21 February 2010 - Michelstadt

A couple weeks ago I got cabin fever and decided I needed to head out on the highway for a Sunday afternoon drive. With the assistance of, "Daytrips in Germany's Rhineland," a gift from a colleague in the U.S., I selected Michelstadt as my destination.

According to the book and some online research, Michelstadt is located in Odenwald, a forest area that straddles several German states, including Hessen, Baden and Bavaria. It seems unclear whether the name means Odin Forest (Odin being a Nordic god) or Forest of Odes (I know, you're wanting to write another ode right now, aren't you?). Anyway, Michelstadt itself is a medieval town dating back to at least 741 AD. There is a castle complex that is part of the town wall, including a tower that was apparently used to house thieves.

One of its Michelstadt's better known features is its town hall which is just beyond the town wall. When I visited it, the town had erected a rather small ice rink in front of it where kids and parents were having a nice winter afternoon. While I didn't try out the ice rink itself, they also had some coffee, bratwurst, and crepe/waffle stands nearby. I highly recommend the fresh waffle with powdered sugar. Yum!

I wandered quite a way out of the city to see the Fürstenau Castle. It is apparently a private residence so it's not open for viewing, but it was still interesting to see from the outside. It was unclear to me whether the building that is directly across from it (which was quite old looking and huge) was part of the castle or if it is just "the neighbors." It is also not far from a little river with a dam and what apparently used to be a mill of some sort.

Anyway, a nice little trip even on a cold winter day. And it finally answered the question for me of what the special Odenwald trains are that pass through the Südbahnhof near my house that are different from the Deutsche Bahn trains. Now I know....

18 February 2010 - Drugs

["I Want a New Drug" - Huey Lewis and the News ]

Germany doesn't have over-the-counter pharmaceutical products as we know them in the U.S. There is literally no such things as Tylenol or NyQuil, for example. And even if there were, you couldn't just pick some up at the grocery store or even the pharmacy based on what you think your needs are. No, for any sort of relief, you must go to the apotheke (pharmacy) and speak to the pharmacist about all your dirty symptoms. Delightful.

When I returned from the U.S. after the holidays, I came down with a truly wretched cold. I stayed at home on Monday and thought I was ready to head in on Tuesday. I lasted half a day. Tried again on Wednesday and made the entire day. When I walked in on Thursday, though, within a half hour, both a Swiss professional and an Austrian professional told me that I looked bad and I should leave. Immediately. Hmmm....

So I went home and decided it was time to get some pharmaceutical assistance for my symptoms (a severe sinus headache with congestion and a rapidly constricting throat). So I walked into the brand new apotheke in my neighborhood, walked up to the counter and asked the pharmacist if he spoke English. Not much. Ruh roh....

I said I had a kopfschmerzen mit sinus drucken, by which I was trying to say I had a headache with sinus pressure. He didn't seem to be following me. I wasn't sure exactly how to say that I needed something to get the nasty mung in my head outta my head. There was some gesturing and he finally pulled out something for a headache and something else that had a picture of head with redness and arrows going from the sinuses to the nose and down into the throat. Close enough, right?

So I took them as directed and settled in for the afternoon. I still had a splitting sinus headache, so was just sitting around with the lights off and all noise sounds off (alas, could not get the Lads to stop their racket at the food station where they keep robbing from their next meal). About an hour later, I was totally zoned out. Not sleepy, exactly, just not exactly all there. I was sitting in my chaise lounge and literally staring out the windows at the snowflakes falling. This is normally not something you could get me to do for more than, say, 30 seconds max. I am, after all, a Preuscher. I was not much better a few hours later when I was scheduled to be on a conference call. It was like being on a 7-second delay or something with my brain taking AGES to register anything coming in, let alone to try and formulate a response of any sort. And with coughing fits in between. Classy.

I had big dreams of being back at the office the following day. Um, no. Worse. Much worse. So the question was whether or not the drugs were actually helping or hurting. I stuck with them, though, despite the drug-induced stupor they elicited. After all, the only other alternative was to actually (gasp!) go and see a doctor. Who may or may not speak English. It's these little things you never think about.

In the end, I was down the entire weekend and barely functional to return to the office on Monday. Longest cold I have had in a long time. Not surprisingly, when a friend visited me in late January, I had a special request -- NyQuil and Tylenold Cold & Flu, please. Oh, and maybe some TheraFlu just in case. And when a colleague from the US came back with a box of Puffs Plus (yes, with lotion), I had to hug her (in a respectful-at-work and non-germ-sharing way).