So much for writing more frequently. Lots of things get in my way, but mostly it's hard for me to bring myself to concentrate on anything other than TV and facebook after a long day in the heat. I finally broke down at bought myself a fan. It cost $85, but it is fairly large and very powerful. Plus, there were literally no other options, since everyone else bought a fan before me.
The past two weeks have also not had any breaks from health issues. One student came down with strep throat, and I got to see how the Russian "ambulance" service works. I put it in quotes not to be ironic, but because this is how I've always translated the phrase "скорая помощь". It literally means "quick help", but I always thought this meant an ambulance was sent. Thus, I was not happy when the doctors at the clinics told me to call "quick help" for someone with possible strep throat. Why couldn't we just go to the clinic to get checked out? Well, in Russia, the doctor comes to see you. By dialing "quick help", the operator evaluates whether or not you need to go to the clinic. It's better for you stay home than be on the bus or even in a taxi and in the clinic, bringing your germs outside of your apartment.
So, they send a doctor to evaluate you. If it's serious enough, they'll send an actual ambulance to take you to the clinic, so it's not like they're going to set your broken leg or bring the crash cart to your apartment. But for strep, they can diagnose you at home. This is also a social service, so it's free. The downside is that the doctor doesn't necessarily have all the single-use tools necessary, like a tongue depressor. For that, you can use the handle of a spoon. The next day, the student got another house call, but this doctor was concerned about how the foreigner would pay for this visit. I guess only the first one is free. I wasn't there to help sort things out, unfortunately, and the doctor was convinced it was a respiratory infection, essentially a cold. The next day, the student wasn't feeling any better, so we looked up the necessary words in the dictionary, and went to my favorite clinic. We had to wait 2 hours to see the ENT, but she was very warm and caring, as all the doctors in the clinic have been. She even told us where the cheapest pharmacy in town is! We had to go back for some blood work: testing for syphilis (why???) and a general analysis. The latter showed some level of something that indicates an infection. It really seems redundant to do a blood test for that when you've already prescribed the antibiotics, but maybe it gives them a baseline for a followup. Another interesting fact about the healthcare here: blood is usually collected from a finger prick rather than a needle in the vein. And they only need a few drops. The phlebotomist (a word I only know because I had to have so much testing done at Princeton) is also really friendly. When one girl was saying the finger prick hurt, she told us how her grandfather would rejoice in pain as proof that he was alive. So if you wake up in a lot of pain, it means you're really very alive :)
So, they send a doctor to evaluate you. If it's serious enough, they'll send an actual ambulance to take you to the clinic, so it's not like they're going to set your broken leg or bring the crash cart to your apartment. But for strep, they can diagnose you at home. This is also a social service, so it's free. The downside is that the doctor doesn't necessarily have all the single-use tools necessary, like a tongue depressor. For that, you can use the handle of a spoon. The next day, the student got another house call, but this doctor was concerned about how the foreigner would pay for this visit. I guess only the first one is free. I wasn't there to help sort things out, unfortunately, and the doctor was convinced it was a respiratory infection, essentially a cold. The next day, the student wasn't feeling any better, so we looked up the necessary words in the dictionary, and went to my favorite clinic. We had to wait 2 hours to see the ENT, but she was very warm and caring, as all the doctors in the clinic have been. She even told us where the cheapest pharmacy in town is! We had to go back for some blood work: testing for syphilis (why???) and a general analysis. The latter showed some level of something that indicates an infection. It really seems redundant to do a blood test for that when you've already prescribed the antibiotics, but maybe it gives them a baseline for a followup. Another interesting fact about the healthcare here: blood is usually collected from a finger prick rather than a needle in the vein. And they only need a few drops. The phlebotomist (a word I only know because I had to have so much testing done at Princeton) is also really friendly. When one girl was saying the finger prick hurt, she told us how her grandfather would rejoice in pain as proof that he was alive. So if you wake up in a lot of pain, it means you're really very alive :)
This past week I got to see the inside of a Russian hospital for the first time, too. The other resident director here (she works with a second program in Vladimir for the summer) ended up there with renal colic (= pain in kidneys). They checked her in, and she was in a room with 8 other women on the urology ward. The conditions were really terrifying: you are responsible for just about everything you need in the hospital. The provide a bed, with linens (that are probably really old) and a small dresser to keep your stuff in. But you need to bring your own change of clothes and slippers (no gowns!), and even your own soap and toilet paper. The bathroom is at the end of the hall, and has no doors on the stalls. Most of the women had people bringing them food and things to keep themselves entertained, and those who were in the worst condition even needed family members to help keep them clean. There is no air-conditioning (ok, the building was built in the 19th century), so the doors to all the rooms were open. I walked by one room with a man completely naked on his bed. And I saw more pouches to collect urine than I needed to. The doctors are well-trained, so in that sense the quality is good. But we were there on a weekend, and the doctor literally would come in for about 30 seconds to ask all 9 patients how they were doing. If you needed something, obviously you could get it. The mentality is just so different. There is no sense of privacy, but that's probably something only someone from the US would notice. In fact, you end up relying on the other people in your room. There's no call button, so if you aren't able to get to the nurse yourself, you had better hope your neighbors will go get her for you. The women in this room were all very friendly, and shared their food. Probably the worst part about it all was just how slow the treatment took. Again, the doctor only has so much time for all the people, and the lab can only do so many analyses per day. But someone with kidney stones probably needs an x-ray sooner rather than later to determine the course of treatment. I may be way off, but six days in the hospital seems rather extreme for this condition. But that's how long it would take. Six days of lying in a hot room, without a hot shower (no hot water at the hospital either!). The women all saved their large water bottles and filled them up to stand in the sun. That way they could have some warm water to wash with later. In the end, my friend was better enough the next day to get in a car and go to Moscow. Three hours later, she was checked in to a Western clinic, with her own room, air conditioning and a shower. This is why living in Russia is both difficult but enjoyable. It's difficult because of the outdated conditions, the thick red tape, and the general negative attitude you face when trying to get something done. But it's enjoyable because with a little bit of money, you can get to the front of the line, or to a modern clinic, and avoid all of the unpleasantries left over from the Soviet Union. It's no wonder that families who emigrated to the west in the 90's are starting to come back to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Some elements of modern life are coming to Vladimir as well. There is one hypermarket in town: Globus. I haven't made it there myself, but my students call it the Russian Walmart, because it's massive in size and in scale. I imagine it's like the other hypermarkets I've been to in Moscow and Vilnius: one store selling everything from groceries to clothes to housewares and even electronics and large appliances. I guess it would be like if you took a Walmart and merged it with a Best Buy. Then add free wi-fi and a cafe. Our group seems to be divided in their attitudes towards Globus. Some are all about it, and enjoy the modern convenience of having everything in one place. Other students are almost offended by it, and refuse to shop there because it's not "Russian". I think Russians are also divided. On the one had, you can't deny the convenience, but on the other, it's very easy to spend a lot of money because you don't pay until the end. Markets here also have a variety of things to buy, from food to clothes and even simple appliances, but you buy each item from a different vendor, and then have to carry everything around with you until you get home, rather than pushing around a shopping cart and carrying your bags to your car. As for me, I see these conveniences as a positive development. I remember when few people I knew had washing machines, for instance. It would take so much more time to do the laundry, because you were doing it all by hand. Now you can clean your apartment while the machine runs. Sure, it still has to air dry, and you still have to do the ironing, but you have an extra hour or two in your day. There are enough difficult things to deal with in this country, like all the forms that need to get filled out and stamped to just buy a washer, that the Russians deserve their hypermarkets.
That said, it is a beautiful thing to be here in the summer and see the bounty from the dacha and the gardens. I wish I had learned how to do more when I was a kid, and regret that I didn't ask to learn about canning. I guess my family stopped before I was old enough to give more help than writing the date on the lids of the jar. And we never did anything too fancy, like pickles or jam (that I remember...). I remember not being able to find jam for sell in Russia aside from in the fanciest stores because it was the sort of thing you would just make for yourself. If you think about things that you actually cannot find at a store in the US, because they're so simple that no one would think to buy it, I bet you'll come up short. Sandwiches come pre-made, and even pancakes come ready for the microwave. I guess there's a limit to how much convenience a society can get before you forget the basics.
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