Happiness, Travel

Staying Local

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We spent almost the entire last month within the Eugene area. It was a month filled with visitors. Friends from the modeling world came by as did my mother and her partner. The mom of my local nanny stayed with us for a week. So, its been quite the rotation of visitors which has been so fun. We have no more visitors planned before traveling ourselves in three weeks. It’s crazy, but my little baby will be one year old next month. To celebrate, as well as attend a wedding of a former co-resident, we will be traveling back to Ohio for a week in May.

Hey Eugene

We’ve been taking a lot of walks around town and have visited some great places. We continue to find new murals we hadn’t seen yet. With Springfield just a hop and a skip away, there is quite a bit of The Simpsons graffiti around. Here’s a list of a few places we enjoyed these past few weeks:

  • Oregon Art Supply: I’ll take one of everything please! They stock a lot of German art supplies from Faber Castell which is fabulous. Ally and I try to do Creative Night every once in a while and were stoacked to find this place for supplies.
  • Sundance Natural Foods: This well stocked grocery store offers tons of bulk items including grains, oils, spices, baking ingredients, nut butters, coffee but also dish soap, laundry detergent, shampoo and so much more! We’ve been trying different spices and ingredients. Its nice that we can bring our own containers for the bulk items. The produce sections is also top notch.
  • Hideaway Bakery: oh buddy, the bread from this place is the best I’ve found in Eugene to date. They also have a nice outside seating area. I can’t wait to return on a weekend day when its nice and warm out.
  • Wild Light Yoga Center: I FINALLY started doing hot yoga again. Since Covid numbers have been lower in the area and I am vaccinated to the recommended max, I feel comfortable going to in-studio classes again. The studio has a new comer one month pass for $39 of unlimited yoga. Pre-baby Viktoria would’ve gone to 4 or 5 classes a week with that pass. Working solo mama Viktoria at least made it once a week. It felt really good being back on the mat in a hot studio.
  • Saturday Market: I am going to have to do a whole seperate post about this with lots of pictures. In brief, its a market spanning several blocks filled with stands of homemade items and home grown goods. It takes place every Saturday from April to Thanksgiving. Eugene has a unique mix of people and I kid you not when I tell you I was the most Plain Jane person there. I don’t have tattoos, interesting piercings, funky colored hair, ecclectic clothes. The people watching was superb!

Newest Hobby

As previosuly mentioned, my baby turns one next month. We will be celebrating with my former co-residents, attendings and office staff in Ohio. There is a fabulous bakery in Youngstown called Bake-Me-Treats. The chocolate salted caramel cupcakes are to die for and the macaroons are the best I’ve had outside of France. They have made some gorgeous custom cakes for my sister’s and friend’s birthdays over the years and I was so excited to get a first birthday cake from them next month. Unfortuneatly, they have stopped making custom cakes. They still make their delicious cakes in multiple flavors but with set decorations. I highly recommend anyone coming in the vicinity of Youngstown, OH to stop by this bakery and buy a treat. I promise you, you will not be disappointed.

So anyways, since they don’t do custom cakes anymore and my heart was set on a cake with beautiful flowers, I decided I will be making my childrens birthday cakes as a new tradition. It gives me the opportunity to make that a gift as well as giving myself the opportunity to be creative. After a quick Michael’s run, I had the basic supplies I needed to try to make my own buttercream flowers. I still have a lot practicing and experimenting ahead. My plan is to have a cake for the guests and a smash cake. The smash cake will be without added sugar so that baby can eat the cake they’ll be smashing. I have a ton of ideas of how I want to create the flowers from the ingredients of the frosting to the flavoring. My first attempt went well!

Planning ahead

I look forward to the weather improving (lots of rainy days currently) and exploring the national parks of Oregon. These past few weeks were filled with so much fulfilling time with friends and family but it was centered in or around Eugene. Then this weekend, my baby was getting over rosela, so we took it easy and had lots of snuggles. Once the rain eases up though, we will be on the road and ready to explore!

We have some great trips to look forward to after our time here in Oregon. In August, we are booked to visit Panama for 6 days. If anyone has recommendations for Panama City, send them my way! Then in December, we are headed to India for 3 weeks! I’m so beyond excited to return to that beautiful country and hope nothing prevents us from going (its still such a long time away and the world seems so unpredictable these days).

I hope everyone reading this is doing well. To my friends observing and celebraing Ramadan, Ramadan Mubarak! And to my friends celebrating Easter next weekend, Happy Easter! My wish is that everyone is able to spend time in-person with family and friends whereever it is safe and feasible to do so. And to the people of Ukraine, I stand by you and I hope this godforsaken awful war is over quickly and the healing process can begin.

mfg

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Happiness, Locum, Mother Nature

From Land to Shining Sea

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Oh my! The last month was busy! Before I dive into what I’ve been exploring lately, I want to first address the horrifying things happening in Ukraine right now.

War has always been horrible. There are constantly wars and conflict happening around the world and often times, we are ignorant to them. To a certain extent, we have to be. If we knew about every human suffering occurring in the world, we’d all constantly be depressed and distraught. So we focus on news and events in our more immediate surroundings. When horrible things then happen to people that easily could also be us, it hits harder and deeper.

Since I’ve become a mother, my emotions are on steroids. I love harder, I grieve deeper, and I empathize more intensely. Where I used to see mothers and children of the world suffering and would feel terribly saddened by it, now I see myself and my baby in the women and children being bombed in the Ukraine and fleeing for their lives and its heart wrenching. I walk a fine line between staying informed and protecting my mental health. Since I’m on a contract right now, I can’t be in Germany helping the refugees. So instead, I am supporting various humanitarian aid charities that are helping the people of Ukraine. Hopefully, you’ve been able to do the same.

The clever ways people have been helping the Ukrainian people has been proof of human ingenuity. I’ve seen people booking AirBnB’s in Ukraine with obviously no intention of staying there but rather getting financial aide directly to those Ukrainians. I’ve read about information being shared as reviews on various sites because the Russian government is censoring social media.

It is absolutely despicable that one man can cause so much trauma, heartache, death and destruction. I don’t know how, but this war needs to stop.

Coming to America

A few days after my last post, my AuPair Ally arrived from South Africa. The first few days were spent giving her some orientation and letting her adjust with the jet leg. 10 days after her arrival, my aunt and uncle visited from Germany for 10 days. Thus, the last few weekends were rather busy and I enjoyed them fully. We initially wanted to take a trip to Crater Lake. My aunt had seen a TV show discussing blue colors around the world and Crater Lake was mentioned as being particularly beautiful. It’s still winter season here in Oregon however and the road circumventing the lake is closed at this time. We had a great alternative weekend adventure instead!

Let me share some of the fun things we’ve been up to!

Spencer Butte

The second day Ally was here, our local nanny (and now good friend of ours) took us on a hike up Spencer Butte. It’s located a short drive outside of Eugene. There is a steep ascent and a gradual one. We took the steep way up. My nanny and I each packed a baby and Ally packed our two backpacks. The ascent was not a walk in the park. It had rained a bit before we started our hike, so the paths were a slightly muddy at times. There was also a bit of boulder climbing involved but it was a lot of fun and provided some amazing views. We even saw a full rainbow once at the top!

McCredie Hot Springs

On her second weekend here, Ally, my baby and I drove an hour southeast of Eugene to take a dip in the McCredie hot springs. This was Ally’s first time seeing snow! There were a few pools available. We shared one with just 4 other people. Baby loved it! They love bath time so this was a special treat.

Sweet Creek Falls

The first stop on our weekend tour with my aunt and uncle was at Sweet Creek Falls. Located about 1h15 west of Eugene and on the way to Florence, is where you’ll find the beautiful forest and water falls. The hike was easy and took us through lush greenery up along the river to the waterfalls. The water was cold but I can see myself coming back on a hot summer day and splashing around a bit.

Heceta Lighthouse & Cape Perpetua

After a short stop in Florence to visit the marina and grab lunch and coffee, we headed north up the coast. Our first stop was the look out area overlooking the coast with the Heceta Lighthouse in the background. When I was here with my mother, we discovered hundreds of sea lions hanging out directly below us. Unfortunately, none were to be found this time around. So we snapped a few pictures and headed to the Heceta Lighthouse.

The parking lot for the lighthouse is located at sea level across from a beach. To get to the lighthouse, you have to take an uphill walk past the Bed & Breakfast to the lighthouse. From the top, I was able to take some nice pictures of the coast line. The blue, green, gray and white color palette of the nature is right up my alley.

Upon our decent, we spent some time hanging out on the beach and letting baby play in the sand. Afterwards, we drove 20 minutes north and up to the Cape Perpetua Lookout. From here, we could look down on the coast line and watch as the sun started to set. We didn’t stay for the actual sunset because we still had to find a hotel for the night and cellular reception was nonexistent for us where we were. We had intended to visit Yachats as well but decided to continue north to Newport for the night.

Newport

A few miles north of Yachats, I finally had cellular service and was able to look up a motel for us. We headed to the port of Newport to grab dinner. It was already pretty late and restaurants were close to closing. Luckily, the Clearwater restaurant was open longer than the others. It is situated right on the port. The best part was truly what was happening in front of the restaurant on the marina side. The floating docks were filled with sea lions! They were the first thing we heard when we got out of the car. It was dark, so we were only able to see the ones illuminated by the dock lights. It sounded like there were hundreds more hanging out in the dark bay.

The next morning, we grabbed lunch at the Nye Beach Cafe before going on a walk along Nye Beach. The ocean seems to really ebb and flood on this beach. We found beautiful sea anemones (amenonemomne?) amongst the rocks. There are some pretty cool shops in Nye Beach. We stopped by the Blue Pig Bakery for some delicious treats. The bakery is worth visiting even if you don’t have a sweet tooth because every room, nook and cranny is filled with gifts and goodies.

After stuffing my face with a scrumptious cinnamon roll, we headed back to the port where we had been the night before. The port is lined with a lot of shops, many quite unique. We browsed, snacked, and shopped for a while before heading back to Eugene.

Svikki MD

Work has been good. The patients I see have medical issues all across the board. I’ve had a few no-shows (not uncommon for a FQHC- federally qualified health center) which allowed me to catch up on the copious amount of tasks that flood my in basket. The team I work with is really great and I enjoy my time at work.

We are already looking ahead for the remainder of the year. Usually, jobs don’t get confirmed until 2-3 months before the start date. The job I’m currently at was confirmed unusually early and I’ve don’t it again with my next assignment. I’ve also been able to negotiate a pay raise which feels really good. Anecdotally, I’ve experienced women be less direct about pay raises and negotiating. It’s definitely still a work in progress for myself as well but I definitely scored a win this round.

Starting in August, my baby, Ally and I will be headed to…. Wisconsin! Go Badgers! lol

Me circa 2015

I will be working in a town close to Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. I’m excited to show Ally the state I grew up in and it’ll be nice to be close to so many lovely friends I have in that area. Eugene doesn’t really get any snow, so we will definitely have to prepare Ally for a Wisconsin winter. She saw her first bit of snow here in Oregon but I’m going to blow her mind with a legitimate snow storm in Wisconsin should we have one this year.

So, to all my Wisconsinites, I look forward to seeing you and introducing my baby to you later this year!

mfg

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Food & Drinks, Locum, Motherhood

Local Leisure

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I’ve spent the last few weekends here in Eugene starting to explore what the city has to offer. We have several different people visiting us over the next months and my AuPair FINALLY arrives this coming Friday. Once she is here and has adjusted, we plan on exploring all sorts of things in Oregon. Knowing that our future weekends will be busy (and thankfully so!), I decided baby and I could spend a few weekends in Eugene. That feeling didn’t last longer than 3 weekends though seeing as we took a day trip to the coast yesterday because I needed a change of scenery.

Food

My local nanny (who is the bees knees, y’all, seriously) gave me a whole list of restaurants to try out. Since eating out is more fun in a group, I’ll try most of them when guests and my AuPair are here. Keeping in mind her and I try to eat mainly vegan, here are her suggestions with notes:

  • Peaceful Palette Food Truck: only open Spring-Fall
  • Bo&Vine: veggie burger & tots
  • Jazzy Ladies: farm fresh brunch
  • Govindas: fully vegan & gluten free
  • Glory Days: veggie-heavy breakfast
  • Wandering Goat: vegan biscuit & gravy and good coffee
  • Grower’s Market: bulk & organic co-op
  • Cornbread: cornbread, vegan chili
  • Vero Espresso: breakfast and lunch in a house with a porch and outdoor seating area

I’ve done a bit of exploring myself and have found a bakery that makes delicious croissants. Croissants are one of my favorite baked goods but I’ve been spoiled and fortunate to have eaten many french croissants, so I have high croissant standards. Noisette Pastry Kitchen is not too far from where we are staying so it makes for a nice walk to pick up some treats. Check out their instagram below. Delicious!

Activites

This is another category where I will have much more to report once I have guests and we check things out together. Baby and I have spent a good amount of time in the public library (also only a short walk away) and local playgrounds.

Cascades Raptor Center is a nature center and wildlife hospital open to the public year-round. We are home to nearly 40 resident education raptors, most native to the Pacific Northwest.

https://cascadesraptorcenter.org

Last weekend, we met up with the nanny and her family at the Cascades Raptor Center. Per their website:

All of the birds have signs posted with their origin story and information about their species. I’ll definitely have to do some more reading the next time I’m there. We witnessed a few feeding and were able to see some of the birds up close. The admission fee is $10 for adults ($9 students age13+ and seniors, $7 for ages 2-7), but it’s money well spent to help keep the place running and saving bird lives.

Local playground exploring

The glorious world of public libraries

I have always apprecitated the existence of public libraries. There is something sort of magical about them. I remember our small public library in Muscoda where I felt so grown up when I got my own library card. The public library in Poland, OH was a beautiful place to study for the board exam. In South Dakota, it was loacted only a block from my apartment and supplied me with the books I read written by or about the Lakota tribes of the area. Here in Eugene, it’s the place my mother took my child and met our local nanny! It is also a place we’ve been to several times now to explore their giant selection of children’s books.

Proud new member of REI

Considering the plethora of hiking trails in Oregon, I figured it was time to get a pair of hiking boots. With a baby on my back or chest, I want to make sure I’ve got a good grip. Furthermore, I also purchased a new baby carrier as my wrap isn’t as functional as I’d like it to be for hiking. I’ve recieved several hiking recommendations (many with waterfalls!) but a lot of them are located outside of Eugene and are on the list to explore with our AuPair/guests. There are however plenty of trails here in Eugene as well.

We checked out one of the trails around Spencer Butte. The trees are so tall here and covered in moss. I’m assuming thats because we are in a valley and there is often heavy fog that rolls through… or stays put for several days. Side note, my collegue told me the Eugen area is one of the worst for seasonal allergies. The pollen content is extremely high here.

Shopping

This is not a category I’ve explored extensively but I did find a few really cute shops the first weekend we stayed in town. Located between Charnleton & Olive Street and 5th & 6th Ave is a row of four adorable and fun shops. Down to Earth Home & Garden has a huge selection of kitchen ware, home decor and garden supplies. Pre-pandemic, they often had workshops there too, according to my medical support staff.

Across from that is Mountain Rose Herbs Mercantile, a store filled with herbs, spices, tea, coffee, lotions and potions. I bought Nurse-Me Rhyme loose-leaf tea and it is delicious. They also are a big supporter of the Raptor Center as evidenced by their logo on many of the signs on the aviaries.

Directly nextdoor, is Farmer’s Union Coffee Roasters. They sell specialty coffees from small co-ops and farmers around the world! The interior decor is light and fun. I enjoyed a decaf oat-milk honey and lavendar latte.

The final store in that lineup is Oak Street Vintage. It’s not just vinatge clothing they sell but also a large selection of cool furniture and decor. Check out their Insta pages for more!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXewYJOvOx2/

I guess I should pause here for a second and just say that none of the links I’ve posted are sponsored in any way. These are just local places I’ve found and their instagrams do a heck of a lot better job showing what they do than any picture I could take. Additionally, I want anyone coming to the area to have a easy way of finding the places I mentioned. I promise to let you know if I ever get paid or free stuff for something I mention.

Svikki MD

Work is busy. From the moment I get there to the moment I leave, I am non-stop working. I work while I eat and I work while I pump. Between seeing patients, I hurry to finish up notes, refill medications, review labs/image/consults and answer messages. It’s never ending. My inbox usually was empty when I went home during residency. That is nearly impossible now. Some of the other clinics have a refill team that weeds thorugh their refill requests and if certain criteria is met, it gets refilled without needing to ask the provider. I don’t have that service due to staff shortages.

The panel of patients I cover is from a previous provider who worked here for 6 years and accumulated a panel of about 1200 patients. My inbox fluctuates between 20 to 100 tasks throughout the week. It’s usually more on Tuesdays when I first come into work. However, even with working off many of those as the days go on, more tasks come pouring it. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my inbox won’t be empty when I leave for the day and just have to do my best triaging the tasks.

I’ve seen a wide variety of patient presentations in the office and have performed a few procedures. My medical support staff is great! My roomer “scrubs” the charts the day before and makes notes on what the patients are coming in for, which preventative items need to be done, etc. She also knows many of the patients and can provide some context and backstory.

Solo working mom

As busy as I am at work, I’m equally as busy at home during the work week. This will lighten up once my AuPair is here. Currently, my workday mornings are either spent getting ready quickly and packing our bags before the baby wakes up or doing it all with a baby on my hip.

Depending on where the in-home daycare is that day (it varies between two locations) I pack up the car and we drive either 10 or 20 minutes to the daycare. I like to spend 5-10 minutes chatting with the other moms and saying hi to the kids. They adore my baby and my baby absolutely adores the time with the bunch. Then it’s off to work. I’ll usually fill this time listening to music and singing along loudly. As I mentioned previously, when I’m at work, I’m working non-stop.

Before my replacement parts came for my Willow pump (a breast pump that you tuck into your bra without cords), I was using a corded pump and would sit in an empty exam room and pump for 15 minutes twice a day while awkwardly trying to write notes without bumping off the bottles. Thank goodness I can now use my willow. I just pop them into my sports bra and write my notes looking like Pamela Anderson. I’ve even pumped while seeing patients if I don’t have a break. There is time blocked off on my schedule to pump but patient encounters rarely follow an exact schedule.

Once I get home, my baby gets dropped off by the nanny about 15 minutes later. I use that time to quickly unpack my lunch stuff and organize anything I can. Then its time to cook and eat dinner. Following that is our bedtime routine of brushing teeth, reading some books and nursing to sleep. There was a stretch of time where baby would want to stay up until 8 or 9. Luckily that has passed for the time being and baby is usually sleeping by 7. I spend the two hours I have before going to bed largely with cleaning up the kitchen, washing the dishes, the lunch containers and baby’s bottles, and essembling everything for the next day.

The four day work week goes fast because there is so much to do. I am so grateful for my three day weekend. Once my AuPair gets here, I’ll gain back quite a bit of time at home during the workweek. The commute to daycare will no longer be necessary and neither will the packing of baby’s bags. I do still want my baby to see the group of kids so there will be play dates.

I’m so excited for my AuPair to arrive in a few days and look forward to all the guests that will be coming to see us over the next several months! As before, any suggestions of things we should eat, see, or do, send them my way!

mfg

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Food & Drinks, Locum, Motherhood, Travel

Weekend Shenanigans

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Although I am spending this weekend exploring our immediate surroundings in Eugene, I spent the last two doing some traveling. We went to check out Portland with my uncle two weekends ago. Last weekend, we headed to the coast with my mom. I can’t wait for my AuPair to get here so we can start planning all our weekend trips!

Portland

In my head, Portland was going to be this green oasis brimming with bike paths and eclectic people roaming the streets. To be fair, visiting a city in January is hardly ever the time to see a city at its best. Throw in an ongoing pandemic and things look a bit different than you might expect.

We booked a hotel downtown, thinking we would be close to all the action that way. After checking in, we walked directly to the one farmer’s market that was open (again, it’s winter). The walk there was not exciting. However, the Farmer’s Market was a rather decent size and had some delicious things. We grabbed a breakfast burrito, apple cider, and some really yummy, single-source chocolate.

After that, we made our way back towards downtown. While doing so, we passed a lot of empty storefronts and even more tents at seemingly every corner. We stopped at a few coffee shops along the way. While looking at GoogleMaps, we realized that an area northwest of downtown seemed to be rather busy. After a bit of research, we learned that 23rd Ave was lined with shops and restaurants. So, we walked there to see if it was a bit more happening than downtown was.

23rd Ave definitely had more going on. We saw quite a few of the eclectic people I thought might be running around. There were some delicious-looking restaurants but it was still too early for dinner. So instead, we decided to walk back towards downtown and check out Old China Town. Maybe we just weren’t on the right streets, but we basically found nothing interesting in Old China Town. For dinner, we decided my uncle needed a good ole American burger before heading back to Germany and ate at Deschutes Brewery.

Day 2

After a fast and pretty decent breakfast at Cheryl’s on 12th, we took a walk along the Willamette River. I’m sure it is even nicer in the spring or summer when the trees are full of foliage and the temperature is warmer. Before heading back to Eugene, we spent a couple of hours at the Oregon Zoo. It is one of the more beautifully laid out zoos I’ve visited. At times, you feel like you are taking a walk through the woods. We didn’t see as many animals as I had hoped. Perhaps that was due to it being winter. The walk through the zoo itself was already worth our time though.

Someone slept through most of the zoo visit

In the end, Portland didn’t wow us as much as we thought it might. I’m not giving up on it wowing me in the future though. I’m hopeful that with warmer weather, flourishing flora and fauna, reduced pandemic restrictions, and a bit more research, Portland will be more like the Portland I imagined.

Oregon Coast

Last weekend, we headed to the coast with my mother. A little over an hour’s drive due west of Eugene lies Florence. It is a small coastal town with a population of just over 9,000 people. There is a road along the Siuslaw river known as the historic Downtown. The streets are lined with shops, cafes, and restaurants. I immediately felt like I was on vacation when I saw a store selling Salt Water Taffy. For some reason, likely my childhood, I associate that with vacation.

We grabbed some hot drinks at Magnolia Bakery and walked along the historic Downtown road. We stopped to check out a few galleries with local artists before taking a nursing break at the harbor. I grabbed a bagel at River Roasters to eat while we drove to the beach. I’ll have to return to River Roasters sometime though. It was a comfy coffee shop with a fireplace and a back porch overlooking the river.

Hello Ocean!

A quick 10-minute drive from downtown Florence got us to the beach! Getting to the beach was a bit of a workout. First, you had to climb up a dune. Then, once at the top, if you wanted to get to the ocean, you had to maneuver down a steep dune side of sand. After taking in the beautiful view from on top of the dune, I took the baby to go see the ocean up close.

For a while, we were the only two people on that stretch of beach. My baby had never played with sand before and had a blast! We took a walk along the beach and looked for an intact shell. I can’t wait for the weather to warm up a bit to spend the whole day on the beach.

After a good while soaking in the beach views, we headed north up the coast.

Hello Sealions!

The drive along the coastal 101 Highway is very scenic. Every couple miles, there is a sign that reads, “Entering Tsunami Hazard Zone”. The day prior, there had actually been a tsunami wave weather warning due to the underwater volcano that erupted near Tongo. Lucky for us, the warning was over and the sun was shining. This led to some great views.

We stopped along the way to see the Heceta Lighthouse from afar. Little did we know, when we looked down from the cliff, we looked right onto the sealion gathering spot. There were so many of them! They even seemed to have their own little ocean pool.

Our intention was to see the Heceta lighthouse up close as well but when we tried driving there, we realized you actually had to walk a bit to get there. My mother had hurt her foot the day prior, so we decided to skip that part.

At this point, we were hungry for a real meal. Another 20 minutes north, in a town called Yachats, we went to the first place we saw, called Ona. It was very delicious and a co-worker later told me, it’s one of his favorites in that town. So that worked out well.

The last stop was for some ice cream before we embarked on our 1h50 drive home.

The Wishlist

I am making a list of all the recommendations people have been giving me. My AuPair should get here mid-February and I am so excited to spend our 3-day weekends exploring Oregon!

Svikki MD

Work has been going really well. They still had me on a lighter patient schedule these past few weeks. And gee was it necessary! I am getting better at using their electronic medical record system but still feel like I’m not as efficient as I could be.

The patients, for the most part, have been kind. Some are more complicated than others. Some are very complicated. I try to compartmentalize and prioritize, knowing I won’t be able to help fix all their problems in one office visit.

They also closed the previous locum’s in-basket of tasks the other week and all the unfinished tasks, labs, and medication refills dumped into my in-basket. All of a sudden I had nearly 100 tasks to complete. I was quite overwhelmed by this since I tend to have my in-basket cleared before the end of the day. I spent a few hours over last weekend in the office working on tasks. It wasn’t until two days ago, however, that I officially got through it all. Naturally, new things started coming in but 7 tasks aren’t as terrifying as 100.

It takes a village

The first week at work, my uncle was in town watching my baby. The second week, my mom was here to babysit. I had signed up for care.com and messaged about 20 people to see if they’d be interested in babysitting while I am at work and await the arrival of my AuPair. Only two got back to me saying they’d be interested. For many others, our schedules didn’t align. I was starting to get nervous.

The Universe (and my mother) had my back

My mother took the baby to the library the first day they were together. There, my mother observed a woman walk in with a few toddlers and a baby strapped to her back. My mom was impressed by how this woman interacted with the kids. The woman overheard my mother speaking German and struck up a conversation. She told my mother that she had spent an exchange year in Germany (in nearly flawless German pronounciation). My mother then proceeded to tell her of my current childcare situation. The woman said I should give her a call and that she could probably help us out.

I called her that evening. She was amazing. She agreed to add my baby to her cohort of kiddos. They spend their days between the homes of the two families whose kids she watches. One is in the city and the other is out in the country. She stopped by with her two kids last Monday for a face-to-face meeting. Our babies loved each other. I knew my baby would thrive being around this woman and her kids. She is so creative. Her parents were actors and she grew up around the theater. She has puppets to help the kid communicate their feelings, plays instruments, and works on sign language with them. I really hit the jackpot here.

Hopefully, play dates can continue to happen once my AupPair gets here too. The local nanny also gave me a huge list of restaurants to check out. Seriously, she rocks.

mfg

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Locum, Motherhood, Travel

Welcome to Oregon

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Holy moly, time flies! I’d really like to be posting more than once a month (or a month and a half!) and I think it’ll be more likely in the future.

This past month has been exceptionally busy. First, there was enjoying the last few weeks of maternity leave with family and friends in Germany. We celebrated Christmas with some of my aunt’s family by having a nice raclette feast! Shortly thereafter, my aunt and uncle drove us to Frankfurt where we all spent the night before baby and I caught our flight to Ohio.

During our short three days stay in Ohio, we visited my residency program to see everyone. I also had an OBGYN appointment for my Pap smear (make sure you are up to date on your Pap smear, my cervix possessing friends!).

Our journey to Eugene Oregon the next day was a doozy.

Connecting Time – Indefinite

Our journey from Cleveland to Eugene started really early on December 30th. Our flight out of Cleveland was at 6:10 AM (!). The flight to San Fransisco was fine, Baby didn’t sleep much at all but did make friends with the passengers around us. Shortly before landing, I checked the airline app to see if our connecting flight was on time. It was not. Au contraire mon amie! It was CANCELED. Due to staff shortages.

Remember hearing in the news how United had to cancel a bunch of flights between Christmas and New Year. Yeah, mine was one of them.

Once on the ground, I contacted a United agent to see what my next option would be to get to Eugene. The best they could do was put me on standby for a flight at 4:30 PM. Not great, especially since it was only 8:30 AM at the time. All of the flights the next day were only on standby as well. I neither liked my chances nor did I like the idea of being stuck at the airport with a baby for 8 hours. So after some deliberation with my family, I decided to rent a car and drive. Also not ideal with an 8-month-old baby but at least I was getting closer to my destination.

Road Trippin

We were looking at a 540-mile trip ahead of us. It took forever to get out of San Fransisco. Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge somewhat made up for it though. I only made it to Redding, California before booking a motel and spending the night. I don’t typically experience jet lag but I kept us on sort of a wonky schedule in Ohio because we had such an early flight to catch. Now being 3 hours even further behind, we were in bed by 8 PM. However, we then left the motel by 3:30 AM.

The morning drive was adventurous. Once we crossed the Californian border, we were in the mountains. The fog was so thick and it was snowing. At one point, I was only driving 15 mph downhill and hoping my little economy car wouldn’t fail us. Eventually, I started to get hungry and really wondered if there would even be a place to eat since I hadn’t seen an exit in quite some time.

Heaven on Earth

I asked GoogleMaps where the nearest restaurant would be. It suggested a place called Heaven on Earth which was only 20 minutes away. Well, with a name like that, and my options very limited, I decided to give it a try! We left the highway and quickly pulled up to a wood cabin with a big sign that read “Home of the Famous Cinnamon Rolls”. The sun was just starting to rise. We walked in to find cinnamon rolls as big as a plate! A lovely lady seated us. The only other folks there was a table with 4 older gentlemen who all seemed to be cowboys.

The omelet I ordered was exactly what I needed. The open fire made the place very cozy. We chatted a bit with our server and the chef before heading out again for the last 2 hour stretch of our journey. Before dropping off the rental car at the airport, I stopped by the gas station to fill up. I was quickly informed by a nice man that I better not touch the pump or I could be looking at a $1500 fine. … Wait…what? Turns out, you are not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon and New Jersey. Good to know!

Eugene

I spent New Year’s Eve going to bed around 9 PM. I was in a new city, knew no one, had a baby, and was perfectly content with it all. The following day, we walked around the city a bit and ran some essential errands before picking up my uncle late at night. He flew in from Germany to watch the baby while I went to my first week of work.

My first impressions of Eugene:

  • Weed is omnipresent. There are so many dispensories in and around the downtown area. Holy Grail, Spacebuds, Oregon Weed Oulet… so… many…shops.
  • Homelessness is omnipresent. There are large lots filled with tents. Tents are set up at seemingly random places along the neighborhood. As a co-worker would later let me know, the numbers of homeless people is so high in Eugene due to a combination of skyrocketing rent, strict city expansion laws and liberal policies which make it a more welcoming place. In contrast, in Springfield, a more conservative town, which is literally right next to Eugene, it is illegal to hand anything out of your car window. Apparently its a law to stop people from giving food or drinks to the homeless. Supposedly, other more conservative cities in Oregon give the homeless a one-way ticket to Eugene and tell them they’ll be taken care of here.
  • Kindness is omnipresent. Everyone I have met has been kind. There are countless Black Lives Matter signs in the businesses and “Choose Kindness” signs in the neighborhood.

Svikki MD

My first week at work was all orientation. I work at a community health center. There are several offices throughout Eugene and I was able to shadow at several of them throughout the week. Not only was it nice to shadow providers to get a feeling of how their electronic medical record program works (vastly different than the Epic program I am used to) but it was also nice to shadow them seeing patients. It’s been 9 months since I’ve seen patients. Although I wasn’t afraid of having forgotten how to use a stethoscope, it was nice to ease back into the clinical setting by being a fly on the wall.

Everyone, from the providers to the support staff, really seem to enjoy the work that they do. The patients we see in the clinic are mainly Medicare, Medicaid, uninsured and underserved. They tend to be fairly complex, both medically and socially. However, the people working in the clinics really seem to have a passion for helping these people get the healthcare they deserve.

I was happy to find out that I would be working in a clinic closer to home than the one I originally was told I would be at. Since I was all over the place for orientation week, I was able to stop by at home for lunch a few times. My first week was Monday through Friday. Going forward, I’ll only be working Tuesday through Friday.

My first week of orientation went well and my first week of being back at work went well for Baby too. My uncle did a great job and I really enjoyed having him here with me.

I receive very intense kisses when I get home from work.

Three Day Weekend

I’m so excited to spend our 3-day weekends exploring Oregon. My coworkers have given me some fun suggestions of things to check out. My uncle, the baby, and I spent our first weekend in Portland. I’ll write about that and my first week back seeing patients in the next post (which hopefully will be next weekend…truly, I hope). If you have any suggestions of what I need to see, eat, do, or experience in Oregon, PLEASE let me know! I’m here for 7 months and I want to explore!

mfg

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