Behind the scenes -Christmas 2012

Christmas vacation was an interesting end to the year 2012.  We had several family members fly from America to our European side to have a family vacation.  From past experience, Austria is a great place for Christmas and skiing.  So, Austria was where we met for our vacation.

When in Vienna things ran smoothly, but I want to share a couple of funny stories;

We were at the restaurant "Der Kuckuck" for our Christmas Eve Dinner. This restaurant had historical facts written in a pamphlet for us to read while we were relaxing. We learned that the building of this restaurant originated in the Middle Ages. We then read about an ancient well that was situated in a small courtyard near this restaurant. This well is 60 feet deep and was the only inner city well that reached down to the level of the Danube. So, after dinner we went out to explore and find this ancient well.

The boys, with Grandpa's help, found it. Nate was peering down into the well and could see that there were bars and gates to prevent a person falling to their death. While peering into the well, Nate could hear a person talking. It was quiet talking as if someone was muttering to himself. So Nate yelled down, "Hello, anyone there?" He heard a big bang and thought that someone was shaking the bars trying to get his attention. This scared him, so he screamed and jumped back.

Reed's attention was drawn to Nate. He asked Nate what was wrong. Nate told him that he thought a person was trapped down in the well. Just at that time, Nate noticed that right next to the ancient well were stairs leading down.   At the bottom of the stairs was a man closing the door to a wine cellar. So, needless to say; no one was trapped in the well and the noises he heard came from the wine cellar. Hahahaha, Children's imagination!

The boys and the ancient well. 

Look carefully for the door to Nate's left that is painted white.

That door leads to the stairs right next to the well.

This is a Sam story;  We had a wonderful Christmas Brunch at the hotel which featured Gospel singers.  Sam seemed to take notice of the lead singer.  Sam told me that she was the actor in the Veggie Tales movie "Jonah".  He thought she was the black female angel who came to Jonah when he was in the belly of the whale to tell him that God gives "Second Chances" and sang that song to Jonah.  Sam was sure that this woman right in front of us was the same person in the movie.  I explained to Sam that the movie was an animation and real people were not in the movie.  He told me that she had to be the singer and they made the character to look just like her.  He stressed, she was real the person and singer that was portrayed in the movie.  TOO FUNNY.

I helped Sam get the courage to go meet this singer during their break.  Sam was so excited but nervous.  As we got closer to this woman, he became extremely shy and told me to ask the question.  This woman was so kind and nice.  She listened to our question and was flattered that Sam thought she was a person in a movie.  She then spoke with us at length asking him if he liked her singing and for him to tell her about the movie.  It was a wonderful thing watching this woman take time to speak with him like she did, and Sam truly appreciated it.  We thanked her for her time.  As we were walking back to our table Sam said, "She is a nice lady."   Awww!  Now that was just darn right cute!!

The gospel singers

Now we are off to Semmering, Austria where there were all sorts of drama, but before getting into that story I want to share our experience of watching the skiing events.  We are proud Americans and knew that there would probably be very few Americans in the crowd at this event.  Therefore, prior to going to Austria we purchased many Americans flags to wave at the event.

The American flags and our overall appearance helped us stand out in the crowd.  Not to mention our cheering.  Many people in the crowd loved us, especially one couple.  They stood next to us each time we took our positions.  They did not speak much English, but they cheered with us and yelled in their broken English, "Go America."  They helped wave the American flag high and proud for all to see and the wife even hugged me when Mikaela Shiffrin placed 8th in the first event.  We had bonded and were having fun.  So, at the end of the day when most people had left the stands, we decided to take our photo.  The man we were hanging out with was so funny.  He somehow snuck from behind the flag and into the background of our photo in order to be included in our picture.  When I saw the picture I laughed so hard.  I showed the picture to the family and told them that I thought he looked like "Mr Bean."  Check out the photo and you decide.

Us in the stands and our new friend (peaking out on left)

We had a great time at the skiing events.  We loved the people, all the cheering and watching all the participants flying down the hill at unimaginable speeds.  Amazing!

In the prior blog you read about Connor and Mitch being injured.  Well here is a little more detail about what happened on the mountain that day;

So Connor injured his knee coming off of the lift.  I wrote in the prior blog that he just did not have a chance to get his boot back in the binding when the snowboard twisted along with his knee.  So Reed got him down the mountain very carefully.  Reed had him at the hotel and we were icing Connor's knee, when Nate came flying into the hotel.  Nate's eyes were huge and he was out of breath.  Nate told us that Mitch fell and when he got up,  Mitch's arm was bent the wrong way.  Nate said, "It is not good."  Nate then went on to tell us that there was a man and woman who spoke English that stopped to give assistance.  Nate left Mitch in their care and came to get us.

SO-  are ski medics going up the mountain to get Mitch?  What do we do?  Where do we get Mitch help?  Where is ski patrol?  Where is the medical station?  All of these questions were running through our minds.  So we went up to the ski resort to find out what exactly happened. 

We got to the ticket counter to ask questions, but the ticket woman was acting rather rude and would only ask us questions.  She would not answer our questions and would put her hand up saying, "just minute" and then spoke in her broken English to question us further.  Little did we know she did not understand us at all!  She thought we were reporting a person injured on the mountain, when actually we were asking if anyone had been dispatched to the mountain to give medical aid to Mitch.  Ugh-  Very FRUSTRATING.

In the end, she told us to stand near the lift entrance and "IF" they find him they will bring him down the mountain.  WHAT?!?!   IF?!?!  As we were following her direction, I saw a Ski Patrol person walking by and I approached her.  I asked her if she spoke English.  She gave me a stern look and told me "Of course."  Uh oh...  this was not going to end well.   I continued on, asking her if anyone had been dispatched to the side of the mountain for a young man who had a broken arm.  She told me that she was being sent to search for a kid on the mountain with a broken arm...  Apparently, that was as a result of our prior conversation with the ticket agent.  I continued to try to ask her questions about Mitch and his location, because I was trying to learn if Mitch had been found.  Realize, she was wearing her radio which was connected to all the ski patrol.  She could have easily talked into her radio to ask her coworkers about such a situation.  Couldn't she just help us? but no, she didn't appear to have time for that.  She went on to say that they were having a busy day and when he was located he would come down the mountain near where we were waiting.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!  Where is the compassion?  Where is the help? 

So I waited and was anxious.  Minutes seemed like hours.  Reed had spent that time trying to find the medical station and then went back to the hotel to get Nate so Nate could tell someone where they had been on the mountain....in case no one had found Mitch.   Just as Reed returned with Nate, Mitch was being brought down the hill by sled.  He was extremely pale and did not look good.  We all felt really bad for him.

Randy had arrived at this time.  So Reed and Randy were working to figure out where to take Mitch and what to do.  The Ski Patrol woman, from earlier, came down the hill and entered the medical facility.  She then noticed me and was very animated when she spoke with a person who appeared to be the supervisor of the facility.  That man then walked over to me and started laying into me for sending them up the mountain on a wild goose chase for a kid with a broken arm.  What?!?!  - NOW they are barking at me?  Oh, I was about to lose it with these rude, inconsiderate, frustrating group of people.  Where did they learn how to respond to emergency medical situations?  I barked back at the man that it was the lack of language capabilities of the ticket agent who sent them on a wild goose chase.  I was just trying to find out if they had located Mitch when I was talking with her; I was not sending them up the mountain.  I was getting pretty steamed, but Randy then stepped in to help keep me calm.  Reed was with Mitch and was unaware that any of this was happening.  The man walked away huffing and I was very happy to see him walk away.  Too much drama!

So the ambulance people arrived and I was thinking -Whew, we are out of here.  Oh no!  It did not go that easy.... the two men walked Mitch to the back of the ambulance.  Mitch was wearing his ski boots that had no give.  They told Mitch to climb into the back of the ambulance, but no one was helping him or giving him a boost.  Mitch had one arm in a sling and only one arm available.  This was a very large step into the ambulance.  ALL we needed was for Mitch to fall.  He was very pale, sweating profusely and obviously in a lot of pain.  So Reed and Randy stepped in and helped take the ski boots off, put normal shoes on his feet and helped him into the ambulance.  I am guessing that these ambulance men had never had an emergency, because it was very apparent they did not know what they were doing!  Reed rode in the ambulance to get Mitch to the hospital.  NOTE:  the hospital was much easier with English, knowledge, and compassion.  Whew!  Thank goodness.

So the next couple of days were about getting Mitch started on his recovery and getting Connor seen for his knee injury.  Our skiing day was pretty frustrating at times, but we were a team.  We could not have gotten through all the medical nightmares without all of our different strengths and expertise.  Randy was such a blessing with his knowledge of sports medicine.  Gloria and her patience and loving support made all of this bearable.  We were together.  We were on vacation- not a perfect vacation, but we were in it all as a team! 

Thank God the injuries were not more serious.  In the end.....  we loved being together and sharing the holidays.

Skiing Austria

Semmering, Austria

One thing our family loves is sports.  In the states we regularly attended football, baseball, and many other sporting events.  Sporting events are not really a family affair in Europe nor is it something that we can normally attend.  So Reed did some research about some upcoming events and he learned that the Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup had an event in Semmering, Austria.  SO we decided to take the second half of our vacation and head up into the mountains to watch the event and ski.  We love to ski, so to watch a skiing event and have skiing time as a family was a bonus!

Mitch arrived the night before we headed out on our next adventure.  The drive was only a few hours from Vienna up into to the mountains to get to Semmering.  Semmering is a small ski town with the population of 607 people.  This town has a few hotels, one grocery store and only a few other businesses.  It is a very very small town. 

BUT the small ski town with only a few slopes hosts some spectacular ski races.  This year (2012) was the 10th year that it had hosted the Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup event.  This ski resort has some of the most innovative snow making systems, Europe's most powerful lighting system, and it is the largest night skiing slope for miles around. 

Semmering works hard to attract supporting programs for this event; numerous live band performances, a variety of food vendors, clothing vendors and a spectacular laser show to bring it all to a colorful unique sporting festival.  We loved it!

The first day of the event started with the first run at 10:30am, the giant slalom.  The day ended around 6:15pm with the awards ceremony.  The second day started 3:00pm for the night slalom with the event ending around 7:00pm.  There were only three Americans racing on each day in each event.  But we were there from the beginning to the end cheering on not only the Americans, but all participants. 

Day one of the event.  We dressed for the weather, we got our little American flags and the big American flag and headed out.  We checked in at the gate and took our places in the stands.  That day was snowy, but warm.  We proudly waved our flags and cheered on the participants in the giant slalom.  We were the only Americans in the stands, but that did not stop us from having a great time and getting the Austrians to join in on our cheers.  As a matter of fact, our cheering and flag waving caught the attention of the local camera man who not only broadcasted us on the live Austria Sports TV channel, but also on the big jumbotron.  We were a hit!  AND we loved it.  

Grandpa and Grandma were with Sam.   I was told that they came and went as Sam's interest was short in watching the skiers. BUT Mitch, Nate, Connor, Reed and I had fun and stayed to the bitter end.  After the event; we enjoyed the German music, the delicious food (Sauerkraut), and beer.  Well, the boys did not drink the beer even though they kept trying to serve Nate.   At dinner time we all gathered together and shared stories about what we liked best.  My favorite was meeting Mikaela Shiffrin who placed 8th in the Giant slalom.

We took this picture end of the first run when everyone had left

 

Mitch and Mikaela after the race

 

A warming house with TV, food and beer

Day two of the event.  We dressed for the cooler weather and the night skiing.   We were again equipped with all our American flags.  We were ready for another day of skiing and were excited to see how the American would place in the night slalom.  We took our places in the stands and were back at our cheering and flag waving.  The same camera man noticed us again, and we made it on live TV as well as the jumbotron.  It was so much fun!  That night being cooler we did not stay out much past the closing ceremony.  Unfortunately, none of the Americans skiers placed.  But it still was fun day.

The crowd

 

Our view of the race -notice the jumbotron in the right corner

 

 

Now what about family skiing?  Well, their first day to hit the slopes was when the night skiing event took place, because the timing of the event left morning till early afternoon for family skiing.  That morning they headed out, rented skis and spent their time on the small bunny hill.  Mitch, Reed and Nate were very patient to help Connor and Sam get their ski legs back.  Connor had to reacclimate to snowboarding and Sam had to remember how to ski.  But they all had fun in the sun and made the best of the bunny hill till early afternoon.  Then it was back to the races.  BUT as you saw above the night racing was not the best for the Americans.  Here are some photos of the boys on the bunny hill;

 

Sam

 

Connor

 

Reed and Mitch

 

 

The races were done and the mountain was fully open for all to ski.  So it was going to be a full day of skiing- off to the bigger hills.  From what I heard, they were having a great time until two out of the five boys wiped out.  Connor was the first to take himself out of the equation by injuring his knee.  He told me that he got off of the ski lift and had not had a chance to place his second foot back into the binding on the snowboard.  The board took off on an icy part of the snow and twisted the one leg/knee of the foot that was in the binding of the snowboard.  OUCH!

 

Reed got Connor back to the hotel and we were evaluating how bad off Connor's knee was WHEN- Mitch joined the injury list.  From what I was told, he took a jump and when he landed he stuck his poles into the snow (but it was more like ice).  The stick of the pole somehow twisted his arm and he suffered a spiral fracture of his right bicep arm area.  OUCH!

 

After that...  Reed went with Mitch to the hospital, Connor had his knee raised with an ice pack and I was turning in ALL rented ski equipment.  The rental man questioned me about turning in the equipment a day early.  I told him that five went out skiing and two came back significantly injured.  The odds were against us and we not taking any more chances.  Needless to say there were no more questions nor did I have any issues with turning in the ski equipment that day.

 

We finished our vacation, New Years Eve, with injured parties recovering.  Connor had a knee that had dislocated but it had gone back into place.  The swelling was very significant and later he had to have a cast from his hip to his foot to immobilize his leg for the knee to stabilize.  Mitch had to have surgery that day to place a rod in his arm to fix and realign the broken arm.  New Year Eve late night partying was pretty much out of the question.  BUT we were together and had a great time in spite of the injuries.

 

Up in the mountains

 

Mitch recovering in the hospital

 

Connor and his cast

 

 

Christmas vacation 2012 was full of surprises.  We had a great time with family coming all the way from America to be with us.   Unfortunately, the return flights for a few family members were rather uncomfortable.  BUT we were together and will always have memories.



 



 

Austria

Vienna, Austria

December 17, 2012


With Gloria and Randy staying with us in Turkey, we decided to take the opportunity to see Europe with them.  So we went to Austria to see the sites and then off to the mountains where Mitch would join us for our skiing adventure part of the vacation.

Getting to Austria was very easy.  A direct flight took us right to Vienna.  The shuttle service from our hotel picked us up at the airport and gave us direct transportation to the hotel.  NICE.

We made it to Vienna

Vienna;

Vienna is the capital and the largest city of Austria.  The city has a very a historical background of musical prodigies; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg.  This city was also home to the famous Sigmund Freud.  Therefore; we felt that this city had a lot to offer.

The first thing we noticed was the easy ability to travel around the city.  Everything was centrally located within about a 15-20 minute walk to the farthest point.  There were many ways to get around the city;  the subway, the tram, a bus, a taxi and of course walking.  Honesty, walking was so easy we chose that method almost every time. 

One of the most notable historical buildings in Vienna was the St. Stephan's Cathedral Church.  The history of this church began when Count Heinrich had a dream of a young master builder holding plans for a huge church.  This ruler interpreted this dream as a divine order and he commissioned Stephansdom to be built.  The corner stone of the church was laid in 1137.  The church was completed in 1147 by an unknown master builder.  This church withstood; two Turkish sieges, wars with France, World War II and devastating fires.  BUT no matter what happened to the church, they rebuilt.  It is a miracle that it did not stay as a ruin, but served as a symbol of triumph through the community's reconstruction.

One of the most unique aspects of the church is the roof.  We learned that the roof is composed of 230,000 multi colored glazed roof tiles that are secured by two copper nails and mortar to the rafters.  One side of the roof has a zigzag pattern with diamond shapes in the middle.  The other side of the roof has the coat of arms of the Republic of Austria and the City of Vienna bounded together with the date of 1950.

We really enjoyed this magnificent church.  It was amazing inside and out.  There were so many statues and details to view in this church.  We were just in awe!  Here are some photos showing its beauty;

St Stephan's Cathedral

 

One of the enormous towers

 

Inside the chapel

 

On the Sunday before Christmas we attended a church service at the Cathedral.  It was a beautiful service filled with music and tradition.  BUT the entire service was in German.  So we just sat back and enjoyed the beauty of the music and language.

 

Underneath the Church are subterranean crypts called; Catacombs.  Reed, Randy, Nate, and Connor were the only adventurous men to view this area.  In one particular chamber area were a bunch of bones stacked on top of one another.  The information stated that between 1744 to 1783 many people died from the plague with a total 11,000 people buried in that particular chamber.  Nate was pretty freaked out when he viewed all the bones of the people who died from the plague. He questioned Reed and Randy as to whether the disease was still contagious. Overall he was pretty creeped out, BUT continued on to see the rest of the Catacombs. 

 

They read about many rich and famous people who were also buried in the Catacombs (Mozart being one in particular).  Connor was interested in the fact that people could no longer be buried anymore in the Catacombs, because of the smell in the summer months.  Randy and Reed were just relieved that Sam had not joined them on their adventure, because of all the bones -they were sure that had Sam gone we would still be dealing with nightmares.  Overall they had a great time in the basement viewing all the Catacombs.

 

In walking around viewing the sites our next large building we noticed was  The State Opera House located in the center of Vienna.  We were amazed at this breathtaking magnificent building so we decided to learn more about it and take a backstage tour of it.  NOTE:  The opening premiere at this Opera House was "Don Giovanni" by Mozart on May 25, 1869.  As with the cathedral, this building also saw significant damage during the World War II.  The restoration and rebuild happened as a result of many private contributions from many people and the Soviets. 

 

This Opera House is one of the busiest opera houses in Europe.  They produce about 50 to 60 operas a year and ten ballet productions.  They estimate that it they have about 300 performances a year.  Thus, the Opera House employs about 1000 people.  AND how does this Opera House affords all costs from employees to costumes and stages?  Well, about 50% of the money comes from state subsidies. 

 

We really enjoyed viewing this fantastic building and it was fun to learn about the nuts and bolts required to run an Opera House.   Enjoy the photos;

 

Overall side view of the large building

 

Inside the Opera House

 

One of the intermission rooms

 

The ornate detail in the upper arches and ceilings

 

Back stage where they were preparing for a different performance

 

The orchestra pit 

 

Our stay in Vienna was incredible!  We went to;  The Mozarhaus -Mozart's apartment that has been transformed into a museum, The Albertina -which was displaying works of art from Monet to Picasso, Schonbrunn Palace -a palace with a museum and incredible gardens, The Wiener Mozart Konzerte -took in a performance, A fabulous Christmas Eve dinner at the Kuckuck Restaurant where we were served a great dinner, we visited the oldest known well in Vienna, a wonderful Christmas brunch with Gospel singers and of course the many different Christmas Markets. 

 

We all agreed that Vienna was a fabulous city and we would love to go back, but we have a one trip visit rule since we are only on the European side for a short time.  So we crammed in as much as possible during our stay and loved it all!

THE DOG BITE

February 9, 2013

I have to preface this blog with an apology to Nate that the dog bite incident will be forever a story told by his family members throughout his life.  Today, I am writing it down because as years pass  the tail will be come longer and more exaggerated (get it tail and not tale-  well I think it is funny).

So this is the true story about the dog bite and what it was like going to Turkey's ER:

I have written in past blogs about the stray dogs in Turkey.  These dogs roam around our neighborhood in small packs and act as if they are on patrol watching their area.  We have warned the children about these dogs, telling them that we are not in America and the dogs have the potential to be dangerous.  But children are children and have a tendency to forget.

Well, one day the children went outside to play while I was inside the house baking.  They had friends over and were playing capture the flag.  The weather was a warm sunny Saturday afternoon in February.  Have I painted the scene, because we all know that this is not all about the beautiful sunny day and that soon it will all change...  

SO this is the story from the kids;  As they were playing they noticed the street dogs laying in an area not far from where they wanted to play.  They thought the dogs were just lying around and were not a threat.  A short time later, the black dog noticed Nate.  This dog got up and started charging at Nate with a vengeance.  Nate told us that the dog was growling and showing his teeth.  In fear for his life, Nate turned and ran from the dog.  Nate ran to a fence.  He was trying to climb up the ledge to the fence to get over the fence and get away from the dog.  BUT the dog caught up to Nate, jumped up and bit Nate right on the butt.  Some Turkish people came out of their house with food and threw the food to get the dog away from the kids.  A little late, but nice gesture.

Nate came home and told me what happened.  Nate was talking very fast and it was apparent that he was experiencing quite a bit of adrenaline from the incident.  While he told the story about what happened you could see the dog really scared him.  I looked at the wound and saw that the front teeth of the dog took the top layer of Nate's skin off with only one canine tooth actually puncturing through the skin.  BUT the dog broke Nate's skin and that was not good.

So I think ....and think ....and think-   We live in Turkey.  Where do you go?  He has to get a rabies vaccination, because it is a street dog.  I remembered that our friend, Martin, recently went through the rabies treatment and he would know what to do, so I called his wife (Paula).  They are dear friends of ours and I knew they would be able to help.   NOTE:  Reed happened to be out of town on a brief trip with a old friend from high school and was about four hours (drive) from home.

The mother of the visiting kids came over to watch all children so I could take Nate to the Doctors Clinic.  I loaded Nate into the vehicle and drove to our friends house.  Martin told us that where the clinic for rabies vaccine was in the heart of the city and that we should take a taxi.  So we did.

On the way to the clinic Martin told us all about his experience.  There are only two hospitals in the city that have the Rabies Vaccine.  He only knew about the one hospital where he was seen.  He talked with Nate about what to expect.  At this time Nate started shaking uncontrollably.  Martin and I looked at each other and talked about how Nate was experiencing a  little shock from the traumatic event.  We covered him with coats as the taxi continued to drive us to the clinic.  When we arrived Martin led us to the entrance of the Infectious Disease Control Clinic.  WHAT?!?! 

Yes,  that is where you are seen if you have been bitten by a dog, the Infectious Disease Control Clinic.  Well, everything went well at the clinic.   I cleaned Nate's wound.  You did not read wrong...  I said that I had to clean his wound.  Apparently, at Government hospitals you have to clean your own wound and I think it is because they have such inexpensive medical care so you are not given extra help (But I don't know for sure why).  Nate was seen by the doctor and got all the shots.  A few times we had to call Martin's secretary so that she could interpret for us, because no one spoke English.   BUT all in all it went well.  The nurse then told us that we had to go to the Emergency Room to get a penicillin shot.  So we got all our paperwork and went to the ER.

NOW this is where it went down hill a bit.  I learned afterwards, people who need medication injections usually get the vial of medicine from the pharmacy and bring it with them to have the nurse inject the medication into their body and that is their standard protocol.  So we were not doing things the way they normally do things by showing up at the emergency room requesting the penicillin shot without having the vial of penicillin.  This threw everything out of control and caused the majority of our problems.

We were shuffled around the ER to many different rooms, desks, and people. We kept telling them that we were sent there by the Infectious Disease Control people for Nate to get a penicillin injection and no we did not have the vial.  No one seemed to understand or was able to help us.  They just kept sending us to different people and different places in the hospital.  I kept calling my friend, many times, to have her say in Turkish the same thing over and over and over that we just needed the penicillin injection. 

We were in the heart of the city at a Government subsidized hospital, where most of the population frequents.  In this Emergency Room, they do not cover people with blankets, sheets or anything.  There are just two large rooms for injured people on their gurneys to be lined up in and both rooms were packed.  So literally there were people on gurneys in the hallways of this ER.  And you could usually see the injury as to why the person was being seen at the ER.  One person had a compound fracture clearly visible for all to see.  ALSO- it is Turkish custom that if a person is hurt, all family members go to the ER with them; brothers, sisters, cousins, friends of cousin.... well you get what I mean.  So literally hallways, ER check in, and the trauma rooms were all just packed. 

As we were being shuffled around from place to place, I would tell Nate to look down at the floor so that he would not see the trauma injuries.  There were several floors to this hospital where some were not so graphic.  While waiting in the children's ER which was less graphic, a Turkish woman had noticed us.  She spoke very, very little English but was proud of her English speaking abilities and wanted to talk with us .  She came over to us to tell us that she loves America and wants to get a Visa to go there.  She tried so hard to talk with us.  Sometime during our wait she started acting as though she was our interpreter.  So, since we were not getting anyone to help us at the check in desk or by any staff at the hospital, I turned to this Turkish woman who loved us.  I called my friend who spoke Turkish to have her tell our story to this woman and about our problem.  WELL, that was all that it took. She took us on as her personal mission or project. 

The Turkish woman led us back down to the ER check in desk and asked for the location of the injection room (Yes they label their room in the ER...  injection room).  She had us all go in there and told us that she would be back in a minute.   Martin looked for a clean place for Nate to sit- and seriously there was only one spot.  Martin watched Nate while I went to see what this woman was going to do to get this issue resolved.   I watched her walk into the trauma room and walk right up to a nurse who was gowned.  This nurse was wearing a scrub hat and full scrub clothes.  I actually think she was stitching someone up, but I could not clearly see what she was doing with all the people in the way.  I could see that this Turkish woman was adamant and not moving while talking loudly to the nurse (I think nurse).

I walked back to the injection room to tell Martin that I could not believe that this woman was interrupting someone who was having  probably a serious medical treatment to tell the woman to come to us.  WOW!  Next thing we knew a Doctor dressed in a white lab coat with a Rolling Stones type of T shirt came walking into the room.  He then said in perfect English, "So I hear you are having a problem.  Can I help you?"  Martin and I just looked at each other.  We could not believe it.  Someone spoke English finally and the doctor would be able to help us.  It was a miracle.

The Doctor attended school in Britain so he spoke fluent English.   This doctor then suggested that we take the antibiotic orally.  We thought it was a great idea, so not only did he call the original doctor that Nate had seen to get the approval of the oral medication, but he found the nearest open pharmacy for us to get the medication.  It was a great ending to a long and at times frustrating day. 

I have to say the whole event was quite an eye opening cultural experience.