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Well hello again!

It feels like forever since I last posted…almost two months ago! It definitely wasn’t my intention to wait this long but I’ve been rather busy.

I spent the first week of September visiting my sister and her family in Rochester, New York. Then it was back to Ohio to get things moved out of my apartment and into a storage unit. Since I wasn’t going to be working in the area, it didn’t make sense to keep an apartment. When choosing the storage unit, I wanted one that was climate-controlled and big enough that I could set up my garment racks, dressers, and shelves in it. I didn’t want to have to look through boxes when I make pitstops in Ohio to exchange items between contracts.

Once the storage unit was found, I spent the next couple of weeks slowly moving things into it. At the same time, I was in the process of selling the car I had been using. I was also interviewing and working out details with the Au Pair agency. All of this didn’t leave much time to write.

Then, on October 7th, I flew back to Germany with my child and this time, Omi (my mother) came along!

Quarantine Baby

At the time of our arrival in Germany, children under the age of 12 had to go into quarantine for 5 days. This even applied to infants. Luckily my mother and I did not have to quarantine since we are both vaccinated. In order to make the most of the time either one of us could leave the apartment, I booked us an AirBnB right by Jungfernstieg in downtown Hamburg.

I’ve visited downtown Hamburg many times but usually only for day trips or I’d be in the suburbs visiting family. It was nice to be able to leave the building and be in the middle of the action. I let my mom be out and about most of the time. I spent my time playing with my child or crocheting (I’m really into that at the moment).

The Car Seat Saga

When I did leave the apartment during nap times, I spent most of the time looking for and buying cloth diapers. The car seat I had checked in at the Cleveland airport didn’t make it to Hamburg when we did. I had fastened the entire cloth diaper collection I had into the seat before checking it. I wasn’t about to buy disposable diapers. Luckily, I found some muslin cloth diapers and a new diaper cover I quite liked.

Three days later, I received the notification that they had found the car seat in Amsterdam and would be sending it to Hamburg the next evening. This would’ve given them a whole day to deliver it to the apartment (a 20 min trip from the airport) however, the night before our planned departure, it still hadn’t arrived. There wasn’t anyone I could call either, it was all done via email with the airline (not the baggage handlers).

I ultimately gave them the address of my uncle’s place and told them I’d have to rent/buy a car seat in the meantime since we had a long driving trip ahead of us. They said the car seat was already with the delivery service and that they would inform them of the new address. We took the train to go pick up my uncle’s car that was parked at my grandparent’s house. I went to a children’s store fully expecting to buy a new seat but the owner was so cool and offered to rent one to me instead.

Can a car seat earn airline miles?

Several days later, I received a call in the middle of the night (luckily unnoticed since I silence my phone at night) from Cleveland. The voicemail informed me that my car seat had made it back to Cleveland and they were wondering where they should send it. I called the baggage department back and actually got the same guy on the phone that left the message. We agreed that he would send the car seat back to Hamburg and that it would then stay there until I came back to drop off my mother for her return flight.

Luckily, this saga has a happy ending since I was able to retrieve the seat when I dropped off my mom.

The Germany Road Trip

The three of us covered quite a lot of road… about 2000 kilometers or about 1250 miles. The map below doesn’t include all the stops because Google Maps wouldn’t allow me to add more stops. You can get a pretty good idea of the distance we covered.

For my American friends, driving from Hamburg via Stuttgart to Munich is just a bit further than driving from Milwaukee, WI to Pittsburgh, PA. However, driving that distance in a European country means spanning various cultural differences in dialect, food, landscape, and traditions.

We had a fabulous time visiting family and friends along the way. Below are some pictures from our journey!

The First Illness

During the second to last leg of our tour, we were in Göttingen, the town I went to medical school in. Amongst other activities, my child and I went to visit some of my college girlfriends who now both have daycare-aged kids. We had a great time visiting, catching up, and playing with the kids. The day after our visits, however, my baby started the morning off by vomiting up all the milk they had just consumed. They then continued to frequently vomit copious amounts over the next two days. All that counseling I had done with new parents during residency when they were dealing with their baby’s first illnesses was taken from theory into practice. At one point, I was feeding just drops of pumped breast milk at a time with a little dropper bottle in the hopes that my baby would keep it down.

Many more outfit changes and long snuggles ensued before my little one felt better. Luckily, we didn’t have any baby vomiting incidences the day we traveled back to Hamburg. Unfortunately, now I had become a bit nauseous and developed body aches. The driver seat heater in the car was much appreciated. Fortunately, I didn’t have to vomit. I can’t say the same for my poor mother. She was not feeling well at all the night before the flight and I was contemplating changing her flight.

Luckily, I had a small home pharmacy of Zofran, Protonix, and Ibuprofen with me that got us through it. I felt back to normal the next day and my mom managed her flight back home fairly decently as well.

I guess I’ll have to be a bit more specific when it comes to “sharing is caring” with my kid. Sharing your germs is not ideal.

So what’s next?

As of right now, I will be in Germany until the end of December. I have a few more people I want to visit. I’d also like to explore a bit more of my immediate surroundings. I haven’t often been a tourist in Germany since I spend so much time visiting family and friends. I’m hoping to see a few new places and revisit a few old ones. Pre-christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year. I wrote about it last year. You can read that post here. I’m so excited to be in Germany for it again this year. It’s been 6 years since I was last here to enjoy the Christmas markets. With the way Covid is currently looking, I should be able to enjoy some markets again this year.

I have a few ideas for things I’d like to write about. I’d also like to share more of Germany with you as I explore it. It definitely shouldn’t take another 2 months before my next post. But you never know what life throws at you.

Hope you are happy, healthy, and well!

mfg

Leaving Rapid City, South Dakota

Svikki MD

I officially wrapped up my first assignment as a locum physician! It was a great experience and I am glad I headed out to South Dakota for 6 months. Sure, it would’ve been even nicer in a non-pandemic world but even with a raging pandemic, I had a really good time.

On my last day in front of the critical access Lead-Deadwood Hospital

Each assignment I do will teach me new things about life, medicine, travel, people, and so much more. Even though it was only my first assignment, I’ve learned a few things for future assignments.

Luggage: I arrived at the airport in Rapid City back in October with a full suitcase, a full weekender bag, a full carry-on suitcase, and my purse. I left with the same amount of luggage. However, I shipped three medium-sized boxes of stuff to my dad’s and mom’s places. I really didn’t buy much on my own (except several books) but with Christmas and my birthday occurring during my assignment, a few extra items accumulated. Lesson learned: leave some breathing room in your luggage on the way there to allow for room for items that will accumulate.
Wardrobe: I packed about two weeks’ worth of business casual clothing. Only a few items were for casual wear. I really should’ve asked what the dress code was, especially during a pandemic. I ended up wearing scrubs to work every day! At some point, I stopped wearing my fancy Fig scrubs because I didn’t want to have to run to the laundromat and do laundry constantly. So I wore hospital scrubs daily. I could’ve left all those business casual clothes at home which were most of the contents of my large suitcase. Lesson learned: inquire about dress code. If business casual is required, curate a week’s worth of wardrobe that mixes and matches to minimize items packed.
Textbooks: I packed about 6 medical textbooks with the intention of working through them during the 6 months. I at least opened each book, some more than others. It was too many options though. I also packed several reference books. As you can imagine, this led to a pretty heavy weekender bag. Lesson learned: focus on 1 or 2 books to work through so it’s more realistic it’ll be done. I found that many of my reference books come with online access, so I activated them all and can access them through an app on my phone or computer in the future instead of schlepping them with me! Also, UpToDate is usually my first stop anyways… if you know, you know.
Hobbies: similar to my textbook situation…I packed too many different art supplies: acrylic paints, watercolors, India ink pens, pastels. When faced with too many options, it felt intimidating to start anything legitimate. I did use some of the items for Christmas and Birthday cards but not enough to justify packing all those things. Lesson learned: limit art medium to 1 or 2 options and focus on improving those skills during the assignment.

Family Time

Due to the pandemic, friends and family weren’t as free to come to visit me in South Dakota as they otherwise may have been. Two friends did make it out and I am grateful for that. It was fun showing them the area. Now, I’m happy to have some time with my family before my next assignment starts.

Dairyland

I flew to Wisconsin from South Dakota to visit my father and his wife. It also happened to be Easter weekend so my father’s wife’s children plus partners came to visit. It was a great feeling being surrounded by a fully vaccinated crew of people (except the two small children… but children probably won’t have to wait too much longer to get vaccinated hopefully). The weather was gorgeous and we even went on a boat ride on the lake. I stepped into my role as Easter bunny once again (it has been a while) and hid the eggs for the kiddos. Being able to sit around a table and have conversations with people was so lovely.

After that weekend, I headed towards Ohio. I made a pitstop for the night at my friend/co-resident’s home about halfway along the route. She has an adorable golden retriever that loves to cuddle… bliss!

Buckeye State

Now, I’m spending time at my mom’s place in Ohio. We’ve had a couple of days of really nice weather. I’ve already visited my peeps at my residency. It in no way feels like I graduated 8 months ago. Talking with the other residents about their clinic schedules, I can still very viscerally feel the anxiety associated with 15-minute appointments, precepting, and trying to stay sane. It gets better, my friends!

My mother and I did a little Goodwill run yesterday. I’ve mentioned before how much I love thrift stores. The environmental benefit of reusing clothing, the wallet-friendly prices, and supporting local organizations are just a few of the perks. It’s also so fun not knowing what you’ll find! I found a viscose H&M dress that still had the original tag. The original cost of that dress was more than I spent on my whole purchase. The other purchases were a beautiful rayon jumpsuit from Lucky Brand, two super soft cotton tank tops from Old Navy, and a cotton pajama set from Victoria’s Secret. At retail prices, that would all cost at least $190 (estimated from a quick online search of comparable products on the company websites). I paid $27 for everything. Each piece fits perfectly into my existing wardrobe and fills a void.