16th-17th January 2018: Mandurah Road Trip

Getting ready for our mini road trip! Yesenia and I decided to make use of our break to do something out of the norm. We were the only ones in Perth and because of rather last-minute planning, the only place that we could find dog-friendly accommodation for was Mandurah. 

Staring at his aunty Yesenia. 

He's quite an easy traveller :3 

The Airbnb we stayed at! It was really lovely. A little pricey for 2pax but no regrets. 

Tofu loved it! 

The place was part of the larger property but we had a completely private entrance and fully equipped  space. 

Kitchen with oven, microwave, fridge, and stove. 

Lovely living area with television and a wide selection of DVDs. 

We prepared our lunch in the kitchen. 

Beach time! 

It was completely empty! Felt like a private beach. 

QT

Tofu really loved the huge space and waves :3 

Hahaha dying from the splashies. 

We had such a good time! 

This one did too. 

Leaving the beach to get home to rest. 

Scruffy puppy. 

"I'm so tired, must I be washed now....?" 

Yes puppy. 

After about an hour of vegetating we started blowing up our floaties for the pool! It took us... a good 30minutes or so. 

All ready! 

Majestic floats. 

Very sad attempts at self-timer pics with the floats haha. 

This guy had so much fun (we also made him swim in the pool which he was not impressed by haha). 

There were resident dogs who were the sweetest. 

They were a little old and not so interested in playing with Tofu but sniffed at him interestedly. 

Tired doge. 

Tired Yesenia hehe. 

It was really lovely. The sofa was also a pull out bed so we lounged and watched movies till we fell asleep. It wasn't the most comfortable but we were too lazy to move to the bedroom haha. 

Breakfast time. 

We were told that there weren't any visitors after us so we could check out at anytime. We ended up chilling till 4.30pm before leaving for Perth. 

Home sweet home <3 

Internet

A lot of things have been going on online these few days. I don't wish to name names because I do not want to add fuel to the fire and let the "story" spread even further, it has already gone way too far and so much damage as been done. It's really astounding how graceless and absolutely vile people can be. I really hope that the victim involved finds peace and recovers from this incident.

I have been looking back on my posts and realise that much of my posts consist of not much more than photo updates. It's such a shame because I think written documentation really adds more meaning to pictorial representation. But most of the pictures posted are very back dated because I rarely have the time to keep up with regular posts. I will try to improve on this because it makes me feel rather sad that this once-dailylog appears now to be more of a dumping ground for pictures. I still very much want to post them up because it's really nice to look back on, but I feel like I should give myself more in the way of written reflection.

In any case, a quick update before I get back to work:

• Done with the third clinical placement, this time it was an adult practical. I worked with patients with aphasia, mostly inflicted by stroke. It was a lot less stressful than the paediatric placement, partly I think because I went into this placement less "new", and partly because there was less to do in the way of behaviour management and preparation of games etc. I really enjoyed this prac and it has opened up the idea of working in the adult population a lot more for me. It has also cemented my previous feelings about the type of work environment that suits my personality. I think long-term rehab is really the way to go for me. I really cannot see myself working in the acute setting where continuity of care is scarce. Building relationships with the clients and helping to improve their quality of life is such an important part of the job to me.
• Tofu is now fully recovered from his vascularitis. He has many scars on his back and on his legs where the skin "died" and the fur has not grown back, but he is happy and healthy and that is really all I can ask of this sweet sweet dog. The fur that was shaven back for his surgery has been growing back slowly, you can't quite tell that it was shaven before now but it is still extremely short for a spitz. Behaviour-wise, he has been pretty much close to perfect with the exception of this new poop-eating habit that he has developed recently. He only does it when I'm not around so I suspect it has to do with boredom. I spent many weeks cleaning and scrubbing the floor for poop but I'm getting better at managing the situation by adjusting his meal times, so far things have been going well and I'm hopeful. 
• Uni in itself hasn't been a bed of roses but it hasn't been terrible either, I think I've been coping well despite everything else that has been happening around me. 
• I'm taking my driving test next Monday and am a little freaked out about it. I'm confident that I am a competent new driver but am unsure if I can really pass the test, stringent as it is. I feel a lot of pressure because lessons (and the cost of the test and rental car for the test) have been expensive and it would be quite a financial blow to me to have to take the test again. Moreover, the next available test date is in September and I'm in quite a time crunch, having just found out that I've been allocated to Cockburn for my next 4-day-a-week placement - that's a 4 hour commute (2 ways) a day if I can't drive. So ego aside, I have a lot of things banking on this test. I truly hope that I'll come through for myself. 

Sam is coming over in two weeks on his birthday and I'm really excited to celebrate his 30th with him. Cherry and her partner are flying in just the day after for a couple days so there's so much to look forward to in the immediate future. Currently though, I'm working on finishing up a lot of work in advance so that I can fully enjoy the time spent with them. I'll get back to it now and try to update more frequently here (: