6si Läuten

The Swiss, well actually I think its only the guys from Zurich have a funny tradition:
Sechseläuten

It stems from the tradition of driving out evil winter spirits and welcoming the longer, milder days of spring. On Sechselaeuten-Monday, some 3,500 colourfully-costumed guildsmen, over 350 horsemen, 50 horse-drawn wagons and around 30 bands parade through Zurich to the Sechselaeutenplatz for the burning of the Boegg, a straw effigy atop a 13-metre high bonfire.

The procession to the bonfire is a huge spectacle and attracts thousands of spectators. The bonfire is lit at precisely six o'clock in the evening and horsemen then circle the blaze three times to the accompaniment of the Sechselaeuten March. Tradition says that the faster the Boegg burns, the sooner summer will arrive and the longer and sunnier it will be. The date of Sechselaeuten varies but is usually held in April.

So it is a big holiday here in Zurich area and all operation theatres were closed by noon and we were allowed to leave and we hit the town...
The parade was uummmh: "interessting"- we expected a cheerful spectatcle and were a bit stunned that everything was so quite. Not because there were no people. They were thousands! But all of them just seemed to enjoy the parade silently... No shouting, no fun, no samba rhythms, hardly a smile ;-)
It change when the Böög was set on fire... everybody was excited and the clapped there hands when the snowmans head exploded- referring to that custom the summer 2006 will be a great one! We enjoyed a bottle of sparkling wine afterwards at the nice zurich lake

yo..............

Well, well, well...


The first three days are over and you could think WEEKEND!!! but NOOO ... I ll be on call from Friday till Sunday... I just hope that noone falls and breaks any hips and no patient with serious gastrointestinal problems will show up...


It is sunny and I start to enjoy life after work- I was jogging yesterday and we are on top of a hill, it is a lovely area hill up, hill down, through the forests- great path to jog.

And one of my favorite topic: FOOD: We had a little cooking session yesterday- enjoyed our moussaka, some pineapple, strawberry cake and wine...

First Day

Gruezi Mit'nand

Today was my first day here at Spital Zollikerberg.
Well, I have a huge migraene ...

So much imput and I do not know where to start to tell you what happened.
7:45 am was the morning meeting, I went to bed at 10 pm the other night and was I guess 7 or 8 times awake last night- frightening I slept in...
There are new nice German students here already who showed me around. Kerstin from Cologne and Mareike from Jena. There are so many administrative things to get to know- where to find what rooms, how to fill out papers, the computer software... uih... as I mentioned before: HEADACHE!! I only saw two patients today to take the history from- tomorrow the first operation...

I m going to a supermarket now. I finished my rolls from Germany already yesterday and food is probably 50 up to 100% more expensive than in Heidelberg...
Now good news either for my weekend plannings... Every other weekend I m on call ... :-(

update

I havent taken care about my blog lately so I have to update it it briefely now....

I m doing great, My oral exam went superb and we celebrated quite a bit- both with friends in Heidelberg and back home with my family.

I ll write more soon so long HAPPY EASTER!!!