More USA - belated update

Indianapolis, USA
12:40pm
Icy outside, warm inside

Hello, hello and hello!

I am just sitting here in a student support room at a High school in Indianapolis.

Let me start in the beginning. Patrick and I went to Indiana on the 3rd and when we arrived everything was white with snow and it was icy compared to NY City.

We spend the first week just relaxing and visiting some of the local Museums as well as some of the local shopping areas. For those of you who haven’t been to Indianapolis, you might wanna visit the Indiana State Museum (lots of things to see and do),

the Eiteljorg Museum (Native Indian Arts and History)

and the Children’s Museum is definitely something to see

(Chihula’s glass art, be a fish in a corral reef, explore the mummy and so much more!).

Colleen took me to work today and I always enjoy these ventures into High school teaching.

The first time was at CHS, which is a private school and classes had a lot more respect (maybe because most of them really wanted to learn in order to be able to go to a good college). At my last visit Colleen taught at Franklin College and did some private classes. I enjoyed both even more. The Ladies at Franklin were willing students who planned a trip to Europe and had tons of questions about Germany. Private teaching has its upside because you do one on one teaching. That’s were Colleen met Marky, who’s now a happy member of the Taber family.

Now, to my recent experience with public High School German classes: wow. The buildings are quite nice, the teachers I’ve met (especially one of the Spanish teachers – Hola!!) were very nice and some quite charming. The students are a different matter. I guess you have the same types of student as in any other school, though I felt it was more extreme. You have the quiet, shy kid that needs some prompting but actually knows more then he thinks. There’s the loud kid that seems to hide his real personality. There’s the smart one, who does what he’s told and much more. There are rich brats that don’t really know why they should try to understand something. The hyperactive clown of the class. The sulker (is that even a word). Colleen is a teacher with all her heart and you have to be in order to keep up with those kids. Some have no respect, no manners. Some need to be drawn out of their shells. Some need extra help. I was beat after one day, but she does that every week. Mrs. C. you have my utter respect!!

Patrick stayed till the 10th and I drove him up to Chicago. On our way there, we stopped at a Farm, where you can buy there cheese and other merchandise, feed cow, watch cheese being made. We had vanilla cheese cake, which was awesome and I got chocolate milk, which was rich and more than yummy!

Chicago was rainy, sadly so, and I wasn’t prepared – wrong sneakers! We parked at the Millennium Park, where kids were skating,

got tickets for “Wicked” and walked up to Navy Pier.

Around five I drove to the hostel, where I had booked a bed for one night (Patty’s flight to New Mexico left at 2 am!). I was more than annoyed by that time, wet socks, no parking, unfriendly personal, old creaky beds and don’t get me started on the hygiene.

So we went to see “Wicked” which is more than awesome. I fell in love with the Musical instantly.

I drove him to the airport and stayed till about 1:30am and then reluctantly left for the hostel. I slept till 8am and as soon as I could left that dreaded place. The neighbour hood was kinda nice though. I had breakfast at a small café that had French bread, cheese and coffee. I was finally able to relax.

The week without Patty was nice too, because I could do what I wanted to. We had a pre birthday dinner (Melinda’s) at a very rustical restaurant – awesome food, great company.

I met Tawny and finally her husband and son, too. The three of us had lunch and went to the State Fair grounds to go to a reptile exhibition. Usually, snakes are not something I enjoy, but I found out that they are soft, gentle creatures and it amazed me how fearless Owen (her son) looked at them and touched them. Who knows, I might even get a snake at one point in my life.

Colleen and I were also able to meet with Sonya. She’s a Russian artist and one of the most delightful women I have ever met. We talked till the sandwich store closed. I love both of these women very much; they are smart, funny and full of life! The three of us laughed a lot. I draw a lot of strength from this kind of friendship.

Colleen was sick during my stay, first with some kind of flu and she later experienced facial paralysis. It has not really gotten better and her hearing in one ear is disabled, too. Surprisingly she has been able to overcome that disability and found someway to see it as a wake up call to start living her life more actively again.

I already miss the US very much and still have not given up on my dream of one day living in Indiana.

Thank you Mark, Colleen, Chris and Melinda for having Patrick and me. I always feel like coming home and rather as part of the family than a guest.

A big hug to Sonya – I miss you!

Another big hug goes to Tawny and her family – you guys are delightful!

Love,
Rea

P.S.: This year's rental.

Big Apples and Huge buildings

New York City, USA
09:00pm
Cold, clear night

Hey dudes!

New York is awesome. After I arrived at JFK, I took a NY taxi to my hostel, where I met Patty. After a bear hug, paying for the room and unpacking, we left for the Empire State Building. The city was packed and we took a look at the Rockefeller Center

(ice skating ring and the huge Christmas tree) and went off. It took us 1 hour in line to get up the Empire State Building and it was freezing, snowing, but NYC by night is awesome!!

The first night was okay, seeing that it is a 12 bed dorm, and about 6 guys were snoring and the tall guy had his feet in my bed.

Second day was spend in Downtown Manhattan – WTC – Site, Wall Street

, Broadway,

Times Square and we saw the “Lion King” Musical – got cancellation tickets. Meaning, wait in line 2 hours before the show and if someone cancels you get the ticket for 126,40 $. It was worth it and it was my birthday!

Third day, we got up early; we went to the Battery Park. Patty got in line for the ferry to Statue of Liberty and I got in line for the tickets. No monument passes, but tickets for the ferry. 1 ½ h later, we got onto the ferry and were of to see the lady.

We spend a good 5 hours on Liberty and Ellis Island - it was worth it. I cooked at the hostel and we had a lovely evening talking with some other people!

On the 31st, Patty and I left for the Museum of Sex, where I watched porn with a Rabbi sitting next to me. Devine.

We got back to the hostel early and prepared to go to Times Square. 2 pants, shirt, sweater, winter jacket, gloves, scarf and funny hat.

We got as far as 49th street, saw the ball being lifted at 6pm and left by 8pm, because it was cold and boring. Back at the hostel we hooked up with Kris and Dee from Australia as well as Mer and Liz from Brazil. The 6 of us went to a bar, got drunk, danced a lot and had a blast.

And today we slept late, well actually Patty slept late, I got up at 8:30am, got breakfast and went back to bed. At noon, I got us some groceries, after throwing Patty out of bed, and made Pasta and sauce. It was a delicious farewell lunch for Dee and Kris, for they were leaving for Canada. The afternoon, the two of us went to Central Park, took a horse carriage, walked around and just enjoyed each others company.

Plans for the next days: MoMA, Apple Store, Victoria’s Secret Super Store, catch plane for Indiana.

Loads of hugs,
A Happy New Year to all of you,
Patty says hi,

Rea


P.S.: I love NY!!

Save in NY

New York City

Cold

Just a quicky!!

Arrived savely.. having lots of fun..

Love you all!

Rea

Santa's Little Helper

Potsdam, Germany
11:00 Pm
Foggy cold night

Hi folks,

This is my last entry before I leave for New York City.

Last weeks have been busy. At work we had a lot of children with gastroenteritis. The ward was full every day and I often stayed late. Oh this picture was taken after my last night shift.

Two weeks ago I played Santa Clause (yes, sorry, he’s not real) at Yannick’s kinder garden. It was so cute. The kids were shy at first but quickly got friendlier with me, in the end they tried crawling into my sack. Hilarious!

On the 22nd of December, we held the annual Christmas party at my place. This year’s guests:

Lea, Franzi, Christoph,

Donnée, Lauri, Sandra, Jenny, Micha, Max and Marina.

I spend the day cleaning and preparing the food: cake, cookies,

and a turkey. We spend the evening decorating self made cookies, ate cake, decorated the Christmas tree, did “Stehrumchen”,

played with Max,

and enjoyed the turkey. The whole evening was a success.

During the whole evening my Christmas LP’s were playing, a “fire” was sizzling in my TV and we laughed a lot.

Christmas this year was a day early. Marina and I left for Mom’s place on the 23rd, where we had the traditional goose lunch and exchanged gifts. Marina left to visit her godson and we (Mom, her boyfriend Henry and I) went on a walk through the winter wonderland. Marina and I left for Dad’s a bit later. More gifts being exchanged, the traditional potato salad dinner and a visit to my granddads afterwards.

Marina and I worked on the 24th. But that day I had a full blown Bronchitis. I was offered to stay home on the 26th and used that day to sleep, use my meds and drink lots of fluids. It’s a bit better today, but I will still fly to New York City tomorrow. Wish me luck.

To all of you that I haven’t reached per mail, phone or personally:
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Much Health, love and happiness to all of you.


Andrea

Talking Christmas

Potsdam, Germany
07:00pm
Wet

Hello everyone,

First of all a big hug to my friend J. (you know who I’m talking about, girl)! I know you are going through some hard times right now, but please keep in mind that the most unexpected gifts are sometimes the most precious ones. You will get through this.

Lives been okay, lots of work, health back to old self and I have been at a communication seminary. The theme was how to talk to patients and families so that both parties benefit from the conversation. We discussed how many ways a child and their parents had to go until they were finally able to rest in their room (sometimes not even achieving that, because of a crying roommate). The woman who did this training with us, pointed out how displaced these ppl are in opposition to us who are kind of at home on the ward. We learned 2 different types of communication (there are dozen more):
Type 1:
- Set your goal before you go into the room, e.g. rechecking the temperature after a high fever.
- Evaluate the situation, e.g. distressed parents, child just fell asleep, but immediate danger of a febrile seizure.
- have a positive pose towards your self like “I can do this”
- Call parent and child by name (amazing how a simple “Mr. Smith, I’m nurse Andrea.” catches a persons attention) and keep eye contact.
- stand or sit upright
- Explain in short precise phrases what you have to do.
- Keep eye contact.
- Quite mimic and gestures.
- Do not use “not”! E.g. use phrases like “Justin has to stay in bed today.”, instead of “Justin is not allowed to leave his bed tonight”.
- If the parent tries to evade, stick to your goal and repeat the first steps.
- If you achieved your goal, give a short thank you to the parents for letting you do what you have to do.
- Afterwards, re-evaluate how the situation went; give yourself a pad on the shoulder for e.g. managing to take the temperature without much fuss from the parents.
Type1 is usually used for situation in which I, as a nurse, have to hold the upper hand and do what is necessary for the health of my little patient.

Type 2 is more the taking time and assessing the emotional state in which my opposite is in as well as taking that in consideration.
I found out that I am more type 2, but am able to use Type 1 in difficult situations. Since that training, I have caught myself consciously doing things, e.g. better taking the parents situation in account and using Type 1 when I have to, so I still find it hard not to give in, especially when I can feel with the parent.

Last weekend, Marina, Sandra and I drove to Chemnitz (a good 2 1/2h) to visit the local Christmas fair.

It was raining for the first 2 hours of the road trip. As we drew near, the sky cleared.

It’s not big but has lots of handy works,

local specialities (food, drinks) and just a very nice atmosphere. As you can see that we were up to no good.

A good friend of mine, Andreas, has a beverage stall there – go check out his hot wine, it’s delicious.

Much warmth and love from me to all of you,
Andrea

Not So Good

Potsdam, Germany
09:00 pm
Foggy

Hiya,

I am just watching „Dhoom – Back in Action” and imagine myself, sitting in a cinema in Chennai with the Weiss family and enjoying a move Indian style. Gotta love it.

Instead of that, here I am, on my couch, watching it on TV. This week has not been pleasant. My cold has developed into a full blown bronchitis and I haven’t been able to go on sick leave because half the stuff is out cold. We are currently running the ward with 8 nurses. On top of that I managed to get a stomach bug, too. So, this week’s motto is “Keep going!!”.

Otherwise, I am great.

Much love,
Andrea

Coughing up a snow storm

Potsdam, Germany
10:00 pm
Icy


Okay,

Yes, I haven’t been blogging for a while now. And being busy is not my excuse for this time, rather not feeling up to writing for the last couple of weeks.

Day to day life has caught up with me way too fast, though I am still gathering strength from my 2 weeks in India. Amazingly, I think I have more patience than I did before. Crying babies, parents going on and on about their problems, doctors prescribing therapies without telling the nurses about it, lazy drivers, crazed people at the supermarket and on top of it all, my mother. For the last few weeks, I’ve been real calm whenever something like that occurred, which is a bit out of character for me but a welcomed change.

Once again I’d like to thank Renu and her family for being my host. I loved it and hope that we’ll be able to meet again in person sometime soon. Scott, get well soon and do enjoy your time off despite the circumstances, you have a wicked kind of humor. Navin, you have a great personality and a big heart, don’t loose your love for the people and the animals. Naren, boy, you are smart, use your brains a bit more often and you’ll be able to reach for the stars. And finally Renu, you are doing a great job in raising the boys, you are a great doctor and an amazing personality, thank you for sharing your home and a part of your life with me.

Work has been okay, though there are a couple of organizing problems the team had to deal with, that lead to the nurses being under staffed and exhausted to the bone, including me.

My friend Donnée moved this Saturday into her own one-bedroom-apartment. Usually I am one of the first to offer my help, but my boss organized a kind of conference that involved 4 kinds of trainings on Saturday. Nevertheless, her mom (Elke) called me on Friday, stating that no one was coming that could carry the heavy stuff and that she was desperate. So, on Saturday morning I arranged for being excused to the conference (with much begging) and helped with the move. It was actually a lot of fun being able to work with my hands again.

My rewards were a happy Elke and Donnée, muscle cramps today as well as a nasty cold. That’s life.

For the last 2-3 nights I have been having strange nightmares. Not the scary monster kind of dreams, but more like a psycho movie. Guess, my subconscious is trying to tell me something, though, so far, no clue.

My LP-Player was broken. It’s rather old and I am fairly proud of owning it (my dad found it on a rubbish pile and repaired it for me), so when it stopped working properly I felt terrible. There’s one shop in Potsdam that repairs old machines like that and the guy on the phone asked for a lot of money just for looking at it, with no promise that he would be able to repair it. My mom’s new bf offered to take it with him to a colleague, who invented a software able to find the broken part. In the end it will cost me 50 bucks for the repairs and it will be as good as new. BTW, he showed my mom a catalogue with my player in it – it is 700 € worth!

Oh, I totally forgot to tell you about the weather here. I woke up this morning to a white Potsdam landscape. We had snow during the night! Take a look.

Much love,
Rea

Incredible India, part 2

Chennai, India
10:15pm
warm


Hey,

Been very busy during the last 10 days and am liking India very much!

On Tuesday last week, we went to Krishna Sweets. They have lots of sweets on display and seeing that I was introduced as the visiting German, the woman gave me free samples, which I enjoyed for the most part. Let me just say that Indian sweets are a lot different from German ones and some are way too sweet or buttery. From there on we where on our way to Chennai Beach, but not without stopping at a local clothe stores to get some “shirts” and pants for me. After I was officially “pimped”, we parked close to the beach, where Navin and I left Scott and Renu behind to wade through the waves. Indians do not use swim wear! They just wade into the water in Jeans and shirt or Sari and enjoy the warm water. The beach itself was not the cleanest, but they had some kind of mini carnival there and vendors walked along the shore, praising there goods.

On Wednesday and Thursday I went with Renu to the Banyan facilities. First of all: if you have some money to spare, these people will put it to very good use. Follow the link on the right!
My first experience was the Balm, which is a learning centre that has recently been opened. It is located in a small sea shore village and used for training session with staff, as well as partners. Arriving there, Renu started seeing to patients and I met up with Bettina, who is German, but has been living in India for a while now and is responsible for the contact between the B. and its partners. Her husband was giving her moral support, because that morning she was driving to the B. herself and promptly was caught in the mob after a car accident had taken the life of 2 children. In India you are told to leave a car accident scene as soon as you can, even if you were involved, because a mob will form and perform justice as they see fit. She didn’t know what had happened and soon people were shouting angrily at her and hitting the car. So she grabbed her bag and car keys and got out of the car seeking protection with a Banyan driver. Her husband had to come on a motorcycle and escort her to the Balm, where she was still visibly shaken.

That day was quickly filled with planning for my training sessions and we left soon after lunched.

Renu brought the idea up that I could get out and explore Chennai on my own if I wanted to. So, I put No-Bite on and left for Guindy train station, which is a 10 minute walk from the apartment. Indians are very open and friendly people, everywhere I went people stared at me (because of my skin colour), but as soon as I smiled, they’d smile back, some of the poorest offering me tea or food. I asked my way through to the ticket counter and got one for Mabalam (2 stations away) for 4 rupees (less than 0,10€).

Train ride was an adventure (no doors, open windows, lady’s compartment), but I arrived there save and sound and just followed the flow of the people.

It took a good 5 minutes do get off the station, but patience is something you learn to live with here.

But Mabalam was overwhelming – lots of people, shops everywhere, beggars, dogs, smells, sounds.

I did survive and even managed to get a couple of gifts for friends, though I hadn’t anticipated the ride back. The ticket counter was a lot more crowded and I got inkling to how full the train would be when I got onto the platform. The train arrived I stood first line in front of an open compartment. Lots of woman pushed out of the cart, while lots of woman pushed in.



You’d be amazed, but it worked. I was standing close to the other side of the train at an open door and just enjoyed the breeze while being imbedded in human bodies, taking a picture of a woman sitting on the ground, after she asked me to, seeing my camera.
I walked home, satisfied with my self and exhausted to the bone.

On Thursday I was introduced to Adaikalam, the transit facility of the B., currently home to over 200 mentally ill, homeless woman. But there too, people smiled at me. Everyone was friendly and very open with me. Vanitha (a senior Coordinator) told me all about Adaikalam and the program(s) of the Banyan, which was both educational and interesting. Then one of the Health Care Workers - HCW (girls from villages who are the main care givers concerning activities, hygiene, food etc.) showed me around. What these people have achieved in “short” time is amazing. I was treated to one of there outpatient programs and after enjoying lunch, left with Renu.

Friday was spent for further exploration of the city. Again riding the train to Eggmore station, I took an auto rickshaw to Government Museum. They have 6 exhibitions (archaeology, zoology, biology, bronze, portraits, modern art and children’s museum) and it is worth the entrance fee as well as the camera fee – 450 rupees (about 5€).

The afternoon and early evening were spent at Spencer Plaza, a local mall. I bought some more gifts as well as more clothes for myself.

Sunday the whole family, including me, piled into the car by about 6 am and left for the sea shore temple and other well preserved temples. The morning was spent outside, exploring temples, climbing huge rocks and looking at the sea.

We went for lunch to Renu’s brother’s house. He is happily married and they have a nearly 2 year old daughter Ahana.

She needed about 30 minutes before she had warmed up to us and enjoyed being the centre of attention until she fell asleep. The food was excellent and the conversation enlightening and entertaining.

I stayed at home on Monday, to prepare the 2 trainings of the HCW/ nurses and just relax a bit.
By Tuesday morning, I grabbed my backpack (including my laptop) and we were on our way to the Balm, where I (with lots of help by Renu and a translator) trained the first group of HCW in “assessing critical situation and acting accordingly” (Shock and general CPR) as well as “Wound management”. We started by 9:45am and suddenly Renu signalled me that the girls haven’t had breakfast yet. So, she organized some chips as a snack, tea and water as well a small breakfast afterwards. Theses young woman were motivate even before that, but now were much better equipped to listen and understand. I got the feeling that the HCW enjoyed the lesson and they were eager to learn and apply the knowledge in practical sessions. In the last years, I have always enjoyed teaching, but it is so much more fun if people actually want to learn.

Today I trained the second group, which was as eager and willing as the first one. This time though, the translator actually translated my English from the board into written Tamil so the HCW could copy it. All worked out well and I will be doing a practical training in wound dressing for them, tomorrow.

Around 1pm, another training in CPR will take place for Nurses, Social Workers and partners of the Banyan at Adaikalam.

The evening is also booked for a trip to Spencer’s plaza with the boys to pick my glasses up. Renu and I will go to watch a Tamil movie on Friday and around 4pm a neighbour will pick me up to go to a famous temple and buy a sari as well as some jewellery. Saturday, more Tamil movie, burgers and getting the rest of my gifts from the stores.

Well, as you can see, I’ve been busy, but am enjoying myself a lot and I am seriously considering coming back to India, soon.

Love,
Rea

“I am therefore I exist”
- The Banyan’s banner

Incredible India

Chennai, India
07:45pm
Hot

Namaste,

I am finally here in India and am enjoying myself immensely.

Early Friday morning after about 4 hours of sleep, Sandra drove me to the airport (Tegel, Berlin), where I caught my flight to London.

After hanging around on the airport for about 4 hours, the plane that took me to Chennai, India, finally took off. There were a lot of families with young children on the plane, though they were well behaved. The guy next to me had his arm on my armrest all the time, until I pushed him off, because my arm hurt. Anther positive thing were the Stewards! *wink*

I arrived right on time (3:25am) in Chennai, got through Immigration alright and received my suitcase from the almighty baggage claim. By 4:30am I called Renu and she and Navin were off to pick me up.

Traffic in India is an experience you should make if you can stomach it!

They use the horn constantly, there are no lanes on the street, mostly there are no streets and they have many types of traffic participants: cars, trucks, buses, rickshaws, two-wheelers (motorcycles), bikes, ppl in wheel chairs, carts and pedestrian. Renu and Scott are very good drivers and surprisingly so, I was not scared. As a pedestrian you have to be fearless to cross the street – use the magic hand (palm open, facing down and moving it in an up-down-fashion) and walk.

The Weiss family took me into their home in a strife. I have my small room with a small bathroom and even though the facilities are nothing compared to Germany, everything is clean and neat and I feel very comfortable here.

After arriving at their apartment complex, we read, greeted Scott, had breakfast (French toast and fruit) and Renu and I left for a medical conference.

The conference itself was awesome but I was already so tired that I nearly fell asleep before lunch break. The topics were from Rheumatology to TB and much more. Some were entertaining, others lots of information, but a bit dry. Lunch was amazing – soup (lime and coriander), rice, 6 different dishes (chicken stuff, macaroni etc), salad, dessert (ice cream + flan + Indian sweets). After lunch Renu called Scott and he picked me up. Scott and Renu are an odd couple, but they fit very well – he has a great sense of humour and a quiet, almost shy intellect (meaning you wouldn’t suspect that he is as smart as he is) and she has a strong personality, great sense of humour and an air of authority not even man twice her size posses sometimes.

I napped for 3 hours, then played video games with Navin and had dinner (apple, rice plates and chicken). Renu told me that 7am is good enough for getting up on Sunday, the 2^nd day of conference.

Sunday came all too soon, though I slept well with my fan on all night. After a quick shower (nearly cold water- best thing in the morning and best thing in this kind of weather) and breakfast, Renu and I headed back to the conference. One speech was about woman and mental health which was very good! Again Lunch and we headed back to the apartment seeing that it was only a half day. The four of us spend the evening buying clothes for me, grocery shopping, at the beach and having burgers at a local restaurant. It really helps being here with Renu; she knows whether the water is safe and the food edible. It is also very nice to have someone to converse with!

Today is monday - there's a bandh (strike) - so we slept in, watch a movie, played rummy...

CU
Love, Rea