Sjroeplog » sad

Refugee

Sjroep — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:02:54 +0000

If you ran away from your country for political reasons and try to find refuge in the Netherlands you are not in a happy place. When you get picked up by the police and put in a holding cell for two weeks and you face expulsion you don’t feel well. And that’s provided you have no health issues.
I now have a client who seems to have a physical problem, but it is due to a huge amount of good old fashioned stress. Refugees have basic health care rights in the Netherlands, but no where near enough to actually help them. I find this rather frustrating.

Exploding pigeon

Sjroep — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:21:39 +0000

When I got to work this morning a driver had hit a pigeon. The poor animal crippled and flapping around on the road. So I decided that the human thing to do would be to pick it up, take it to the side of the road and quickly kill it. I parked my car and walked back to where it was sitting. By walking on the road I tried to signal to the big truck coming toward me that I wanted to get to the pigeon. The driver of the truck decided otherwise. When I stepped aside onto the curb I witnessed a rather interesting spectacle.

Extreme energy burners

Sjroep — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:21:28 +0000

How to describe the last three days?

Friday morning I had a team meeting and things did not go all to well (see complex).

That same morning a very good friend rings me to tell me his mother died of cancer. The weird thing was that it started a month ago with psychological symptoms. She was being treated for a depression. Last Thursday her children take her to the hospital, because she was feeling tired and lightheaded. A day later she passed away, because of unnoticed terminal cancer. I cannot for the life of me understand how terminal cancer can go unnoticed until the last day. I went to him and spend Friday and Saturday with him and his family.

Saturday evening he wanted to go back to Nijmegen to get some clothes and spend some time alone. On the way back we decided to take a detour to our friends. Once a year we gather with 20 something people, rent three houses and have a grand time. It was heartwarming to see how much support we got on arriving.

Hard times

Sjroep — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:26:35 +0000

It’s over. Eva and I dearly like each other, but we don’t have enough of a click to have a relationship. It’s hard on the both of us for different reasons. I’ll explain in more detail if I see you face to face or call you.

I’ll have enough diversion seeing as my new job takes up a lot of my time and a lot of my energy. My work as a physiotherapist is exactly the way I want to do it; work with people in an active setting and use my social skills to give them a push in the right direction. I’ll be doing a practical placement in another center to see how they work and I’ll be starting a two-year course at the end of September. The bachelor course is in Almere, which is far away from where I’m hopefully going to live; Nijmegen. The course is going to be provided by OCA academy, which is our own education institution. Luckily these courses are also recognised by the national Dutch physiotherapy counsel.

Getting a house doesn’t seem to be working out as well. The apartment I looked at today seemed little bigger than my former college dorm. At another apartment I became number 6, so I can only hope that the first 5 won’t take it.

Certainly the samba festival is going to take my mind of things.

Could it be?

Sjroep — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:21:48 +0000

I’m going to look at an apartment this afternoon…maybe it’s the one…

It’s almost over. My work in Germany that is. It is a very good decision, because basically I had no opportunities for growth. There is a hint of melancholy though; in the short time I was there I found out that my colleagues were great.
My new job has something that fits in closely with my own development within the profession of physiotherapy. I see a lot of people going to a physiotherapist with health issues. A lot of times these people fail to see their own involvement in either sustaining or creating these issues. They enjoy all kinds of passive therapy and therefore continue to have problems.
People coming to an active setting as OCA have to work on themselves through a training programme and psychological support if so desired. This is what I want to do at the moment and where I feel my next challenge is.

Concrete sadness

Sjroep — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 07:28:30 +0000

I have registered with real-estate agency. This allows me to directly respond to rent houses without having to wait and see if I have gathered enough points like the other cooperation I registered.

Thursday I had my first house visit in Arnhem. Being in the vicinity of this particular apartment had a sobering and depressing effect on me already. Just huge flats wherever I looked. I decided the condo had to be great for me to take it. The unit was ok, but nothing more. An old lady had lived there before. There were many people there already showing an interest.
I need a place rather fast, but I become depressed in a surrounding like that. So the search continues.

On a happy note; colleagues and patients are not happy to see me leave. I get endearing comments and people tell me I have to stay

Old school

Sjroep — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:36:01 +0000

I used to study here…my old physiotherapy school. We used to have a school for physio’s only. Now it’s been torn down and it’s going to become a place for apartments. A little melancholic about it.