Topic outline

  • General

  • The Journey

    Aerial viewJeniffer & I

    Hello, ich heiße Faith. Ich komme aus Kenia und wohne in Kilifi. Ich studiere an Pwani Universität und ich……there goes my German!….

    I learned of the exchange programme as I shared two classes with the German exchange students who had come for Sept semester in 2019. And as we did our group-work we would ask some of them questions on study and life in Germany. I was particularly impressed when I got to know that they also work closely with the Weike project that is geared towards alleviating women´s lives in Killifi so I was exhilarated when I got the opportunity to be part of this program.

    “Hauchi hauchi hucha”….this is a swahili saying meaning the day we were awaiting for finally arrived. Although we were initially to travel on the 9th Mar 2020, we had to travel on the 12th March as I had some hitches regarding my passport and visa application process. I packed my suitcase that morning and really had to ensure that it weighed 20 kgs the weight allowed by the flight. I was excited to embark on this journey of new experiences and culture.

    After having dinner with my family they saw me off to Moi International Airport and we bid our goodbyes. After check-in I met up with Jennifer my school mate whom I was travelling with. A long journey is much bearable with a familiar face. The waiting area was full of people so we tried being cautious with corona ringing at the back of my mind.

    The flight was pleasant with friendly passengers.The food served gave me a glimpse of the kind of food to expect in Germany. Since I love scenery and landscapes so enjoyed the aerial view of the world below from the windows seat. Bye bye Kenya my motherland. I will miss you.


    • Arrival

      We arrived arrived at Frankfurt at 6:30 Am after a 9hr flight. As we stepped out of the plane it was quite chilly and it was drizzling. We got to a bus that took us to the check-out point. This is quite a big airport in comparison to the ones in Kenya, had it not been for Belinda who came to pick us we would have found it difficult to manoeuvre our way around.

      Belinda works with Prof. Sissi Closs who heads the exchange programme in Karlsruhe and had been in contact with us and was very helpful. She had earier drafted a short guide “Karibu Ujerumani” of the basic things/information we should know prior coming to Germany.

      We boarded a high speed train to Karlsruhe and as I was enjoying the scenery of green fields and houses that had a distinct structure of high roofs, I was perplexed to see small rugged and unkempt structures spread from to place that resembled slums. I was to learn the they were actually gardens that people who live in the cities own or rent that they may do gardening or let the children play.

      Upon arrival to Karlsruhe Belinda drove us to Hadiko student hostels where they had booked for our accommodation. At the hostels we had to wait a while as the hausmeisters were no where to be found. One of them finally turned up, registered us and gave us the keys, showed us the rooms and gave us basic information of the place. We put in our suitcases and headed to Hochschule Karlsruhe as we had to do registration with the school. We couldn´t finish with the process as we did´nt have all the required documents so we decided to proceed with it on Monday.

      We then went for lunch and had Yufka with soda. I liked the yufka which resembles “shawarma” coastal delicacy in Kenya I.e slices of meat wrapped in nan bread. The soda fanta really different

      There after we went to an Aldi supermarket to buy food stuff that would sustain us till Monday and also had to buy sim card. The registration process of the sim cards was cumbersome and took 24hrs to get activated.

      It was already evening when we were done with everything and we were too tired. Belinda left and we took a rest.


      • Hadiko


        From the outside Hadiko looks like a standard student hostel just like in Kenya but what strikes me first was the number of bikes that I saw parked outside each block. Never had I seen so many bicycles parked together.

        Growing up a bicycle was an essential commodity in every household and was used as a means of transport, and a source of income in the rural settings characterized by long distances without “matatus” where the youth could ferry people for cash. All this changed with the introduction of cheaper motorbikes “boda boda” and tuktuks from china which flooded the market. Well they are faster and easily accessible. Most Kenyans have two or three contacts of trusted boda boda guys whom we call when we need their services or just get anyone available on the streets……I digress back to hadiko…

        My room L411 at K5 was nice furnished with the essentials, a big window, table, chair, small bed, a closet with sensor bulbs and a loved that it had a sink inside. Did I mention a tiny bed, at a width of 3 ft it was the smallest I had ever seen with an equally small duvet (die Bettdecke) that doesn't cover full body length. How people sleep with out toppling over is a mystery, I bet the tall people always sleep with their legs hanging out..haha. I later learned that this was the standard size for kleines Einzelbett.

        I met Teddy (lady from Serbia) my floor representative who showed me around the floor. Each floor consists of 15 people with whom we shared the bathroom, a well furnished Kitchen, balcony and other equipment and storage. Everything was well labeled, the common things and personal marked with names and room numbers.

        The students would put in a deposit of money that the can use to buy common commodities including food items, repairs and any other thing that was required. Also one could take drinks from the common fridge, use the washing machine, use the copier and pay at the end of the month. All that one had to do was fill out a sheet with your name and the number of times used. I found this very intriguing that people actually paid dutifully without having someone over it. I liked that Germans are generally faithful people who live by the rule and value responsibility, no wonder they don’t tolerate corruption. I wish I could say the same for my Kenya.

        The rest of my flatmates were also friendly.We chatted about our experiences, different cultures, corona and how it had canceled most events at the hostels. They were also very ready to help in case one needed assistance .

          

          


        • The Dilemma - Corona Virus


          On the day we arrived in Karlsruhe we recieved an email stating that in view of the Coronavirus crisis the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts decided that the start of the summer semester at all universities in the state of Baden-Württemberg should be postponed to start on Monday, April 20 and that the school will devise other ways such as online learning to curb the lost time.

           I really didn’t think much of it in fact I thought ooh more time for me to sight see Germany before the start of school! Little did I know that that was the start of the long journey of lockdown, closed facilities, travel bans and all.

          On this regard on 14/3/2020 we received communication from Prof. Sissi that they had opted to send us back to Kenya for safety reasons. My heart literally sank, here we are just arrived into a new space and now we have to go back home! Corona really had chosen the worst time!

          Anyway after long deliberations and exploring different options we settled on staying with relatives here in Germany at our own risks.

          We spend the rest of the weekend mainly indoors and taking walks to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings and the cold of course.


          • Eventful Monday

            The Meeting

            On Monday the 16th , Belinda picked us and we to a meeting with Prof. Sissi in her office. She gave us a guideline on what is expected of us for the exchange project and how we would go about it. We further discussed on our stay and signed written agreements. We also discussed on the city registration and other pending issues.

            Mannheim 

            After the meeting, a friend of my cousin picked us to show us around and we ended up in Mannheim. The city has a beautiful garden but what struck me is that unlike in Karlsruhe, the streets were full of people just shopping and going about their business, weren't these people afraid of corona or had they just decided to throw caution out of the window?

            It was nice there and after eating the largest pizza I have ever seen we headed back to Karlsruhe.



            School Buddy 

            After Mannheim we still had a meet up with Annastasiya our school buddy assigned to help us with the orientation and intergration of the school and Karlsruhe. She had earlier organized a get together with other foreign students which we couldn’t attend as as we were still in Kenya.

            We met at her hostel with two other guys so we were 5 the maximum no of people allowed to meet up at he time. Since we were from different countries i.e Kenya, Russia, Croatia we shared about our experiences, talked about everything really from schooling, music(from what we sampled it was concluded that Kenya had the best music and Russia the worst) to politics. It was nice to get insights of life in other countries.

            We also played games and celebrated Vlademer’s birthday sharing cake and drinks ;). we had lots fun that night.

             


            • Journey to Wolpertswende

              On Wednesday the 18th , we woke up early and went to the Bürgerbüro for the city registration but unfortunately it was closed until further notice.

              I went back and packed my suitcase waiting to go to Wolpertswende and experience the village life. My uncle picked me up and we went on a 3 and 1/2 hrs drive to my cousin’s place.

              It was it was evening when we arrived and I was very excited to meet and spend time with family that I hadn’t seen for years.

              I had my first German meal for dinner ‘Kartoffel Suppe’. Though strange that a family would eat that for supper and at 6:00, it still tasted great.



              • Karlsruhe again

                After a long stay in Wolpertswende it was finally time to pack my bags and head back to Karlsruhe. Though the school had already been officially reopen we still are not sure whether we will be allowed to have physical classes or not. Nevertheless I am still hopeful that we will have one before the end of the semester.

                Somehow I have something to be thankful for about corona. Thanks to corona I was able to spend some of my stay at my relatives place. I experienced how life is in a German home first hand; values, foods, culture, lifestyle, how kids are raised, the language itself (had to practice a lot as the kids didn’t speak any English but they also learned some words from me).

                Goodbyes are always hard especially because I was not sure whether I will be able to come back to see my family again before I leave. And if I leave Germany without seeing them it may take years before I see them again. anyway am sure  I will see them again.


                My uncle drove me back to Karlsruhe to different hostel in a new location but somehow we got lost and Belinda had to redirect us. It was nice to see Belinda and Jennifer again. Belinda had earlier on picked the keys of our rooms from the hausmeister. After showing us our rooms and some catching up I was sorry to learn that she had gotten the virus but had now recovered thankfully. This information showed me the severity of the virus but it was also reassuring that one could recover from it.


                • Toothache

                  I woke up in the wee hours of the morning of 6th May with excruciating pain in my tooth. This time not the usual wisdom tooth that I knew already had to be removed but another one. Although it was already aching before I fell asleep I didn’t think As I passed by the mirror from the washroom I saw that my chick had swollen that’s when I panicked. I tried taking some painkillers but it didn’t help.

                  Fortunately for me the day before we had been looking for dentists around here who could extract my wisdom tooth as it is not every dentist can do that. After consulting my family and Belinda I had to book an appointment with one of the English speaking doctors I found and I got a slot at 12:00.

                  The dentist I went to see again referred me to another dentist. After seeing my scans and examination, I was told that I had an infection and the tooth needed to be extracted. They couldn’t do the surgery on that day till the infection had healed so I was given a prescription to treat it then a surgery for now the extraction of two teeth was scheduled for the following week.

                  The medications were effective and helped me a great deal.


                  • The dentist

                    The day of the extraction finally reached on 12th May. A trip to the dentist usually not an enjoyable one.There is just something about the machines that just intimidate someone. The tools are just scary and opening of your mouth for long leaves your jaws numb and aching for days after.

                    The dentist’s assistant was a nice lady trying to converse in English although it was a struggle for her. She kept assuring me that all will be well. Most Germans understand English even though it is not their first language but may struggle speaking it so it helps that I understand some German words they put in their sentences.

                    She prepared the tools and put everything as we waited for the doctor. The room had a large glass windows that faced the road so it helped me relax get my mind out of it because to be honest I was a bit nervous.

                    I was given four anesthetic injections, two in each side as they were extracting to teeth that they had to add one more to the wisdom tooth. Though I really couldn’t feel the pain, the drilling, filling, knocking, vacuuming and the occasional pulling were unsettling, I had to clench my fist to keep calm. After a while it was all done. I had to get another scan to make sure all went well. I couldn’t speak as my lips couldn’t move because of the numbness I literally felt like my lips had crisscrossed. After Scheduling for the next appointment to remove the stitches, and taking prescription and ice packs I left rather glad it went well.


                    • Aftermath

                      After the anaesthesia wore out I now felt the full pain of the teeth extraction well I have taken the painkillers in excess to ease the pain and it did not help that the blood took a while to stop. The ice packs helped to reduce the swelling. Its funny how some little things such us being able to brush and eat food became such an uphill task. I had to depend on mouth wash and drink fluids as food and really couldn’t drink milk or yogurt as I was on antibiotics. I started healing over the next few days. And the whole process was worth it. Yeey! No more toothaches. Thanks to all those who helped me out. I was able to enjoy again and go to the park.


                      On the 15th May we wanted to go visit the Zoological gardens but unfortunately on reaching there we were told that we couldn’t get the day tickets as everything was now being done online to minimize contact.



                      • Travelling Alone

                        Apart from the tram that we use commute within Karlsruhe I had never been on the train on my own before. Part of it is because public spaces such as trains are believed to be high risk areas of getting getting corona. So when the pandemic had gone down I decided to try go to my cousin’s place on my own on 16th May.

                        On reaching the Hbf I first went to a DB officer to make an enquiry. Their offices were not open yet since the lockdown but there was a stand where one could get help. She printed for me a copy of information I would need i.e the trains number I would use, where to make connections and the platform numbers. Though I had this information on the DB app I just had to make sure. I also asked a lady to help me get a ticket.


                        With everything secured I went to wait for my train. I was to board two trains one from karlsruhe to Stuttgart, wait for a about half an hour then connect from there to Aulendorf. There were not so many people on the train and we had to have our masks on throughout the journey. Unlike the ICE we used on our first day in Germany, the trains made several stops and was not as fast. I enjoyed the ride looking at the different sceneries we past through. After about 3 1/2 hrs I got to Aulendorf where my cousin picked me up. And we drove to Vorsee.



                        • Reunion

                          I had a blast that weekend with the family. You know how you may visit a friend and other friends also visit and you end up having a good reunion without planning planning, well that was the case on Sunday. Several of my relatives came over; my  uncle Charly, Aunty Claudia with her husband came from Swiss, my other cousin’s wife with her kids (they got married in Kenya by the way) Before we knew it it was a full house with kids running around, coffee with mandazi and cake, making chapatis, laughing and looking at old photographs. Aunty Claudia gave a beautiful album of photos of their last trip to Kenya in 2017.


                           

                          It was all lovely. And yes it was good to be able to chew food again. I went back to Karlsruhe on Tuesday.


                          • Google Maps

                            I have never really had to use Google maps while in Kenya but here its quite hard to survive without google maps and apps for direction. Never mind that am not usually good with directions. I had to learn how to use the maps.

                            It is easier to use the maps here because the transport and housing system is well structured. The buses and trains go at specific time and it helps that they are also numbered so one can easily plan the travel and commuting schedule. The roads, streets and houses are well named and numbered which helps in navigation. However when commuting on foot the google maps directions are not always the best as they may be confusing and tends to give one the longer direction. All in all Google maps helped me a great deal.


                            • Karlsruhe Schloss

                              On 20th May I went to the dentist to get my stitches removed before attending my Information Architecture class in which I presented on the ‘Communication tasks of an Administrator/office manager; Challenges and Strategies’


                              The Karlsruhe palace is near Europahaus hostels. Although I had been in the park behind it had not been to the museum. So we went on the 21st May. The museum had not been fully reopened and just three exhibition rooms were accessible to the public.

                              The palace was first erected in 1715 and the city of Karlsruhe grew around it. It lies over a large piece of land and It is quite big, beautiful and very eye catching. It has nice botanical gardens at the front and back where people can sit and relax.

                              The palace was the residence of Baden rulers but it is now being used as the museum of Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsrule. It is filled with many artifacts, paintings and sculptures and is full of rich cultural history of the area. Although the information there written was in German it was still interesting to see and learn the history and culture of Karlsruhe.

                              Since the weather is was good were also went to sit at the gardens. There were a lot of people at the gardens doing different fun activities, some reading books, playing games, listening to music, dancing, chatting, sleeping, ridind bikes e.t.c. Generally it was a good day.




                              • Competency Courses

                                In the competence programme of classes taught in English I took Design Thinking and International Strategic Human Resource Management.

                                The Design Thinking course held on 22nd, 23rd, 27th and 29th of May. The classes were held online through zoom from 10:00 - 17:00. Even though it was long hours hours the class was very interactive.

                                Design Thinking is a systematic approach towards complex problems from all parts of our lives. So in this class we identified the different problems that people have encountered in these corona times which we narrowed into into three categories education health and social life. We were divided into groups and assigned to define a challenge and come up with a possible solution to it using the design thinking process of understanding, observing, ideating, prototyping and then finally testing the prototypes.

                                I was in the education group and the challenge we came up with was how a science student could be able to do the practicals needed to finish their masters degree in these corona times. After the process among the possible solutions we came up with was use of simulation tools and augmentation reality.

                                The Strategic Human Resource Management course started on the 29th afternoon to 31st May. I had done a unit of Human Resource Management at Pwani University and it was interesting to know that we were taught similar things just using different examples.


                                • ZKM/ Centre for Art and Media

                                  On Sunday the 24th I went to visit ZKM which is a unique kind of cultural institution whose aim was to act on fast-paced IT developments and changing social structures.

                                  ZKM Karlsruhe, was established in 1989, to preserve the classical arts in the digital age. With the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Media Museum, the Institute for Image Media, the Institute for Music and Acoustics, and the Institute for Media, Education and Commerce, the ZKM has a variety of options for promoting interdisciplinary projects and international collaboration. 

                                  I went to the ‘Writing the History of the Future’ exhibition which was the only exhibition open at the time. The exhibition shows art in changing media from photography, graphics, painting and sculpture, computer-based works, film, holography, kinetic art, sound art, visual poetry and video art. It was interesting to see the first computers and televisions built, old type writers, old books made of canvas, how a sound such as clapping of the hands could turn on the lights and even start music from a musical instrument. The place is filled with many screens from the old to flat screen that capture your image and others simulate your movements and so much more

                                  The exhibition really shows how artists anticipate media and social practices that only become natural for society as a whole years later hence the name writing the history of the future.b e.g when computer or cell phone were first invented it was a new and strange thing but now almost everyone owns one. It was a good thing that the information given is also translated in English.

                                  • Heidelberg

                                    Heidelberg was recommended to us by my roommates who were there the day before. Heidelberg is mostly known for its castle, old bridge, old town and the church of the holy ghost.

                                    On 1st June, my friend Jay and I took a tram to the main station then a train to Heidelberg then finally a bus to the castle. We mingled with the crowd of people headed in that direction.

                                    The walk to the entrance of the castle is not for the faint hearted. One has to walk on a steep hill for more than 15 min. You could see people struggling to go up, stopping to rest and take a breathe, others literally had to be pulled by their friends to go up. The scotching sun was not helping either as began to sweat but once we reached at the entrance and saw the view of the city and river from there the struggle was quickly forgotten.


                                    We had to pay 8 euros to enter into the castle even though students are allowed to pay 4 euros as we didn’t have students I.d.


                                    The building looked ancient with stories to tell having survived many years and several wars with some repairs here and there. There are two towers overlooking the city and the river where people can take photos. Inside there statues of kings and princes, an apotheken museum showing the history of medicine, heidelberg tun which is the world’s largest wine barrel. The castle also has beautiful gardens where couples, family, friends can relax and enjoy themselves. It really is a pleasant place to be.


                                    Just as in the schloss the old town was full of people you could tell most were tourist. The town had ancient buildings and beautiful churches. There were also lots of open air restaurants. We then went to the old bridge we had seen from them palace and every thing about it was magnificent. No wonder Heidelberg is called the ‘Romantic City'




                                    • Dinner with Ms. Closs

                                      I noticed there are a lot of public holidays here in Germany. Learnt that that public holiday vary from region to region and since Baden württemberg is predominantly catholic all church holidays had to be celebrated.1st June was Whit Monday and  the school had a vacation the whole week.

                                      On 2nd June I went to different stores looking for a bass guitar but I couldn’t find one the specs I needed.

                                      Later in the evening we met with Ms Closs for dinner. The restaurants had started being reopened but regulations only allowed family and if not family people from only two diffent households to meet at a time so Belinda could not join us.

                                      The dinner was pleasant and we exchanged ideas on topics to be included in the virtual summer programme since students won’t be able to travel to Kenya this year.


                                      • Black Lives Matters

                                        On 6th June there was a demonstration at the schlossplatz where people to protest against racism in regards to the black lives matter movement. This was brought by the recent events of black killings in the United States. It is sad really that in this day and era some people would consider themselves superior to others and deprive them of equal rights. There was a moment of silence for 8 min 46 sec the duration which George Floyd fought for his life. Afterwards people started sharing their experiences with racism. The people at the demonstration were mostly young people and it was really encouraging that they were from all races showing solidarity to one another. #wirsindKarlsruhe - No to racism


                                        • Italian Dinner

                                          My Italian floormate Stefania with her friend Chiara who are here on the Erasmus programme, had invited Jay and I to dinner to try out an Italian dish.

                                          They had prepared for us risotto ai funghi porcini a traditional Italian type of risotto prepared with rice, porcini mushrooms, meat and white wine. It was nice.

                                          After dinner we spoke about our experiences here in Karlsruhe, about our different cultures from Kenya and Italy and then we later played some fun cards games. It is always enlightening to learn different aspects of other peoples cultures.


                                          • Topic 21

                                            • This topic

                                              Black Forest

                                              Black forest has a good review and most people advised us to visit because of it’s magnificent landscape. It was very kind of Belinda to offer to take us there for a visit. We usually went sight seeing on our own so it would be nice to have someone who actually had some knowledge about the places and could advised accordingly.

                                              The week that we had planned on visiting had bad weather that was rainy and cold so we had to keep on postponing thanks to the ‘Eisheilige’. We finally settled on Thursday 18th June. Belinda had given us various options on activities to do and we chose to go to Mummelsee and Bad wildbad. We were really looking forward to this.

                                              On the said date we woke up early but still managed to get late and missed our train to the detriment of Belinda. Well lets just say she was not happy. Apologies Belinda! Anyway we met at Baden-baden Hauptbahnhof (this reminds me of a famous club in Mtwapa, Kenya called Bahnhof thus the area around is referred to a bahnhof)


                                              One could already see the beautiful view of the forest as we drove to Mummelsee. There is a huge hotel, restaurant and some souvenir shops and of course the wooden clocks that can be seen upon arrival. The lake gets its name from waterlilies (mummeln) and there is also a legend that the lake is inhibited by a Nix and a King of the mummelsee.



                                              The beautiful lake is surrounded by trees and there is a trail one can walk around it. We took the trail and decided to go uphill for a better view. We did some mountain climbing exercise when we decided to take a shortcut to the top. Weh it was tiresome! The view was awesome.



                                              We then went to the restaurant to have a taste of the original black forest cake which a bit different from what we have in Kenya but it was nice. I liked the cream


                                              In Bad wildbad we went took a long walk to the suspension bridge. It was a high and long bridge suspended with an arch at the centre that is about 300meters from the ground. It is the only of its kind in Europe. Though it may be a bit scary if one is afraid of heights a walk on it is relaxing at the same time. The view from up there is just breathtaking.



                                              After a lot of fun and a lot pictures Belinda dropped us back to the hostels. The trip was worthwhile.


                                              • Family

                                                They say family is where the heart is really. In Kenya or Africa in general its common to hear people say ‘my brother/ sister from another mother’ you may have a good relationship with people who don’t share genes. Some friends understand you more than brothers. But it is always better to have have family who are also friends.

                                                I love going to my cousin’s place, as we always have a good time and good food guaranteed, be it Kenyan or German (made with lots of love). Even the neighbors look forward to eating ‘mahamris’.

                                                I again went to Wolpertswende over the weekend on 20th June. It was supposed to be my last weekend as we initially were to travel back to Kenya on the 26th before the flights were canceled. Was excited to see them again especially my nieces who call me ‘faif’


                                                • Church

                                                  I am a christian and go to church but since coming to Germany I had not gotten the chance of attending a church service since all churches were closed down to help minimise the spread of corona.

                                                  I was happy to be church this Sunday the 21st. I went to New Apostolic Church where my cousin’s husband is a priest, yes their priests are allowed to marry. We observed the social distancing and there were sanitisers everywhere. Getting in we had our masks on but after settling down people put off their masks because of the good distance and we also were not allowed to sing. There were not so many people and I observed that most were elderly. Though the sermon was in German I had a good experience.

                                                  The rest of the day went well. People over here like flaunting their bikes, convertables and expensive cars on Sundays especially when the whether is good. It was a good sight. We sat outside watching them.


                                                  • German Exam

                                                    The German Exam had initially been scheduled for the 26th June which we thought we would miss as our flight back to Kenya had been scheduled for the same date before it was canceled. It would have been very disappointing not being able to do the exams. They were later postponed to the 29th to accommodate more students

                                                    The examination was to be done online because most of the students taking the german A11 class were still in their home countries as they were unable to travel due to the restrictions that came with the pandemic.

                                                    The exam was to start at18:15 but a few minutes into the exam I was still unable to login to webex for the exam. I tried calling Frau Bell our lecture to tell her I couldn’t login but she was not reachable. I was worried that the exam had already started and I was missing out. I logged onto microsoft teams which we use for the class and found out I was not the only one with a problem

                                                    The examiners later sent us an email that they were experiencing some technical errors and that we should wait a while. After everything was sorted out we finally did the exam. It was fair.


                                                    • Corona test

                                                      With the uncertainties and cancellations of flights to Kenya it was decided that we should wait to see if president Kenyatta was going to open the borders on the 6th June before we could book another flight.

                                                      However there is a Kenya Airways flight scheduled on 8th July that is to return Kenyans home from Paris to Nairobi. There was a possibility of us boarding this flight and therefore we had to be tested for corona as it was required before getting into the plane.

                                                      On 2nd July we went with Belinda to Synlab in Ettlingen for the test. Initially I  thought the samples would be taken through the nose which is a painful process so I was elated to find out that the samples will be taken only from the mouth. Also we had been notified not to drink coffee before the test as it may tamper with the result.

                                                      The results were out by evening and they were negative.



                                                      • Topic 27

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