Doctors

Let me tell you about my first encounter with the medical system here in Finland.  It was last Monday, and it was quite an experince.  First, I had to call for appointments.  That was pretty painless at first as there is a line to call in English.  Problem is that I was transferred to another line that could better help me, but that line had an automated system that was not in English.  Flusstered, I contacted Sanna who is very helpful about all things Finnish, and long story short, I made two appointments for Monday.

First I had to find the offices, then I made my husband go with me on the weekend to do a dry run since it was going to require unfamiliar tram and metro use.  He was good about doing it, and I felt much more confident about my new adventure.

Next came my appointment day.  The first was with a neurologist at 12:00.  I went to the building, an not able to read the directory, I picked the first of two floors labled with the name of the Hospital system.  Big mistake!  I walked up to the outter glass door, and looked in.  The building was round, and all I could see were doors.  Door after door after door, close together and with no end.  As I stood there contemplating whether I should enter, the outter door clicked open as if I were being buzzed in.  I took it as a sign and entered.  I went up and down the hallway and found only closed doors...lots of doors, but no reception area and no people.  I went to leave as this was clearly not where I wanted to be, and the door was locked!  Now what?  After a few minutes I decided to push a button next to the door, hoping it would call someone or something, and it released to door.  Relieved, I went to the next floor.

On that floor I was confronted with the familiar glass outter door, but this time I could see a reception-like desk with people...hallelujah!  I went in, took a number (a system you see pretty much everywhere here) and waited to ask if I was in the right place.  I was asked which doctor I was there to see, and knowing I could never pronounce it on my best day, I showed her the doctor's name as it had been spelled for me.  I was told to go down the hall and wait at door number 134.  I did so and watched the door for my name to be called.  As I watched the door, a man came  and entered, then left a note on the door and went away.  The note was in Finnish.  Fortuneately, a woman came up to me, asked who I was and told me the room had been moved to number 4...so off I went to wait at number 4.

When I was finally called, on time I might add, I went in to this small room and spoke with the doctor.  My records were of little use to him as they were in English, and his English was not very strong.  We finally reached the conclusion that he couldn't help me and I should see another type of doctor.  Upon checking out, I discovered that despite the fifteen minutes he had spent with me, there was no charge since he could not help me.  That would never happen in the USA, and although I was dissappointed by the result, I was impressed by the fact that I was not charged.

My next apointment was at 17:00 (5:00pm).  This was with a Rheumotologist, and having figured out the system, there was little trouble in finding where I should be.  I was sent to the apropriate door to wait, and called, on time, to speak with the doctor.  His English was quite good, and he looked over my records, did his thing, and all was well with the world.

I'm still a bit mystafied by how all this works.  There was no follow-up appointment made, and it seems that one does not see a specialist without a specific complaint.  I am puzzled by who will receive my bloodwork when I get it, and how I will be notifed if it is not all right, but I will find all this out in time.  I have three more doctors to see, and will make those appointments this week probably.  All in all, it was a good experience, though all those doors made me feel like I was in a "Twilight Zone"  episode.  I think however that I will like the system once I fully understand it.

As a final note, my new Finnish doctor says that it is all right for me to drink alchohol (in strong moderation) on the drug that my American doctor told me that I should never drink while taking.  I choose to believe my new Finnish doctor...after all, when in Rome....

darkness

I wanted to say a few words to you about the darkness in Finland, that is, the fact that the days in Finland are pretty overcast and dark this time of year.  I do this so you'll understand my lack of writting on most days lately.  For those who know me, I am pretty open about the fact that I suffer from moderate to severe depression.  I am medicated for it, and am balanced most of the time.  There was some concern coming to Finland that the darkness might play a role in affecting my depression as my doctor's have felt that I am also affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)....which is to say that a lack of sunlight can cause depression.  That being said, hav have noticed a marked increase in depression the last few weeks, which I attribute to the darker days.  Thus, I do little else than the bare minimum, and my blog suffers...my apologies to you all.

Now, let me explain what I mean by darkness, because coming here I expected it to be like night most of the day.  It is not.  Rather, it is like an overcast dusk sort of darkness....there is little to no sun visable,and it does get night time-dark much earlier.

The bonus to this darkness is the fact that at this time of year the merchants have all their Christmas lights up and the city has lights strung accross the streets so that you can enjoy the festive atmosphere for the better portion of the day.  It's kind of neat, actually.  We don't have snow yet (unusual, but a good thing I think) but the atmosphere is decidedly Christmas/Holiday, and that is a bonus that I am really enjoying.

The moral of this blog entry, in case you were wondering, is that I am doing my best to keep up the entries, so please be patient.  I will make it worth your while in the long run.

Eating out

I wanted to touch on the subject of eating out.  First, let me say a few words about the resturants in the area.  There are a billion of them!  If you look at the Helsinki area, it is very much like any other metropolitan area: there are retail stores (mostly high end), coffee houses and resturants, and little else.  It's quite wonderful, actually.

Anyway, the resturants often have menues on their windows or a board out front, and I'd say a good 50% of them are in both Finnish and English.  The ones that are not in English we pretty much pass up at this point because goodness knows that I don't want to accidentally consume reindeer or elk!

As an aside, my husband Brian could care less what he eats as long as it tastes good.  I, on the other hand, have food issues.  I'm what you would call a fussy eater.  I don't like sauces, spices or seafood (which puts me in poor stead in Finland).  I need to know exactly what I'm eating, and I'm a bit of a food separatist (I like things separate, not together like in soups, stews, and casseroles).   I am also sensitive of gluten and onions.

All that said, we have been to a number of different resturants in the area, and the food is pretty good.  It is easier to find gluten free food here than  it is in the states, and the food is generally served fresh and hot.  There is a much greater selection of potatoes on the menues, and water is generally kept in a pitcher at each table.  The cost of eating out is much higher here than in the states, but it is not expected that you will leave a tip.

No tip?  sounds good, doesn't it?  Yeah, but it does affect the service, or so I believe.  We have been seated and waited a good ten to twenty minutes before our server appeared.  Then, waited another ten to twenty minutes before our order was taken, a normal amount of time for our food and then nothing.  No checking on our table to see if we need anything, no contact whatever.  And this seems to be typical.  It isn't so bad once you expect it, in fact it is kind of humorous.  We are so used to banter and interaction with our wait staff, that this is completely foreign to us. I can get used to it though, the time to yourself is nice, actually.  Still, I think I miss the interaction.

Now for fast food resturants.  Yes, Virginia, there is a McDonalds.  In fact there are many, many McDonalds (just like in the USA).  They are somewhat the same, though the menu is limited, and the service is slower.  BUT, they are generally two story, the food tends to be hotter and fresher, and they bring your food to your table if it is not ready right away.  Other fast food places include a southern fried chicken place, a Finnish burgers place, pizza hut and many different deli type places, including SubWay.

So those are my thoughts for now.  I'm sure there is more to come, as I have been enjoying exploring the different food establishments in the area, and I am trying to be more adventureous in my eating.  I will let you know. 

Furniture!

Well, we finally got our furniture, and I have to say I am happily suprised by the fact that the movers were able to get the furniture into the apartment.  I had my doubts about the couch and the headboard as they are quite big, realitively speaking.  I knew they would make it up the stairs and through the door because the stairways in the older buildings of Finland are wide and the doors tend to be split and open up on both sides.  Our apartment building is no exception.  The challenge that I saw was the front door, which is not too wide, and the scaffolding on the front of the building that is in place for ongoing rennovations.  Happily they managed somehow, and they were respectful and hard working.  The experience was a good one, though I felt bad for them because we live on the fourth floor, six flights of stairs up, and the elevator is still being built!

That being said, we had a few surprises in the mix as things were delivered.  First, one of the legs on a dining room table chair was broken off and my husband's desk was bent (it's a metal frame with glass top).  Then, a file cabinet we had no intention of bringing was delivered, and a table we wanted delivered was not.  Have you ever noticed just how ugly four-drawer metal file cabinets are?!  They really are ugly, and big, and hard to hide.  We have no space to put the thing, and had to put it in the front hallway...U-G-L-Y, ugly!  Anyway, it is handy to have and we are stuck with it, so we're managing to see the humor in it.  As for the desk, we have bent it back enough that it works, so life is pretty good.  We don't miss the floor living that we were doing.  Oh, and the bed...it fit in the bedroom and I can still open the closet doors...it's a miracle!  I had doubted Brian's measurements when looking at the room size (something I should know better than to do...he is annoyingly accurate all he time) but it turns out it was an optical illusion and there was plenty of room.

The echo in the living room is less noticable, and it is so nice to not be on the floor all the time.  It seems that we are not as young as we once were, a shock to us I can tell you, and getting up from the floor was getting harder to do.  Funny how getting down is little of a problem, while getting up is quite the challenge.  Probably something to do with gravity or some physics nonsense like that, but I'm thinking that it is more likely that I have gotten old and fat.  Either way, I am in love with chairs and a bed that doesn't leak air.

So that is it about the furniture.  We are feeling even more at home now, and Tesla is enjoying reclaiming the furniture that she knows, and scent marking the new furniture we bought for the apartment.  Until later...

Random thoughts

So I've been somewhat distracted by life lately, and have been remiss with my postings.  My apologies to all.  Brian and I spent the weekend walking up and down the streets of Helsinki's shopping areas in order to get a feel for what's out there.  What's out there are many, many clothing and jewelry shops, about what you'd expect for a big city. 

We needed to find printer paper and finally asked a clerk where he buys his, as we were having no luck.  He suggested book stores.  Really? OK, so we tried a bookstore and sure enough, that is where one gets office supplies. This is a bit unusual to me, but it sort of makes sense.

The thing I am noticing a lot is the manner of dress here in Finland.  As a woman, you would expect this.  Anyway, people in Helsinki tend to dress up whenever they go out.  Even casual dress looks put together.  Never really having lived in a cosmopolitan city before, I don't know if this is a city thing or a Finnish thing.

By the way, I am told that the use of the word "Finn" is perfectly acceptable when referring to a Finnish person.

Now let's talk elevators and escalators.  Escalator are really cool here.  They are the same as in the USA, but they are set to slow down and then stop when not in use.  I am still fooled by this when coming to a stopped escalator;  the first thing I think is "just my luck, I'll have to climb it", but when I go to step onto it, it starts up!  Really cool. 

The elevators are another matter.  In bigger, newer buildings like department stores the elevators are pretty standard, but in older buildings they are small, like two people, if you like the other person small.  I exaggerate, you can usually cram a third person in, but it is cramped.  Still, personal space here is a lot different than I'm used to.  Which is to say that I'm not sure that it exists at all, it surely is not respected as far as I can tell. I experience this mostly in public transportation and elevators.

So that's it for now, just a few random thoughts.  I have to get ready for dinner tonight, as we are going out with one of Brian's co-workers.  I don't know where we will take him, but it should give me more to talk about in my next posting.  Until later.