Working as a nurse's aid after my first year of medical school has brought me in contact with a lot of special people. Since I am doing my practicals at the Nephrology department, the patients are mostly elderly. One of the big barriers of communication with the elderly is of course the language. Unsurprisingly, English is rare, with only the very well educated (doctors, professors etc.) knowing any at all. English is usually found, if at all, among people under the age of 30. Middle aged and elderly individuals usually know some Russian, having been born during the Communist days. Interestingly, the eldest of the elderly, people around 80 years old, know German, since Olsztyn used to belong to Prussia. Then the city was called "Allenstein". However, with my limited Polish I can usually get by, but anyway, back to the peculiar patients.
As I was accompanying a couple of patients and keeping check on them while they waited for their tomography, the secretary in the waiting room turned on some nice classical music.
-"Great", I thought to myself "every old person loves some nice classical tunes!" So I nudged the old gentleman sitting beside me and asked him if the he liked the music. He replied with a half-raised eyebrow that it was indeed OK. Not really convinced of his answer, I questioned him further,
-"Don't you like Bach, Mozart, CHOPIN!!" (Chopin is to Poland's classical music as George Washington is to America's politics, eternally exalted and without any faults whatsoever.) Unimpressed, he told me he was more into modern music. Now it was my turn to raise the eyebrows.
-"Yes, you know," he began, "I really like that music with the nice base, like rap". My eyebrows were now almost one with my hairline. "I don't now any names, but I really like those artists. Oh, do you know where Ostroda is?" I nodded, saying that I had indeed heard of this little town outside Olsztyn. "Well, there is a big reggae festival there," he said with an undoubted smile. Remember, this man was like 60-70yrs old, and he was telling me where the best concerts where at. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
A bit baffled by the surprising reggae fanatic of an old man to my right, I switched my conversation to an even older lady on my left. She was one of those people who also knew a bit of German, so we had a nice little Polish/German converstation, which is peculiar since I don't actually speak any German. I just "Germanified" my Swedish, and it seemed to work.
As I was getting ready to head back home, another old lady, a visitor at the ward, saw me with my phone. Observing that I indeed knew how to operate such a machine, she asked me to come quick and help. We entered the room were the patient she was visiting was lying, trying to figure out what to do with the phone. It was currently ringing, and they very excitedly asked me what one should do in such a situation. I, trying very hard not to seem condescending, pointed at the big green button and told her to press it. With her whole body strength she pressed the big green answering button, she could have broken it with the determination she had, and started talking very fast and happily with the person on the other end. Hero deed of the day? Well, yes, yes indeed!
As I was accompanying a couple of patients and keeping check on them while they waited for their tomography, the secretary in the waiting room turned on some nice classical music.
-"Great", I thought to myself "every old person loves some nice classical tunes!" So I nudged the old gentleman sitting beside me and asked him if the he liked the music. He replied with a half-raised eyebrow that it was indeed OK. Not really convinced of his answer, I questioned him further,
-"Don't you like Bach, Mozart, CHOPIN!!" (Chopin is to Poland's classical music as George Washington is to America's politics, eternally exalted and without any faults whatsoever.) Unimpressed, he told me he was more into modern music. Now it was my turn to raise the eyebrows.
-"Yes, you know," he began, "I really like that music with the nice base, like rap". My eyebrows were now almost one with my hairline. "I don't now any names, but I really like those artists. Oh, do you know where Ostroda is?" I nodded, saying that I had indeed heard of this little town outside Olsztyn. "Well, there is a big reggae festival there," he said with an undoubted smile. Remember, this man was like 60-70yrs old, and he was telling me where the best concerts where at. To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
A bit baffled by the surprising reggae fanatic of an old man to my right, I switched my conversation to an even older lady on my left. She was one of those people who also knew a bit of German, so we had a nice little Polish/German converstation, which is peculiar since I don't actually speak any German. I just "Germanified" my Swedish, and it seemed to work.
As I was getting ready to head back home, another old lady, a visitor at the ward, saw me with my phone. Observing that I indeed knew how to operate such a machine, she asked me to come quick and help. We entered the room were the patient she was visiting was lying, trying to figure out what to do with the phone. It was currently ringing, and they very excitedly asked me what one should do in such a situation. I, trying very hard not to seem condescending, pointed at the big green button and told her to press it. With her whole body strength she pressed the big green answering button, she could have broken it with the determination she had, and started talking very fast and happily with the person on the other end. Hero deed of the day? Well, yes, yes indeed!
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