Even though I've now lived in Holland for over a year, I still have these moments sometimes where I think "what the f'***?". Today I had my first encounter with the Dutch health care system. It was really one of those moments.
In Holland they don't have free health care like we do in Sweden, so if you want to go to a doctor, you have to contact a huisarts (housedoctor). Last night I googled on how to find these huisarts, and got to a website where I had to fill in my postcode and then got a list of practices that are located nearby. Each practice had a grading of 1-10 with comments on how good the service was - as if I was choosing a restaurant or something?
I found one that had a good rating and that was very nearby my street and called them this morning. That was by far the strangest conversation ever. I got to the receptionist, and first of all, she spoke good English but kept mixing in Dutch words - especially the word "hoor" (pronounced like "whore"). This is a word that Dutch people say sometimes and it literally means "hear" but I still haven't figured out when or how to use it. You can imagine how it might come across when you say that particular word in an English sentence.
Anyway, I asked if I could get an appoinment and she said yes, and I gave her my date of birth and my address. Yes, I lived in the neighbourhood.
So far so good.
Then she realized that I wasn't a patient of that practice and said that "you first have to make an appointment with the doctor and see if you get along, hoor".
Excuse me? I don't want to date the doctor?
"You first have to get to know each other and then she will decide if you can become a patient here. We can't take everyobody in, hoor!".
Okay...
So tomorrow I have an appointment with the doctor. Or maybe I should call it an audition?
Better be on my best behavior, I guess.
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