Day 180: A Playground Full of Slides

So this is really how it feels to live here sometimes: a rocking-horse rider on a playground full of slides.


http://www.onestophumour.com/funny-pics/3555/

Actually, life is moving right along.  I definitely have those moments now and then (like the time I signed for and took the neighbor's package), but now at least I have enough language to attempt to explain myself afterwards.  We had another 4-day vacation on the North Sea, and we did pretty much everything we'd done the last time, except with sun and better temperatures.  I finally finished my night German course, and Joern is off to Switzerland for work.  This week I've done some self-study and hanging out with Anke.  We've been to the movies (and I didn't really have too many problems understanding!), and to the Public Pool a few times.  Sadly, because of the warm weather I couldn't go dog walking at the Animal Shelter, but not to worry, it's pretty cold here again. Hopefully we'll go this weekend.  So all in all, I'm learning to like slides.  

Day 152 First Aid: Why it’s okay to jump up and down on an unconscious person; however you need to be sure your Emergency Triangle is placed at the proper distance first.

 

 So yesterday Joern and I took another step toward in the required-for-me-but-not-other-States (still FAIL, North Carolina!) process of getting a Driver’s License.  In Germany, you have to take a First Aid (Erste Hifle) class as part of getting your License.  Personally, I think this is a great idea.  For Germans to do.  I’ve taken lots of First Aid courses, and once- due to a technical error- a Professional Rescuer class.  I feel that I would be able to handle an emergency.  Plus, they’re really long and on the weekends.  But it’s what I have to do to drive, so off we went to the Sunday course.  Joern has been absolutely wonderful this whole time, translating documents, finding answers, and going with me to an all-day First Aid course on his Sunday off.  I can understand a lot of German, but I was glad that he came with me to translate the technical stuff, like ‘oxygen to the brain,’ ‘unconscious,’ and stuff like that.    

So the course obviously had a finite amount of information to give in a required amount of time.  The course is also most commonly taken by 18-year-olds who haven’t taken a First Aid course before, so a certain amount of repetition came into play.  One of the more interesting things we learned was that in Germany, every car is required to have an Emergency Road Triangle and an up-to-date First Aid kit.  In Austria you also have to have emergency reflector vests for ever seat in the car.  In France you have to have those little disposable Alcohol Tests (way to prioritize, France).  Anyways, the rule is that you need to alert other drivers of the emergency. 

This led to a plethora of possibilities for how to use said Triangle.  Quick background: In Germany, you are obligated to stop at the scene of an accident and help unless you have a Very Good Reason not to (small children, driving to hospital, etc).  That’s when you break out the Triangle.  But where to put it?  It depends on what kind of road you’re on and how fast traffic is going.  Also, what if there is a curve?  A T-intersection? A four-way intersection?  A roundabout?  Needless to say, there were a lot of diagrams.  Basically everyone there with a Triangle needs to get it out and place it somewhere.  We learned how to estimate distance depending on these factors by counting big steps or using mile-markers and things like that.  My question was, is this really that important?  Shouldn’t we all just be glad we were able to assemble it?  Yes, it is that important apparently.  If you grossly under- or overestimate your Triangle placement, making things more dangerous, you could get a ticket.  Guess I’ll be adding a tape measure to my First Aid Kit. 

Next up, we started to learn basic First Aid, and I must say, things have changed since I last took my Professional Rescuer course.  As always, the whole point is to get the person help as fast as possible.  We learned the basic Check-Call-Care step (I got to pinch Joern, my practice buddy- fun day! Right hon?).  If they’re breathing, you just roll them over (in a special way of course) and wait for help.  Pretty standard, but then things got weird.  The next step was to Look-Listen-Feel for signs of life, namely breathing.  Not breathing?  Well okay, next we should probably see if their heart is beating…-NO!  Nope, skip the pulse thing and start compressions.  It’s tricky with the wrist, and the counting, and yeah, just start pounding away.  We learned rescue breaths, but then our instructor further blew my mind.  He said that if you can’t remember, just keep doing compressions as fast as you can. 

                I was completely at a loss.  Really?  You see a person down and you just start compressions?    We’re going to end up with would-be Heroes compressing sleeping people all over the place!  How can that be right?  Apparently, it was.  The American Heart Association calls it “Hands Only” CPR.  The logic is that the most important part of CPR is the compressions, and lots of people who find themselves in that situation are nervous to mess it up- so they don’t do anything.  With this method there’s not a lot to remember.  Call for help and start compressing.  I guess if they’re just sleeping they’ll wake up?

My favorite part is that you even get to sing.  No counting, so instead you can sing anything with 100 beats per minute.  Suggestions were “Stayin’ Alive,” “Yellow Submarine,” and ironically, “Highway to Hell.”  Our instructor even cited a few recent studies that suggest that if you aren’t strong enough to compress a person, you can take off your shoes and use your foot/leg to compress.  If you’re worried about cracked ribs and lawsuits, the US and Germany both cover people who are trying to help under Good Samaritan laws.  So not to worry, it doesn’t matter how you do it, if a person collapses, compress, compress, compress as fast as possible.   

                Now I feel like an informed, safe person in general.  I’m ready for any emergency!  I’ll do whatever it takes, foot compressions included- I can save lives!  As soon as my Triangle is properly placed. 

Day 146 (Monday)

1. Decided that the pouring rain was a good excuse to stay inside instead of grocery shopping.
2. Tried mixing some new colors with my paint set (a lot harder than I thought).
3. Investigated how to volunteer at our Animal Shelter (yet again a training).
4. Learned more really amazing and totally useless/perhaps obvious to others information in German class.*

*Okay, so we were learning weather words today in relation to driving conditions.  Really important to know, right?  Well, even MORE important are the words for thunder and lightning.  Ready?  It's Donner and Blitzen.  Quick, name Santa's reindeer!  Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid...DONNER, and BLITZEN!!!!!!!! It all makes so much sense now!  So glad I'm learning German. :-)

Day 143 German Traffic Signs are a little redundant…

Now, I would like to say first and foremost that I am a guest in another country and as such, I need to know and follow their rules.  Keeping with that theme, I’m getting ready to take the required-for-me-but not-other-States (FAIL, North Carolina!!!) driver’s test.  Apparently it’s pretty intensive and also includes a section testing your knowledge of the traffic signs.  I thought I would start there as it seemed the most practical.  I see these signs every day, and I must admit that I’m not really 100% sure what all of them are trying to tell me, simply because there are so many of them.  At first I thought that maybe they were trying to brighten up the roadways, you know, like those wildflower initiatives or something.  Then I found this handy chart of road signs:

It’s like confetti.

http://www.usareurpracticetest.com/germany/documents/sign_chart.pdf

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 166 signs that you’ll see on the roads here.  I recognized the stop sign.  One of them is literally a car driving into a lake (4^th row, 5^th from the left).  Top row, third from the right?  That’s a picture of a car.  Umm, why???  In case I forget what I’m sitting in?  I was beginning to get worried.  Is driving here more fraught with peril than in the States?  Do the roads just randomly end in lakes sometimes?

Obviously, I had some work to do.  I dove into the 98-page Introduction to Driving, and was amazed by the intricacy, the specificity of all those signs (turns out, the car driving into a lake thing is legit: it means ‘Don’t drive into the lake’).  Then I began noticing a pattern.  Yes, the shapes communicate a general meaning, which is well-known and similar to our system.  But that’s not what I’m talking about.  First, a little background.  In general: red triangles are warnings, red circles are restrictions, blue circles are traffic patterns and the rest are ‘informative.’  That’s the basic system, and it seems to work really well.

So here’s where it gets a little redundant.  Take railroad crossings for example.  These are all signs that tell you a railroad crossing is coming up:

The first one tells you that the railroad crossing has a guard gate.  The second one is the same thing, but the marks below mean how far away you are from the gate (240 meters).  The next sign means you’re approaching a railroad crossing without a guard gate.  The second one has the same distance-measure thing.  The last two simply mean “railroad crossing.”  That’s a total of six signs designed to inform me that I’m about to cross some train tracks!  My driving would in no way be different in any of these situations.  You need to be careful because there are potential trains.  The one exception you may say is the gate vs. no gate, but I’m pretty sure I’d notice a gate blocking my way.  That or an oncoming train.    

Next, it’s very important to know who has the right of way when driving here, especially in cities like Nürnberg.  The roads here are shared by cars, mopeds, bikes, people, trucks, and Smarts.  And the roads are narrow and winding, so you really have to know where you can and can’t go.  That I understand.  This I don’t.  Both of these signs mean ‘No Entry.’

It’s almost like the one on the right is the same sign- but squinting at you because somehow it knows you were thinking about driving through anyways.  Anyways, I think you get the idea.  Now by and large, the other signs I learned about will actually help me be a safe and courteous driver.  They were really important to know about (again, the whole right-of-way thing).  If anything, the German road signs are just really eager to help us out.  Maybe a little too eager.  Like the diagonal hash-marks.  I mean, I could probably have exited the Autobahn safely without them, but it is nice to know that I have exactly 300 meters in which to do so.  Or 80, or 240, when there’s a railroad crossing coming up.  

That being said, even with all of the really great signs, there are still a few where I’m not clear on their purpose, because they seem to be about things that I would have otherwise figured out on my own or over which I have no control whatsoever.  We do this in the states too, but again, not as specifically.  Here are some things that could happen to your car: 

So now you know a little about traffic signs in Germany.  Just not the ones you’ll actually use while driving.  Anyway, I’m off to study nouns, verbs, and when I can and cannot park on the curb or drive into the lake.  Stay safe out there!

Day 142

Hi Everyone!
I was in full summer mode these past couple of weeks in addition to a little artistry.  Also, the heat wave finally hit Germany, making it difficult to make any sudden moves, cook, or wear cotton (I really need that Fitness-Anti-Sweat-Technology stuff).  My German class for the summer is now a night course, which means fewer hours in class, but a lot more to absorb in one dose.  Thus far, I think the most important thing I've learned from this course is to let English be English and German be German.  Too many students try to translate everything in their head because the languages are so similar, but that doesn't really work long-term.  Besides, you never really get a feel for the flavor of the language.  So no, I have no idea why it's 'vom Flughaven' and not 'aus Flughaven' even though a Flughafen technically has a door- making it physically possible to go 'out/aus'- and even though we would probably just say 'from/vom' in all cases in English...I accept it and move on. 

In other news, we just returned from the Ausslanderamt (Alien Office) and I now have my 'Green Card!'  We still are pretty unclear exactly what I have to do for the Integration requirements outside of the tests, but right now we're celebrating the first victory- I have a German ID!  We think I can simply continue with the German courses I'm already doing, so we'll see.  Other than that, it's time for homework and throwing together a pasta salad for dinner!

Since Katie is busy with studying German and creating really cool art...

here is a quick shot of her latest piece of art - I mean, how cool is that?

Waving from Germany!
Joern