I have survived my first trip to the emergency room here in Germany, actually my first trip to see any doctor. Don't worry, I am just fine. After lunch today, I had an allegic reaction to something that I ate, and my entire mouth and hands turned red and swollen. It was quite a strange feeling and very odd, since I have never had an allergic reaction to anything before, particularly food. I had eaten chicken curry for lunch, which I have had many times before, but this was at a new restaurant for me. Perhaps, they are using a different spice in their recipe, which is what triggered the reaction.
My co-worker, Simone, took me to the ER and stayed with me the entire time. We were sent right in to see the doctor without having to wait, because anyone could clearly see by my bright red, swollen face that it was something that needed immediate attention. The doctor just looked at me, touched my face a few times, and asked about 3 times if I was pregnant, before I was sent to get an IVdrip of NaCl (sodium chloride). This seemed to be standard procedure for many ailments here, as there were 2 other people in that room getting IV drips as well.
Approximately 30 minutes later, the IV drip was done and I was free to go home. I am feeling much better now, still a little puffy, but at least it is not getting worse. And, I was quite fortunate that the swelling was not in near my neck or cuting of my ability to breathe. I think I need to go see the doctor next week for an allergy test to determine what I may be allergic to.
Since this was my first time at the doctor, it was also my first experience with public health care. I have the standard German public health care, which so far is great. I only had to pay 10 euros to see the doctor at the ER, and apparently, this 10 euro payment covers all normal doctor visits (only excludes special procedures) for a 3 month period. You receive a slip of paper stating that you have paid the 10 euro fee. Then, if you go to another doctor in the same 3 month period, you just have to show this paper proving that you have already paid the fee. Unfortunately for me, that 3 month period (1st quarter - January through March) ends today, just my luck!
Funny thing about today - not only was I asked several times at the doctor if I was pregnant (which I am NOT!) - when I was telling another co-worker (Tobias) that I was going to the US for a wedding in July, he asked if it was my wedding! Ha, nope, no weddings and no children here in the near future, thank you very much!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Tux, Tux, Hintertux!
On Friday, March 12, I boarded a bus in Dusseldorf with several other PwC employees and headed off to Hintertux, Austria for a ski trip! The Hintertux ski mountain, in the Tirol region of Austria, is actually on a glacier, so there is never any worry if there will be sufficient snow. The very top of the mountain is at 3250 meters, and it takes 3 different gondola rides to get up there. I went up to the very top every day that we were there, and skiing all the way down takes quite a long time, but definitely a good accomplishment.
The group from PwC has been going on ski trips for a few years, and it is organized by a man who works in the Frankfurt office. There are PwC people from all over Germany, Moscow, and London. After a long, overnight bus ride, we arrived at the mountain on Saturday morning ready to ski. PwC arranged the 4 day ski pass, rental equipment, hotel, meals and fun activities. Everyone in the group wore the same blue shirts while skiing, too, so you could easily identify who was in the PwC group and meet new people.
We got right onto the slopes in Hintertux, and I was excited to realize that skiing is just like riding a bike - you never really forget how to do it. I was a little nervous about skiing on such large mountains for the first time, but found that I was just fine and ended up being able to ski all the hills on the mountain without a problem. In Austria, the black diamonds are red. So, there were mostly red runs and some blues.
After a full day of skiing, there was "Apres Ski" which is basically happy hour - drinking and fun music at the bar at the bottom of the mountain. Also, this was the first place where Chloe and I started learning some crazy German songs - some even had hand motions/choreography! There is a song about Hintertux, too. It's called "Tux, Tux, Hintertux". We even learned that the video for this song was filmed in the same bar that we went to for Apres Ski.
After Apres Ski, we checked into our hotel, cleaned up, and went to dinner which was a large buffet at the hotel. Dinner each night was followed by more partying, at the disco attached to the hotel, named "Tux1". The hotel, disco, and Apres Ski bar are all owned by the same company. So, of course, we heard all the same great crazy songs all the time. But, I never got tired of them! It was so much fun.
On Sunday the weather was AMAZING! Sunny and clear, so this was the day that I took most of my pictures on the mountain (see my link at the top right for all of my pictures). The sun was so warm, too, since we were so high up. It was almost too hot! Good thing I put on lots of sunscreen, so my nose only got a little red from the sun. Some other people were not so lucky, and got sunburnt faces.
The weather on Monday and Tuesday was not as nice. It was snowing and windy, so the visibility and conditions weren't great, but bearable. On Monday, Marta and I went all the way to the top to ski down, and it was so snowy and windy. You could only see about 10 meters in front of you, so we skied down very slowly. This also made it quite cold, too.
On Monday night, we were taken to a restaurant at the top of a "hill" (would probably be a mountain in the US). We were served a traditional Tirolian dinner (including yummy apple strudel for dessert). A man in lederhosen played music for us during dinner, and he was great. He played all of our favorites songs! Yes, the same ones from Apres Ski and the disco. Apparently, everyone knows all these fun songs. Since we had all been drinking a little bit, and we love these songs, we all started dancing on our benches and singing along with the guy. I was told that this was great practice for Oktoberfest in Munich, since it also involves lots of singing and dancing on tables. I will be a pro in September, and will be able to teach Renae and Ryan all the songs at Oktoberfest.
After the fun dinner, the "only" way to get to the bottom of the hill (and back to our hotel) was by sledding down the snowy road. The road was 6 kilometers long (about 3.8 miles) and full of hairpin turns! It was great fun, and probably really dangerous, but we didn't seem to care at the time. I was really good at steering (which you do with your feet on the ground), and made it to the bottom after only crashing once, and that was into a snowpile on one of the hairpin turns. Being from Australia, Chloe was very excited about all of these winter activities, since she has never really seen snow. She even made her very first snow angel!
I met a ton of fun PwC people from all over, and had an awesome trip. Although, I was very very tired when I got back, since I didn't sleep very much between all the skiing and partying. Oh well, it was so much fun!
The group from PwC has been going on ski trips for a few years, and it is organized by a man who works in the Frankfurt office. There are PwC people from all over Germany, Moscow, and London. After a long, overnight bus ride, we arrived at the mountain on Saturday morning ready to ski. PwC arranged the 4 day ski pass, rental equipment, hotel, meals and fun activities. Everyone in the group wore the same blue shirts while skiing, too, so you could easily identify who was in the PwC group and meet new people.
We got right onto the slopes in Hintertux, and I was excited to realize that skiing is just like riding a bike - you never really forget how to do it. I was a little nervous about skiing on such large mountains for the first time, but found that I was just fine and ended up being able to ski all the hills on the mountain without a problem. In Austria, the black diamonds are red. So, there were mostly red runs and some blues.
After a full day of skiing, there was "Apres Ski" which is basically happy hour - drinking and fun music at the bar at the bottom of the mountain. Also, this was the first place where Chloe and I started learning some crazy German songs - some even had hand motions/choreography! There is a song about Hintertux, too. It's called "Tux, Tux, Hintertux". We even learned that the video for this song was filmed in the same bar that we went to for Apres Ski.
After Apres Ski, we checked into our hotel, cleaned up, and went to dinner which was a large buffet at the hotel. Dinner each night was followed by more partying, at the disco attached to the hotel, named "Tux1". The hotel, disco, and Apres Ski bar are all owned by the same company. So, of course, we heard all the same great crazy songs all the time. But, I never got tired of them! It was so much fun.
On Sunday the weather was AMAZING! Sunny and clear, so this was the day that I took most of my pictures on the mountain (see my link at the top right for all of my pictures). The sun was so warm, too, since we were so high up. It was almost too hot! Good thing I put on lots of sunscreen, so my nose only got a little red from the sun. Some other people were not so lucky, and got sunburnt faces.
The weather on Monday and Tuesday was not as nice. It was snowing and windy, so the visibility and conditions weren't great, but bearable. On Monday, Marta and I went all the way to the top to ski down, and it was so snowy and windy. You could only see about 10 meters in front of you, so we skied down very slowly. This also made it quite cold, too.
On Monday night, we were taken to a restaurant at the top of a "hill" (would probably be a mountain in the US). We were served a traditional Tirolian dinner (including yummy apple strudel for dessert). A man in lederhosen played music for us during dinner, and he was great. He played all of our favorites songs! Yes, the same ones from Apres Ski and the disco. Apparently, everyone knows all these fun songs. Since we had all been drinking a little bit, and we love these songs, we all started dancing on our benches and singing along with the guy. I was told that this was great practice for Oktoberfest in Munich, since it also involves lots of singing and dancing on tables. I will be a pro in September, and will be able to teach Renae and Ryan all the songs at Oktoberfest.
After the fun dinner, the "only" way to get to the bottom of the hill (and back to our hotel) was by sledding down the snowy road. The road was 6 kilometers long (about 3.8 miles) and full of hairpin turns! It was great fun, and probably really dangerous, but we didn't seem to care at the time. I was really good at steering (which you do with your feet on the ground), and made it to the bottom after only crashing once, and that was into a snowpile on one of the hairpin turns. Being from Australia, Chloe was very excited about all of these winter activities, since she has never really seen snow. She even made her very first snow angel!
I met a ton of fun PwC people from all over, and had an awesome trip. Although, I was very very tired when I got back, since I didn't sleep very much between all the skiing and partying. Oh well, it was so much fun!
At the top of the Hintertux Gletscher in Austria
View from the mountain
Chloe and me at Apres Ski
More Apres Ski
Singing and dancing to crazy German songs
At the disco
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