able to connect with a person who patiently answered my questions.¬† In one instance, I called to ask whether a certain prescription would be covered.¬† The woman i spoke with was hugely apologetic in explaining that it would not be.¬† In fact, she seemed much more distraught than I was!¬† When I told her I was new to Australia and not sure how prescriptions were priced here, she took some time to explain that the price of generics are government regulated but that¬† prices for name brands might vary from store to store.¬† And then she said, “I’m not speaking now as a representative of GU Health but I personally go to the Chemist Warehouse because they have the best prices.”¬† So, to recap, rather than saying, “No, we don’t cover that.¬† Tough luck.¬† Next. ” she was able to step outside of her role as representative of an insurance company to offer me advice as one shopper to another.¬† As a result, instead of getting of the phone feeling aggrieved that GU Health does not cover the pill, I got off the phone feeling like I’d gotten a valuable tip about where to fill my prescriptions.

And so, prescription in hand, I headed to the Chemist Warehouse which is not, in fact, a warehouse of any kind but rather very similar in appearance to your average CVS with cosmetics and toiletries and bandaids and vitamins and a pharmacy at the back.  I approach the pharmacy and before I can even reach the counter I am met and greeted warmly by a soft-spoken, young Chinese man who asks if he can help me.  I present my prescription and he ushers me to the counter and asks if I have taken this medication before and when I say no he begins to explain how to take it and then tells me he will fill the prescription and asks my name.  In less than 5 minutes, he calls my name and presents my pills and then he takes an additional 5 minutes to review how to take the pills to make sure I understand.  I am so conditioned to impatience or indifference from pharmacy staff in the U.S. that I felt as if this pharmacist had donned white gloves and presented the pills on a silver tray.  And this is the discount pharmacy!

Now, to briefly step back in time, I got this prescription during an appointment with my ObGyn. To refresh your memory, you pay based on how much time you spend with the doctor.¬† And because the lovely Dr. D is aware that I don’t have medicare coverage (and is therefore concerned that this visit may not be covered), she wants to save me money.¬† So, she is warm, friendly, informative, and FAST!¬† I mean I sat down, we started talking, and it was like someone hit the fast forward button.¬† She spoke progressively faster and faster, so I spoke faster and faster, and towards the end we were laughing and smiling and talking but at this speed that was STEADILY INCREASING until I felt sure that one of us wasgoingtorunoutofbreath (exhale).¬† The physical part of the exam was equally memorable because of something I did not have to do.¬† I did not have to put on a flimsy, scratchy paper gown.¬† I repeat.¬† No gown.¬† When she had to examine my bottom half, she had me remove only the clothes on my bottom half.¬† When she had to examine my top half, she had me remove only the clothes on my top half.¬† A radical concept.¬† No uncomfortable fumbling to tie plastic strings to keep a big piece of tissue paper with arm holes in place.¬† No shivering while waiting to be examined in said flimsy “gown”.¬† No pile of paper gowns to dispose of at the end of the day.¬† So‚Ķwhat’s the word?‚Ķsensible.

My visit to the dermatologist was also memorable.¬† I was a little apprehensive about this appointment because I had to call a lot of doctors to find one that could see me immediately.¬† For most, there was a 3-4 week wait.¬† So, you kind of wonder if all the other docs are so busy, why does this guy have an appointment tomorrow?¬† But, since I wanted an immediate appointment, I decided to roll the dice.¬† Turns out, it was a good call.¬† Dr. P is great.¬† Originally from South America but has been practicing in New York.¬† So, his voice is silk but he tells it like it is.¬† It’s a winning combination (in my view).¬† And he’s new to Melbourne, which I think explains the openings on his calendar (or diary as its called here).¬† Dr. P and I kind of bonded during the exam as we compared and contrasted New York and Melbourne.¬† Dr. P confided that he loved Manhattan but was horrified to pay so much money to live in an apartment with mice.¬† Now, I should explain that Dr. P had no nurse or assistant during this exam.¬† So, there he is in his expensive suit and tie leaning over me and apologizing for the tie hanging in my face .¬† Eventually he concludes that he will need to biopsy an area on my arm.¬† He confesses that he is used to having an assistant for these procedures and that he is still adjusting to how things are done in Melbourne but, philosophically, he remarks that there is no sense in complaining and that he just needs to get on with it.¬† So,¬† he does everything from injecting the local anesthetic to stitching up the small wound to applying the bandaid to my “booboo”.¬† I tell him that this stitch (literally just one) is my first ever stitch.¬† After this he explains that although he has done the biopsy to confirm he is pretty confident already in his diagnosis and wants to give me some more information about what he thinks I have.¬† So, he suggests we look at a website together and he’ll review the information with me and then I can review it later at home.¬† But rather than turning to a desktop computer screen, he then pulls out his smartphone. Apologetically he explains that the office internet is down (I’m really not trying to hammer Australian internet service but, come on!).¬† Now, I’ve got an iPad with 3G in my bag because I carry it with me everywhere in Melbourne.¬† And I’m not really sure of the protocol here.¬† I don’t want to upstage Dr. P but should we really huddle over his smartphone when I’ve got this faster, prettier device right here? ¬† After a few awkward moments¬† of him struggling to pull up the website on his phone,¬† I just went for it and said, “Um, I have an iPad if that would be easier?”¬† Dr. P said, “Really?¬† Here?”¬† So, me and Dr. P took out my iPad and found the website he wanted and I sort of felt like I was in an Apple add.¬† I mean, there’s that¬† actual add for the iPad where a user is flicking through¬† 3-D views of bones and when I used to watch that in the U.S. I would think to myself, “Yeah, right, I’m sure doctors are just pulling out iPads left and right to diagnose their patients.” Well, um‚Ķ.maybe‚Ķ.

Now, I know what you are all thinking – she has made it through an entire “Melbourne Diaries” without once mentioning food.¬† Hah!¬† Suckers.¬† I was just saving it until the end.¬† Now that we have a few more pots and pans (purchased) and a few more dishes (borrowed) and a much better working knowledge of our appliances, we are starting to cook more fancy.¬† One of the logical things to try cooking with here is fish because you can get it fresh from the markets.¬† I’m still trying to figure out the whole “grams” thing so I have to sort of fake it and say, “Enough fish for 2 people, please” and when they throw out a number, I nod wisely and say, “Yes, that sounds about right” having no real idea whether it sounds right or not.¬† But that did not stop me from deciding to try making fish in a “parcel” which involves literally wrapping the fish in parcel made of wax paper and putting it in the oven.This recipe called for a white fish which is then essentially steamed inside the parcel with a mixture of leek, fennel, and vanilla bean.¬† I told the nice man at the fish market that I was going to make fish in a parcel and asked for his recommendation and he suggested rockling.¬† So, rockling it was.¬† And I don’t want to brag too much, but when all was said and done, the fish turned out kind of amazing.¬† So, I’m pretty sold on fish in a parcel!