Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him.

Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 – 1734)

An Essay on the Life and Genius of Thomas Fuller on Amazon.de

Our 10th grade son will be leaving for a three-week summer course at St. Andrews University next week. We are doing our last bit of shopping from a seemingly never-ending list of things he needed. As he had signed up for the courses debate and golfing, we realized he needed a dinner jacket, dress shirts, pants (other than jeans), ties, a laptop (all for debate) as well as golfing shoes and chinos for the latter one.

Well, he needed clothing anyway and we hope to send him off in two years’ time (class of 2012) to embark on his career to become a future man of business. I will see this extra expense as an investment. Not to mention the tuition fee and flight expense. Should I include the new glasses he had to get and his allowance while being there? I think, not.

His choice of debate and golfing as subjects has left him with remarks from friends such as  Thinking about becoming a lawyer? His classes do sound like the prerequisite for law.

Nevertheless, St. Andrews would probably be only a little university town without its much acclaimed golfing capital. For more about St. Andrews and its (golf) history, read The New York Times recent article Storied Past Lives On at St. Andrews.

Visit The International Summer School of Scotland St. Andrews for more information about its summer programmes.

And yes, I plan on reporting about his educational experience.

Our son will be 17 soon and every once in a while he gets the typical German statement: Na, da wirst Du ja bald Deinen Führerschein machen! Reaching the legal age of 18 includes getting the driver’s license. Oh ja, das deutsche Fahrvergnügen! Well, wanting the license seems universal, but…

Germans generally do not ask about what college one intends to attend as the rate of university graduates is rather low at 14%. But most Germans hold a driver’s license, which is costly. So costly that some parents or grandparents start saving for the driver’s license as of birth –  in the same way some international parents set up a college fund for the newborn.

In Germany, the cost of a driver’s license ranges from euro 1200 – 1800, based on 18 minimum hours of attending the Fahrschule. In some cases it takes much longer, such as more lessons, another testing fee (in general, one out of three fail the driver’s license test), etc. The base price given usually applies to young and quick learners only. Older applicants usually end up taking more lessons, the rate of failing is higher and then the cost is usually between euro 2200 – 3000.

The German ADAC  offers the following savings plan:

ADAC driver’s license savings plan – a gift for the future. Why not present this on the child’s first day in first grade? You can start saving as low as euro 10 a month. Earn 4.3% interest.

(4.3 % only apply to savings plans which run 17 – 18 years. For example, on a 10-year savings plan, the rate of interest is 4.0%)

As parents of international children, we believe our children will get their driver’s license whenever they are ready. This is not a top priority. We have a college fund for them – not a driver’s license savings plan.

The number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes.

Denis Diderot (1713 – 1784)

In my previous post No A/C in German hospitals, I contemplated the lack of fans and air-conditioning in German hospitals. Additionally, most private homes are only equipped with maybe one or two fans and I have never seen one with air-conditioning.

So, once more this heatwave is affecting us all. The streets are deserted, sun blinds are drawn everywhere, no moving car in sight, and silence is draped over totally still trees. Not a breeze, not a sound, but an eerie quiescence. Occasionally, I hear an ambulance going by and it is beginning to seem a bit like the summer of 2003,  which claimed the lives of 30,000 French and German citizens.

Our local paper stated 15 – 20 hospital patients around the Hochtaunus clinics collapse in the hospital bed from the heat on a daily basis. Going in with one ailment and suffering a heat stroke causing a  Kreislaufzusammenbruch on the side does not sound like the best way to get better.

On a different note: There are different opinions on this typical German malaise of Kreislaufstörungen (circulatory problems: low blood pressure, dizziness, and feeling weak). Kreislaufstörungen might be a uniquely German obsession and seem to be at the root of many health issues. But the patients I had mentioned above actually suffered a Kreislaufkollaps when main body functions just cease to function properly for a variety of reasons  such as heat stroke, dehydration, exhaustion, etc.

Spending 10-hour days to sit with my daughter at the Unfallklinik in Frankfurt in this heat (38°C or 100F) is very hard on patients and visitors alike. Passing by the nurses’ station, we can see and hear their electric fan buzzing. But no fans are allowed for patients as electric fans and cables pose danger. A/C implementation is out of the question.

I have done my share of sending the clinic an e-mail proposing the implementation of ceiling fans when the building gets modernized in 2012.

The other day I heard a patient getting chided for using some of the crushed ice, which is usually reserved only for cooling down swollen joints, in her beverage. The nurse was even concerned that the ice might not have been made from drinkable water. Well, in this heat nobody really cares.

More and more topless men ride around the ward in a wheel chair.

This über-heat is starting to take its toll.

In my last post  from 18 June, I had reported about the difficulties in finding an investor to take on the Officers’ Club. All that has changed within the last two weeks – after 17 years of lying idle.

The Taunuszeitung, dated 30 June 2010, had the following article Luxus hinterm Fachwerk (extravagance behind the half-timber). The Oberurseler Woche, date 01 July 2010, also carried an article titled  Im Offizierskasino entstehen Wohnungen (The Officers’ Club will change into apartments).

Over the years, several investors had been interested in the Officers’ Club, but none of their plans of turning it into any kind of business got approved. The residents of this Villenviertel (exclusive residential area) had enough say-so to put any type of business plans to rest.

This has come to an end with the current investor’s proposal for turning the building into privately owned apartments. To do that, the investor set up his own corporation, Mountain Lodge Grundstücks-GmbH, and bought the areal of 1200 qm (close to three acres) from the city of Oberursel.

The Officers’ Club (also called Mountain Lodge around here) has found a new purpose, and the previous hope of getting the basement to house the Camp King archives is lost. Manfred Kopp, the Camp King archivist, is still without a permanent home for the Camp King archives, but we will continue looking for an appropriate location.

As this is my first experience as a grown-up to spend my holidays taking care of our daughter at the Unfallklinik (emergency hospital) in Frankfurt, I have come to realize that German hospitals have no air-conditioning yet and additionally, electric fans are not allowed.

40 years ago, if I had lain in a German hospital during summer time, I would have thought this is what everyone must endure. But in the year 2010, the attitude of German hospital towards A/C has not caught up yet to the modern times.

One one hand, a nurse explained, it is so hard to keep the filters clean. Well, American hospitals are able to keep theirs clean. On the other hand, the surgery rooms and the intensive care unit are equipped with A/C. If it works there, why not in the rest of the building? Of course, this is attached with a heavy financial investment, but plans for modernization have been drawn up and renovation is due to begin in 2012. The way I understood it, the implementation of A/C was not included.

When I asked about bringing in an electric fan, I was reminded that it would have to come with the European Inspection Seal, then get the hospital’s inspection seal, and it would have to be sanitized. But the most important factor is the hazard of cables on the floor. We are on a ward where crutches are lined up at almost every bed.

Well, if it can’t be a floor fan, I propose to add ceiling fans during the renovation process in 2012.

My task is now to send this suggestion to the Beschwerde-Management (*1).

In the meantime, temperatures are hovering around 38°C  – 40°C (100 F – 104 F). We are on the top floor (surgical ward), basking in the heat. The general mood of the patients is low-key with these temperatures, jokes and laughter are becoming rare, and suffering in this heat can not be good for their well-being.

Overheard a patient in a wheelchair getting chided by a nurse for riding around topless. He just said Ja, ja and kept on pushing his wheels down the hallway. Riding around topless must be a breach of German hospital regulations.

There will be plenty more as this heat-wave has just begun and it is supposed to last for the next six or seven weeks.

I have been digging for my Japanese tea towels, which I will wet and drape around our necks while at the hospital. I have also brought in several Koreans fans, which did not have to be inspected by the Krankenhauspolizei.

Other than he room temperature at the hospital, our daughter and I are in very good hands. You may want to read my All-inclusive in Germany report.

German verb for today:

*1 sich beschweren bei Dativ über Akkusativ (to complain to s.o. about s.th./s.o.)

I usually do not blog about a customer service experience, but this one is too unusual to pass up.

For the past five years or so, we have used the Brillenhaus in our neighborhood and were quite satisfied with the service. But with this new and young team, obviously lacking in soft skills, customer service has changed.

My experience there went as following:

* 07  Juni – ordered our son’s contact lenses at the shop, which were supposed to be in two days later.

* 10. Juni – another trip to the shop to pick up the promised merchandise. The lenses were not in, but the sales associate promised to call once the shipment had arrived.

* 15. June – sent an e-mail to inquire about my order.

* 15 June – got a phone-call to inform me the lenses had arrived.

* 16 June – another trip to the Brillenhaus to pick them up.

* 20 June -  our son noticed that I had been handed one wrong packet in terms of  prescription.

* 21 June – sent in my claim by e-mail, and inquired whether the right prescription lenses were available. Also pointed out the urgency of this matter, as our son needed them before his upcoming trip.

* 22 June – sent a friendly reminder in regards to my previous mail.

* 23 June – another trip to the shop, where I inquired if they had gotten my mail. Yes, was the answer. Once again I had to ask if they had the right lenses available and after a quick fumble under the counter, the right packet was produced and handed over.

Nothing else was said. No apology either.

I have been told Fielmann in Oberursel has a good and reliable staff – with excellent customer service.

My goodness, this was a surprise to see Troy Blacklaws show up at the English department year-end get-together. I was so surprised I could not even remember his name and out came only: “…. Karoo Boy”, the title of the book Troy had just gotten published before we met. Forgetting authors’ names is typical of me as I tend to remember book titles only. Call me an undeserving reader, if you like.

Troy, as a former member of the English department at Frankfurt International School,  likes to pop into the year-end get-together whenever he is in town.

The author, Troy Blacklaws (left), on a visit to Kronberg/Ts.

He is also the author of Blood Orange (Fiction Africa). I have read Karoo Boy and told Troy back then that his story had me hooked from page 12 (or was it page 20?). Nevertheless, plans are being made for turning the book into a film. Cheers, Troy!

Karoo Boy from Amazon.de   Karoo Boy from Amazon.com

Posted 22 June 2010

Applications are invited for the following position:

* Temporary part time German teacher at International School Wiesbaden (ISW) effective 01 August 2010 until 31 December 2010 to replace a teacher on parental leave (exact workload to be determined in August)

Applications should be in writing and directed to the appropriate principal with copy to Rita De La Cruz within seven working days of this notice.