Passive-Aggressive

I have found a wonderful web-site. If you need a distraction from work, or you're just bored and wanting to surf the internet, have I found the web-site for you!!!

Passive-Aggressive-Notes

It is filled with people who have received or found passive aggressive notes and then submitted it to this web-site with a bit of a story. Seriously, hours of fun!

Buttermilk Pancakes...German Style

This past week's AmiExpat's Real German Cuisine challenge was Buttermilk Pancakes. I always read Christina's posts with all intentions of participating that week, and then all of a sudden, it's two weeks later and something else is on the menu. However, this time, I'm only a couple days off, so go me!

I made my Aunt Dianne's fruit salad, but the silly Edeka near me didn't have walnuts (my favorite part of the salad) so I needed something else to go with it. Luckily, this recipe was there! YAY! And boy were they good!
Of course, I didn't sift the flour, or mix the ingredients one at a time...I threw it all in a bowl and got my trusty whisk and went to town. It was a bit clumpy, so I let it sit for about 10 minutes and whisked it again and the clumps were gone.


They really worked perfectly with the fruit salad. And, there was some batter and fruit salad left over, so now we have breakfast for tomorrow as well!

Oh, and as Christina said, the texture was a bit of a mix between a crepe and an American pancake...but I would lean more towards the crepe. Markus hates the wonderfully amazing Bisquick pancakes I make (who could not like those???) and these are a great compromise. He likes them, I like them, and they are SUPER easy!

Fucking, Austria

Oh yes, Markus and I drove about 100km out of our way just for these few shots...totally worth it! There are really only a handful of houses here, but it was all worth it just for the pics with the city sign...too bad I there weren't any little stores with postcards....

We're here!!!


Markus with the Fucking sign



Me with the Fucking sign


Oh, I just had to!


Sad...Fucking is over!

Sunday Funnies

This weekend, we went to visit our friends Hansi and Doris near the Chiemsee. Of course, this pregnant lady needed to stop a few times to pee along the way. This was a sign in the bathroom...sometimes, it is not a good idea to translate directly from German into English...it just doesn't work too well...




"Welcome to our Thunderbox
Please leave the restroom clean an straight.
It would be in your interest.
Please accept our best thanks.
Your AGIP-team Burghausen"

Ok, first off, why the hell is the restroom called a thunderbox? I know sometimes it can sound like thunder in there, but seriously? It just doesn't translate well. Secondly, I felt a little threatened by the third line...really, in my interest to leave the toilet clean? Is the toilet mafia going to come and get me if I don't?

Sorry about the photo being pretty dark...the pics with the flash just didn't work...the flash was always over the English part...Oh well...

German-American Volksfest

Hello all,

If you're going to be in the area of Grafenwoehr between July 31 and August 2, be sure to check out the German-American Volksfest! There is really stuff for everyone. Obviously, there's some awesome American cuisine...can you say Awesome Blossom!...and some not so awesome American drinks...Budweiser and Bud Light. There's tanks and other army vehicles that the kids (young and old alike) can play on...and well, it is really just lots of fun! Markus and I went a few years ago and it was really nice.

So if you're up for some fun, then I would say come on over/up/down/whatever. I'm crossing my fingers that the weather will be nice!

Socialized Health Care

There has been a lot of talk lately about health care, especially in the US, and whether or not the US should adopt a socialized health care system of some form. My reply is "Why the hell not?". Those who are uninsured are paying way too much for health care, especially since they normally wait until a cold has turned into the flu and that has subsequently turned into pneumonia.

Here's my disclaimer, I'M NOT A DOCTOR. I have no clue if a cold can turn into pneumonia. I think that if you leave something untreated then it has the possibility to turn into something nasty and something that is potentially deadly.

I have lived with both health care systems. I must say, that while I was on my mother's health care, I had awesome coverage. United Health Care seriously rocked my world. I could get prescriptions with just a little co-pay. I could see the doctor for just 15 bucks a visit. If I needed a surgery, done and done. No problem. Then I turned 25 and this luxury ended.

I could have gone COBRA and stayed with my mother's health insurance, however, I would also have to sell a kidney to be able to afford it. I figured that since I was still in school, I would stick to the student clinic and I would get some form of catastrophic health insurance. Now it cost me 30 bucks to see the doctor...luckily, I just had to go twice to get a certain pill refilled. The prescriptions for students were also cheaper...I could get my monthly pill for $15 a month. Not bad, considering with mom's health insurance it was something around $10-$12 a month.

The catastrophic health insurance (THANK GOD I NEVER NEEDED IT!!!) was a whole different monster. For people who solely rely on this as their health care coverage, I feel completely sorry for them. If I needed to go to the doctor, I had to pay 40% of the costs...and we all know how doctors LOVE to run all sorts of tests. Also, if I needed, say, my tonsils taken out, I would have to cover $3,000 of the charges, plus 50% of the medications that I would need afterward! Are you kidding me? Who's got an extra $3,000 hanging out just in case. The answer: those with catastrophic health insurance just for this purpose.

I would get NO preventative treatment. If I didn't have the fall back of the student health center on campus, I would have been SOL when I had this awful cough a few years ago. Seriously, those with catastrophic health insurance, or those with NO health insurance, I feel for you. It is these people that get the shitty end of the stick.

Then I moved to Germany and it is like the sky cleared, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping....and somewhere there could have been angels singing. "You mean, that once I'm married to you Markus, I am covered by your health insurance? I get to see ANY doctor I want? I can go to the dentist again?" This was wonderful. Those in the US that get health insurance through their employer or their spouse know that having health insurance is a wonderful thing.

Let me explain a bit about the German health care system (from my perspective of course). If you work, no matter part-time or full-time, you receive health coverage. It is compulsory. You have to take part. You pay a certain percentage of your wages (around 8%) towards your coverage, and your employer pays the same. So, if you don't make too much money, no worries, you pay less for health insurance. If you make piles of money, then you pay more. The rich pay a bit more to cover the costs for the poor who can't pay as much into the system. The Germans call this "solidarity". I would tend to call it equality.

However, if you make piles of money, you have a choice. You can choose to stay on with the public health insurance OR you can choose to switch over to a public health insurance.

Markus explained this to me, but it is super complicated, so I'm just going to dumb it down a bit. If he were to choose to go with a private health insurance, he would have to pay a greater percentage out of his paycheck. Even worse, I would not be covered. He'd have to pay extra for me. The positive aspects of a private health insurance is that you get to the front of the line when you get to the doctors, and you'd get a single room at the hospital. Those are just two "advantages" of private health insurance.

Oh, and just to make this really clear, THIS IS NOT A HEALTH INSURANCE RUN BY THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT! They merely keep a really, really close eye on it and be sure that the costs don't get too out of hand...ok, they basically regulate the insurance companies closely, which is by no means a bad thing.

So, what do I get out of this whole "socialized health care"? I get good health AND DENTAL care that is what I get! Ok, I might have bitched a bit about the hospital rooms, but I have the option of staying in there for about a week and the insurance WILL PAY for it! The hospital won't try to push me out of there the day after having a baby...unless you're like a friend of mine who 4 hours after giving birth to her adorable baby girl, went home. She wanted to do that. But here's the real kicker. Her insurance paid for a midwife to come by EVERY DAY for about 10 days to check in on her and the baby. A house call! A freaking house call! I don't know if you can still get one of those in the US (and no, an ambulance coming is not a house call).

Ok, but back to MY experiences. Every quarter, I must pay a 10 Euro (about $14) ONCE. Once every 3 months!!! This enables me to go to my primary care physician if I get sick, and to my OBGYN for female stuff. I don't have to pay 10 Euro for each visit, even if it is to a different doctor. Nope, just once, to one doctor (normally your primary care physician) and then you get a piece of paper saying that you've already paid your co-pay for the quarter.

Also, on the weekend, if you get sick and need to go to the doctor, you have to pay another co-pay of 10 Euro, but it is just ONCE for the entire YEAR (at least I believe it is the year...if not, it is then once a quarter as well, which ain't too shabby either!).

Oh, and another GREAT aspect about this "socialized health care" is that I get to see the dentist (which is a separate co-pay, but it is still only 10 Euro a quarter). Seriously? A dentist? And if I need a filling, I get it. If I need some other work done, then I can get it. A crown, no prob! I do have to pay a bit extra for these services, but it not near what I paid when I had to get 3 cavities filled in the US ending up costing about $1,200!!! Ok, I didn't have insurance then, but $1,200 for 3 freaking cavaties??? Give me a break!

So now you may be wondering how long the wait is to get an appointment at a doctor's office, and subsequently, how long the wait is once I'm there. The answer, roughly the same as in the US, if not faster. When my pregnancy test turned up positive, it was a Friday. I called my doctor immediately and I got in the following Tuesday. Not bad. I remember in the US, even with my mom's awesome insurance, I would have to wait a month or so for some appointments. Once I got there, sure, we had to wait. It was probably 15 minutes or so. Not too long. Sometimes the wait has been longer, but there were more people waiting then.

One thing that I must add, German doctors do not jump at every chance they get to prescribe you some new fancy drug. They try to go the less invasive route. So, if you've got a cough, you most likely won't get the fun cough syrup laced with codine...they'll tell you to drink tea (which by the way, works just as well and you don't get the trippy side effects). However, if you have such a horrid sinus infection, they will prescribe you antibiotics. I like that they err on the side of caution with prescription meds...have you seen the side-effects some of them have??? They're worse that what they claim to be helping. Your restless-leg-syndrome meds won't help you much if they kill you now will they? And is "restless-leg-syndrome" really somthing that you should be prescribed meds for? Is it really that bad?

So, all in all, I am happy so far with the German health care system. You can say what you want about how evil "socialized" health care is and that it is just another way for the government to spy on you or whatever. But wait until you actually live with it. It is not bad at all! I think that the main fear from lots of people in the us comes from the fear of the unknown. However, if the US uses the UK as guide for socialized health care, I would be against it too! Hopefully the US can adopt some form of the German health care system.

What are your thoughts?

The Hospital in Weiden

A week or so ago, Markus and I went and took a tour of the maternity ward at the hospital in Weiden. It was nice, but I do have just a few reservations, but I think I can get over them quickly.

To start off with, we went straight into the birthing areas. They have two birthing rooms, which have different things to either help you get fully dilated, or get more comfy while you're pushing...Ok, too much info for the guys out there...sorry. All in all, I really liked the rooms. They have a separate room with a tub that you can use to just help relax you through the contractions, or you can give birth in it. Pretty cool.

Another nice aspect is that, if need be (cross your fingers that I don't need it), the c-section room is right next to the birthing rooms, so in an emergency, little girl will be out in about 3-7 minutes. Not bad.

What is also nice is that new mothers can stay for 3 or 4 days (it might even be longer). It isn't like in the US where they try to get you out ASAP. Also after a c-section, you stay there for 7-10 days...a week is the minimum though.

We were then taken to the baby room. You can, of course, keep your baby in your room, or if you need to sleep, you can give your baby to the nice ladies and they'll bring her in when she needs to be fed.

Now on to the part that I didn't really like. The patient rooms. There are 6 or 7 patient rooms with 2 beds and then 1 or 2 family rooms. The family room is what I would really like to get. There is room for Markus to spend the night too, and a nice big couch...it costs a bit more each night, 45 Euro, but I think it would be well worth it! These rooms I liked. The other patient rooms...not so much. They are pretty small, and have two beds in them. That is fine. My problem is that there aren't any curtains between the beds.

My mother-in-law, bless her heart, is trying to convince me that this is such a wonderful thing since you can talk with the other ladies and that, in and of itself, is worth having the double room. I keep telling her that is great for her, but not for me. And since little girl is coming in September (9 months after Christmas, I know) there are loads of other pregnant ladies in Weiden who are going to be giving birth at around the same time. So, if there are lots of women, then instead of just having 2 beds in the room, there could be 3. Great, making the small room even smaller. And then I heard that they don't really open the windows, so it can get super stuffy in there...and then with 3 ladies and 3 babies...I think that I'm just freaking myself out more than how it really will be. Time will tell....

However, I must say, after chatting with a few friends who have given birth in the UK/Ireland, I'm pretty happy about the situation here in Germany. One of my friends was in a room with 9 other women...good lord. And then the stories from mom when she gave birth in the US to Matt and I...hmmm...thinking about it, it won't be so bad. I'm just going to keep my fingers crossed though that I get one of those family rooms...

Seriously, I can buy that in a restroom???

On Monday night, Markus, some friends and I went to go see Harry Potter in English at the Cinemaxx in Regensburg. It is a pretty nice theater, and one thing that I love about German movie theaters is that there is assigned seating. It was a bit weird at first, but once you're used to it, it sucks to go back to the non-assigned-seating method.

So, before the movie, the girls (which was everyone besides Markus) decided to make a run on the toilet. While in the line, since there is always a line for the women's restroom, something caught my eye...



But wait...what are they selling???

Oh, now I can see it better...you can buy a mini vibrator, a flavored condom, a "vibrator-penis-ring" and a "lustfinger"

Yes, this is a sex toy vending machine. Each one costs you only 4 Euro, so if you're feeling a little frisky, you can get one of these before you go into that dark cave of a theater...that is if the theater wasn't packed like it was for Harry Potter. But who would really want to buy that in the bathroom at the movie theater??? Come on now!

Oh, and I asked Markus if there is anything like that in the Men's restroom...he didn't think so, meaning, he didn't look.

The belly

The first one you can't really see the belly, since I'm not standing profile, but you can see the strain it is putting on my sweater!



Markus and I in Dresden



The belly at 30 weeks and 3 days...or is it 30 weeks and 4 days...one of those.

Update on the littel girl

The little girl is doing just fine and dandy. She is moving like crazy, and the other night at around 4:30am, she decided she wanted to have a dancing party in the belly...so I was up until about 5:30 with that, while munching on some tums. It seems that her little parties cause some awesome heartburn on my end.

However, there was bit there where I was really worried about little girl. For a two day period, I didn't really feel her moving, so on July 3, I called my doctor in a panic, and she had me come in later that day for some EKG action and a sonogram. Fortunately, after I hung up the phone, little girl was on the move again. My doctor took a look at the EKG and after doing the sonogram stated that she is doing just fine, but I needed to go to the doctor on Saturday (which here is called a Notarzt or Emergency Doctor) for another EKG and sonogram just to be sure.

So, on July 4, before heading down to my friend Autumn's house for 4th of July festivities, I headed off to the Notarzt. I must say, it was a much nicer office than my current doctor, and since I'm looking for a different doctor for after the birth, this was nice. However, this doctor did tell me that I didn't have enough amniotic fluid...it was just a little to little, but that I should keep an eye on it.

At the next appointment with my current doctor, which was the following Friday, I told her this, so she did a sonogram herself and said that yes, I didn't have enough amniotic fluid and that I need to go to the hospital for more tests. I'm thinking at this point, "Holy shit! The hospital! This must be completely awful and my child will have some awful birth defects...oh God, what did I do wrong?" The doctor says to not worry, but seriously, telling a pregnant lady not to worry is like telling an alcoholic not to drink beer. It just doesn't happen. So, I walked calmly to the car, called Markus and proceeded to break down. I had to drive to his office, which was only 3 minutes away, but I hit some awesome midday traffic, so it took, what felt like half an hour (which was really 10 minutes).

He called the hospital and set up an appointment for me for that Monday...I couldn't get in on that Friday, but Monday at 8:30 am would just have to do. I proceeded to come home, break down on the phone with my mother and google what was going on. The googling helped, saying that later in pregnancy I shouldn't worry too much about it. And then Astroyoga helped out by saying that she also had it and had a wonderful birthing experience, so I was calmed once again.

Monday rolled around and we're at the hospital for the super-duper-delux sonogram/ultrasound (really, what's the difference, I have no idea!) and it was truly amazing! The detail with which you could see the 4 chambers of the heart pumping and the kidneys, and the brain, and the 3D look at the spinal cord and rib cage! Markus and I were pretty much impressed.

Of course, I ask the dumb question "Ist es noch ein Maedchen?" ("Is it still a girl?") because Markus wasn't with me when I was told the sex...and my other doctor couldn't really tell (since her machine is from roughly 1972). He chuckled a little and said, "Uh, Frau Meissner, das Geschlecht aendert sich normalerweise nicht." ("Uh, Mrs. Meissner, the sex doesn't usually change"), so then I had to tell him why I asked...He then reassured Markus that yes, it is still a girl. He also informed us that little girl is absolutely perfect. There is a little too little amniotic fluid, but that could just be because of how she is laying, but there is no other reason why there should be too little since all of the organs look perfect.

So little girl has a clean bill of health and I have a clear head now...phew!

I know...it's been a while

I've been meaning to put up a few blog entries in the past week or so, but seriously, I just haven't gotten around to it. I haven't really been doing too much. Charlie was here all last week (and today he's at the in-laws, so I have a bit more time) but that isn't really an excuse since we go on just an hour walk in the afternoon. So, just call me lazy.

However, today, when catching up on reading some other expat blogs, I came across one of the funniest things that I have read in a long, long time. I was actually crying. It comes from 50% of my DNA who actually got it from CN Heidelberg. So, it's been around in the expat community for a bit, but I just got around to reading it.

Now, you don't want to be eating lunch while reading this, but seriously, don't be too grossed out because it is just too funny of a story. And it also makes me think that this is why Germans cook all meat until it is roughly resembles jerky.

Funny, yet gross, story....Enjoy :)

Sunday Funnies

Today we take a look at two very wonderful "Learn English" commercials. The first one, I've actually seen on TV here, the second one my dad told me about...and the second one is most definitely NSFW....