Hikes And Toboggans In Sattel-Hochstuckli

On Wednesday we ventured out to a mountain in Sattel-Hochstuckli for a fun filled day of adventures. 

We took a cable up to the mountainside and picked a path to hike on. Things started off well, the sun was shining and there was a crisp breeze. Everyone was full of energy and ready to go.

Posing for a picture after being bribed with treats

Hiking up a mountain with two little kids proved to be more difficult than imagined. Especially when one of the children seems to be afraid of nature while the other is a nature enthusiast that wants to run around and touch everything.

Her royal highness being pushed up the mountain in a stroller because she is afraid of rocks, amongst other things. 

Fake.

Seriously, how is this view real?

After the hike we wandered around and found some more fun activities like bouncy castles and mountainside tobogganing.

If you look really close you can see me on the toboggan.

My favorite part of the day was going on the toboggans. It was so much fun that I went on  three times. 

One day I shall buy a plot of land on a mountainside somewhere and build a toboggan track around my house.

It's important to have dreams and aspirations.

Puppies!

Today we went to the zoo and saw lots of puppies, according to Lavi. 

Happy family

Making friends

Flamingo King

Kuzco

Boating

Egg hugger

Swiss-Cheese-Land

Last week The Mad Man and many other family members helped me move out of my apartment in Ariel. There was a lot of schlepping and driving involved but we did it. The sun house now looks like it could be the set of a post-apocalyptic movie in which hundreds of families are displaced from their homes and forced to leave behind belongings as they hastily pack what little they can carry.

There were some halfhearted attempts to try and reign in the chaos but the task proved to be overwhelming and not much progress was made. In an effort to avoid having to deal with the madness, I fled the country.

The Freddie's graciously invited me to join them on their vacation in Switzerland and now seemed like a good time to take them up on their offer. I packed up a little suitcase and The Crazy Lady drove me to the airport so that I could catch my afternoon flight to Zurich.

I found my gate and sat with the others waiting to board the flight. Boarding time passed and we were still sitting and waiting at the gate. Forty minutes later they announced that we would start boarding and began to send us out the door and onto a little shuttle bus. We drove over ten minutes to the other side of the airport, it was the longest shuttle ride I've ever taken. There was speculation of a kidnapping but we pulled up to a lonely looking little plane and disembarked the bus.

It was windy as we began to board the plane. The woman in front of me looked fabulous as her silky hair streamed out behind her looking like she was in a scene from some romantic comedy. My hair didn't get the same memo and flew in front of my face, effectively covering my eyes. I struggled up the stairs looking like a relative of cousin it.

Once we were seated of the plane things went pretty smoothly. I watched some TV and had a chat with the couple sitting next to me. Before we knew it, the plane began to land. We got off the plane and followed the signs to the airport train that took us to passport control and baggage claim. I found my suitcase and went to meet Mr. Freddie who was picking me up from the airport.

After a quick stop at Mami's house we drove to the Freddie's adorable little cabin in Immensee. It was pretty dark out by the time I landed so I didn't see much scenery on the drive but this morning I woke up to this...

I've certainly had worse views.

Violent Music

Yesterday I walked up the mountain to the university for the last time this school-year to hand in the final paper for my second year of nursing school. Mid-august, my summer vacation is finally starting.

My lease ends at the end of the month so in between working on my project I've been trying to pack up my apartment. Yesterday The Crazy Lady drove out to Ariel yesterday to pick up the boxes that I had already packed. Z is taking some classes during the summer semester so he came after class to help with the schlepping.

I'm storing most of my stuff in L&Z's basement so after we loaded up the car we drove to the sun house to pick up The Mad Man and Avi and then headed to L&Z's house for dinner (and to put my stuff in the basement).

I like to think that I have a pretty solid relationship with most of my siblings but admittedly, I don't spend a ton of time with my youngest brother. A point that was made evident yesterday afternoon as I carried some of my belongings into the sun house to store in my room.

Avi and some friends were sitting on the couch playing Xbox. One of his friends looked up from the screen and asked "Oh, where are you coming from with all of that stuff?" to which Avi replied "Uh, she has a job in Ariel, I think. She goes there a lot..." satisfied with the answer his friend shrugged and went back to playing Xbox.

I'm glad he knows that I'm in university and that I haven't lived at home for two years.

Car partially unpacked, we piled back in and headed down to L&Z's for dinner. Following the earlier conversation between Avi and his friend, I thought we could use the time to bond a little. I asked Avi what was new in his life and we spent most of the ride conversing about video games and such.

We arrived at our destination and parked the car. As Avi was reaching for his seat belt he turned to me with a serious look on his face and the following conversation took place:
Avi: I've been listening to violent music lately.
Me: Oh... Uhhhh, what exactly does that mean?
Avi: You know, it's just a genre of music...
Me: What does it sound like? Could you maybe sing a little for me?
Avi: Um, Ok. It mostly sounds like violins...
*Hums some pleasant violin music*
Me: Oh, Violin! That's nice!
*Avi gives me a weird look and gets out of the car*

I'm glad we had that bonding time. I feel like now we're closer than ever!

The Poop And Scoot

This morning I woke up in my lovely little apartment in Ariel with the urgent need to pee. I walked into the bathroom and noticed that I seemed to be standing in a small puddle. First I checked  the shower to make sure I had completely shut off the water after my shower last night. The shower head was dry and nothing there seemed to be dripping.

Next I moved on to the sink where a considerable amount of water seemed to be collecting. I wiped up the water and waited to see what would happen, nothing did. Running out of options I moved on to the toilet. There was a steady trickle of water was dripping from the pipe that connects the toilet to the wall and drains the waste water. I found a container that I deemed worthy enough to sacrifice to the cause and stuck it under the pipe.

I watched the steady drip for a while before realizing that the container was starting to fill up. We needed a more effective solution, perhaps a way to stop the water from dripping out of the pipe. I debated trying to find some tape to cover the cracks but then realized that shutting off the water would probably be more helpful.

Sure enough, the trickling began to slow down. With nothing better to do I took advantage of the still full tank and emptied my very full bladder. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for my quick thinking and superb problem solving skills until it dawned on me that I would probably have to use the toilet again at some point and now the tank was empty. Emptying the tank had taken a while and quite a bit of water had come out during the process and the pipe was now dripping from two places.

I needed help from a professional, so I texted my dad. He told me to send a picture of the leaky pipe to my landlord and see if he could help. Following my fathers sage advice, I sent a picture of my toilet to the landlord and waited to see what would happen. After a couple of hours of waiting I looked at the clock and began to panic. I had a driving lesson in 40 minutes and I really needed to use a toilet, preferably one that wouldn't leak waste water all over my floor.

With no time to lose I grabbed my keys and half ran to the gym that's about a ten minute walk from my apartment. Pretending that it was completely normal to walk into the gym without work-out clothes or a gym bag, I waved my membership chip near the machine and hurried to the bathroom. Luck was on my side for the first time all morning, the bathroom was almost completely empty. I did my business and then hurried back out of the gym attempting to avoid making eye contact with the guard.

I made it back to my apartment just in time for my driving which went surprisingly well considering my eventful and stressful morning. After the lesson I went back to the apartment to stare at the toilet again. My bladder started hinting that it might be time to visit the gym again so after talking to my landlord and confirming that a repair man was on the way, I got suited up for the gym and headed out in search of a toilet.

The security guard nodded at my proper gym attire as I waved my chip by the machine and entered the gym for the second time today. This time, with the intention of actually working out. But since they conveniently had working toilets, I also used the bathroom before and after my workout.

I got back to my apartment just as the repairman was leaving. He informed me that the problem was solved and I was free to once again pee in the privacy of my own home. I cheered. He nodded briefly and got into his car. True to his word, the toilet did not drip when I flushed it.

A pretty exciting experience all around.

A Lesson In Persistence

Five intensive and exhausting but awesome weeks have come to an end. I was pretty nervous about starting my rotation in internal medicine, mainly because my default reaction to any new situation seems to be perpetually stuck PANIC mode. But also because I had heard a lot about the clinical nurse and I wasn't sure that I would live up to her expectations.

The first couple of days were a bit of an uphill battle, I was still getting my bearings in the ward and I wasn't entirely sure how to approach or deal with my patients. I'm the kind of person that likes to rehearse uncomfortable situations in their head. Unfortunately, the person on the other side of the conversation doesn't always get my memos and the conversations never go quite the way I had planned.

On my third day in the ward I went into the room that I was assigned to and introduced myself to the patient in the first bed. Armed with two days of experience, I had things down to some semblance of a science and was feeling pretty confident. The patient glanced up for his phone for a minute and then noticing the blood pressure machine that I had with me, held out his arm.

As I wrapped the cuff around his arm I tried to introduce myself again. The patient gave a pitiful half-smile in return, I chose to take it as a good sign. When we were done with the blood pressure the patient thanked me and got up. I still had to take his temperature and ask him a few questions so I asked him to sit back down.

He looked at me quizzically and said "But you already took my blood pressure." . I smiled and said that I had just a few more questions and it wouldn't take long if he would be kind enough to sit back down and cooperate. Deciding that he had had enough pestering for one day he kindly informed that he was going to change his clothes now so I should probably leave.

I waited a few more moments trying to figure out what I was supposed to do. None of my rehearsed conversations or previous patient encounters had gone on this particular direction...

And that's the story of how I watched a 70 year old patient strip in an effort to avoid talking to me.

I was pretty determined not to let my clinical nurse down so I asked the semi undressed man the rest of my questions and realizing that I wasn't leaving without answers, he reluctantly gave them to me.

Things got easier as the days flew by. I learned more efficient and effective ways to gather the relevant information from my patients and by the end of the second week the clinical nurse trusted me to take care of a full room of patients (between 8-9 patients depending on the day).

During the first couple of week my clinical nurse stayed in the room with me while the doctors were doing their rounds. Deciding that she trusted me enough with the patients, the nurse left me alone with the doctors on days that we were understaffed. Seeing that my clinical nurse trusted me, the doctors relied on my information about the patients to help make decisions about the course of the treatments.

It felt great to be a part of the team and to feel like I was actually contributing rather than just standing on the side and watching other people work. The staff in the ward were warm and welcoming. They always made time to answer any questions that I had and help me when they could, and I tried my best to help them in return.

Overall it was a great experience and I can't believe that it's already over. I have lots more to learn but I think I'm off to a great start.

A Beautiful Friendship

At the end of my shift on Monday afternoon a new patient arrived in the ward. Charlie had spent a good potion of the day sitting in the miyun and he was glad to finally be able to get some rest. The nurses bustled around and got Charlie settled into room number 4 for the night.

The next day a patient by the name Joe arrived in the ward and was wheeled into room number 4. He didn't know it yet, but life as he knew it was about to change. His bed was set up directly across the room from Charlie's bed. Tired and worn out from having a procedure done earlier that day, he drifted off into a troubled sleep.

Joe woke up a few hours later and sat up in his bed and surveyed his surroundings.  He hadn't paid much attention when he had first arrived, he looked across the room and saw a man around the same age as him sitting in the bed across from him. The man looked up and smiled, Joe smiled back.

It was boring in the hospital, and lonely. Charlie sat in his bed wondering when his wife was going to come to visit. She had called earlier to say that she would be there after work but it was only 14:00 in the afternoon and she didn't finish work until 16:00. It seemed like time was barely moving. 

Charlie sighed and looked across the room. The man in the bed across from him was starting to wake up. He watched as the man sat up and took in his surroundings. As their eyes met, Charlie smiled. The man smiled back.

A nurse came into the room with a glucometer to check the diabetic patients blood sugar levels. The nurse took Charlie's level first and then walked over to Joe's bed. "So we're both diabetic.." thought Joe as the nurse pricked his finger.

The nurse left the room and Charlie realized that it had been a while since he'd last visited the little boys room. He tried to stand up but got tangled in his IV line. Those damn nurses seemed intent on pumping him full of fluids. 

Joe watched the man in the bed across from him flounder as he struggled to free himself from his IV line. The man lost his balance and the IV stand began to sway dangerously. Joe jumped up to the rescue and ran to grab the man before he fell.

Charlie panicked as he lost his footing. Just as he thought that he was a goner, he felt a firm grasp around his arm and steadied himself with the help of his rescuer. The two men worked together to free Charlie from his IV line. 

As the line came untangled the two men smiled at each other. They stood there like that for a while until Charlie remembered his manners. 

"I'm Charlie, thanks for saving me there.."  said Charlie as he stuck out his hand. "Ya, no problem." said Joe as he shook the outstretched hand "Names Joe". Charlie nodded towards the spot of dried blood on Joe's finger from where the nurse had checked his blood sugar level . "Watchya in for?" he asked. Joe sighed and answered "Chest pains. You?" Charlie smiled and said "Same.".

Joe let out a little laugh "Two diabetics administered for chest pains... What are the odds?" Charlie thought for a moment and said "It's like it was meant to be.". Happy to finally have  a distraction Charlie offered to show Joe around the ward. Joe had been pretty out of it when they brought him in earlier and thought his legs could definitely do with a stretch.

The two men spent the remainder of the day together. By the next morning, they were inseparable.

At the beginning of the shift my clinical nurse divided the room into two, assigning me with left side and the other student with the right. When I went to take Charlie's blood pressure before breakfast he asked me to take Joe's as well so they could go to breakfast together. I explained to him that the other student was in charge of Joe's side of the room and she would take his blood pressure for him.

Later in the day I found the generally bubbly and outgoing Charlie lying in his bed "How are you feeling?" I asked him. "Oh you know... Alright I suppose." said Charlie with a sigh. Twenty minutes later Joe was wheeled back into the room after having had an X-ray done. Charlie jumped out of bed eager to welcome his friend back to his room.

"I was worried that you might miss lunch!" Charlie exclaimed. "I never miss lunch" Joe answered with a smile.

When I went to check Charlie's blood sugar level before lunch he hesitantly asked if I could check Joe's as well. I explained again that he wasn't my patient and he would have to wait for the other student. They looked at each other longingly across the room and sighed. Charlie pulled a chair up to Joe's bed. "I'll wait with you.".

During lunch I watched them sitting across the table from one and other telling tales as they ate. Joe gestured about wildly as he excitedly described his adventure around the hospital on the way to get his X-ray. His hand knocked over a bowl of apples on the counter behind him. The two watched as the apples bounced to the floor. The head of the kitchen staff watched them with a stern look on her face as they chased the apples about the room giggling with glee like a pair of young boys.

Later that day, the two men sat outside in the courtyard off the ward. They introduced each other to their spouses and children. It was a day full of laughter and bonding in an otherwise bleak ward.

Charlie was released from the ward later in the afternoon. Joe was sad to see him go but they promised to stay in touch.

Who knows what it was that brought them together... A mere coincidence or perhaps fate?