New Discoveries

Nothing too exciting to report from Germany. I am on week two of taking a second antibiotic and, like the second week of the first antibiotic I started taking, I am experiencing a herx. I feel exhausted after doing everyday things like taking a shower or cooking dinner. My muscles hurt, my ears sometimes ring. Yesterday I had really bad light and noise sensitivity. Poor Greg had to shush the screaming children who decided the prime play place is the sidewalk in front of our house. Today I am feeling slightly better, though the exhaustion is still there. :( Hopefully it will go away in a few days.

Pharmacist 

On the up side, I have made some pleasant new discoveries. First, and most exciting (well, to me, anyway) is the apotheke (pharmacy). There are apothekes everywhere, and I had no trouble finding one by my doctor's office. However, they told me they didn't have my medicine, so I should go to an apotheke near my house and they would either have my meds or they'd order them for me. So I drove home, and found an apotheke a block away. They didn't have my medicine either, but told me they'd order them and I could pick them up in the afternoon. The best part? I paid five euro (about 7 bucks) for meds I normally pay $150 for in the states (with insurance!). European health care system for the win!

My next discovery is a decaf latte macchiato with soy milk. I had it before at the coffee house I wrote about, but it came in a paper cup and honestly, everything tastes better in a glass. Plus with the glass, your froth factor goes up. Now, I don't particularly enjoy froth, but my mom does and so this kind of reminds me of her. (Hi, mom!) That little thing on the plate is an amaretto biscotti and I wasn't sure it I was supposed to put it in the coffee or just eat it plain. 

Equally as exciting as the apotheke find was the gym discovery. It is the strangest gym I've ever been to. It is something like six floors, yet each floor is kind of small. You'd think a gym that's six floors would be overwhelmingly huge, but it is actually a cozy little place. The best part is that hardly anyone goes there, so it doesn't matter that their free weight section was 5' by 5'. Their showers are super clean, the machines are pretty modern, the employees were kind- couldn't ask for anything more.

Lastly, I found this amazing international market. It is a huge warehouse filled with rows and rows of international food booths. You can find freshly baked bread, rich cheese, fresh meats, fruits and veggies straight from the gardens... 

At the Greek booth, I met this old man who, upon learning that I speak kein deutsch, switched to English and told me, "Ooooh, you are welcome! You are welcome to Greece! You are welcome to Turkey! You are welcome to Germany! YOU! ARE! WELCOME! TO! EUROPE!" (The exclamation points are necessary.) Then he started giving me samplings of everything at his booth. "You try the hummus! You try the meats! You try this! You try that!" I ended up buying some hummus, because honestly I couldn't just leave empty handed after he had given me one of everything at his booth. It also helped that the hummus was the best homemade hummus I've ever had. "You come back! You see me, and you bring the husband and I give wine!" I wish I had the courage to ask if I could take his picture. Ah well, these will have to do.