Deppert.se

It is a great achievement for me to be able to lead Canadians to believe that I am Canadian myself. There could not be a better compliment for my language skills. Most actually only realize that I am not an English native speaker when they see my nametag or use really strange worlds that I am not familiar with. And I do not mind having to tell people that “no, I am from Sweden”. And then sometimes go on with: “but you know, actually, I am German”.

Until yesterday, when everyone thought I was from Denmark. The reason was that I had a foot injury. No worries people, I am all better now and there is no more blood. And I live with a medical student who is checking on my twice a day, so I will be fine. The injury itself as a result from stepping on an electric toothbrush, and yes, that is a bad thing to do (you do not need to understand the actual injury, it is ok if you only feel sympathy for me). But is has also already given me new experiences in Canada. And led everyone to think that I am Danish.

Because my insurance company has its HQ in Copenhagen. And trying to explain the whole story to all local insurance agents (and by local the Danish mean in Ontario) and to the receptionists at the clinic, two cab drivers and a set of nurses and one doctor and some fellow patients – you understand that I just surrendered for one day and gave up. The shorter the story, the earlier I would see a doctor, you would suspect at least. It took me the whole day to see a doctor, get my prescription and be back at the house again.

The valuable lessons I learned yesterday (besides that being a Dane is not bad, they actually have the same good reputation here as Swedes; the only difference is probably that people don’t reply with Absolut anymore but Tuborg) was that Canada is way to bureaucratic and it is way expensive to see a doctor. My insurance company wanted to ease things up for me and asked me to go through their local agents, as this would mean that I would not have to pay for things myself, except the cab ride back and forth. After many hours, I finally reached the Ontario office and even if they were nice and polite they did not have any clue of Vancouver (for those of you who are totally unfamiliar with Canadian geography: Ontario is on the other side of the country). The first medical centre they sent me to was not a walk-in clinic anymore, the second did not even exist at all. The third clinic did not except their payment but needed me to pay everything; which I gladly did in the end, just to get some pain relief and to see a doctor. Then the Ontario office wanted me to call back when the doctor had diagnosed me and wanted to write me a prescription. I felt so ashamed in front of the doctor; he must have thought that the insurance company did not think that he was competent enough. Everything went smoothly though, and I was even granted my return visit at the doctor’s on Monday.

Having paid for everything myself, I called Ontario and asked where to send the bills. The answer was that they did not really know, I better call Copenhagen. So I did, and got the answer that the medical bill (the doctors’ visit) where to be sent to Ontario and the rest (cab + medicine) to Copenhagen. Wow. I will definitely bill them for all my phone calls and the stamps as well.

So, that was my day yesterday. I am now at home, I had to take time off work because I cannot even stand on my foot. But there is not much pain and the infection seems not to be spreading, I am getting really good at jumping around on one leg and balancing around when I do stuff. I hope to get better ‘til Tuesday so I can get back to work. My original idea was to write to you all about my new job, but that will just have to wait until the next letter. Until then, take care of you all.

Cheers,
Ulrike