Glühwein & Kartoffelpuffer Please!

Time really flies when you’re busy! How is it Sunday again already?

Svikki MD

I’m slowly morphing into a hospitalist. My clinic hours are now reduced to 1 PM-3 PM daily. The rest of the time I am in the hospital seeing my patients. I’ve asked for a small office to be put together for me. I didn’t want to keep occupying the nurses work stations and also needed my own space to be able to dictate and work without nursing bells constantly going off. Having an office on the floor will allow me to be close to the patients and nurses though. In all of the hospitals I worked at in Germany, the doctor’s office was on the floor with the patient rooms.

During residency, our office space was in the office building next to the hospital. That creates a lot of distance between you and your patients and staff. During residency, we’d often only be on the floors to pre-round and rounds with the attending. We would manage everything else over the phone or computer from our workroom throughout the day. That made it feel more like an office job than a clinical one. So, I am happy to be getting a little space on the floor to be amongst the action.

My census has remained pretty stable at 7-8 patients. A few of my swing bed patients feel more like acute care patients with things that have come up throughout the week. Having sufficient time in the hospital has made these changes very manageable however.

More Christmas traditions!

It finally started to snow a bit again yesterday. I find snow totally appropriate in the middle of December and welcome it. Having my tree up since last weekend and turning it on first thing when I get home has been really nice.

Christkindlmarkt – Weihnachtsmarkt

If we weren’t in a pandemic and I wasn’t in South Dakota, I’d be spending my evenings or weekends visiting the Christmas market! Germany is going into a new, stricter lockdown which probably won’t leave much room for Christmas markets this year. And honestly, it’s ok,…we can go one year without. Living in the USA, I’ve gone many Christmas seasons without visiting one and I have survived. It’s for the greater good.

Historical background

The forerunner of the Christmas market as we know it was Vienna’s December Market in the middle ages. It was first recorded in 1298, when citizens were granted permission to hold a Krippenmarkt during Advent. Open-air winter street markets were associated more specifically with Christmas in Germany, with the first Christkindlmarkt taking place a century later, in 1384. This was in the eastern hilltop town of Bautzen, Saxony. These early markets started by only selling meat but evolved to provide other everyday purchases, and eventually seasonal treats, decorations and crafts – accompanied by singing and dancing.

The Guardian – 11/29/2018

Growing up in Wisconsin, my family had the annual tradition of us all packing into the Suburban and driving to Chicago to visit the Christkindlmarkt there. I believe it’s the biggest Christmas market in the US with authentic German/Austrian/Swiss vendors. While living in Germany, we would go to the Christmas market so often after work and on the weekends. We would go to different towns to check out the different markets! Besides browsing the stands for little gifts or ornaments, there are a few must consume items.

  • Glühwein – mulled spiced wine! Makes you feel warm and happy inside. The non-alcoholic versions are pretty good too. It’s not just about the contents of the mug but very much about the mug itself. You pay a deposit on the mug that you would get back if you give it back. We would collect a mug each year to take home. During Medical school, we collected the glass mugs and played Glühwein-Pong with them.
  • Kartoffelpuffer – potato pancakes! Greasy hot potato pancakes topped with sugar and dunked in apple sauce. I am a HUGE lover of potatoes in many forms, Kartoffelpuffer is high up on the list as one of my favorite.
  • Crepe – very thin pancakes! Although French in origin, these are often found on Christmas markets as well. You can get them sweet or savory. I’m an all-year-round crepe lover and it’s a must when visiting France, but during Christmas market times, it’s an easy and fast snack to eat between Glühwein.
  • Do you have any favorites when visiting a Christmas market? Let me know what they are in the comments section below!

Family Photos

Our family didn’t do the typical American Christmas holiday card. We did however, often try to come up with a reason to dress up pretty extra for Christmas. We had a year were we all dressed up as “royals” and another year we had a Christmas Prom theme, complete with pine tree and ornament corsages and boutonnieres. As children, we’d usually be put in matching outfits for a picture. I definitely plan to continue this tradition one day with my own children.

On Wisconsin!

I’m going to head out on a little walk before snuggling into a warm blanket on my couch, lighting three candles on my Advent wreath, and watching a Christmas movie. I hope everyone is staying safe this holiday season! I’ll be back next weekend with more German and family Christmas traditions!

mfg

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Exploring Pahá Sápa

I know I am not alone in having spent the last week much differently than I thought I would. Here’s to hoping everyone stayed safe over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I know it was hard not doing the big family gathering. My family did not get together from various states to celebrate together and that sucked. But it was the right thing to do. As I try to make the best out of every situation, instead of a party of 10+ people, I spent the holiday with one very good friend of mine.

But first, I had to work Monday and Tuesday. I was on call both days… my 4th and 5th days in a row.

Svikki MD

As my hospital census keeps growing, I needed to restructure my schedule. It was no longer feasible for me to have an open clinic schedule from 8:30AM-5:00PM and manage a hospital census of 6+ patients… at least not without spending every waking minute in the hospital. A reason I chose locum work was to avoid that very scenario.

Going forward, my mornings will be spent working as a hospitalist and my afternoons will be spent in the clinic. This will allow me to completely focus on the hospitalized patients and I’ll be able to round with the nurses and ancillary services. I look forward to seeing how this works. Depending on needs in either the in- or outpatient worlds, I’ll adjust accordingly.

Pahá Sápa

Pahá Sápa is Lakota for “Hills that are Black” aka the Black Hills.

Google Maps

The Black Hills National Forest is located in the western part of South Dakota and extends into Wyoming. The area is considered sacred land by many Native Americans.

For a bit of orientation, here is a closer view of the Black Hills with some key locations marked:

Google Maps

Deadwood

My friend and I set out on our adventure Wednesday. The first stop was naturally Deadwood! As I still don’t trust most people to follow hygiene recommendations, we didn’t go into any restaurants or casinos in Deadwood. We did walk the historic main street. We also found a fun wood carved chair to sit in and be the biggest tourists.

Custer

I rented us a remote cabin near Custer for 4 days. We arrived in the dark but we could feel we were in the beautiful middle of nowhere. The cabin was GORGEOUS! My favorite part was definitely the fire place in the living room. Our hosts had a pecan pie waiting for us. It was much bigger than it needed to be for two people but I wanted a cabin that actually looked like a cabin (lots of wood), was remote enough to escape artificial lights to view the stars, and had a fire place. This place checked off all the boxes.

Cozy fire at sunset

Crazy Horse Memorial

Our Thanksgiving day was jam-packed. Our first stop was Crazy Horse Memorial. I had stopped by many years ago while on a two day trip to the area with a friend, but we didn’t really experience all there is to see at the location.

The story of the memorial is fascinating. Once it’s finished (not likely in my lifetime), it will depict Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, on his horse pointing to his tribal lands. A Lakota elder named Henry Standing Bear commissioned Korczak Ziolkowski to sculpt the memorial. He wanted his people to have a memorial of one of their heroes.

Korczak devoted the rest of his life to the memorial. His wife Ruth joined him and their 10 children all pitched in too. Korczak turned government funding down twice because he did not trust the government and feared they would overturn the memorial’s plans. After Korczak died at the age of 74, his wife Ruth took over as CEO. She made the decision that Crazy Horse’s face should be completed first instead of the horse’s face as Korczak had planned. She felt this would increase tourists visiting and thus increased income to fund the project. Ruth died in 2014 and her daughter Monique became CEO. She works with three of her siblings and three of the Ziolkowski grandsons.

The Memorial and so much more!

The grounds also house the Indian Museum of North America, the sculptor’s studio, a restaurant, a gift shop, the Native American Educational & Cultural Center, and The Indian University of North America.

It is a great place to learn more about some of our Native American brothers and sisters and appreciate all the beautiful art they create.

Mt. Rushmore

Four white males carved into the face of a mountain in one of the most sacred places for some Native Americans,… surely not without controversy. My friend and I stopped by the monument to take a picture and were then invited to hear a 30-min lecture about the controversies surrounding the monument.

The concept of a memorial at Mt. Rushmore originated from Doane Robinson, a South Dakota historian, who thought carving figures into a mountain would attract tourists to South Dakota. Originally, South Dakota figures like Buffalo Bill Cody, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Red Cloud, a legendary Lakota leader were considered. Robinson commissioned Gutzon Borglum to sculpt the memorial. Borglum wanted to memorialize “the founding, expansion, preservation and unification of the United States.” Thus, he picked Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt.

Rose Arnold Powell and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to Borglum and advocated that Susan B. Anthony is included in the memorial. Borglum cited lack of rock and lack of funds as the reasons why this was not possible. His main rationale, however, was that it didn’t fit his artistic vision… (eye roll).

Besides the obvious lack of representation in the figures carved, the mere fact that it was carved into the mountain in Native American sacred land makes it plenty controversial in my mind. Nonetheless, we visited and were able to learn about these various aspects and have a discussion about a monument that clearly isn’t going anywhere and does have a story to tell. It also fulfilled its intended purpose of increasing tourism to South Dakota.

Custer State Park

After viewing monuments, we wanted to view some wildlife. We drove the Wildlife Loop through the park and the name did not mislead. I even had a friendly stand off with a Bison. Since I didn’t intend to have my rental car damaged, I backed up slowly and we eventually parted ways peacefully.

The friendliest creatures were definitely the formerly domesticated but now wild donkeys. They enjoy a good ear rub and are not shy to pop their heads in and say hi!

Thanksgiving Dinner for Two

After all of that, we managed to cook for three hours to prepare a delicious vegan Thanksgiving dinner with a little (a lot) of help from Purple Carrot.

Friday – a day of rest

Since Thursday was so jam-packed, we decided to enjoy the cabin and surrounding land and just stay there for the day. We explored the quartz and mica on the hills and wandered through the forest. I collected pine cones and cut-down pine tree branches. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make wreaths out of both of those things.

Badlands National Park

Before having to leave me, my friend and I set out to see the Badlands. The landscape is pretty wild and seems like the perfect filming location for a Star Wars movie. We drove Badlands Loop Road (Highway 240) and stopped at various viewing points to see bison, big-horned sheep, and the silly prairie dogs.

I was sad to see my friend leave. Since I’ve been in South Dakota, I have had no physical contact with people beyond professional contact at work. I also haven’t spent time outside of work with anyone because of the pandemic. My friend got tested before coming to see me. We are both really cautious about the virus so I waged the risks and benefits and came to the conclusion that it would be relatively safe for us to spend several days together. Facetime gets close but it definitely doesn’t replace the feeling of a hug.

One thing I love: Looking at the stars on a clear night in a remote place.

One thing I ate: the delicious vegan Thanksgiving dinner pictured above. I’ll talk about purple carrot in more depth sometime. For those who don’t know about it, its a vegan meal kit delivery service and a life saver for me!

One thing I’m grateful for: my friend for coming to see me and my family for having made the decision to cancel this year’s gathering. Everyone’s safety and health will always come first. That didn’t make it any easier that it didn’t take place, but sacrifices must be made. I’m grateful for all the people who worked this holiday. I’ve missed many holidays myself due to work and will likely miss many in the future. I hope people who aren’t accustomed to missing holidays but did the right thing and missed out this year, can find some comfort in knowing they were not alone in doing so.

mfg

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