EuroLIfe: Day 143

Ordinarily, the weather in Jena leaves much to be desired. It has been quite a bit sunnier since January, and we have appreciated that, but the typical day is overcast, chilly and dreary. However, when my parents came to Jena, the sun came with them. It was incredible! We had a week of warm, sunny, downright delightful weather. This was really a very nice surprise; I had been a bit worried that, after visiting in February, my parents might never again return to Germany. Instead, they left convinced that the weather in Jena is sunny and wonderful and not something to be complained about.

After church on Sunday--which my parents gamely braved, despite the service being entirely in Germany--we set off for Jenzig. (There are some pictures of the hill itself in an earlier post for those who are interested.) Actually, in all honesty, we first stopped for some pastries and then set off for Jenzig. One can't hike without sustenance.

It's about a 60 minutes walk from our apartment to the top of Jenzig, and the last 25 minutes or so is a fairly steep climb. It was so warm I actually wished I had worn shorts! Once up top, we were richly rewarded for our efforts. Given the sunny, warm weather and the German tendency to be outside and hiking, the beer garden was rather crowded. Once a table opened up, we grabbed it and were able to really relax, enjoy the view, and eat some delicious German food. It was such a clear day, you could see all of the many valleys with the little villages tucked into them, not to mention the city of Jena itself. The food was really exceptionally good, and I had the best non-alcoholic beer that I've had yet. (At restaurants, the water comes in such a tiny glass, and for less money you can get a giant non-alcoholic beer, so I've become quite the connoisseur.)

I don't believe the staff at this little beer garden anticipated the weather, or the crowd, so the service was quite slow, even on German standards. Apart from hunger problems, which were mostly my own, this was actually kind of nice. We spent a long time just talking, observing, and enjoying the fresh air.

After lunch, we walked around a bit on the top of Jenzig, and then headed back home for a nice evening in. The photo on the left gives some idea of what the view is like from Jenzig. Imagine this, but in nearly every direction and for as far as you can see. Jena is really a very nice little city, in a beautiful area, and it's fun to have visitors to show around; it reminds me to appreciate my surroundings.

EuroLIfe: Day 141

Worst Blogger Ever

If there's anyone out there still bothering to check this blog, I'm sorry we disappeared for so long! My parents were here for a week, and while I thought I would write a bit during their visit, it turns out I thought wrong. We had a really wonderful time, and I never got around to uploading pictures or writing about our adventures. (It seemed to make more sense to actually spend time with my folks than to write about spending time with them :) But now we're back!

As I said, we had a great week together and there much to share. I think we'll spread the stories out a bit, as we did after our Leipzig adventure. Heidelberg seems as good a place as any to begin!
Years ago--about 15 years, to be precise--a German couple moved into the house next door in Stony Brook. My parents developed a friendship with them, and they had their first child on Christmas day in the midst of an enormous blizzard. They soon moved back to Germany, but have kept in touch with my parents through letters and the occasional visit back to the States. They live in Heidelberg, so Michael, my parents and I drove down to see them. (I could write an entire post on the great adventure that was our drive to Heidelberg, but it would only instill panic, fear and frustration in you our valued reader. Suffice it to say that German roadsigns were not as helpful as they might have been, and that Mapquest and Google Map should both be prohibited from providing directions in Germany. When half of the roads you are instructed to take fail to, well, to exist, you can find yourself in a great deal of trouble.)

Anyway, their son, whom I babysat when I was about 14, is himself now 14 and they have a 7 year old daughter as well. We had a nice time together, and Berkhart, Kristian, Michael, my parents and I all had dinner in the Heidelberg castle!

Dinner was incredible. The castle, which was really more of a palace than a functioning castle in its prime, was beautiful and the food was just perfect. The menu was in German with English translations, and there was one rather funny translation. The featured dessert was described as a "lukewarm almond cake with pear sorbet." It was, of course, a warm almond cake and it was delicious, but the description made me chuckle. It is amazing how difficult it is to really get all of the connotations of a foreign language. The Germans use the word "warm" where we would most often use "hot", so I can understand the confusion, but I can't imagine any English speaking chef would describe any specialty as being "lukewarm."

In the picture on the left, you can see the castle up on the hill--though not as well as I'd like. We had a very nice time walking around the castle grounds the next day, and were able to see quite a bit of Heidelberg on foot. More of that will follow in another post; for now I think I need to go to bed.

EuroLIfe: Day 135

It's (still) a Boy!

We had a second ultrasound this morning, and it is definitely a little boy! I was amazed at how detailed ultrasounds can be. In addition to checking on every major organ, the areas of the heart, the pallet, and the like, the doctor actually counted the toes on each foot! Very impressive. (And he has all 10 toes. Good to know.)

It was really amazing. It's late and I can't write much, but I'll be back soon. We leave for Heidelberg with my parents tomorrow, so I will probably write next on Sunday. One more photo...the results of the results of today's ultrasound:

EuroLIfe: Day 131

The Very Hungry Dolores

This morning Dolores woke-up, and she was very hungry. So she ate one banana, one yogurt, and drank a giant mug of hot chocolate with milk. And she was still hungry. (But she had to get to church and was running late.)

After church, Dolores came home and ate one handful of cashews, two eggs, two pieces of French Toast, and a cookie. And she was still hungry.

So she and Michael went out, and she ate a brownie hot-fudge sundae. And much to her own surprise, she was still hungry.

So she went home and ate a bowl of leftover spaghetti and half an orange. Then she and Michael went to a friend's house to play poker, but were immediately offered dinner...and she was still hungry. So she ate one giant bowl of salad with kidney beans and cheese, and two pieces of bread with garlic butter and cheese. And then she felt alright for awhile, but was eventually offered some chocolate. So she ate that too.

Now, feeling not hungry but not exactly full either, she will drink a mug of warm milk with honey and go to bed. Tomorrow morning, she will probably not be a butterfly, but she will most certainly be hungry. Dolores hopes that the baby is going through some sort of growth spurt.

The End

As requested, a profile shot :)

EuroLIfe: Day 130

We have not been the best bloggers of late. Sorry, we are perhaps running out of things to say again. Fortunately, my parents are coming in a few days and we will have a week-long whirlwind of interesting activities to report! For now, I bring you Irish Whiskey:


The whiskey itself is not all that impressive, though it is Irish and that's always something to be proud of. What is of note is how I acquired the whiskey. Here's what happened. I had heard that there was a whiskey store in Jena, so I googled it and found the address. Then I walked there, rehearsing phrases along the way. I walked in and said, "My husband likes to drink whiskey, but doesn't drink it very often. I am a student, and I'm looking for a whiskey that tastes very good but is not very expensive." He said, "Oh, now that's difficult..." I replied, "I know, but it doesn't have to be very cheap, just not very expensive." I will spare you the rest, but in the end I was deciding between this one and a bottle of Jameson. I asked if he had a favorite of the two, and this was his suggestion. So, this was Michaels' Valentines Day surprise.

I left the store so very proud of myself, I probably looked like a disturbed person walking home. I survived the entire conversation without appealing to English! Even better, the salesman didn't switch to broken English in response to my attempts at German--this happens sometimes, and is a bit discouraging. So that was my triumph of the week. Well, that and turning in a chapter of my dissertation on Monday. It was, at least, my German triumph of the week.

EuroLife: Day 128

Valentines Day In Germany: The Roses are
Cheaper but You Still Need a Reservation for Dinner

Dolores and I walked forty-five minutes through the mist tonight to reach our favorite Italian restaurant. Upon arrival we were turned away at the door. Apparently Valentines day is bigger over here than I thought. I think its an American import. I think they just call it "Valentines day." Anyway, we settled for our second favorite Italian restaurant. My German friends insist that its run by the Mafia, though they say that about most of the Italian establishments in town. This says more about the Germans than the Italians, I think.

Speaking of Italian, here's a picture of a little accident I had while cooking Italian last week. I had some troubles with a tube of tomato paste. Tomato paste in a tube. Like tooth paste. I also had a bit of trouble making Chili. Seems the garlic here is ten times stronger than at home. I only added four cloves of garlic to what was more or less a double recipe. I've never had too much garlic in anything before, but we could barely eat it.

EuroLIfe: Day 126

It's boy...we think!

Sorry to be posting this so late, and without a picture. Today was a sort of a tease, and it turns out our real 20 week ultrasound is next Wednesday! (Which is good, because I will be 20 weeks along by then :) My doctor doesn't have the higher-resolution ultrasound machine that they use for the 20 week exam, so she gave us a regular ultrasound and told us about our appointment next week at my old stomping grounds: The Frauenklinic.

It was super fun to see the baby, though. After the ultrasound, the doctor asked if we wanted to know what she thought. We said "Of course!", having already said that we were interested in finding out the gender, and she said "Well, I can't be positive, but I think it's a boy." Then she looked at me and said "Ah, you already knew that! The woman always knows." I did not already know it, but as I said yesterday, I had my suspicions. If I didn't looks surprised, it was only because so many people had already claimed to "know" that this little one is a boy! (And I myself really have sort of felt like it's a boy since somewhere in the middle of the first trimester.)

I cannot wait for the next ultrasound. That time, I will drink some orange juice just before going in. The little guy did his very best to sleep through this ultrasound, and he was in a very tough position to see. He was laying down on his back with his knees tucked up way down as low as he could be. The doctor kept trying to make him move by jostling and poking my abdomen, but he wouldn't do it. He just kept covering his face with his forearm or hand as if to say "Go away...let me sleep!" He reminded me of me in the morning, actually.

We didn't get any pictures this time either, but I'm sure we'll have a few next time. We are so excited!! It will be nice to know for sure, but for know we're thinking of this little guy as a "he."

I have already picked out a baby blanket and matching hat to crochet for him! So much for all that pink yarn :)

EuroLIfe: Day 125

The Winterling

The photos in todays post are not ones that I took myself, so think of today as a sneak-preview of sorts. (I'm hoping to have some nice pictures in the next two or three days.)

After church yesterday, Michael and I were finally able to meet our friend Bertold's wife , and we spent a lovely day with them. (I believe her name is spelled Marina, but I am not sure.) Michael and I had planned on going for a long walk to see the "winterlings", a small yellow flower that blooms for a short while in February. There are only a few places where they can be seen, and one of them is about a 90 minute walk from our apartment. (We stumbled upon the spot months ago; they have information about it along the trail.) Bertold and Marina were also planning on going to see these flowers, which are currently in bloom, so they invited us to come along. They also invited us to have lunch at their house, and to drive along with them--rather than walk-- to the famed winterling location.

Lunch was delicious, beginning with a homemade Hungarian goulash. Marina is originally from Hungary, and she is quite the cook. We spent some time singing together as well and had a nice afternoon. Then the four of us, plus their neighbor--an impressively active older woman who is originally from Greece--went off to see the winterlings. The weather was perfect--sunny and warm and just beautiful. Perhaps this was a contributing factor, but for whatever reason there were probably two to three hundred people walking the winterling trail! The trail itself did not feel crowded, but there was a constant stream of people all there to see this little rare flower. I was very impressed. I'm not sure a flower could ever get such a turn-out in the States, but perhaps I'm wrong about that.

Unfortunately, because we did not expect to go directly from church, Michael and I did not have our camera. This really is terrible, because as I said the day was clear and bright and the scene was beautiful. There were huge stretches of the hills just covered with yellow! In fact, here's a photo I got from the German Wikipedia site of a similar scene:

In addition to how beautiful these flowers look, they smell incredible. Actually, they hardly smell at all in small patches, but when we walked by one enormous stretch of them, the smell was intoxicating. I didn't want to leave.

So, we hope to go back before they go and take some pictures of our own. I will include one more picture, because it shows the surprising heartiness of this little flower. Apparently, they bloom in February no matter what's going on. They bloom clear through the snow if they have to. That is a spectacular sight, from what I hear, and one I hope to see next year or the following year.

We then went on to another site where we were able to see 2 other species of early blooming flowers, though I can't remember their names right now and I'm too lazy to try to find out. The crocuses are out now as well, and our yard has quite a few! It's a very nice side effect of what has been a remarkably mild winter.

OK I'm off to bed now. I apologize if this sounds a bit rambly, but I'm probably a bit too tired to be blogging.

Unrelated baby news of the day: We have an ultrasound in the morning! Hopefully, we will learn whether our little one is a boy or a girl. We are very excited, and will report what we hear :)

EuroLIfe: Day 123

Sailing in February

Today Michael and I headed back to Leipzig--only this time we did not go to Lush. (Alas.) In fact, we didn't even make it into the city center. Instead, we headed to a nearby man-made lake with a friend from church. Bertold, with whom we went skiing a few months ago, has a catamaran and he invited us for a day of sailing!

It is, of course, February. We got a few funny looks as we uncovered the catamaran and prepared to push off. Bertold attributed these looks and laughs to the fact that it was not a very windy day; I think it had at least as much to do with the fact that is the middle of the winder.

It was a great day, though. The wind was not strong, but the catamaran doesn't seem to need a lot of wind. I have never been sailing on a catamaran before. It's really very nice! Bertold brought two blankets--one for me to sit on, and one for me to cover myself. As the sole pregnant lady on the ship, I was a bit spoiled but I can't say that I minded. The wind really kicked up towards the end and, while it was nice to pick up some speed, it was not a warm wind.

Bertold convinced Michael to "relax" and lie down, as you can see in the picture. It took some prodding, and I'm not sure how relaxed Michael was, but it was pretty cool. We spent most of the time on the tarp spread across both boats, which actually lends itself nicely to lounging.

Now I've had a lot of questions lately about how pregnant I look.The next picture is a decent belly shot, and it's the best I have to offer. (I simply am not going to post pictures of my bare belly online--or even take pictures of my bare belly--as some pregnant women with blogs are wont to do.)


We had a very interesting cultural experience today as well. There we were, walking along the water, when I thought to myself "Hmm...that man's not wearing very much given that it's February--oh, oh I see. He's not wearing anything at all." A woman quickly joined him, and together they dropped into the water for a quick swim. (I remind you, just once more, that it is February. Note our wooly hats for confirmation.)

Bertold explained: "Yeah, that's the sauna. People are always naked when they're at the sauna!" Michael explained that, in the States, this is not so common. Bertold was right, there was a health-club with a sauna and hot tub right on the water. These folks had wandered down from the sauna for a quick cooling dip. They were not alone. Over the course of the day, we saw (while trying not to see) dozens of people, men and women of all ages, wandering happily and nakedly around on the deck, down the stairs, and into the water. Then back they went up the stairs to mingle and chat with each other. In the buff. It took us quite a while to dock the boat--the wind kept failing us when we were about 20-30 feet from land, so we'd have to turn with the wind, take a big loop and try again. All the while, we were basically adjacent to the naked deck. The funny thing is, Michael and I were the only ones who found this to be a slightly awkward situation. Nudity is just not such a big deal here.

I'll end with one more picture. I've been told that we don't include enough pictures of ourselves, so here's one more of me. I am sporting a hat made by our friend Sarah Traut. It is very cozy and I love it. I am now exhausted from the wind and cold, and I'm off to bed.

EuroLIfe: Day 121

The Joys of Fish & Chips

I have no idea why it took me so long to come-up with this idea, but tonight Michael and I went to Jena's one and only Irish Pub. I had walked past it a few times, though it's not on our usual daily path, and thought to myself "I should check that out one of these days." Then, about a week and a half ago, I noticed that they have live folk music. I had been half looking for a place to play in Jena, and this seemed my best bet. Plus, I thought, I bet they have fish & chips!

So we headed off this evening with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. I was so excited about the prospects of fish & chips, but I did not want to be burned like I was at the American bar & grill. If the "American" hamburger could taste like that, who knew what to expect of "Irish" fish & chips--if they even offered them.

I am most pleased to report that they had fish & chips, and they were delicious! Michael says they were the best he's ever had, but I am afraid I can't concur with him there. Nothing has topped McDonough's fish & chips in Galway, but I suppose that's a bit much to expect. In any case, we had a great night at what felt very much like a real Irish pub. From the moment we walked in I marveled at how Irish the place felt. It may have been the smell of Guinness on tap, or the dark woody feel of the place, but it felt more like the pubs in Galway than any Irish pub outside of Ireland that I have been to. I never did figure out exactly why the place was so evocative of Ireland, but it is my new favorite place in Jena. I just love it. And, they have alcohol free Becks--which goes quite nicely with fish & chips.

My plan is to try to secure at least one gig there before my belly gets to big to accommodate the guitar while standing :) Whether or not I succeed, it turns out they have a monthly Irish music circle, where people just come with their instruments and play together. I am very excited about this. The Irish pub in South Bend had one, and I always regretting not going. Apparently, they get about a dozen folks here in Fiddler's Green. I can' t wait to check it out!

One more thing of note: The baby, it seems, is a big fan of Irish music. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself. After a week of incredible activity, this little one has been rather quiet for the past two days. (Being something of a worrier, this has not been my favorite situation.) On Saturday, the baby was a kung-fu master in training, kicking with so much force that Michael was able to feel a good, solid kick. That morning, the kicks were so hard that it really startled me a few times while I was working in the library. Well, the kid tuckered himself or herself out, apparently, because there's been very little activity for a few days now. Today and yesterday in particular, I barely felt anything--just the occasional tap. Then we got to Fiddler's Green, with the Irish music playing full blast, and the little one started to kick quite a bit. Nothing crazy like Saturday's antics, but the child for sure perked up. This made me very happy. Not having married an Irishman, I am going to have to learn to deal with the fact that my child is going to be less than 50% Irish. It's good to know that those genes are strong, and that the baby is already developing keen musical taste. As I said, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

EuroLIfe: Day 119

Dominic Hixon--The Real Star of the NY Giants

Yes, that's right; you may not have heard much about old Dominic Hixon, but let me tell you--he is a star of epic proportions. At least, he is here in Germany.

As I said, our Superbowl announcers were German. In addition to explaining a bit of the rules of American football--something your American announcers probably did not do--our announcers filled us in on the joys and great successes of Dominic Hixon--Germany's NFL star. It turns out that Dominic, born in Ohio, has a German mother. Or maybe just a German grandmother, we were not completely clear. In any case, he is Germany's NFL pride and joy. He does not seem to speak much German, but they don't mind. (He did say "Hallo Oma, Ich liebe dich!", but apart from his little shout-out to Grandma, they interviewed him in English.)

We watched Hixon all night long. As far as we can tell, the German network was using Fox's broadcast but had some flexibility as to which camera's feed they showed when. (They did not seem to have control over replays, often finding themselves without much to say about a particular scene being replayed.) We came to this conclusion about a half-hour into the Superbowl after deciding that Fox simply could not be responsible for the fact that Hixon was in EVERY shot of the sidelines. I tell you, if we were not watching the action on the field, we were watching Hixon walk around on the sidelines or enter or leave the field. These shots were accompanied with commentary along the following lines: "And there we see him, Dominic Hixon", "There he is! See, he was on the field for the kickoff!" (Really, that's a real one!) And so on. All night long. It was really very, very amusing.

Here's the very best part: During the extremely exciting last 3 minutes of the game, the announcers said--and I quote (translated, of course): "What will it be? Will it be Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, or Dominic Hixon and the New York Giants???" At that point we all lost it.

One final, funny moment--not related to Hixon. At one point, the announcer said something about a "third down convention" (he used this English phrase) and how common they are. I was confused, thinking perhaps he meant the tradition of getting the fans all riled up to make some noise on the third down. Michael, a bit quicker than me, said "Um, I think he meant third-down conversion." Sure enough, a while later the Patriots scored a third down conversion and the announcer yelled--with great gusto and undo confidence--"Ya! Third Down Convention!"

So that's what it's like to watch the Superbowl in Germany. We watched the whole thing, though it ended sometime past 4am. It was an incredible game, and worth staying up for.

I will say this: I am quite sure that American announcers would look ridiculous trying to follow a Cricket match. In fact, I think we have a bit of a reputation for being very silly (and chatty) announcers when it comes to the World Cup--and that's a game that we play, if only a little. So I mean to pass no judgment on Germany here, only to note that watching the Superbowl in Germany is an experience I will never forget.

Here's hoping Notre Dame can score a few Third Down Conventions next fall.


Oh, for further support of our claims see the following blog--also written by an American who watched the superbowl in Germany. I don't know who this person is, but when I googled Dominic Hixon, it was one of the (few) hits that I got:

http://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=274057

EuroLIfe: Day 117

Jena Half-Time Report

It's 2:08 (AM) and here we are, gathered around our itty bitty television, watching the Superbowl. Presently, we are watching the half-time show. It's funny to note how they've switched to middle aged men ever since the old "wardrobe malfunction."

The game started around 12:15, and our American friends Jeff and Laura came to watch it here. We talked about going to the American Bar and Grill to watch it, or to the other big sports bar downtown, but neither one is staying open for the game. (What kind of American Bar and Grill doesn't stay open for the Superbowl? Between that and the state of their hamburgers, I'm considering a call to a local embassy to discuss the ways we are being represented here in Jena.) Fortunately, the game is being broadcast on a channel that we get with our very basic cable package.

Here's the best part: The commentators are German! It's the Fox broadcast, but there are two German commentators right there in the stadium--one is a former player who won the superbowl in 2000. So, here are some of the fantastic words and expressions that we have heard since the start of the game. I present in increasing order, according to how amusing I found them to be:

• Durch der Mittel! (Through the middle.)
• Gut Arbeit, gute gemacht. (Good work, nicely done)
• Super! (Pronounced Zooper!)
• Gepuntet (say it out loud, you'll know.)

And last, but not least:

• Gesacked!

One nice thing about watching the game here is the total lack of commercials. We haven't seen one yet. Unfortunately, I fear that this might feed the European view that football is a preposterous game that involves a lot of standing around and waiting. Why? Because every time you all take a commercial break, we watch the football players stand around and wait.

I'm not sure I'll make it to the end...it is not 2:20 and my bed is oh so close. We shall see. In the meantime, Go Giants!

EuroLIfe: Day 116

No Pictures, But a Mystery for Our Readers

So I went to get a prescription filled today, and I discovered something curious. The drug has a different name and a different price in Germany, but its the same chemical substance, and its made by the same company. We're talking about a big difference in price. At the current exchange rate, the drug costs $75 a month in Germany, but it costs $180 a month in the US. (I should add that there is now one licensed generic in the US, which goes for $125 a month.) I remember reading something about the price difference a few years ago, but I was surprised to see how dramatic it was.

Here's my educated guess/recollection about the reason for the price difference: Europe has pretty lax laws about property rights when it comes to prescriptions. So in order to avoid losing the market to generics knock-offs, drug companies sell their own products at reduced rates (and at times, under different names).

Now obviously Wyeth -- the drug company who makes my medication -- still makes a profit selling the drug for $75. This means that the production and distribution costs are less than $75, and that the other $105, which I pay in the US, consists in (a) money for research and development and (b) extra profit.

So there are two interpretations of what's going on here. One: The price of prescription drugs in the US subsidizes drug research and development for consumers in Europe. Or, stated differently, US customers pay the price of production plus the prices of research, while the European customer pays the price of production plus perhaps some smaller portion of the research. Two: The Europeans have recognized that drug companies make "excessive" profits, and in order to bring down prices into a "fair" range, they have lax laws about this particular form of intellectual property rights. Presumably, both points have a bit of truth.

This raises three questions that I hope you, our brilliant and informed readers, will try to answer.

1) Is there any non-arbitrary way to determine what counts as a "fair" price for a given medication. It can't be determined by the supply and demand mechanisms of the market. Or at least if it were, it would be impossible for the market to charge an unfair price, since the fairness of the price would simply be defined by what the market charged and what the buyers paid. In determining a minimum fair price for a product, one might begin by thinking about the amount of labor that went into the product and the idea of "living wage" in the country where the product was produced. Of course the notion of a "living wage" is pretty vague, since the workers in sweatshops probably aren't dying and being replaced every nine months. In other words, they are receiving enough to live, though often not enough to live the way we would want other humans to live. But in any case, the notion of a "living wage" only helps to determine a minimum fair price, not a maximum fair price.

Suppose a drug costs ten dollars to make (including research) and suppose it is sold for $110. This certainly seems unfair, but I can't come up with any principle that shows why. (Moreover, does it make a difference what the product is? What about brand name tennis shoes that bring in the same amount of profit? I don't really think that either case is realistic, but they raise the basic issue).

2) How does the price of drugs currently get determined in the US. It isn't determined by supply and demand. For those people (84%) and drugs (surely a high percentage of the drugs taken, if not the drugs that are out there) covered by health insurance, the person receiving the drug probably doesn't know the cost of the drug, much less make a decision on the basis of the cost. (I only know the cost of my medication, which shocked me, because I payed it out of pocket for a few months between insurances). So most people taking drugs don't make their decision based on the cost of the drug. Surely doctors don't write prescriptions on that basis either, unless the patient will be paying for the drug. So who determines what the drugs cost? How do they do it?

3) Finally, a factual question: for any given year, what is the ratio of Wyeth's profit to the amount of money they spend on research and development? Surely that ratio ought to give me some rough estimate of how much of the extra $105 I spend on my medication in the US goes to R&D and how much ends up as profit.

EuroLife: Day 115

This, by way of reminder, is our table. It is our kitchen table, our computer table, and--now--our poker table. It is not the biggest table we've ever had, but it is slowly becoming the best candidate for "all-purpose table" that I know of.

Michael and I had 3 friends over for dinner and poker last night. I made our new favorite soup and Michael made a salad and picked up some wonderful bread from a local Italian bakery. (German bread is nice, but sometimes I need something with a little more olive oil and a little less, well, density.) The soup is a carrot, sweet potato and ginger concoction that comes out of a cookbook that Moira gave me entitled "Eating for Pregnancy." (The recipe actually calls for butternut squash, but it's out of season here and unavailable so I use sweet potatoes.) After dinner, we told our guests--Tim, Timo and Laura--where I got the recipe. Then Michael implied that, having eaten the soup, they could all expect pregnancy to follow. (Timo wanted to know if this particular soup resulted in a boy, or a girl.)

Despite our table limitations, and our lack of poker chips, it was great to be playing again. Four of us played, and Laura watched to learn the game. Tim and Timo brought a variety of beer and actually brought some alcohol-free beer for me which, here in Germany, is really not bad. There was a great deal of discussion as to which beer was the lucky one. For a long time, Timo was convinced that Michael had chosen the lucky beer. Then the first round of beers ran out, and decisions had to be made. Once again, Timo chose an unlucky beer and things went poorly for him. We heard him on this phone with his girlfriend explain in a very matter of fact tone: "No, I'm out...Yeah, I chose the wrong beer." It may have been funnier in German, or in the context of the evening, but while Timo went on chatting the rest of us could not stop laughing for a while.

In the end, it was a great night. We hope it will be the first of many poker nights! And, as it turns out, I had the luckiest beer of all. Whether or not this has anything to do with the fact that my beer was nonalcoholic, I leave it to you to judge.