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!