Gruß Gott!
Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, but today it's raining in Regensburg, and is forecast to be rainy all week. It's time we used those umbrellas we rushed to purchase the first week we were here because we were told it rains a lot.
So, I have no photos for this post, as going to the doctor isn't particularly photo-worthy. I wasn't sick; I just had to renew my regular prescriptions. I had been putting it off and putting it off, but as the supply in my bottles started to dwindle, I knew I had to do it. I found an English-speaking doctor right on my bus route, just outside the Altstadt. But going to the doctor in Germany isn't quite the same as going in the US.
For one, although the Herr Doktor speaks English, that doesn't mean his staff does. It seems most people around here don't speak English, or speak it less well than I speak German. I think it's in the big cities that you find Germans who are fluent in English. Of course, that's probably good for me in the long run, because it's too easy to rely on their English when my German starts to falter. Throw me in the deep end and I will learn to swim faster.
When you go to a Hausartzt, a family doctor, you just show up and sit in the waiting room until you're called. It's first come, first served. They gave me a new patient form to fill out. Interestingly, in the US they always ask if you drink alcohol and if so, how much, as well as if you smoke. I think it's assumed everyone here drinks some alcohol, so that question wasn't even on the form.
Oh, yes, and it is customary when you enter the waiting room (usually through a closed door), you greet everyone with a Gruß Gott or some other greeting. I had read about that, but didn't know how exactly it went down, so I was a 'bad' person and didn't say anything upon entering the room. I made sure to pay attention to those entering after me. The custom then is to return the greeting, and then go back to your reading or conversation. You also say Auf Wiedersehen when they call you to go to one of the exam rooms. In the US, we're a lot more informal. When a nurse calls you back, it's usually by first name. In Germany it's Frau this or Herr that.
I have lots more sympathy now for newcomers to the US, such as the Ukrainian refugees. The language barrier is huge, and there are so many customs to learn. How do you get a doctor appointment? How do you get a hair cut? (still working on that one). Do I bag my own groceries, or does someone else do it? And so much more.
I should have known I couldn't just waltz in and get the pills renewed. No, I had to get labs done, and an EKG. Somehow the lab tech and I communicated, although she didn't speak any English, and I didn't know all the medical terminology auf Deutsch. Pantomime works great sometimes!
So I go back on Wednesday to go over the lab results and get my scrip. And now I have a physician in Germany. Nice to know. And I liked him.
Auf Wiedersehen
Comments
Post a Comment