The Road So Far...

Hi everyone.
It's been a while since I last posted.
I received some emails and questions from fellow nurses in the Philippines some time back, and I thought, well this may be the time to answer them.

First: I am now working, as you all know in a Hospital here in Baden-Württemberg. For ''Schweigepflicht'' or professional discretion's sake, I am not going to mention the exact name or place of the hospital.

It's now going to be my 5th month of working as a fulltime registered nurse here and my ''Probe Zeit'' or trial time for work will end on December.
What does that mean you say?

Well, everyone who starts working here in Germany usually undergo a trial period of approx. 6 months in their respective companies/institutions.
You get to be regularly paid in these months, so no worries, and chances are, you will be 99 % accepted if you haven't done something really horrible those past 6 months. kidding.
But that's true. Germany's health care system is in dire need of nursing personnel. . So as long as you are doing your job well, you'll have no problem.

I have signed my contract already, before I started working so I think the label of having a trial period is mainly just for legalities.

Next:
Yes, I was a fresh graduate and board passer as I came here in Germany, with almost zero working experience (excluding my duty hours during colege).

I never did any volunteer work in a philippine hospital seeing as I did not have much time anymore.
I would've did that mind you, because it would have really helped me a lot here.

I started out with nothing. My college university is a great school. But because there are way too many student nurses doing shifts together, I barely had real-useful practical experience. With theory there was not a problem, you just have to somehow translate everything in your mind to german. But aside form that, theoretical knowledge was okay.

Practical experiences on the other hand, was a catastrophy. BAck in school, I never had an opportunity to handle something intravenous except change Dextrose/IV Solution bottles.
MEaning, I never had any exp. pushing IV medications, changing IV lines, Changing central venous catheter lines, measuring central venous pressure,  changing multiple lumen tubes, etc...the list goes on, you get the idea.

I had to learn it all here. I am working in the neuro-surgical station. I started out really from the bottom of the food chain. I felt so down and inferior a lot of times. and I still do now, sometimes, but everyday, I get up, do my job, and strive to learn more.

So now, I know I haven't answered allquestions yet, but maybe for now it's okay.
In 5 mins, my family and I are going to see a musical entitled ''Rebecca''. I am really excited.

Yeah, life and work here is hard. on My next post, I will share about the usual stuff/procedures that we do on the station.


and Regarding Visa, I am afraid I will be of little help on this area. I am holding both German and Philippine Passports, so I did not need to get a Visa to go here.

But I am sure if you guys contact the Philippine or GErman embassy through their websites, someone will surely be there to assist you.


and another thing. I dont think it will be that hard. why?
Last week, 25 nurses from Spain had a tour of our hospital together with their translator.
The hospital is hiring them even if they don't know how to speak German yet. They will be studying german at first, and after that, it's already a secure job for them...


so till then, goodluck. :)

Working as a Filipino Nurse in Germany

Here I am again.
I have been searching and let me say just ''perusing'' the internet for the past hour and I found out that there isn't a blog or anything of the sort about ,,How Filipino Nurses Can Work in Germany''.

Well, if you have read a particular past blog from me before, you would know all the requirements needed to have your Nursing education and your Phil. Board Exam ''Anerkannt'' or recognized in this country.

This may appear to be quite a complicated task, with all the steps and paperwork, but once you have everything they need, things will just go on smoothly.


I have not yet informed you guys on the state of my recognition. Well here it is: as you all well know, I applied for this recognition or ''Berufsanerkennung'' in the Regierungs Präsidium, Gesundheits Ministerium in Baden Württemberg a few months ago.

It took a long time because I still had to finish my german lessons and pass my B2-Niveau exam.
Once I had it, which was around the second week of May this year, I immediately went back to the Präsidium and submitted all my documents. ( the list of all the needed requirements are posted on a previous blog)  After a week they gave me my recognition.

A week later I applied for a job in a nearby Hospital, one week later, after one day of ''test/probe day'' where I worked one day in the hospital, I got the job.

Next week I will be calling the Hospital again and arrange for the signing of contract.

Aproximated around June 18, I will be starting my first day of work. yippeee! :)

So, because I have managed it, I think every other Filipino nurse can manage it too!

I graduated last April 2011, took my board last July, received the results last August, went to Germany end of September, took german lessons since October 2011, passed my B2 language test last May, got my job this June, 2012.

On my next post, I will be writing down more details.

in the meantime, if anyone has questions, feel free to comment down and write to me.

I am proud to be a Filipino Nurse! 

Goodluck!!

http://www.google.de/imgres?num=10&um=1&hl=de&biw=1280&bih=608&tbm=isch&tbnid=tREkAQ8C47t8qM:&imgrefurl=http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-16281413-young-nurse-working.php&docid=s5Wwvj3465_UTM&imgurl=http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/16281413/2/stock-photo-16281413-young-nurse-working.jpg&w=380&h=272&ei=sWvQT4G9KNDAtAaX39GWDg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=678&vpy=227&dur=2818&hovh=190&hovw=265&tx=187&ty=85&sig=115283494233679156448&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=125&tbnw=177&start=0&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0,i:87

Ossobucco Calf Leg Steaks

I would like to share with you a very tasty meat recipe.
I do not have much experience in the kitchen so I just wrote everything that I saw.
The amount of meat and ingredients would depend on how many persons you are cooking for.
Just estimate the ingredients. Do not put too much. (I know it's not that exact but I always believe that a good cook can find his way in the kitchen no matter what).


Here goes.




Ossobucco
(bein sheiben vom Kalb)






4 pieces calf leg steaks 
Spices except dill (the normal kitchen spices. You can be imaginative and put in everything that sounds nice)
Pepper and salt
Thick Thread (to bind the meat)
White wein
Water or vegetable brew (for the brew you can use any clear soup mix,do not use the cream based ones)
Slivered Carrots
Celery stalks slivered
Onions 4 bulbs chopped
Garlic  4 small parts
Vegetable Oil for frying (or any oil)
Champignons 5-10 pieces
Maggi sauce (not too much)




Procedure:


(Do all the pre-cooking procedures : washing meat and vegetables, drying,slicing,etc.)






Bind the calf legs with thread. Just around the middle part so that the flesh will not bulge out and separate from the bone when fried.




 
Pepper and salt the meat and fry in hot oil.




Fry both sides for a short time only until both sides loose the red color (approx. 1 minute pro side)
This is important to close the meat pores so that the meat juice will remain inside when being baked.





Arrange meat on a baking tray, making sure to leave spaces in between.






















 
All the vegetables sliced and placed on a tray with all the meat. Only on the sides, not on top of the meat.







Pour in water or vegetable brew and wein. Add extra spices( anything you can find in your kitchen except dill)





Bake 180 celsius-200 celsius for  1 hour and a half. Approx. 45 minutes on each side.
Do not let it dry. Pour a bit of  brew  every now and then or scoop the meat juice on the baking tray and pour on the meat tops.





Finished when it is soft and tight.
Soft like the outer third part of palm of your hand  when made into a fist.


Serve with Italian bread or fried potatoes.

Eine Rätsle

Everyone, look at this tree. Look at this row of trees in particular.

Can you notice anything peculiar?

Yeah. That's right.

A great number of leaves on one side seem to be missing.

Where have they gone you ask?

I don't know myself. But one can leave himself pussled with this Rätsel .

What is a Rätsel you say?

Well you're kind of a nosy asker arent you?

Kidding. hahaha

A Rätsel is just another word for puzzle. Just like ''mystery'' or ''enigma'' or ''conundrum''.

It's a german equivalent for these words. And unlike in english where you have a whole lot more selections of words that can spell you out the meaning of puzzle in a sentence, the german language seems to delight itself with its limited supply of vocabulary.

That may not seem to be a problem at all you might say. On the contrary, it can be really helpful especially for someone who's trying to learn the language.

Well I say: it indeed makes things easier, not having a lot of words to memorize when you want to have a thought translated. However, it is only easy at first.

Right when you are getting yourself slowly drowned in the intricate webs of german language learning, you will most probably find yourself wishing for a whole lot more options of words to choose from.

Still not quite getting the idea? Let me lay it out for you.

Take the word ,,bringen'' for example which means ''bring'' in english, and which was the first word that came to my head.

you have to be really careful with the syllables you are adding to this word because one slight change can alter the meaning.

Bringen--bring
verbringen---to pass, to spend
mitbringen---to bring with
umbringen---to kill, to murder
abringen---to force, to wring, to wrench,to wrest sth. from so.
erbringen---to generate, to effect,to yield, to render
herbringen--to bring forth
 abbringen---to argue, to dissuade
aufbringen---to alienate, to apply, to capture, to enrage,to deposit, to find,to infuriate, to summon up,to superimpose, to upset so. ( i tell you, the list goes on)
zubringen ---to feed, to spend, to retrieve
unterbringen---to accommodate,to relocate, to store
ausbringen---to bear, to cut, to extract, to deploy

(I swear just searching these meanings makes me wanna tear up right now)

einbringen---to cross, to deepen, to cut through, to bring a return, to advance
anbringen---to add, to apply, to affix (well this is nice, the meanings are not that far from each other)

The list goes on my friends, I'm telling you.

If you are trying to learn german, and if you wanna have some fun, or if you just want to have something to pass your time on,
go to Leo.de or any online english-german dictionary,

recall all the german prepositions, prefixes, suffixes you know for ex.

auf, an, zu, ein, mit, nach, ent, ab, unter,aus, her, ver, um, etc. (just look up the others)

and think of any ordinary german verb.
It can be really common like ''Essen'' which means to eat
or something more unusual like ''Führen'' which means to lead,
and just glue all the different prepostions and suffixes and prefixes that you know,

and you will be amazed how many different things a single word can mean.

And! I'n not yet done. And how many meanings a particular word with a particular prefix can have and how very far those meanings can be from each other.

Just read the line with ''aufbringen'' again and you will see what I mean.

This is not enraging at all. or even something to be utterly depressed on.

This is in my opinion, challenging.
It is a big hurdle to get over with, when you want to be in a nice relationship with the german language.


Let me lastly get back to my tree picture above.

I have no idea why those trees are short of bushy green parts on the left side.
Maybe a lightning hit that part of the forest a few years ago, or maybe that part of the forest is situated somewhere where the sun doesnt hit the left side of the trees that much.
Maybe something strange is going on, maybe those trees where part of a clinical trial or a mad evil science experiment, one can only guess.

Let your imagination run free.

Anything is possible.

'Till the next hurdles!
HAppy Easter .

Burning Donkeys

I was perusing a book today about National Geographic's collection of Extremes.

I was on a page containing the most poisonous plant on earth, or something of that sort.

It was the Australischen Brennnessel.

(I got this from the internet)

It is a kind of plant, some subtypes of which are trees and some, shrubs.

Yesterday, my grandmother and I went to a Wald (Forest), to have a small walk and also to collect some Bärlauch (bear onions). Why they were named that way, I don't know.

I asked my grandmother that and she figured that maybe it's a kind of plant that bears used to eat a lot in earlier times.

Anyway, we were supposed to collect the Bärlauchs. They look like small tulip leaves by the way.

My grandmother started gathering them, and I followed suit, amidst the grass and weeds growing along side the Lauchs, everywhere.

Suddenly, I saw a curious-looking small weed and I touched it, at the same time I asked my oma what kind of weed that was. She answered me saying , Brennnessel. I yelled then, because my fingers were burning.

It turns out that Brennnessel is a kind of plant whose leaves have some kind of posion to defend themselves from people or creatures like me, who would try to pick and destroy them .

Today, I saw this plant again and I mentioned this to my Oma.

''Look Oma, it's that Brenn-Esel (prounounced  bren-eysel) from yesterday!''

,,Ein Was?  (a what)'' she asked, totally confused.

''Ein Bren-Eyysel'' I said.

Then she started laughing out hard. Hard that at first I still didnt realize what I did wrong.

She repeated ''bren-eyysel'' again, together with another roll of laughter, and then I got it and laughed hard together with her too.

This story may not seem to be so funny to any normal person, but it made oma's and my day therefore I would like to share it with you guys out there.

Brenn-Eyysel turned out to mean something completely different from the poisonous leaves to which I was pointing.

Brenn in German means ''burn or burning''

And Esel (Eysel) means ''donkey''

So yeah, my line might have sounded like, ''look oma, it's that burning donkey we saw yesterday!''

Hahaha. I still laugh, remembering this story.

I guess the lesson is, we make mistakes all the time.

Most of the time we get embarassed by making them, but sometimes, they do cling themselves to us as really funny and memorable experiences.

In a language like Deutsch, where beginners are bound to make mistakes with every other sentence,

Patience, and humor, are powerfully needed.

Till the next case of burning donkeys everyone!


(from http://www.picturesdepot.com/animals/9176/donkey.html)

First Steps of trying to work as a Nurse in Germany

I'm here again, Monday afternoon, sitting in the old writing room of my grandfather.
I should be doing my german vocabulary right now, start searching up the meanings of the new words 'I encountered in class today. I actually have quite a few lists here with me, because I did'nt do the lists from last week as well.

I'm now in B2 and today was the start of the B2.2. It will go on for another 5 weeks.

Anyway, I would like to write about the Landesgesundheitsamt, or at least my experiences with this 'Amt'.
In order to be recognized as a Registered Nurse here in Deutschland, one must:


-have his Original Highschool and College (Nursing) Diploma
-Transcript of Records (complete with all Notes and Marks from College)
-Certification of Passing National Licensure Examination (in Nursing) in the Land of Origin (in my case, Philippines)
-Certification of License with License Number ( a must)
-License Card (optional if you have the certification)
-Deutsch translations of all documents (recommended)
-Certification of Jobs already taken related to the profession (optional if you do not have a working experience yet)
-Anmeldung / Registration as a City Member from the local Rathaus(City Hall) in a German Statt (City)
- Polizei Führungszeugnisse (Police Clearance) both from Germany and Native Country
-Health Insurance documents (from a doctor saying you are insured)
-B2 Niveau German competence document
-and a self-written letter explaining condition of police records

(again, I recommend having all your documents translated whilst in the Philippines because it costs a lot of time and money to have it done here in Germany)

This proved to be a very long and complicated task. I thought it would have been easy, but no, a lot of steps and phone calls had to and still have to be made.

The Person from the Amt only told us about the first few requirements stated above before and informed us only last week about all the Police records also needed.
And those documents must not be older than 3 months.

That'S where the problem lies now. I'm almost half a year here in Deutschland and how am I supposed to produce copies of the police records from my city, thousands of miles away, in the nearest possible time?

The person shoud've at least told us sooner so that we could have applied for it months ago together with the License Certification which she also needed, which Ialso did'nt have yet at that time.
I have done some research, and it turns out I have to go the the nearest consulate, get a form, ask for assistance with the thumbprinting and all, send this form to the Philippines, ask someone from the family in the Philippines to give this to the police or NBI office, wait months for it to be processed, retrieve it, have it translated in Manila, send it back here in our place in Germany, and finally send it back again to this Amt/office.
All these things to be done and by the time the document is here, it has to be not older than 3 months.
Oh well.
and to top it all off, the person handling me in this Office has gone on Urlaub (vacation) since yesterday until later April.

Bureaucracy maybe, but it doesnt only happen here. It is the same in all countries. However, one can just laugh at it instead and not be so stressed and worked up on it.

And anyway, once you want to have something, you'be got to really work hard for it right? :)

I am. I am not letting myself be stressed. Anyway, I still have to finish my B2 course before I can work.

So to the people/nurses/ professionals out there, seeking ways on how to practice their profession here in Deutschland, my advice is: Do not give up, even if all the Amts say no.

I know one woman from my German Class, she's a nurse from Argentina, she passed her exams, has already worked for 2 years in Argentina, and when she came here, one Amt of the same type, assessed her documents and experiences and told her that they are not enough. They advised her to take up another 3 years of Ausbildung and finsih C1 with a TestDaf test, before they can permit her to work as a nurse here.

I'M sure nurses here from foreign countries have had lighter experiences than this. Maybe this is'nt how it works in all Offices. So again my advice: do not give up, keep on asking questions, yes, even in offices where you think you would never get a right answer from.

If you are just pushy enough, things will manage to somehow push through for sure.

For me and my things here: I think I'll wait a little bit more.
This Friday, I'm calling the Krankenhaus (hospital) again, and see if I can get a small job, not as a nurse, but maybe as an assistant, and hopefully have an interview schedule next week.

Everything looks scary, especially for me, since I just graduated last April and passed my exams last August and went here in germany last September, meaning I never had any real working experience yet as a nurse except from my eductaion. Sometimes I feel like I forgot everything that I have learned and sometimes this thought comes in that maybe I will not meet the expectations of my employers, but I still have to take a step forward, amidst all these fears and troubles.

I will keep on posting on new developments or improvements . If anyone has questions , you are most welcome to send me a message, or einfach just leave a comment and I'll do my best to try and answer and be of some help.
Till next post! Eine schöne Woche to everyone.


(from http://www.google.de/imgres?um=1&hl=de&sa=N&biw=1140&bih=562&tbm=isch&tbnid=7wXPD4V0-qhe1M:&imgrefurl=http://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/blogs/326/us-bureaucracy&docid=m86VnKjzVI7zLM&imgurl=http://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/system/files/user326/bureaucracy.gif&w=511&h=367&ei=ICZvT9qNGOHg4QSC3si_Ag&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=331&vpy=136&dur=2610&hovh=190&hovw=265&tx=162&ty=96&sig=102075461633905485822&page=1&tbnh=108&tbnw=144&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0)

waking up to a new World

It's a great feeling, being able to write once again. I have been staying or let me now say, living here in Germany since September last year. The thought of writing down journals of the journeys I have to take to get to med school, has more than once, already crossed my mind. I have tried. Don't get me wrong. I did try but my all-too-rambling a mind kept me to this day, from maintaining one.

Today, I saw this blog from a fellow Pinoy , freetaste.blogspot.com , who studied in Freiburg and has now successfully planted himself in Deutschland. I was inspired and I thought, if there is a Pinoy in Freiburg, the Pinay in Baden Württemberg, specifically in Ludwigsburg, can share her musings too.



If my sources are correct, Freiburg and Ludwigsburg are both in the Bundesland (German State) Baden Württemberg.


I am a Pinay from the Philippines (of course), wanting to try paving my way to med school in this beautiful new world called Germany.


I have been studying Deutsch, since October 2011, and after quite some struggles, I am now in the Stufe (level) B2 of the deutsche Sprache(german language).
I will be ending this level in 6 weeks time and hopefully be able to continue right away to C1 level, which is the one needed to take on the TEST DAF test, required by all universities.



Hopefully this ''journalizing'' of mine, can someday help, if not inspire other Filipinos or other foreign nationals, in striving through the maze of wanting to study and hopefully establishing a life here in Germany.

So, to the Pinoy in Freiburg, and to the world : the Pinay in Baden Württemberg says hello!