Umleitung
Umleitung is a road sign that indicates a detour, so I thought it would be a fabulous one word summary of my first week here because it has truly been full of literal and figurative Umleitungs.
My first detour has been purchasing a car. I found the car I want on Thursday afternoon, but I was not allowed to buy it. You have to have insurance first. How do you get insurance for a car you don't own? Well, the nice man gave me a copy of the title, and believe it or not, that worked. So I come back Friday morning with the insurance....and he still won't let me buy the car. Now, I have to go get a piece of paper that I'm pretty sure was the original bill of sale from the owner to the car lot (it's in German). Maybe to prove it wasn't stolen? Then I can get my own bill of sale. Then you go and get the customs forms filled out, and then you go and get the customs forms stamped....each step in a different office. I took all this stuff back to the nice man, and of course he didn't let me buy the car! He gave me the actual title to the car, and told me to go register it, but of course the registration office is closed for training. I'll do that tomorrow. Then I get to pick the car up and take it to pass inspection. If it passes inspection, I can finally pay the gentleman and take the freaking car home. woof. Who knew?
My next detour is a literal one. My sweet sponsor Carolyn and my friend Mary have been driving me around to see neighborhoods, but we've only found two out of ten houses on the first try. Why? Well, partially because the numbering system is jacked. It follows the rules of numbers in order, and evens and odds on opposite sides....except when a house was built before they developed the system. Those houses were left with their random old numbers stuck amongst the organized new ones, so essentially, you can't find them. Especially when they are at the back of a courtyard behind another house instead of on the street where you usually keep houses. These gems are also usually on the wrong side of the street. The other culprit of our hopeless wandering is the Umleitung. Now the detours on main roads are well marked, and even have a sign at the entrance showing your new route. The residential detours are a little more tricky because you often run into a closed street before you see any signs, and you may have to drive around a bit to find the first one to follow. If you find your new route, it's a little like chasing the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. You'll lose sight of the signs, perhaps take a wrong turn, which usually results in you running into some new construction, and then a detour sign will suddenly pop up again, but it is upside down and thus clearly pointing in an erroneous direction. We were laughing hysterically by the fourth time this happened, and I was tempted to jump out and strangle an Umleitung sign out of sheer frustration. sigh.
The final detour I will share has been my pursuit of healthcare. I call the neuro clinic, and they tell me I can't have an appointment unless I am referred from a primary care doctor, but they aren't taking civillians anyway, so good luck. hmm. So I try to get a primary care doctor, but they won't take an appointment unless you have registered in the health system, but it doesn't matter because they aren't taking civillians either. um..... So I register, and I'm told I can try to call each day for any left over appointment space, but only after 10am. That sounds dicey. In the end I asked if they could give me referals off base without seeing an American doctor. Sure. But don't go straight to the specialist unless you are a trustfund baby. I called to make that appointment and was told I would need to bring 1000 Euro in cash! What?! It doesn't cost that much for an appointment at Vandy! Try a 10th of that! Oi. No thanks unless Bill Gates wants to support my medical cause. So now I have a list of German primary care physicians who are rumored to be much less expensive, and I'm hoping on making an appt. with one of them tomorrow. This process hasn't taken quite as many days as the car, and instead of driving from office to office, I've just had to make a series of phonecalls, but I definitely feel like I've been given the run around on health care.
Wish me luck in wrapping up these adventures tomorrow...or better yet, wish me some patience, and maybe some finished roads.
My first detour has been purchasing a car. I found the car I want on Thursday afternoon, but I was not allowed to buy it. You have to have insurance first. How do you get insurance for a car you don't own? Well, the nice man gave me a copy of the title, and believe it or not, that worked. So I come back Friday morning with the insurance....and he still won't let me buy the car. Now, I have to go get a piece of paper that I'm pretty sure was the original bill of sale from the owner to the car lot (it's in German). Maybe to prove it wasn't stolen? Then I can get my own bill of sale. Then you go and get the customs forms filled out, and then you go and get the customs forms stamped....each step in a different office. I took all this stuff back to the nice man, and of course he didn't let me buy the car! He gave me the actual title to the car, and told me to go register it, but of course the registration office is closed for training. I'll do that tomorrow. Then I get to pick the car up and take it to pass inspection. If it passes inspection, I can finally pay the gentleman and take the freaking car home. woof. Who knew?
My next detour is a literal one. My sweet sponsor Carolyn and my friend Mary have been driving me around to see neighborhoods, but we've only found two out of ten houses on the first try. Why? Well, partially because the numbering system is jacked. It follows the rules of numbers in order, and evens and odds on opposite sides....except when a house was built before they developed the system. Those houses were left with their random old numbers stuck amongst the organized new ones, so essentially, you can't find them. Especially when they are at the back of a courtyard behind another house instead of on the street where you usually keep houses. These gems are also usually on the wrong side of the street. The other culprit of our hopeless wandering is the Umleitung. Now the detours on main roads are well marked, and even have a sign at the entrance showing your new route. The residential detours are a little more tricky because you often run into a closed street before you see any signs, and you may have to drive around a bit to find the first one to follow. If you find your new route, it's a little like chasing the white rabbit down the rabbit hole. You'll lose sight of the signs, perhaps take a wrong turn, which usually results in you running into some new construction, and then a detour sign will suddenly pop up again, but it is upside down and thus clearly pointing in an erroneous direction. We were laughing hysterically by the fourth time this happened, and I was tempted to jump out and strangle an Umleitung sign out of sheer frustration. sigh.
The final detour I will share has been my pursuit of healthcare. I call the neuro clinic, and they tell me I can't have an appointment unless I am referred from a primary care doctor, but they aren't taking civillians anyway, so good luck. hmm. So I try to get a primary care doctor, but they won't take an appointment unless you have registered in the health system, but it doesn't matter because they aren't taking civillians either. um..... So I register, and I'm told I can try to call each day for any left over appointment space, but only after 10am. That sounds dicey. In the end I asked if they could give me referals off base without seeing an American doctor. Sure. But don't go straight to the specialist unless you are a trustfund baby. I called to make that appointment and was told I would need to bring 1000 Euro in cash! What?! It doesn't cost that much for an appointment at Vandy! Try a 10th of that! Oi. No thanks unless Bill Gates wants to support my medical cause. So now I have a list of German primary care physicians who are rumored to be much less expensive, and I'm hoping on making an appt. with one of them tomorrow. This process hasn't taken quite as many days as the car, and instead of driving from office to office, I've just had to make a series of phonecalls, but I definitely feel like I've been given the run around on health care.
Wish me luck in wrapping up these adventures tomorrow...or better yet, wish me some patience, and maybe some finished roads.
posted by Claire | 5:44 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home