Can you believe it, Mike and I have been living in Germany for 8 months already! I am really starting to feel settled, especially because I finally got a job doing Occupational Therapy, see details below :)
So as many of you already know, I am currently as substitute teacher and while I do enjoy it, the constant changing schedule and not knowing if you are going to get a call to work and having to jump into someone else's shoes, is exhausting. But, I will say that because of substitute teaching I made enough connections to find an OT job here in Germany! Hooray! Let me tell you how it happened. I was subbing for a special education teacher for a while and one of his aides and I became friendly. She started going to a PT for an orthopedic issue in a German therapy clinic. One day the PT told her that he would like more English speaking therapists because he sees so many Americans at his clinic. She got in touch with me through the secretary at school and told me about the opportunity. Well, after a meeting with the PT and his OT co-owner, they decided to hire me!
It wasn't as easy as "you're hired", and through some mis-communication due to language barriers there was a lot of stress involved, but at this point, I am hired! We are still working on getting the tax documentation so they can properly pay me, but that is the last hurdle to jump.
I have learned a lot in this process about how the healthcare system works in Germany, the crazy amount of taxes that employees and employers pay here, and how little therapists are paid. So, while it will be awesome to be paid in Euros vs Dollars (because of the exchange rate), I won't be getting paid nearly as much as in the States. Regardless, I made the decision to take this job because of the experience. I mean really, did I move to another country to work on a military base, be surrounded by Americans all day and never learn German?! NO! While I will start out treating only Americans at the clinic, I will be working part-time so I can go to language school and hopefully become fluent in German. If I become fluent, I will start working with German patients as well and then I could work as many hours as I want because they need so much help at the clinic.
I am excited, but have so much to learn. The clients I will have at the German clinic will be mostly children with Autism, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, etc and some adults with orthopedic issues. All of my professional experience is with adults with traumatic brain injuires - hence the "I have a lot to learn". It will be good and I will move back to the states with a very well-rounded resume of experience.
So right now, I have three jobs - substitute teaching, volunteering to see patients on base, and the German clinic - making my life a bit busy. Luckily on June 14th substitute teaching will be finished and I will have a set schedule for the German clinic and volunteering. I am going to keep volunteering because it will allow me to keep working with people with traumatic brain injuries, which I love.
So that is the big news. Very exciting and overwhelming at the same time. But I think that is the way it goes for any big change, right?
Anyway, Mike has been super busy with work, but we were able to fit in a short 4-day vacation to Croatia this past weekend. It was beautiful there but still not quite warm enough to go swimming. I will post more on our vacation next week.
We were teased with Spring weather a few weeks ago but now it is rainy and cold again. The one good thing is that when it is sunny, we have sunlight from 4am to 10pm pretty much. Hopefully the weather will start to get better soon because I have a lot more gardening to do and lots of fests I want to attend this summer!
HOp
~ Katie and Mike
Friday, May 31, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
Dogs.....
Guten Tag!
I have a song stuck in my head....its called "Dogs". It is a preschool song, stuck in my head because I was substitute teaching in the developmental preschool all last week. Let's just say after the same song, "Dogs" is picked 3 days in a row, it will be stuck in your head. It also reminded me that I have been meaning to write a post about dog culture in Germany.
Dogs in Germany are a beloved animal and treated with a lot of love and respect. Much more than in the United States, in my opinion. There are some animal shelters, but most dogs in Germany are purchased from breeders. The breeders are very picky about who buys their puppies and interview all potential owners and their family members. Most Germans do not spay or neuter their dogs and this can be a challenge when everyone walks their dogs off leash.
Did I mention, everyone walks their dogs off leash here (at least in the farm/vineyard areas). In fact, if your dog is on a leash it usually means there is an issue for example, they might be in heat or have behavioral issues. Germans see a dog on a leash and avoid them. Sometimes, owners will put their dogs on leash to meet initially, but then take them off after they smell each other.
Because of all these cultural differences, it has been an interesting transition for Misty here in Germany. Misty has never walked off leash before. One, it is illegal in the United States (and in Germany, I have come to discover, but no one pays attention to that law here) and two, she has very poor attention and the nose of a hound. So, when I first started walking Misty in Germany, I got a lot of funny looks. Eventually, there was a group of women who I met and they said I could walk with them and Misty would learn from their dogs how to walk off leash. After months of daily walks and lots of tasty treats, Misty now walks off leash with great success.
Another issue we had with attempting to walk Misty off-leash, was how she approached dogs to meet them. Misty would see another dog and take off running full speed into the dog, which is a very agreesive approach and did not help her make any friends. Eventually she figured out that she needed to slow down, and let the other dog approach at the same pace as her. In fact, now she doesn't go up to all the dogs and knows which ones she does not get along with and avoids them.
So now Misty is walking off-leash, knows who her friends are, and can introduce herself appropriately to other dogs and people. Woohoo, progress! But, there are still bumps in the road for Misty here. Since Misty is a rescue dog, she has some issues. One of those issues is with farm animals and, unfortunately, we live in farm country. It wasn't a big issue over the winter because the animals were quiet or tucked away where Misty could not see them. Now that Spring is here, she can see them and hear them, and they bother her. The two types of animals we see most often are sheep and horses. Misty once ran away from me to try and get to the sheep and now I have to distract her with treats and sometimes, put her on the leash for the short part of the walk by the sheep. She has mostly gotten over her issues with the sheep and will listen to me if she sees them.
The bigger issue is with the horses. There is one horse farm near our house which we pass daily. She can see the horses across the stream and sometimes barks at them. They also ride the horses by our house sometimes and Misty gets very agressive and barks incessently. She shakes and just cannot get over the fact that the horse is next to our house. I don't know why, and I cannot stop her barking when she starts. The cats hate it too and will come and attack her to try and stop the barking. Needless to say, it disrupts the calm, quiet house we have.
The horses also recently moved to a field across from our house. Misty can see the horses all day long and she can hear them too. Oh boy, has this been a fun issue to deal with. I have to cover the windows in the room where she stays during the day when we are not home and block the bottom of the gate by the door so she cannot crawl under. We are hopeful that the horses are being temporarily lodged by our house, so that Misty can not be a barking nuisance every time she sees them. Maybe someday she will get over it, only time will tell.
I hope you are all enjoying the Spring weather. It has been beautiful here with all the green leaves popping and flowers blooming. The vines are starting to get a few leaves too which is fun to see! I got my first sunburn of the season this weekend at a wine fest (in my defense, I have a head cold and Mike was responsible for me thinking straight and forgot to remind me. In his defense he says, "You always put on sunscreen!" haha).
I am working 3 jobs right now, with only one actually paying me, so it has been very busy. There are changes for my job coming up this summer and they are exciting, but I will leave that for a post later this week. :)
Until then, have a wonderful week!
~ Katie and Mike
I have a song stuck in my head....its called "Dogs". It is a preschool song, stuck in my head because I was substitute teaching in the developmental preschool all last week. Let's just say after the same song, "Dogs" is picked 3 days in a row, it will be stuck in your head. It also reminded me that I have been meaning to write a post about dog culture in Germany.
Dogs in Germany are a beloved animal and treated with a lot of love and respect. Much more than in the United States, in my opinion. There are some animal shelters, but most dogs in Germany are purchased from breeders. The breeders are very picky about who buys their puppies and interview all potential owners and their family members. Most Germans do not spay or neuter their dogs and this can be a challenge when everyone walks their dogs off leash.
Did I mention, everyone walks their dogs off leash here (at least in the farm/vineyard areas). In fact, if your dog is on a leash it usually means there is an issue for example, they might be in heat or have behavioral issues. Germans see a dog on a leash and avoid them. Sometimes, owners will put their dogs on leash to meet initially, but then take them off after they smell each other.
Because of all these cultural differences, it has been an interesting transition for Misty here in Germany. Misty has never walked off leash before. One, it is illegal in the United States (and in Germany, I have come to discover, but no one pays attention to that law here) and two, she has very poor attention and the nose of a hound. So, when I first started walking Misty in Germany, I got a lot of funny looks. Eventually, there was a group of women who I met and they said I could walk with them and Misty would learn from their dogs how to walk off leash. After months of daily walks and lots of tasty treats, Misty now walks off leash with great success.
Another issue we had with attempting to walk Misty off-leash, was how she approached dogs to meet them. Misty would see another dog and take off running full speed into the dog, which is a very agreesive approach and did not help her make any friends. Eventually she figured out that she needed to slow down, and let the other dog approach at the same pace as her. In fact, now she doesn't go up to all the dogs and knows which ones she does not get along with and avoids them.
So now Misty is walking off-leash, knows who her friends are, and can introduce herself appropriately to other dogs and people. Woohoo, progress! But, there are still bumps in the road for Misty here. Since Misty is a rescue dog, she has some issues. One of those issues is with farm animals and, unfortunately, we live in farm country. It wasn't a big issue over the winter because the animals were quiet or tucked away where Misty could not see them. Now that Spring is here, she can see them and hear them, and they bother her. The two types of animals we see most often are sheep and horses. Misty once ran away from me to try and get to the sheep and now I have to distract her with treats and sometimes, put her on the leash for the short part of the walk by the sheep. She has mostly gotten over her issues with the sheep and will listen to me if she sees them.
The bigger issue is with the horses. There is one horse farm near our house which we pass daily. She can see the horses across the stream and sometimes barks at them. They also ride the horses by our house sometimes and Misty gets very agressive and barks incessently. She shakes and just cannot get over the fact that the horse is next to our house. I don't know why, and I cannot stop her barking when she starts. The cats hate it too and will come and attack her to try and stop the barking. Needless to say, it disrupts the calm, quiet house we have.
The horses also recently moved to a field across from our house. Misty can see the horses all day long and she can hear them too. Oh boy, has this been a fun issue to deal with. I have to cover the windows in the room where she stays during the day when we are not home and block the bottom of the gate by the door so she cannot crawl under. We are hopeful that the horses are being temporarily lodged by our house, so that Misty can not be a barking nuisance every time she sees them. Maybe someday she will get over it, only time will tell.
I hope you are all enjoying the Spring weather. It has been beautiful here with all the green leaves popping and flowers blooming. The vines are starting to get a few leaves too which is fun to see! I got my first sunburn of the season this weekend at a wine fest (in my defense, I have a head cold and Mike was responsible for me thinking straight and forgot to remind me. In his defense he says, "You always put on sunscreen!" haha).
I am working 3 jobs right now, with only one actually paying me, so it has been very busy. There are changes for my job coming up this summer and they are exciting, but I will leave that for a post later this week. :)
Until then, have a wonderful week!
~ Katie and Mike
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