I can't believe I have only been back a few days and it feels like so much has happened and I'm just exhausted thinking of it. First of all, getting back everything has changed. Seems like at Thanksgiving they pull a trigger and all of a sudden it's 'holiday season' - xmas trees (where you barely see any green because they are so densely decorated), bells and whistles and bows and gifts everywhere. Ok, there is the odd menorah as well and in my building even some muslim ornaments as well. Diversity is considered important which is why this is called the 'holiday season' and not Christmas season as in Europe. Although, that may also be related to the fact that 'holidays' does not only relate to Christmas but also Thanksgiving here. For many Thanksgiving is actually the more important holiday. While I could not imagine not spending Xmas with my family, many Americans could not imagine Thanksgiving without their loved ones. My flatmates for instance are not going home for Christmas and many people in my office are also not taking off many days, maybe one or two - but that's about it. Of course that's also because we don't get as many days off here but I think it shows the relative importance of the different holidays.
But I actually wanted to blog about our office xmas party - I have to say, it was a lot more fun than expected. And in spite of the weird timing, people were all over the dance floor. For me the day started off a little different than expected as I had made a check-up appointment at a dentist and ended up spending my entire day there. I actually just made the appointment because someone had told me that our company covers 'preventive' appointments and I should take advantage of that while still in the old year. I have to say just like my other doctor's appointments in this country it has been quite an experience. The visit started with a 'tour' of the practice where you meet everyone and get shown all facilities. Apparently that particular dentist focuses on kids and beauty dentistry so there were a lot of nice signs and pictures on the walls and it looked pretty fancy overall. Maybe I should have known that it would be a rip-off at that moment. Before the doctor even looked at me, they were taking a lot of x-rays as I presume is common here as they asked me to bring my xrays already when making the appointment. And of course when looking at the xrays the doctor found something - a cavity underneath one of my old fillings which was very close to a nerve so he told me that he would most likely have to do a root canal procedure. Now, I could have probably said that I wanted to do it another time but to be honest I just wanted to get it over with. They do give you a cost estimate - and this was about half of my rent (and rent is outragously expensive in this city) but then again, what can you do if you really need it done? Up to now I had been thinking that my insurance covered it but no, just learned that the insurance just pays a certain amount and whatever goes beyond that is out of pocket...
Anyway, enough complaining about money, I heard afterwards that I probably would have had to pay the same amount in Germany as dental doesn't cover everything there either.
What was pretty cool though was that the dentist had this machine that bascially simulated my real tooth and modeled it so that another machine could actually shape it as closely to nature as possible. And I got to see the entire process. I have got to go and put the little ceramic piece into the machine that shaped it with little diamond drills. Impressive what technology can do these days. In the old days the dentist had to wait for a week to get the fake tooth modeled and made in a lab before being able to insert it. So apart from the most painful moment of having to pay the experience was very positive - the dentist even had a dog to calm the kids (and as my case shows adults) down and the doctor did a scarf trick at the end (I really did feel like 5 at that moment but kinda liked it). Because the price tag was higher than what they had originally told me, they also gave me some movie tickets - for the amount I spent I could probably have rented the theater (ok, exaggerating a little for dramatic purposes) but anyway....
But I actually wanted to blog about our office xmas party - I have to say, it was a lot more fun than expected. And in spite of the weird timing, people were all over the dance floor. For me the day started off a little different than expected as I had made a check-up appointment at a dentist and ended up spending my entire day there. I actually just made the appointment because someone had told me that our company covers 'preventive' appointments and I should take advantage of that while still in the old year. I have to say just like my other doctor's appointments in this country it has been quite an experience. The visit started with a 'tour' of the practice where you meet everyone and get shown all facilities. Apparently that particular dentist focuses on kids and beauty dentistry so there were a lot of nice signs and pictures on the walls and it looked pretty fancy overall. Maybe I should have known that it would be a rip-off at that moment. Before the doctor even looked at me, they were taking a lot of x-rays as I presume is common here as they asked me to bring my xrays already when making the appointment. And of course when looking at the xrays the doctor found something - a cavity underneath one of my old fillings which was very close to a nerve so he told me that he would most likely have to do a root canal procedure. Now, I could have probably said that I wanted to do it another time but to be honest I just wanted to get it over with. They do give you a cost estimate - and this was about half of my rent (and rent is outragously expensive in this city) but then again, what can you do if you really need it done? Up to now I had been thinking that my insurance covered it but no, just learned that the insurance just pays a certain amount and whatever goes beyond that is out of pocket...
Anyway, enough complaining about money, I heard afterwards that I probably would have had to pay the same amount in Germany as dental doesn't cover everything there either.
What was pretty cool though was that the dentist had this machine that bascially simulated my real tooth and modeled it so that another machine could actually shape it as closely to nature as possible. And I got to see the entire process. I have got to go and put the little ceramic piece into the machine that shaped it with little diamond drills. Impressive what technology can do these days. In the old days the dentist had to wait for a week to get the fake tooth modeled and made in a lab before being able to insert it. So apart from the most painful moment of having to pay the experience was very positive - the dentist even had a dog to calm the kids (and as my case shows adults) down and the doctor did a scarf trick at the end (I really did feel like 5 at that moment but kinda liked it). Because the price tag was higher than what they had originally told me, they also gave me some movie tickets - for the amount I spent I could probably have rented the theater (ok, exaggerating a little for dramatic purposes) but anyway....
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