Humaine Klinik Bad Saarow

Well, I have now officially had my first experience with a German Emergency room. Yesterday afternoon I fell on the ice and caught myself with my right hand. It was really a cartoon fall, the only thing that was missing were the bongo drums as my feet slipped on the same place a good three or four times before falling. Oh, it was in the middle of the school courtyard, too, in front of approxomately the entire student body. Anyway, I convinced myself that it wasn't that bad, and went on with my two lessons. After which my elbow was completely swollen, and I couldn't really move it at all. Great. Well I got my stuff and went home and asked Klaus if he could find a doctor for me and take me there. Of course at this point it is 3 o'clock on a Tuesday, so all the normal doctor's offices are closed. So we had to go to the emergency room at the closest hospital, in Bad Saarow. After a total of almost 3 hours waiting time for two x rays and a bandage, I got sent home again with three extra strength ibuprofen and phone number to call in the morning to see when I should come in to the D-Arzt. Since I fell at school it is a work related accident, and I have to go to the doctor for that. I got there around 9:30 and had to wait again. Even though this is a hospital, it's also for a small area, so there is actually only one waiting room for the emergency room and the other doctors, and there were multiple people who we recognized from last night who were all back too. When anyone walks in or out of the waiting room, everyone greets them, and they have to greet back, of course. When the doctor saw me this morning, he didn't take any more x-rays like they said might happen, and actually only needed me there to see my elbow and to giver answers like "yes, it hurts there." The rest of the conversation was directed at the secretary who typed up a report of everything that was wrong with my elbow. I now have a pretty ugly elbow brace (dirty gray with blue stripes around the elbow. If I was athletic and had this as a battle wound, it might not be so bad, but as it is, I am really glad that I have to wear long sleeves.) Today my arm can already move more than yesterday, so I am hoping it will continue that way and heal quickly. After coming home I managed to get my arm in the sleeve of my coat for the first time since I fell, so that was also an improvement. Anyway, that was sort of the shock of the day, and hopefully of the week. I need to walk very carefully across the ice to class now, and I hope that all of you are warm and well.

Wintry Weekend

I know, I talk a lot about the weather, but it's been sort of impressive lately.

I mentioned last time all the snow we just got. It was such a pretty snow, all the rooftops and trees white again... Well Friday evening it rained, just enough so that everything was immediately frozen. Spiegeleis was what everyone was calling it, mirror ice. It kept me from wanting to go down the icy stairs to the microwave in the laundry room, because walking on ice that slippery with a dish in the hands sounded like a disaster. Because of the ice the fairy tale evening was cancelled, since so meany people didn't want to drive over. Saturday it kept raining, and got up to a good 3 if not 5 degrees. So the entire town was slush. Imagine walking through an exploded snowcone factory. Huge, car sized puddles of slush. And with it being so warm, people were walking around without jackets. But this was the warm air right before a cold front. That night it got down to 12 if not 15 degrees below zero (all in celcius over here, of course.) My friends and I went bowling and then dancing, and as we were walking home in the wee hours of the morning, the puddles were still in the process of freezing. But since they were puddles of slush, there wasn't that sheet of ice to break through into water beneath, the whole thing was freezing slowly. So when you stepped on a puddle, it bent. The wierdest walk home I have had in quite a while. And normally on our street when it snows, the Florschützes and other consciencious neighbors sweep a walking path in front of the house, so there is a strip of ground free of slippery packed snow. But you can't really sweep slush, and since it all froze in the middle of the night, the whole street now is a good chunk of ice. But it's not even flat ice, all the tracks and footprints in the slush froze that way. So it is pretty much impossible to ride a bike on. I have to walk my bike up the corner where there is a cleared sidewalk, and then I can start to ride. And since we have such a quiet street, you can always hear when a car is coming, and for quite a ways. But on Sunday you could hear the cars for a lot longer, because first you heard the crunching ice for a good 30 seconds before you could hear the motor. It got down to negative 18 last night, and is up to 10 during the day, I think, and will be hitting the 15 mark or so again tonight. The nice part is, it is really sunny. The not so nice is that it is not worth it at all to go walking outside. People here are sort of excited about it, because it hasn't been this cold since 1978. Ooh, lucky me. :)

Hope everything is well with you all, and think warm thoughts for me!