Being sick is not nice, and being sick abroad might be an adventure. Luckily, Israel is known for its high medical standards. However, so short after our arrival in this foreign country, our immune systems still need to learn how to fight against the local viruses and bacteria...
Some weeks ago, my stomach suffered from some food I was not used to, but after one day, I was fit again.
While November is the typical time in Germany for a cold, it surprised me that both of us caught a cold here at 25°C. Even worse, my sore throat turned into an inflammation in the ear. After several days of pain, I looked unsuccessfully for precise information about doctors in Rehovot online, so I asked colleagues if they could recommend me someone. I called the number a colleague gave me, explained my ear ache in a mixture of Hebrew and English and got an appointment for the following day. When I arrived, the doctor's receptionist could not find me on the list. She asked me to come with her to a separate room. It seemed quite strange to me. Then she explained me I should go 2 streets further, enter building no. 4 and ask on the 3rd floor for a treatment of my ear. Okay, so I walked to the other street, entered a big building and found many people on the 3rd floor. In fact, it seemed to be a medical center as they are apparently typical in Israel.
The receptionist spoke less English than I Hebrew, so I tried to explain her my story how I was sent there from the other place in Hebrew (just 2 days before I had learned how to form the past tense of some verbs...). Luckily, I had prepared a list of words like "health insurance", "inflammation",... beforehand. Then she asked me if I wanted a
רופא אף אזן גרון (nose throat ear doctor). Another patient had cancelled his appointment, so I did not need to wait, but she led me directly along the long corridor with many doors of many doctors' rooms to the specialist and explained him my situation with the German health insurance in Hebrew (I understood only very few words). The doctor asked me if I could speak English. I was very relieved that my extremely limited knowledge of Hebrew would not be needed in this situation. The doctor was very friendly, asked why I moved to Israel, how I like working at the Weizmann Institute (his wife also works there), if physics was a difficult subject and with so few women... Quickly, he found a diagnosis, prescribed some drops from the pharmacy and then wondered about the reimbursement procedure with my German health insurance (for 3 years abroad). Then he concluded that, because I am so nice and he is so nice and he does not like bureaucracy like signing a form for the insurance, he would not take any money!
Instead he wished me shabbat shalom and that I should enjoy my postdoc time in Israel!
Some weeks ago, my stomach suffered from some food I was not used to, but after one day, I was fit again.
While November is the typical time in Germany for a cold, it surprised me that both of us caught a cold here at 25°C. Even worse, my sore throat turned into an inflammation in the ear. After several days of pain, I looked unsuccessfully for precise information about doctors in Rehovot online, so I asked colleagues if they could recommend me someone. I called the number a colleague gave me, explained my ear ache in a mixture of Hebrew and English and got an appointment for the following day. When I arrived, the doctor's receptionist could not find me on the list. She asked me to come with her to a separate room. It seemed quite strange to me. Then she explained me I should go 2 streets further, enter building no. 4 and ask on the 3rd floor for a treatment of my ear. Okay, so I walked to the other street, entered a big building and found many people on the 3rd floor. In fact, it seemed to be a medical center as they are apparently typical in Israel.
The receptionist spoke less English than I Hebrew, so I tried to explain her my story how I was sent there from the other place in Hebrew (just 2 days before I had learned how to form the past tense of some verbs...). Luckily, I had prepared a list of words like "health insurance", "inflammation",... beforehand. Then she asked me if I wanted a
רופא אף אזן גרון (nose throat ear doctor). Another patient had cancelled his appointment, so I did not need to wait, but she led me directly along the long corridor with many doors of many doctors' rooms to the specialist and explained him my situation with the German health insurance in Hebrew (I understood only very few words). The doctor asked me if I could speak English. I was very relieved that my extremely limited knowledge of Hebrew would not be needed in this situation. The doctor was very friendly, asked why I moved to Israel, how I like working at the Weizmann Institute (his wife also works there), if physics was a difficult subject and with so few women... Quickly, he found a diagnosis, prescribed some drops from the pharmacy and then wondered about the reimbursement procedure with my German health insurance (for 3 years abroad). Then he concluded that, because I am so nice and he is so nice and he does not like bureaucracy like signing a form for the insurance, he would not take any money!
Instead he wished me shabbat shalom and that I should enjoy my postdoc time in Israel!
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