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A Tale of Three Months, Four Time Zones, and Five Countries

September 25, 2022 No Comments

Oh gee…I certainly was not planning on waiting 3.5 months before posting again. I know I sound like a broken record since I start off almost every post these days with an apology that it’s been so long. I was posting every two weeks almost consistently when I first started out and was pregnant. It should come as no surprise, especially to the parent readers, that a toddler requires a lot of attention, however. And honestly, I will always pick spending time with my child over engaging in social media. This time is so limited and so precious.

Also, instead of using “my child”, I think I’ll henceforth refer to them as “Mausi”. I continue to want to keep their identity off the internet, but for the sake of more fluid writing and for the sake of not sounding like I’m from a previous century, I’ll go with my nickname for them. But let’s dive in and let me get you caught up on what’s been going on!

June

For the last two months of my assignment in Eugene, we had to relocate to an apartment from the house we had previously lived in. This was known from the beginning as the house was already rented starting in June. The agency found us a 2-bedroom apartment close to the Willamette River. We, unfortunately, didn’t have a playground right down the street from us, but we did have a lovely trail along the river that we visited often.

Abortion is Healthcare.

On June 24th, the day people with a uterus’s constitutional right to bodily autonomy was stripped away, Ally, Mausi, and I attended a protest in Downtown Eugene. It was a peaceful protest and I was happy to see many men in attendance. Frankly, there should have been many more considering how the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs Wade affects men too. In this sense, I feel like a broken record here too. The constant injustice we see happening in this country is truly disheartening. The fact that a handful of people get to decide the consequences for the majority of people is scary. They have real power. It is so important that everyone vote and that we elect leaders that will protect the rights of all citizens.

Blushing Blonde moments

Mausi and I spent an afternoon near the Heceta Lighthouse having our pictures taken by a local photographer. I really enjoy finding local photographers everywhere I go to capture moments of Mausi and me. Being a solo mom, there are plenty of pictures on my phone of Mausi, but rarely one where we are together. Having a photoshoot every couple of months makes for a fun way to capture our lives together. It is also a reminder of the places we’ve been.

Silver Falls Park

We finished off the month with a hike in Silver Falls Park. Only a 1.5-hour drive from Eugene, this park has a 7-mile loop that passes 10 waterfalls. We hiked it with another friend of mine with a baby. We’d like to say we made it the whole 7 miles, but then we’d be lying. We did, however, make it about 4.5 miles and passed 7 of the 10 waterfalls. The trail leads behind a few of the falls which were pretty cool. Definitely worth the trip if you find yourself in the area!

July

July and the half of August were several weeks of traveling. After the first week of work, Mausi and I flew to Europe for a two-week trip! The first week of that was the first legit vacation I’ve taken since October of 2019. Sure, there were trips all throughout the years, but they were mainly to Germany, which is like going home, it’s not a vacation in the sense of relaxing and exploring.

Μύκονος

Mausi and I spent a lovely week on the Greek island of Mykonos with my boyfriend. It had been almost 5 years since we were in the same physical space. He and I went on a date during my travels in India in 2017. Sounds crazy, I am aware, but it didn’t feel like we hadn’t seen each other in that long.

We stayed in a nice little boutique hotel just a few minutes’ walk from the beach. We rented a mini cooper convertible for a few days to zip around the very narrow streets of the island. My main touristy objective was to see the windmills that Mykonos is famous for. Mykonos is also known for its glitz, glamour, and party lifestyle. There was no partying for use with Mausi along but I was ok with that. There was an alarming amount of designer handbags to be seen by just about everyone walking around the island. I include myself in this, but in my case, it’s also the only small handbag I own.

There was an Italian restaurant within walking distance of our hotel that served delicious food and was staffed by really friendly people. Honestly, every restaurant we went to was extremely child friendly, and didn’t mind Mausi crawling absolutely everywhere. Often, the waiting staff would even hold on to and play with them while I ate. If you want to do something kind for a mother of a small child, watch their child while they eat their meal. It’s so rare to have an uninterrupted (warm) meal when you’re a mom.

It was a really fun and enjoyable week for our little trio.

Bachelorette Fun and Fancy Pizza

After our island adventure, it was off to Germany to partake in my best friend’s bachelorette festivities. Thankfully, she isn’t one for crazy outfits and silly games. We had a delicious dinner and spent the next day doing a photoshoot and going to a spa. I was really excited to meet some of her good friends that I had only heard of. Our friendship has been strong and thriving since I left Germany in 2015 but I’ve also missed a lot of the day-to-day stuff. I feel much more in the loop now that I know all her other close friends.

Between the bachelorette weekend and the wedding weekend, I crammed in as many get-togethers with my friends as possible. I also jumped on a night train with Mausi and traveled to Vienna to visit my sister Karoline for two days. I enjoy traveling by night train. The rattling of the train on the tracks is a great way to sleep and I am in a position where I can afford my own cabin now. On previous trips as a medical student, I’d book a spot in the 6-person cabin. At the time, I didn’t mind sharing the space with strangers. I didn’t want to do that with a toddler though.

Karoline works in a fun, hip pizzeria as the pizza decorator extrordinaire. We walked all over the city and ate many scrumptious meals together. I adore her and am always so happy to spend time with her. After our short 36-hour visit, we hopped back on the night train and traveled back up north.

Wedding Bells

My best friend’s wedding was a day filled with love, happiness, great conversations, and delicious food. Having missed so many of my friend’s weddings in the past, I would’ve moved mountains to attend hers. Lucky for me, she got married after I finished residency so no mountain moving was necessary.

Hello again and goodbye!

We flew back to Eugene for my last four days of work before heading to Wisconsin. I had a really great time in Eugene. I definitely did not see and do all that I planned to. My coworkers were such a joy to work with. It felt like hanging out with a group of friends every day. The work was not always easy. For the most part, it was actually complex. The patients I cared for were complex both medically and socially. There were a lot of social factors that came into consideration compared to previous jobs. Even “just” seeing 8 patients a day was a lot due to their individual complexities.

I had some great patient relationships build up in the 7 months I was there. For several, I felt like I made a real positive impact on their lives. I was even gifted a thoughtful gift by one of my patients. He had used the box that his medications come in to craft a keepsake box. I’ll have to take a picture of it and share some time (it’s currently in my new office space). I found certainly consider returning to the Lane County Clinics in the future for another few months.

August

As if traveling from Eugene to Europe back to Eugene and then to Wisconsin wasn’t enough of a timezone whirlwind, we traveled the first week of August as well. This trip was originally planned in March when none of my other travels had been planned yet and I felt like I needed a break and some adventure between jobs. But before we jumped on our international flight, we made a pit stop in Waupaca, WI so that I could attend my high school best friend’s wedding shower.

Back in High School, I was friends with the “Fab Five”. Not to be confused with the Fab Five of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. (My fashion and hair would’ve been much better had that been the case.) Although I was with them a lot, the Sensational Six didn’t have the same ring to it…and I was the only girl in the group. Bryant, Ryan, Kyle, Chase, and Caleb were all back together for the wedding shower and I was thrilled. Zach, an underclassman during High School, an admirer of the Fab Five, and a good friend of ours, was also there.

After that short visit, we were off to Panama!

Panama City

We were only in Panama for 4 full days plus the two travel days on each end. It wasn’t a lot of time but we managed to see a variety of things. We stayed in Casco Viejo while in Panama City. It was built in 1673 after pirates almost completely destroyed the former historical center of Panama Viejo. It was a mix of old and new. Some buildings were filled with fancy restaurants or boutique hotels. Others were just the facade and completely gutted on the inside. We ate some yummy food and did a bit of shopping.

I bought myself, my mother, and my boyfriend each a Panama hat. Panama hat is a bit of a misnomer as they actually come from Ecuador. During the Gold Rush, people would travel from South America through the Panama Canal onwards to California and often bought a hat in Panama to shield themselves from the sun. When asked where they had gotten their hats from, they’d answer Panama. And voila, the Panama hat was named. The really nice thing about the toquilla straw hat is that it can be rolled up and packed for travel. No more filling half a suitcase with a hat or trying to awkwardly wear it on the plane.

Jungle Living

After two days of wandering around Casco Viejo, we headed north towards the coast. Because it seemed silly not to, we stopped by the Panama Canal Locks at Miraflores along the way. If I hadn’t been aware of the monumental engineering feet the locks are, this would’ve been a rather boring stop. However, knowing a bit of the history and the impact that place has on the world economy, put it into perspective and made me appreciate what I was looking at.

We spent two nights in an AirBnB hosted by a very lovely French couple. They spoke French and Spanish and a little bit of English. I speak English and German with a little bit of Spanish and French. Nonetheless, we had pleasant conversations and a great time. Getting to their place was an adventure. We used google maps until Portobelo and then followed several directions sent to us by the host. We counted miles and kept an eye out for the structures that signaled to us that it was time to take a turn. Eventually, we found the entrance to their property. We continued from the gate to about 50 m from the house in their 4-wheel drive car before trekking the remaining distance up a steep muddy hill. Totally worth the trip. Our room overlooked their luscious garden and the ocean.

Island Time

Our hosts took us out on their Waverunner to show us the islands in the area. We zipped past the island Shakira apparently likes to vacation at. We slowly rode through the mangrove trees and what is known as the tunnel of love. One turn was taken a bit too sharply and we were all in the water. Luckily, we could easily stand where we had fallen off.

Ultimately, we decided to spend our day on Isla Mamey. Supposedly, the island used to belong to Pablo Escobar. I’m not really sure what constitutes “used to belong to” or how long it’s been since it was his, but there was a huge skull face etched into the ground. I wasn’t able to find any connection between Escobar and Isla Mamey online though, so maybe it’s just a good story they tell visitors.

Regardless, Isla Mamey will hold a special place in my heart since it’s the place Mausi took their first steps! Way to pick a memorable spot, kiddo!

The beauty of travel

On our last day in Panama, we went to a restaurant that had a great online menu for brunch. I am a sucker for a good brunch. We were the first to arrive. When we reviewed the menu, I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t include all the fun stuff I had seen online. Nonetheless, we stayed and ordered some waffles and eggs. We were the only ones there until about halfway through when a couple came and sat near us.

They received their menus and were trying to decide what they wanted. While verbalizing their options, I realized that we had not received the same menu. Their menu did have the fun stuff I read about online. At this point, it was too late for us though since we had ordered. Mausi, as they do, quickly made friends with our table neighbors and this led to a conversation amongst us all. And what a wonderful conversation it was! I think we spent another hour there just chatting!

Kate (an award-winning author) and her husband Dave have been traveling the world since 2013, house-sitting in various locations. They were both so interesting to talk to. We definitely connected on our desire and need to continue traveling, mixing up our surroundings, and not being in one place for too long. I could see myself doing something similar in the far future if house sitting is still a thing. What a great way to work/retire/live. She blogs about it on her blog Living the Journey.

This is what I love about traveling. What I’ve missed about traveling. Meeting new people with interesting life stories. People’s stories fascinate me and I have met so many cool people on my travels. I look forward to hopefully many more similar events as traveling becomes more frequent again.

Dairyland

After our short Panama excursion, we were back in Wisconsin. I’ll save the rest for the next post, which will hopefully happen before my contract here is done (hehe), but we’ve covered so much already. Props to you if you’ve made it this far. Thanks for hanging in there, I know it was a lot.

Hope everyone is well and healthy.

mfg

Happiness, Travel

Getting into the Christmas Spirit…sort of?

December 1, 2021 No Comments

Over the last several weeks, I have been back and forth between Stade and Göttingen. I’ve been visiting family and friends. I’ve also been spending some time looking through old pictures at my grandparents’s home and working on putting together a family tree.

I haven’t really done much exploring as I intended to. This is multifactorial. Firstly, going back and forth between Stade and Göttingen so frequently eats up quite a bit of time. Especially when I get back to the house in Stade, its grocery shopping, doing laundry, getting organized. When I leave the house, there is a checklist of things that need to be done and trying to pack as minimally as possible for the baby and myself.

Secondly, the weather has been a bit of a bummer lately. It’s not exactly an appealing thought to go on a long walks in the rainy, windy weather.

Thirdly, the COVID numbers have been rising dramatically again in Germany. These numbers are mainly fueled by the unvaccinated. About 68.6% of the eligible population is vaccinated. The distribution is not proportional. There is a clear north-south divide when you look at a map of the cases. The north is more vaccinated and has less cases. Northern states are taking ICU patients from the southern states because the southern hospitals are overwhelmed. With these rising numbers comes increased restrictions on public life. As of today, many parts of Lower Saxony have a 2G+ rule.

German Covid Regulations

In Germany, they have the 2G and 3G regulations. The G’s are geimpft (vaccinated), genesen (recovered), and getestet (tested). Many places already had 2G regulations in place. If you were vaccinated or had recovered from Covid in the past 6 months, you were good. As I mentioned, as of today, many increased the restrictions to 2G+. So in order to partake in certain activities (Christmas markets or going to get your hair cut), you need a few things. You have to be either fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid no more than 6 months ago AND need to have a negative test result from that day as well. Oh, and you still have to wear a mask.

The rising numbers have also caused many Christmas markets to shut down after only being open a few days or not opening at all.

Christmasmarket Adventures

I briefly visited the Christmas market in Göttingen last week when I was in town to grab some chocolates and flowers for my friend’s birthday. I had to show my proof of vaccination and ID to obtain a wristband. This wristband had to be shown to vendors to be able to buy anything. I quickly grabbed some fried mushrooms as a little snack. Back in the day when I was a medical student, we would head to the Christmas market as much as possible in the evening to drink some Glühwein (hot, spiced wine).

Yesterday, I drove to Buxtehude, about 20 minutes from Stade, to check out their Christmas market. Buxtehude is associated with fairytales. The city’s mascots are a hare and hedgehog. The story surrounding the two is similar to the American story of the tortoise and the hare. You’ll find statues and depictions of the two in stores, on the street and on street signs. For Christmas, they set up statues of various fairytale characters throughout the city. To enter the Christmas market, I had to show them my proof of vaccination and ID. I read a few of the stories posted under the fairytale statues and grabbed some Schmalzkuchen. That is fried pieces of dough topped with powdered sugar. Similar to funnel cake in the USA. Overall, it wasn’t really busy. Maybe I was just too early. But it didn’t feel like the typical Christmas market experience.

Mission: get into the Christmas market!

Today, I drove in the opposite direction and wanted to see the Christmas market in Himmelpforten (Heaven’s Gate). On the radio, I heard that Lower Saxony was now using the 2G+ rule and wondered if this would already apply to the Christmas market. When I arrived, I saw the large poster at the entrance gate announcing the 2G+ rule. I asked the gate attending where I could get tested. Luckily for me, there was a testing location in walking distance. Their website said they weren’t open for another 40 minutes but I decided to head over anyways. The walk was filled with light rain and fairly strong winds. My baby was tucked in the baby wrap under a cashmere sweater and oversized winter jacket. If it weren’t for the imminent threat of Christmas markets potentially closing soon, I would’ve gotten back into my car and driven home.

My wait at the testing center was maybe 15-20 minutes before being tested. They had opened early. When I exited the building, I saw that the line had quadrupled in length. I apparently wasn’t the only one surprised by the 2G+ rule. In Germany, you can use an App on your phone at testing centers. Your individual QR code is scanned and then the result is automatically uploaded into the app. Germany actually has a few Apps it uses. There is one for checking in at restaurants and such by scanning a QR code so that you don’t have to fill out the contact tracing paperwork. Another App verifies your vaccination status and one even alerts you if you have been in the vicinity of a person who recently tested positive. All pretty nifty.

Mission accomplished

Since it was going to take about 15 minutes for my test result to be ready, I headed to the grocery store to grab a few items. When the test result was on my phone, I finally headed to the Christmas market. All in all, about an hour after I originally arrived.

It was a bit depressing to see how empty the Christmas market was. This was likely due to all the people still standing in line to get their Covid test. There were a lot of vendors with handmade crafts as well as several food and beverage vendors. I walked around a bit looking to see if they had potatoes pancakes (one of my favorite Christmas market foods) but unfortunately, they didn’t. Nonetheless, I wanted to support the vendors, so I found one selling deep-fried apple rings. At this point, baby was over being in the carrier, so I decided to head back to the car and head home. Again, the real feeling of Christmas market was lacking a bit unfortunately.

The church in Himmelpforten (Heaven’s Gate)

Practicing gratefulness

I really am grateful that I’ve had the few Christmas market visits so far. There are a few more on my radar I’d like to visit in the near future. I’m even willing to take on some of the increased security measures to do so. But I also fear many will shut down or not even open because there won’t be enough visitors. It’s a bit sad because if it weren’t for Covid, I’d visit the markets in Hamburg, Hannover, Kassel and so on. They would be filled with people, laughter, food, drinks, snacks, lights, decorations and fun. It would be a time to spend with family and friends and make memories. Maybe I’m idealizing the experience a bit because it’s been so long since its been that way for me. The first few years after graduating medical school because I wasn’t in Germany and the last two years because of Covid.

If pandemics of the past are any indication however, this time of restriction too shall pass. I guess I’m also grateful that my baby is just that, a baby and won’t remember this time anyways. Hopefully, by the time long-term memory kicks in, Christmas markets will be back to their old glory and we can eat, laugh, drink, play and make memories together then.

mfg

Happiness, Travel, Uncategorized

Oh The Places You’ll Go

October 26, 2021 4 Comments

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