Well, as I've said previously, today my first task was to cook the station an American breakfast consisting of chocolate gravy, made-from-scratch biscuits (both of which no one here had heard of...and if you know my family it's tradition to cook for new friends), scrambled eggs, and bacon. Markus and I began cooking right around 7:15, and planned on cooking for 10-12ish people. Right away, I was hit with some...unforeseen...difficulties. First off, I realized that the cocoa that we had is meant for chocolate milk (being about 18% cocoa instead of the much higher baking cocoa), meaning I had to just dump it into the pan until it looked right. Second, my recipe was, naturally, in American measurements: cups, teaspoons, tablespoons, etc. Well, in Europe, they use liters, grams, kilos, etc. So...I pretty much had to guesstimate all the measurements for all our material. Also, it turns out that in Jennersdorf, stores only sale cooking vanilla around Christmas time. Luckily Markus had some. ;) The bacon here is also about 3 times thinner than bacon back home, so it cooked about 3 times faster too. Anyway, despite all these differences, things ended up coming together perfectly. It was my first time making either the gravy or the biscuits, and I ended up getting an emergency call 2 minutes before everything was finished - meaning I didn't see the reactions of the people who ended up eating! I think it's a huge hit however...it's 9pm now and Markus, Stefan, Chris, and I just had the leftovers for dinner. I told them all tonight that it's highly possible they are the first people in Austria to actually have Southern style biscuits and chocolate gravy. A neat thought, for sure.
Today I was on call in an ambulance with Chris and Michael (we make a fantastic team), and our first mission of the day was an 80ish year old man who had fallen in his wood shed some time before (last night, yesterday, this morning, we don't know), and injured his spine - we treated it as if it was fractured as we were unable to know. The call and trip to the hospital took about 2 hours, and just as we were going back to the station to join everyone for breakfast, we got another call. As Chris says, "Ah well...the life of a hero." ;)
I've noticed that Michael Jackson is huge here. He plays on the radio all the time, and I can't say I don't enjoy it. I'm often caught singing or air drumming along, and usually get some laughs. But I don't mind...it's in my head constantly; it has to get out somehow. Chris and I are going castle-climbing on Friday and we drove by the castle today. There is a sheer rock face on the left side of the castle that we intend to climb up, and afterwards, plant the flag of Jennersdorf and claim the region for ours. So Chris says, at least. ;)
Our next call was supposed to be a simple transport - a patient just needed to get home from the hospital - but we got an emergency call shortly before we could pick them up. I won't bother with details for this call. Just know it's a pity we had just eaten lunch. It was a super busy day!
After that call (where I nearly broke my leg falling on a loose stone on the patient's front porch...but I'm okay...) we transported two ladies back to their house. One of them liked me enough to give me a box of "After Eight" mint chocolates that she had recently bought. I already tried one of them and Mmmm...are they good.
The mayor of Jennersdorf (who happens to also be the VP of the Red Cross here) personally welcomed me to his town and told me all about Jennersdorf (the history, economy, influence by the Iron Curtain, etc.) and gave me an extremely nice hardcover book and a voucher to a local natural spa, and then took us to coffee at a very old and well-known hotel. I'm beginning to comprehend German more now, due mostly to Markus constantly translating for me (his English has gotten much better too since I've been here). I can pick up the jist of a conversation without being told its meaning, which is great for just sitting around and listening to the guys talk about their day. I really enjoy it.
Tomorrow I am doing "Granny Care" for most of the day - senior citizen care here at the Red Cross. I am told there is one particular gentleman who likes to tell about his WW2 experiences that I am looking forward to meeting.
For now, I'm going to go get ready for bed. I had a great day, but I am wiped out. Honestly, it feels good. I told Chris I'd much rather be working than sitting in the station waiting for a call. At least it keeps me busy.
For now: Gute Nacht!
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