Fwd: Glad to be in Graz

Sorry for the long delay between postings. Russ is working on a
deadline to get a proposal done and I can't get into the blog account to
post things. I'm hoping this will get posted via e-mail.

In mid-November we took a quick trip to Paris and once Russ meets his
deadline, I'm sure he'll post some pictures about it.

What struck me about the trip (other than how many fun things there are
to do in Paris) was how glad I am that we chose to live in Graz. When
we decided to do a sabbatical in Europe, we thought it would be fun to
live in a city. It would be an interesting change from living in small
college towns. But the funny thing was, when we told people here in
Graz that we were excited to be in a city, they all said, "Oh, Graz is
just a small town. It's very safe." "Oh, Graz is just a small town.
It's not like Vienna, or Paris." Okay. I get that now.

In Graz everyone patiently waits for the traffic lights to change before
walking across a street - even if no cars are coming. In Paris we saw
two people run across a street with looks of terror on their faces --
even though they were crossing with the light! The traffic was crazy!

Also, I missed all the greetings that Austrians have. Now Paris has a
reputation for being rude to foreigners, but I didn't experience any of
that. We had people help us get our luggage through the subway
turnstiles, help direct us when we needed directions, and waitstaff and
shopkeepers were all very nice and polite. But I've gotten used to not
just "thank you" when I buy something but also "goodbye!". And if they
really like you, you'll get several good-byes -- Auf Wiedersehen,
Tschuess, Ciao. (Some of these are informal and are only used among
friends, but that's another discussion!)

Anyway, I'm glad we chose Graz! With a population of 225,000+, it's not
a huge city, but it is a good fit for us.

Sue

A Visit to the Lung Doctor

Background
I have lots of lung and sinus issues.  So, when I started having a productive cough in October, I didn't really do much about it.  I was feeling fine and it wasn't otherwise bothering me.  Until I got a serious cold in Salzburg.  When we got back to Graz, I called the lung doctor that our friend had recommended to us. I could get in the following Tuesday (6 days away).  I tried a couple of other options for seeing a dr. sooner, but given that no one seems to believe me when I'm sick, I decided to wait until I could see the specialist.

The Lung Doctor.

I left for my 10:30 appt early so I could have some time to find the office.  Turns out it was right across from the tram stop so I was plenty early to fill out forms as I usually would in the US.  I checked in, told the receptionist about my cough and was shown the waiting room - no forms to fill out - yay!  There were at least 5 people already waiting and it didn't look good since there's only one doctor in this office.  So I pulled out my book and waited. They were often calling 2 or 3 patients at once but still I waited.  More patients arrived.  More waiting.  Eventually, I began to wonder if I should put my book away so I would look like I was ready to be called. Given my ample waiting time, I had a chance to observe waiting room etiquette, which really isn't any different except that when a patient is finished being tested or has seen the dr, he or she leaves through the waiting room and says, "Auf Wiedersehen," or more often just, "Wiedersehen."  And most everyone in the room answers, "Wiedersehen."  At first I just thought it was two people who knew each other but it happened again and again.  I just love this, it's so endearing.

And then I was called.  I was greeted by a woman whom I'll call the technician because she and her partner were doing all the lab tests.  I don't actually know her name or her title.  The first thing she says is "Have you had allergy testing and when was the last time?"  About 4 years.  "Okay, we're going to do it right now," she answers, as she pulls out two strips of tape labeled 1-10 and tapes them to my forearm.  She drips out the serums (or whatever you call them) and then pricks my arm, wipes the needle and pricks, wipes, pricks, wipes until she's done.  Then she quickly helps someone else and then calls me to do a lung function test.  Breathe in here normally, then big deep breath in and then out.  Repeat 3 times. and then she sits me down in another corner, hands me a mouthpiece to breathe through and hooks me up to a machine to breathe through for 10 min.  I've done lung function tests before and it's not uncommon for them to give you some albuterol before you do it again, so I guessed that was what I was doing.  I had given them a list of medications I'm allergic to and those I take so I figured I was okay.  My timer went off and I turned off the machine and the technician comes running over to get me to do the lung function again.  This completed, I'm now ready to go to another waiting room to see the doctor.

More waiting.  It's nearly noon and I haven't seen the doctor.  Good thing Russ could pick up the kids. And then I'm called.  I go through the doctor's office, through another room to the x-ray room.  The doctor herself(!) does the x-rays.  I then wait in the middle room until she is done with a patient and then I'm in to see the doctor.  She doesn't speak English but the receptionist is there to translate.  But she doesn't actually translate.  They just talk to each other.  It's an odd feeling.  The receptionist shows the doctor my list of medications and the doctor says, "Ja. Cool."  Sorta funny.  There is much discussion about something so I say, I brought them all and plop my bag of prescriptions on the desk.  This pleases them very much and they inspect one to determine dosage, I think.  A couple of minor questions about medications and then the receptionist says, "Since you have so many allergies the doctor wants you to breathe the salt air for 10 more minutes and come back 2 more days to do this, 15 min. each time and see if this helps." Ah ha!  That's what that machine was!  Breathing the sea air.   My allergies are to antibiotics so no one wants to give them to me for fear I will develop an allergy to that one.  It's a valid concern.  I'm running out of the good ones.  I'm happy to try an alternative solution and see if it works.

Three things stand out for me about this visit.  1) No one took my temperature or blood pressure, looked into my ears or nose, or listened to my lungs. 2) I have never had allergy testing and a lung function test on the spot right in the doctor's office, without having to wait to get it scheduled - separately, with each lab.  3) The receptionist must have taken notes when I made my appointment about my having asthma and bronchiectasis.  They asked questions about it but I didn't bring it up first.  In my experience in the US, I repeat my ailments to everyone -- when I make the appt., when I get brought into exam room, when the dr. comes in.  I don't say that either way is right but it's just interesting and good to know for next time.  In the end, all the waiting didn't really bother me.  I've waited just as long as other places, and given how fast those technicians were good-naturedly working, I don't know how it couldn't gone faster.

Epilogue

I went into the office to breathe sea air for two more days, as instructed. On my last day, I'd had a horrible night of not being able to sleep because of all that I was coughing up.  The technician checked in with me both days and she suggested I should see the dr. again.  I agreed.  I didn't actually see the dr., but the receptionist took care of everything, checking with me about possible antibiotics and getting the prescription from the dr. for me.  She asked me to call next week to tell them how I am doing.

Five days later I'm feeling much better.  And I'm happy with my lung dr.'s office.  I feel like they listened to me and that's all I really want.

Sue

Lichterfest

In November kindergarten classes celebrate Lichterfest.  They make lanterns and learn songs during class, and then one evening they gather to celebrate a Festival of Light.  We joined Henry's school for their celebration on Nov. 3, at 5pm, just as it was starting to get dark.  All the parents and siblings waited outside (we were on a tennis court of the sports club next to Henry's school), and the three classes paraded out with their lanterns - lit with candles - and formed a big circle around the center objects shown to the right.

They sang songs together and, for a portion of the time, a smaller group of kids came forward and held candles and sang additional songs.  The songs were primarily about fall coming, summer ending and fire, water, earth and air.  We were told it is an old Celtic tradition.  (Incidentally, when in Salzburg, we learned that it was the Celts who discovered the salt mines.)  The thing that I enjoyed most about this ceremony was all the older siblings standing just behind the kindergarteners, heartily singing along.

Sue

A tip ...

Don't know if you've noticed this or not, but if you click on the pics, it will usually take you to a full-size version of it (if I've uploaded the right version of the pic in the first place).

Enjoy!
Russ

Salzburg Trip

Grace and Henry missing Jed in Salzburg

Last weekend Grace (but not Henry, interestingly) had a 5-day weekend.  Tuesday was a National Holiday (All Saints Day) and Wednesday was a school holiday (All Souls Day), so they threw in Monday as an "autonomous day" (which, we think, is similar to an "in service day" in the U.S.).  So, even though I just flew back from the U.S. on Tuesday (and that Wednesday was a holiday), we knew we had to use the 5-day weekend to travel.

We decided to travel to Salzburg, Austria, made famous from the movie, "The Sound of Music."  It is tucked into the northern part of the Alps, right on the border with Germany (not very close to Switzerland -- not sure how those von Trapp's walked all the way there!).  That means that our drive from Graz, on the southern edge of the Alps, was right through the Austrian Alps.  And with all those tunnels in Austria, it literally was right through the mountains!

Sue did a great job of researching things to do with kids and we had a few nice activities to choose from.  I got lucky with the hotel search engines and we landed in a good hotel that was about 1 mile from the center of the old part of the city and so every night we walked to town for dinner.  It was quite nice even if we went for Italian every night to avoid fights over food (Grace bragged that she ate Pizza Marguerite ohne Oregano every night!).

And speaking of nice, the weather was just gorgeous, with crystal blue skies, cold mornings, warm afternoons, and fall colors.  I can't imagine how the weather could have been any more enjoyable.

A view of Salzburg, from the Hohensalzburg Castle

Poor Grace gets wet at Hellbrunn!

Ok, so the activities.  The first big activity was to visit the Hellbrunn Palace.  This palace was quite distinctive, as the builder of the palace (early 1600's; prince-archbishop of Austria) had a nice sense of humor and incorporated "trick" fountains into a lot of buildings (including a big, outdoor table where jets of water squirted up through the seats on guests that tried to leave the table before the prince!).

What's this?  The Sound of Music gazebo, located on the Hellbrunn Palace grounds.

The palace grounds also had a big playground with those playground toys we really like in Austria.  We spent the whole day at the palace, taking tours, wandering up to another palace, playing in the park, etc.  Sue and I were both impressed that both children stayed engaged during a tour where you wore your own headset for a quick-paced tour through the main hall of the palace.

We actually enjoyed it so much, Grace and Henry accompanied me on a run on the grounds the next morning (Henry's first run ever!).

The other big activity was a visit to Salz Welten, a salt mine turned tourist attraction.  The tour of the mine included many forms of locomotion from a train that took us into the mine, lots of walking, a boat ride across a small lake in the mine, and the highlight, trips down the miner slides!  And then to get out, much to Henry's amazement, an escalator (I can still hear him clearly in my head ... "an escalator ... IN A MINE?!").

Three future miners (two happy and one not!)

Yes, even Honey Bear!

Feel those G's!

One of the things that I thought was really cool that down in the mine we traveled from Austria to Germany and then back again.  Reminds me of a hike in Virginia where you walk from VA to WV and back to VA, all in about 1 mile!

Welcome to Germany, coming from Österreich (Austria)

As you can see from this shot, the mine was up on a mountain, with beautiful views back to the Hohensalzburg Castle and Salzburg.

Ok, you can't actually see Hohensalzburg Castle from this tiny picture!

Other activities included a carriage ride through the city, riding the SchlossBahn up to the Hohensalzburg Castle, and general walking around.  We didn't go on the various Sound of Music tours, the Mozart tours (he's from there), or many of the museums.  There is plenty to do for another trip!

Our driver didn't speak much English, but it was still a nice ride

Castle building ... at a castle!

Medieval games :-)

Farewell from Salzburg!

Russ