Le médecin

Yesterday I had an unexpected lesson in French vocabulary and culture.

The adventure began when I realized that I had shingles (which I've had before). Treatment requires prescription medication, and the sooner you begin taking it, the better.

So yesterday morning - after looking up "shingles" in my French-English dictionary - I ventured out to the French doctor to explain to her that I had "le zona" and needed some medication.

Luckily, the process was simple and painless (well, except for the fact that the shingles themselves are pretty painful).

When I entered her office, the doctor asked for my "Carte Vitale," but realized by the look on my face that I was not French. But so began the culture lesson: French people all have cards that have special chips in them with all of their important identification and personal health information. At least 40% of the cost of a medical visit is covered by the government. Apparently French people still have private health insurance plans to cover the remaining 60% of the costs, which resembles the American version of private health insurance.

The French system was fascinating to me in light of the current debates over health care in the U.S. While I am sure that the French system has flaws of its own, something seems incredibly efficient to me about having all of your pertinent medical information stored on a little card. It appears especially convenient to someone like myself because I constantly have to remember to explain my medical issues and list of medications to each doctor that I see. If I were French, they would see it all for themselves when they scanned my card.

I also got to experience I French pharmacy. This time, I was prepared when asked for my medical card, and was able to respond "je ne suis pas française" instead of giving the pharmacist a bewildered look. I was impressed with the French pharmacy because I was in and out with my medications in hand in under two minutes - all the woman did was grab the boxes for the medications I needed, whereas in the U.S. I would have had to wait around for several minutes while she went in a back room, filled a new bottle with my pills and printed out labels.

While having shingles in France is a bummer, I am doing just fine, and I hope to be well on my way to recovery by Friday morning, when I will get on the train to Paris to welcome my Mom and Dad to France!

My French doctor's visit mostly reminded me of my continual amazement that, in a foreign country, everything turns into a cultural learning experience.

On a lighter note, I also learned about the French versions of Disney movies yesterday - who would have guessed that even every line to every song is perfectly translated to have the same meaning but also still rhyme and follow the same tune!?