Sick in Vienna

Being sick in another country is not a lot of fun.  Think about what you would do when you're sick.  Curl up in bed and watch lots of TV and movies.  Unfortunately, most channels here are in German and if I only watch news stations like CNN, BBC, and CNBC, I'll want to slash my wrists after a couple of days.

This cold started sometime over the weekend, perhaps Saturday but it wasn't until Sunday that I felt all the symptoms:  major sinus congestion with lots of nose blowing, body aches and pains, a sore throat and finally some diarrhea. 

Luckily Rachel had previously scouted out a doctor in the neighborhood because it's common practice for people to go see the doctor from day one of an illness.  In fact, the FrauDirektor (Principal) at my school asked me to get a doctor's note.

At least now I am able to share with my readers my experience of the health care system in another country.

The first thing readers should realize is one does not call in advance and make an appointment.  When Rachel went, she wrote down the doctor's hours.  For example, the placard on the side of the apartment building in which the doctor's office is announced Monday's consultation hours from 9-12.  I arrived exactly at 9 am to beat the rush.  It had been my experience in Hungary that oftentimes, in these universal coverage systems, the halls of the hospitals would be lined with the elderly, many of whom only suffer from loneliness.  So, expecting a large number of geriatric patients, I got there at 9.

As mentioned previously, this doctor's office is not in a hospital or health care clinic.  Instead, her offices occupy one (or more) apartments in an apartment building.  After being buzzed in and locating her office (Apartment #6), I approached the receptionist.  Here I gave my normal opening lines:  ich bin auslander, ich spreche ein bisschon Deutsch, ich spreche Englisch.  (which translates as, "I'm a foreigner, I speak a little German, I speak English)

Luckily the receptionist spoke English well enough.  The first thing she wanted to see was my Ecard (see picture).  The Ecard is your key into the universal health system here.  It was important to find a job which paid into the system thereby offering me an Ecard.  The Ecard is a green credit card looking thing with a gold computer chip at one end.  Presumably, all future doctor and hospital visits will start with me presenting my Ecard.  After handing over my Ecard, I answered the normal first time questions (although I wasn't given a long paper questionnaire to fill out detailing my past medical history); such as, what's your address?  what's your phone number?

Then I sat in the waiting room and waited.  Rachel said it took her about an hour to see the doctor.  I think it took me in the environ of 30-40 minutes.  I was reading my Kindle so I didn't really notice the time.

Finally, I was called in to see the doctor.  Her office seemed similar to most I'd seen in the US.  There was a long bed with the large toilet paper roll on the padding as a sanitary precaution.  She also had a desk with the computer at which she sat and she motioned for me to sit across from her in one of two chairs.  I gave my "I'm a foreigner" spiel.  Then I mentioned my wife had been to see her and she made the connection that we were referred from our landlady (always good to get referrals from friends, colleagues, acquaintances in another country).

She asked me what was wrong and, as I had spent some time before the visit translating my symptoms using Google translate, I read from the below script:

english	german
i am sick	Ich bin krank
stuffy nose	Ich habe eine verstopfte Nase
body aches	Ich habe Gliederschmerzen (Körperschmerzen)
my throat hurts	meine Kehle (Hals) schmerzt
when I go to the toilet, I have diarrhea	wenn ich auf die Toilette gehen, habe ich ein wenig (Durchfall) diarrehea
the Principal told me I need a note	die fraudirektor hat gesagt ich brauche eine Notiz (Note)
I work in an elementary school	Ich arbeite in einer GrundSchule

Afterwards, she asked me to take off my shirt and, with her stethoscope, checked my back and chest as I inhaled & exhaled deeply.  Then she had me lie down, checked my mouth (say "AHHHHH!"), my blood pressure, and my abdomen (since I mentioned I had diarrhea).

She told me since this started last Saturday, I would probably need a week to get over it and so gave me a note for the whole week!  However, as Wednesday is a national holiday, I'm hoping to feel well enough to return to work on Thursday.

Then we talked about medicine.  I had previously researched online and found what I used in the States.  I downloaded a picture of Vick's Nyquil along with the active ingredients and presented these to the doctor.  She was able to recognize the underlying medications and she prescribed me something called Neocitran; basically it's a hot drink made by boiling water and mixing with the contents of one package.  She said this and rest was all I needed. I thanked her, shook her hand (I hope she washed her hands afterwards) and said my goodbyes.

Then I went to the pharmacy.  The pharmacist took my prescription, filled it, asked if I understood the dosing and how to use the medicine.  Then I paid my 8.40 Euros for the medicine and left.

Not factoring in that a portion of my paychecks goes towards paying for health care, I did not have to pay anything at the doctor's office (no copay).  The only out of pocket costs were for the medicine at 8.40 Euros.

And that was my experience visiting the doctor and picking up a prescription under the universal health care system.

Europeans' IKEA love

source:  The New Yorker


"One in 10 Europeans is said to be conceived in a bed sold by Swedish furniture giant Ikea."

Ich bin (nicht) frustriert! more on language learning

Here's a table representing some more English-German cognates:

	English	German
noun	frustration	die Frustration
adjective	frustrated	frustriert
verb	to frustrate	frustrieren
noun	complication	die Komplikation
adjective	complicated	kompliziert
verb	to complicate	komplizieren

In a previous post, entitled "it's all in the patterns",  I hypothesized a better method of enlarging your vocabulary in a foreign language is to recognize and utilize patterns.

Let's elaborate on this idea using the above table.

For example, what can we infer about German from the above examples?

1.  examining the verbs first, we notice most German verbs end in -en.  This is useful for us in differentiating verbs from the other parts of speech as we read.

2. drop the -en off of the German verbs, + t and you have an adjective form.  (This is also the method for making the past participle of many German verbs: studieren > studiert, probieren > probiert...)

3. the noun forms in English and German are eerily similar.  So, if you're thinking of an -tion ending word in English, you might want to try the same word in German (but use a more German pronunciation). 

Also, let's make a few more observations on the German nouns.  Notice the nouns are capitalized, this is not by mistake.  In German, nouns are capitalized (making it much easier for students to identify nouns in written text). 

The nouns are preceded by "die", a definite article (like "the" in English)

One tricky thing about the German language is nouns are preceded by either a masculine, feminine, or neuter article (masculine=der, feminine= die, neuter= das)

I find it extremely difficult to learn the proper article matching the nouns as there are few hard and fast rules as to which noun endings take which.  However, on the basis of the above table, when uncertain, I would add a "die" before any -tion ending nouns in German.  Although this might not work 100% of the time, rules don't have to be 100% effective to be useful.

The final point derived from this table concerns pronunciation and phonics.  If we look at complicated > kompliziert and complication > Komplikation, one notices the hard "c" of English (cat, carrier, carpenter, corn) is represented in German by the "k".

Hopefully you found this analysis of language interesting.  Please bear in mind communication usually happens at the sentence, not word level so it would be useful to make some sentences using the different parts of speech.

Zum beispiel (For example):

1.     ich bin frustriert

2.     ich bin nicht frustriert

3.     Bist du (Sind Sie) frustriert?

4.     Warum sind sie frustriert?

5.     Meine Frustration ist kompliziert.

6.     Meine Frustration ist nicht kompliziert.

7.     Ist das kompliziert?

8.     Nein, das ist nicht kompliziert!

9.     Warum ist das so kompliziert?! :(

Networking and Connections in Vienna

Life everywhere requires a network.  Having friends is useful.  When you don't have those, it's good to ask colleagues for recommendations...

Living abroad thus far has required the following:

1. Translators for official (stamp and sign) translations of important documents 
2. Hair stylists - for looking HOT!  

This post will be updated from time to time with the names of useful connections with whom we have been satisfied with their work and therefore recommend.

Translators:

1. Dr. Harald Lacom - We were told he charged 20 Euros/page for translations of 5 pages of documents
cell
06766445822
home
018132674

2.  we received this woman's name from some Canadian friends and she charged 30 Euros/page

Dipl. Dolm. Liese Katschinka

Dr. Heinrich Maierstrasse 9

A-1180 Wien, Österreich

Tel./Fax: +43 1 440 36 07 / +43 1 470 98  19

E-Mail: <liese-katschinka@speed.at>

Hair Stylists:

1. RECOMMEND- 

I got my hair cut by Elizabeth (http://www.kse.co.at/elisabeth.html)

She speaks excellent English and was very friendly and energetic.  More importantly, she did a nice job on my hair so I plan to go back.

Check out more videos of Vienna on...

...my YouTube channel (lantosesl99)
http://www.youtube.com/user/lantosesl99

Video of Vienna's famous old Kaffeehaus

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Central

language--- it's all in the patterns

As, for the past 10 years, I have been teaching English to speakers of other languages, it's a fun social experiment to become a language learner again.  Most often, I am reminding myself to "practice what I preached."  

For example, I recommended my students find patterns in language.  Sometimes, people are mystified by learning a second language.  Well, you learned one to the point of proficiency:  reading, writing, speaking, listening.  So, have some confidence, you can learn another. 


All too often, I find people get stuck at the word level in their second language.  Here's a common thought, "if I learn 50 words a day, at the end of a year, I'll have a vocabulary of 18,250 words."  It is important to have a good memory in second language learning.  However,  in addition to some memorization using flash cards, I advocate the pattern identification process.  


Here are some examples of word groupings (different parts of speech of a concept):

In English class I would teach:  
-ist ending is for people:  Communist, chemist, guitarist, flutist...


-ican ending is for nationalities:  African, American, Mexican....


micro- means really small:  microscope, microscopic, microphone....


chemical (adj.) chemisch*
chemical (n.) e Chemikalie*
chemist r Chemiker*
chemistry e Chemie* 

Mexico s Mexiko
Mexican adj. mexikanisch
Mexican n. r Mexikaner/e Mexikanerin

micro Mikro-
microphone s Mikrofon
microscope s Mikroskop
microscopic adj. mikroskopisch

communism r Kommunismus
communist r Kommunist


Let's see how this technique can transfer to learning German (á la "practice what you preach"):

auf Deutsch (in German)
-isch= languages = Englisch, Ungarisch, Franzözisch, Italienisch, Spanisch...
-er= people =  Amerikaner, Deutscher, Franzözer

-ismus= idealogies/philosophies= Kommunismus, Sozialismus, Kapitalismus...

In conclusion, by looking for the patterns (in this case meaning prefixes and suffixes), I am able to expand my vocabulary more rapidly than just rote memorization of individual words. 










 

learning German

Unfortunately, I have not had as much time or money to commit to studying German intensively as I would have liked. 
When I first moved to Budapest about a decade ago, I had the luxury of living with family while I studied the language intensively for 9 mos.  Having such a strong foundation gave me the confidence and assurance during daily interactions in Hungarian.  That being said, Hungary was also a country where one wasn't guaranteed to find an English speaker. 

The same cannot be said of Vienna.  Here, we have been able to transact much of our business in English.  Most interactions with "the natives" go like this:

Native:  Grüs Gott
me:  Grüs Gott, ich bin ausländer.  ich spreche ein bisschon Deutsch, ich spreche Englisch. 

Translation:  Greetings.
Greetings.  I am a foreigner, I speak a little German, I speak English.

At this point in the conversation, if the "native" speaks English, they usually switch over.  Sometimes I ask outright, "Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (do you speak English?)
The most common answer has been "a little" followed by some of the most fluent, comprehensible English imaginable. 
In a way, it's sort of a shame.  In Hungary, I was really forced to master the language to a certain level because most people did not speak English.  Here, most people can speak English well enough to make my limited German look laughable.  Therefore, I have this crutch to avoid German if I so desire. 

That being said, I have been able to pick up some German.  There are a lot of cognates between English and German.  Cognates are similar words between languages.  In many cases, only pronunciation differs. 
Some examples of English-German cognates:

English> German
Mouth> Mund
cold> kalt
warm> warm
House> Haus
Car/Automobile> Auto
Taxi> Taxi

For a more comprehensive list, visit here


Last weekend, while visiting relatives in Budapest, I tried to convey this to my aunt.  She always tells me she speaks a little English; however, she is quite fluent in German.  I tried to convince her when she doesn't know the English word, to use the German.  Hopefully she'll find this a useful strategy!

I have also found it interesting how idiomatic expressions are similar.  For example, in English we say, "give them an inch, they take a foot."  In German they say, "give them the pinky (finger), they take the whole hand." 

Now I know what that smell on the metro (subway) was...

http://www.austriantimes.at/news/General_News/2011-10-11/36823/One_in_five_Austrians_do_not_change_socks_daily

The origins of food OR you are what you eat

Thanks to today’s technology, I have been able to keep in touch with friends and family.  I am often asked what the food is like here.  Therefore, the focus of this blog entry will be observations on aliments.  Europeans eat a lot of fresh fruit and produce, much of it picked from trees or grown on their land.  There’s also a lot of public demand to know where the food comes from. 

Food’s always been of utmost importance to me.  Growing up as a child, eating recipes passed down from my mom’s grandmother, I remember not a Sunday would pass without Frank Sinatra on the radio and some garlicky sauté scenting the kitchen. 

Living in Baltimore, I was befriended by Quincy, a personal chef (http://thechefinthecity.com/).  He talked a lot about eating local.  After watching some documentaries (Food Inc.) and reading some books (most recently Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”),  I started to understand how easy it is to lose touch with the reality of food.  Unfortunately, this is all the more true in large supermarkets, where the “mystery meat” is wrapped in sterile containers, sanitizing away almost every characteristic that links dinner with an animal, once living. 

A major difference, from my perspective, between Americans and Europeans is Europeans are still very in touch with the life of their food. 

Today, at my school, the teacher brought in an edible Chestnut taken during a hike in the woods and contrasted it with another, inedible Chestnut.  Apparently, in German, there are two different names for Chestnuts- Marone (edible) and Kastanie (inedible). In English, I believe we only have the word Chestnut.  As young as first grade, these children are learning to distinguish food from non-food in nature. 

This past weekend I visited my cousin who lives just north of Budapest on a small parcel of land.  On her property she has a walnut tree and many fruit trees.  Unfortunately, it’s too late in the year to taste the fruit trees’ harvest but I was able to eat some walnuts.  She’s offering her daughter 2 cents for every walnut she gathers.  Before this weekend, I would have said walnuts are not my favorite.  When, in the Trader Joe’s nut aisle, I often choose almonds or peanuts.  Dried, bagged walnuts are so flavorless.  These walnuts, picked from the ground under her tree, were fantastic!  They had a real earthy flavor: smoky, rich, and a little sweet.  Instead of being dry and flaky, these walnuts were moist and tasty.  Waking up on Sunday morning before the rest of the house and feeling a bit peckish, these walnuts really satiated my hunger. 

For me, some of my earliest memories of Europe are visiting family and being amazed by the fruit trees on their property.  I stood in amazement at the thought they could wake up, step outside, and pick some fruit to accompany breakfast.  It conjures images of Thoreau's "Walden" where he subsided on the fruits and bounty of the land.

Food, good food, has a connection to the land.  In the bright lights and sanitized world of the supermarket, sometimes this idea gets obfuscated. 

What about European supermarkets?

Anyone who has traveled or lived in Europe knows that supermarkets here are much smaller than in the US with a more limited selection.  This is true!

On the other hand, Europeans demand to know where their food comes from.  I was watching a news show in which an interviewer asked callers' questions to the equivalent of the European Union's Secretary of Agriculture.  One caller wanted to know how long until processed foods would have labels itemizing the ingredients' origins.  That is to say, here, they already denote where produce and meat comes from.  Similar to seeing a Dole or Chiquita banana sticker on bananas in US supermarkets, the country of origin is written here.  On a small black sign in front of the oranges, you might see either "South Africa" written as the origin or sometimes they put the country's flag instead.  For meat, this information is usually added to the label on the outer wrapping. 

Although one can often find a "Product of ________" label on fruit and veggies in the States, I cannot recall seeing such a label on meats. 

I have no doubt, as more Americans care about where their food comes from, these labeling practices will be adopted in the States too!

If you're interested in knowing more about what you eat, I can recommend the following resources:

Pollan, Michael "Omnivore's Dilemma" -- a good read although I didn't really enjoy the last chapter about his do it yourself meal.  

Food, Inc. is an interesting documentary on the industrialization of food production. 

If you live in the greater Baltimore area, for locally sourced food you should check out the following:

1. http://www.gunpowderbison.com/- Bison meat

2. I've never been to this Food Coop but it just opened so might be worth a visit:

http://northbaltimore.patch.com/articles/baltimore-food-co-op-celebrates-grand-opening

3.  A good destination for cheap but good produce is the International Food Market located off of Reisterstown Road in Northwest Baltimore. 

Living Abroad--- by the numbers

Life’s Monthly costs	Baltimore, MD, USA	Vienna, Austria (converted to US$)
Rent	$930 (2 bedroom)	$1040 (1 bedroom)
Cable TV	for Cable + Internet varied from teaser rate of $60/mo.- $90/mo.   Verizon and Comcast both offer phone/internet/cable for $100/mo.	included in rent
Internet	see above	included in rent
Cellphone	$60-70/mo. for  rollover mins but only 100 text messages	$17/mo. for 1000 minutes/1000 texts/1 GB data per mo.
Car	car itself cost around $13-14,000. car insurance= $6-700/every 6 mos. via Geico no parking costs costs of maintenance (usually spent anywhere from $50-$300) every time went to the mechanic (every few months)	none- monthly transportation ticket allowing unlimited riding on buses, trams, and metro = $64.35/mo.
Heat	Usually $150/mo.	unknown, no bill yet no A/C in apartment in Vienna (expected around $150-$200)
Electricity	Usually $75/mo	unknown, no bill yet (educated guess around $80)
Sewer	$16/mo.	included in rent
Life insurance	None	None
Renter’s insurance	$130/yr	None

Simon the Pie-man

Dear Readers,
Got a request asking about Simon, our geriatric kitty. 
As you can see from the above "Glamour" pic, Simon survived the voyage over.  There was a slight hitch in the plan when Rachel missed her international connection and had to unexpectedly spend the night in a NJ hotel with Simon. 
For those of you who don't know this regal fellow, he was abandoned as a kitten, discovered by a mother of Rachel's friend in a dumpster behind a hospital.  Rachel had to nurse him with an eye dropper.  I have this theory there is a near-death experience in every life at some point.  If it happens earlier and you survive, perhaps you become stronger from surviving. 
This seems to bear out in Simon's case as he's become a hardy old man. 
He's 18 yrs. old and still looks forward to his thrice daily meals--- He's starting to get a little fat!
We've already taken him to the vet who said, "He looks good for his age." 
This was before Rachel asked the vet to clip Simon's claws during which he bit me (as I tried to hold him down) and then tried to, unsuccessfully, attack the vet.  This cat's got moxy!

For those of you who might decide to travel abroad with a pet, do your homework first!
In the end, we hustled in the US to meet certain requirements- such as updated shots, implanting microchips, lots of paperwork- including driving to the Department of Agriculture near Annapolis to get some signatures.  This was all to prevent Simon from being quarantined. 

As it turned out, when Rachel finally arrived in Vienna, the customs agent asked for none of this paperwork and let Simon through without as much as a glance!

Good Eats in Vienna--- check back frequently for updates

As my wife, Rachel, is a vegetarian, it can at times be challenging to find good Veggie-friendly options in this meat eater's paradise.

So, for your knowledge and mine, I am dedicating this post to good places to find Veggie options.  Please note, many restaurants listed here do not cater exclusively to the Vegetarische lifestyle but do have Vegetarian options.

1.  Der Wiener Deewan- Pakistani Food.  This is definitely not a romantic setting for an important occasion.  Instead, it's buffet style all you can eat with an interesting catch, you pay what you want- for the food.  There are usually six buffet options, half vegetarian.  The fare is similar to Indian with lentil based dishes, potatos and vegetables eaten over rice and with a special bread.  You can also order drinks here (Beer, wine, etc.) off the menu which lists drinks' prices.  Situated near the Vienna University, this place gets a lot of patronage from students and it can be difficult to find a booth.

2. Bankok Vienna- Thai food.  Here is a restaurant with beautiful decor complementing good Thai cuisine.  We've eaten here twice without a reservation around 6 pm (18:00) and had no problems getting a table.  However, we've noticed it starts to get busy as we're leaving so reservations are recommended.  Typical Thai fare with good Pad Thai and a delicious Red Curry with Vegetables under the Vegetarian offerings.  For four people with drinks, expect to pay around 60 Euros--- pretty reasonable from our experiences.  This would be an appropriate venue for a special evening out!

3. For good Wurst, go to the Wurstelstand located at the Ottakring U-bahn station.  Walk outside, toward the Spar Supermarket and Hervis Sports store, the Wurstelstand will be right in front.  Order the "Hot Dog mit Bratwurst"  with (mit) Ketchup und Senf (Mustard) OR  without (ohne)
Enjoy!

4.  Koi-   Went to this cool bar called "1516" last night and then stopped at this Asian fusion restaurant named "Koi": Schwarzenbergstrasse 8, 1010 Wien.  Rachel started with a delicious Gemüsesuppe (Mixed Vegetable soup) and had Mixed Veggies with Tofu for her main course.  She had to order the rice separately :( 
I started with a Kimchi Salad appetizer, which was good but not as fermented or garlicy as the traditional Kimchi from NYC's best Korean places.  Afterwards, I had the Nasi Goreng, a great dish, curried rice with egg (think egg fried rice with lots of delicious curry flavor).  Across this mountain of rice were laid two chicken satays (mini chicken kebabs) with traditional Thai peanut dipping sauce. 
All told, 2 apps + 2 main dishes, a beer for me and wine for R came to 30.80 Euros before tip.  A satisfying meal at a reasonable price.