Sep

18

Arm Pain

Filed Under Health, Home Management, Migrant Life | 19 Comments


No, I didn’t go on a volunteer missions trip to Romania, although I had wanted to. No, I was not on an extended outdoor market seller assignment this month. No, I didn’t give birth to my son Daniel Stephen, whatever that means (I’m not pregnant, although I do look the part).

I was — still am — merely suffering from a painful disorder called tendinitis (or tendonitis). It’s a condition that involves the inflammation of the tendons. Thanks to excessive mouse-clicking and speedy keystrokes while working non-stop on my sister’s advocacy site and my friend’s missions site in an ergonomically unfriendly workspace, I now have what is called a “tennis arm,” with the pain extending from the right shoulder down to my right hand.

This explains why I had to slow down in my “blogging responsibilities,” although it’s something I had done in the past more than once, but for completely different reasons.

However, my right hand and arm didn’t really have a chance to rest during my 17-day expat blog break since I had to do my school work for my Monday and Thursday German classes, I had to go grocery shopping (it was pure punishment to carry those grocery bags home), I had to cook and wash dishes (ah, the ordeal of cutting vegetables into small pieces, and washing the kitchenware later), and yes, I had to do the monthly laundry (always the thorn in my fragile flesh). And there were other odd jobs in between the aforementioned odd jobs, too. Having a household help is something many Filipinos back home really take for granted, I realized for the nth time during my recent physical ordeal.

I know I should have gone to see my GP, but then again he’s not the type to recommend physical therapy. The last time I complained about my tendinitis — that was last year — he just told me to take some oral pain killers.

I really miss my skilled Filipino reflexologist Veron, who treated my painfully numb arms and unbelievably stiff back in the ’90s when I was still working full-time as a journalist with lots of interview transcripts to prepare and feature articles to write and copyedit, while studying part-time as an M.A. student with lots of academic papers to write. Her healing touch enabled me to work and study at the same time.

I’ve often wondered if I can find someone as good as Veron here in our Swiss town. Sure, I’ve seen some brochures advertising special Thai massage, but I think it’s not the same. And the only reflexology treatment I’ve heard of here is foot reflexology. And I don’t need that. My super-dry feet just need a nightly apply-some-Dead-Sea-foot-cream regimen, which I’m not keen on starting anytime soon because it requires the use of my tendinitis-stricken hands.

Anyway, my husband, in the absence of a professional reflexologist, did try his best to give my tennis arm a massage treatment, aiming to improve the blood circulation in my right arm. However, his untrained fingers — which, by the way, are pasmado (no apt English translation for this, sorry) — just made it worse. And after his “massage treatment,” the blood seemed to have gone straight to my head. I had a massive headache after that well-intentioned massage.

We bought some rather expensive plasters a la Salonpas meant to counter muscle pain and rheumatism, and they helped ease the pain, albeit just partially and temporarily.

So, I really need to see our family doctor and request him to refer me to a physical therapist. If I need to be a little bit dramatic about it, then I’ll give it a shot. But I somehow feel I don’t even have to rely on my (sub-standard) acting skills for this. This is for real, unfortunately.

I wonder, people like Federer and Nadal…do they suffer from tendinitis? Do they have tennis arms like me?

*****

FIVE THINGS TO BE HAPPY ABOUT:

1.) Wrist stabilizers
2.) Reflexology
3.) Ergonomically friendly workspace
4.) Short hiatus from blogging
5.) MedlinePlus website

Sep

14

Discriminatory System?

Filed Under In the News, Politics | Comments Off

My brother sent me this BBC News link today.

The news article is about the current Swiss citizenship system touted as “discriminatory, and in many respects racist” by an official report made by Switzerland’s Federal Commission on Racial Discrimination. The report, according to BBC News, criticizes the common practice on allowing members of a Swiss community to vote on an individual’s Swiss citizenship application.

It appears that citizenship applications of Muslims and people from the Balkans and Africa are most likely to be rejected. The report cites the case of a disabled man originally from Kosovo. Although fulfilling all the legal criteria, his application for citizenship was rejected by his community on the grounds that his disability made him a burden on taxpayers, and that he was Muslim.

The country is said to have Europe’s toughest naturalization laws. Foreigners are required to live in a Swiss community for at least 12 years before they can apply for citizenship, and being born in Switzerland brings no right to citizenship at all.

The current system requires foreigners to apply through their local town or village. After lodging their application, they appear before a citizenship committee and answer questions about their desire to be Swiss. After that, they must often be approved by the entire voting community, in a secret ballot or a show of hands. The report cites that this is particularly likely to be “distorted by racial discrimination.”

The report of the Federal Commission on Racial Discrimination recommends that decisions on citizenship should be decided by an elected executive and not by the community as a whole.

But such a move is expected to face stiff opposition, especially from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which is currently leading in the opinion polls. The Party asserts that Swiss communities have a democratic right to decide who can or cannot be Swiss. (Photo taken from http://www.gottashzrh.com)

Sep

7

Free DVD

Filed Under Business & Finance, Consumer Concerns, Films, Mailbox | Comments Off

Last time it was a free Cailler chocolate bar in the mailbox. This time around, it’s a free DVD.

On Wednesday, I received a DVD titled Tigre: Des Marais (Tiger of the Marsh), coupled with a generic business letter and promo coupons with return envelope all presented in French, from a company called Editions Meister S.A. based in Zurich. As if my constant exposure to Sir David Attenborough’s wildlife shows on BBC Prime is not enough, now I get this educational video on tigers.

But hey, a freebie is a freebie. Who’s complaining? Thank you, Swiss marketing people!

I wonder what’s the next free gift will see in our mailbox in the near future. Receiving bills all the time is not that fun and can be quite stressful, actually.

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