Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Our new island car + Doctor's Visit

The best advice I got while looking to buy an island car was, "There's going to be something wrong with any car you buy here, so pick your wrong." It's true. There was something wrong with almost every car we looked at. Whether it's suspension, paint job, transmission, etc., the island is rough on cars. Roads are different here than in the states. There are speed bumps everywhere because there are no stop signs or traffic lights. It's just different. I decided I only wanted to buy a car from a student selling theirs. One reason is to help the student out and also I feel that a student would be more honest than a local. A lot of our friends knew we were in the market for a car with a MAX budget of $3k. Whenever a car came up for sale on the classifieds someone would tag me or Jordan..well, 40 minutes after I was tagged we went to look and test drive the car. Then we bought it. It's a 2005 Hyundai Atos and Bradley has named it Blueberry.
We had a bit of Buyers remorse because not even a day later the car was not starting. Luckily I married a jack of all trades and he was able to take an afternoon and get it back up and running. Jordan needed to tension the belt and replace the battery. So now we have the convenience of getting around the island. Now, if only my anxiety of driving around the island would lessen up...

In other news, Ian went to his first doctor's appointment on the island. I was a month late for his 4 month immunizations (oops). We went over to Mullet Bay Medical Clinic which is the closest doctor's office to us. Dr. Deketh is Dutch, and seemed very nice. We went into his office first for a consult. It may have been his culture, but he wouldn't even pick up Ian. I had to put him on the scale and straighten out his legs when he checked his height. He didn't listen to his heart or look in his ears or anything like we are used to. The office reminded me of like an old-time movie..everything was very old fashioned. For instance, he pulled out a very worn old chart to show me Ian's growth percentages and wrote out the immunizations on literally a sheet of notebook paper. Whereas in the states we are used to seeing all these fancy diagrams on iPads and whatnot. The nurse administered the shots in his booty and he barely even cried! I remember with Bradley he always had immediate reactions to shots- super fussy and feverish. Ian- no issues. Anyway, it was a fine experience! The immunizations were free under the Dutch government and I only paid for the office consult which was $33, so comparable to an office co-pay. I will take him back there next month for his 6 month shots.
Ian is happy and healthy!!

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like you have something akin to National Health. Cool!

    ReplyDelete