Visas and work permits; doctors and cows

It isn't so easy to deal with the Austrian bureaucracy. One person tells you one thing, and the next, another. Back and forth, repeatedly. Really gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. The last man said that I will not be able to have a job in textile design and that I can only get seasonal employment, like working in a hotel or restaurant. And I can't get a visa until I secure a job. But others say that I need a work permit before I can get a visa. But just yesterday, we were told that the future employer must apply for the work permit for me. So now it's a matter of finding an employer who is willing to do so.

What it all boils down to is that Stefan and I are now looking for jobs in Tirol (the Austrian state where everyone travels to ski, in the Alps, to Innsbruck and whatnot) for the winter. I will probably end up working as a Zimmermächden or Abwascherin, if I am lucky. If you know how those words translate, then you can feel my pain.

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Recently I had another Depo shot. In the US I was paying a little over $60 for it, which doesn't include the office visit, which is another $60. It gets fairly expensive. So about a week ago, I went to Stefan's doctor to have my shot renewed. First of all, in the States, it was given to me in the arm. The doctor here, Dr. Maier, asked me where I was planning to have the shot, because I was obviously ready to get it in my arm. I had even dressed strategically, with a tank top under a button-up shirt for easy access.

What do you mean, where do I plan to have it? In the arm, of course.

Then he said that here in Europe, they never give it in the arm.

In den Hintern, he explained.

At the end of it all, so to speak, I ended up paying all of € 33, which is about $38. For both the shot and the office visit. So, this is how I see it:

In the States, the doctors may tell you that they're only giving you that shot in the arm but, in reality, they are really sticking you in the ass, too.