Friday Drinks

Here comes this time of the week again, that is symbolic of the entire work culture and inter-personal relationships at work place, in this magic land of New Zealand. The magic starts spreading its spell since the early morning hours of Friday, when everyone comes to work, carrying small packs of yammi goodies. There is this glow in people’s eyes, even though tired by the end of the week. Nevertheless, expecting something extremely relaxing and positive to happen , to finish off the week on a positive note.

The clock is ticking…., end of the day is nearing….patients countdown begins…tick-tock, tick-tock…it’s almost six o’clock…wine glasses begin to magically appear on the table in the staff room…lemons sliced…bottles…all sorts of different bottles…goodies are making their magical way from paper packs to the plates on the table…almost no patients left in recovery…one last effort…tick-tock, tick-tock,

It’s Friday “Drinks o’clock”!
Friday, 6 o'clock at work

"Friday drinks" is perhaps the most important time of the week, socially speaking. This is exactly the time, when all the informal conversations are conducted between colleagues themselves and also between employees and their management. This is the best time to hear about future plans of the company, hear all the recent "gossip", which is so vital for better understanding of the dynamics in the company, that influence each and everyone involved, directly and indirectly. This is also an opportunity to address some of a more sensitive issues in a very relaxed atmosphere, over a glass of wine, when all the formal boundaries seemingly unfold, but yet are there in a very gentle, reassuring way. And last, but not the least, this is the time to laugh, to learn about each other's non professional sides, get involved socially, plan extra activities and just to be reminded that people who work with me side by side also have humane lives and interests. As the famous saying goes: "Alcohol is a social lubricant!" 
I, personally, find that this little tradition, called "Friday drinks" turns my colleagues into my second family, in the country where I don't have any (apart from my immediate one). Realization of that is very essential for my existence. Every Friday NZ becomes a little bit more of a home to me... 
What amazes me the most is that not in any negative way this Friday mingling affects our every day professional relationships, but only makes our mutual trust and reliability much stronger. And this is completely contrary to the main stream belief in my homeland of Israel, where alcohol is strictly out of boundaries in any work places or between work colleagues, especially, the big bosses. This is not to say that people are not socializing at out of work hours, but not as a recognized institutional tradition. 
I find that "Friday Drinks" is only one of many examples of a Kiwi "Happy", "Easy going" nature. One other such example would be multiple dress-up parties. No, Kiwis don't need any special festivals such as Purim, for putting up absolutely awesome dress-up parties for adults even more then for kids. It involves all levels of society, from simple workers to top management. Here again, "hiding" behind the costume, there are no more boundaries or hierarchical restrictions. By the way,the amount of effort and thought that is being put into finding or creating a perfect costume, is quite remarkable. As far as the parties go, one for all and all for one!

Gastroenterology conference final dinner, 2014

Favorite movie character Birthday party, 2014

 ...and one more

Where do I see myself in all this, you may wonder...? Well...what started as an anthropological observation for me, I have happily adopted into my new reality. I find myself pleasantly concerned about my next costume or type of drink that I would like to try ,or the next place I would like to explore in the City. I must admit that I like my new "problems" more then the old ones, at times. The possible reason for that might be lying in Einstein's relativity theory:-) I like my new "problems" so much, because my reference point and my previous experiences are so complex. Everything is relative in this life!