Quote from: Sarah.VanDistel on January 07, 2019, 06:58:10 AM
Hallo Dietlind! 
Cool! I don't think there's anything to be ashamed about being half "Nederlander"! I regularly go to the Netherlands, but mostly close to my home (I live somewhere between Ghent and Antwerp): Hulst, Terneuzen, to the beach at Groede aan Zee. Sometimes we make a weekend trip to Rotterdam, 's Hertogenbosch, Den Haag or Amsterdam... I've never been to Aachen, yet.
I also have that impression, about Western Europe... Belgium, for example, has adopted a new law in 2018 which states that one no longer needs castration or even letters from an endocrinologist, psychiatrist or therapist in order to officially change one's gender. Now it's enough to go to your local stadhuis (city hall) and ask for the change - the whole procedure takes quite a few months, but is much more straightforward than before. In Eastern Europe, things are still very far from being so simple... And in the US also. I have a cousin living in state of Kansas and he's transgender (FtM)... It hasn't been so pleasant for him, I'm afraid.
With the right professional background, it's relatively easy to move to Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium. Unemployment rates are now at a record low (at least in Belgium) and I don't know if you already speak Dutch of German, but I've been living in Flanders for about 4 years and when I came here, I took an intensive Dutch course and after 1 month I was fluent enough (level B1) to start working at a local hospital. I'm the living proof that, with due diligence, it's perfectly doable.
That would be unimaginable in Belgium! Of course, the epididymitis would have to be treated before because no urologist would operate an actively infected structure, unless it's an emergency. But afterwards, I fail to see why you could not get an orchi... If you are a transgender woman and don't foresee GCS in a relatively short timeframe (which would include an orchi anyways), an orchi is a good way to avoid taking testosterone-blockers and their potential adverse effects. Declining you an orchi doesn't seem like a medically sound decision. It seems to be pure discrimination, indeed...
Here, there are laws against discrimination - and believe me, they are applied. More so in Flanders (Dutch-speaking part) than in Brussels or Wallonia (French-speaking part). I was NEVER aware of being victim of any form of transphobia or homophobia (besides being a transwoman, I'm also a lesbian). One of my fellow colleagues in the same Department is also a lesbian. It's not uncommon to go to the mall and seeing same-sex couples holding hands. It's not a taboo. Transgender people are not as common, of course. But at the local H&M (a Swedish brand of clothes stores), for example, there are at least two employees who are transgender women.
As for the eternal summer and palm trees, it's true that our weather sucks big time, especially in the winter. But then, we just take a flight and spend two weeks in the Antilles or Southeast Asia, just to recharge the batteries (some people prefer skiing in the Alps or the Pyrenees, but I'm more of a "beach-lover" kind of girl). And then in the summer, we just spend 2 or 3 weeks in Southern Europe, working on our tan!
Met vriendelijke groeten en warme knuffeltjes!
Sarah 
Vriendlelijke groeten en ook warme knuffeltjes terug naar jou!
I was born and raised in Germany just across the Dutch border from Roermond. The language we talk there is Limburgs, it is spoken from the very western part of the Rhineland all the way over to Maaseik. This means, I can get pretty well along with Dutch, and Africans seems to be also very close to it, because I can have a normal conversation with people who speak it. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limburgish). However, it is not really a written language, and trying to form the sound of it with either the Dutch or German alphabet, is pretty difficult. I can read Dutch pretty OK, too. I almost lived 1/2 of my life in the area, Wegberg, Selfkant and Aaken. We really did not clearly know who we were, Dutch or German, and it figures that I am also not clear about who I am , being intersex! It seems to be the storry of my life, not belonging to any grouping!
I am lucky that I was able to retire early, and am as free as a bird! I really like my life here under palm trees and at the gorgeous beaches of the Gulf, and everything seemed to be OK, until the current administration is trying to eliminate people like I!
Homophobia is now official government policy, and one can see it all over coming crawling out of it's dirty hiding places!
Physicians are included in the idiots (why not, a statistic average also includes physicians), and we seem to have a concentration of them in this area!
I don't normally introduce myself with anything but my name (it is not common to use Dr. in front of it, if you are a PhD), and here this idiot of an urologist pranced into the room, in his white lab coat, his electronic Littmann draped dramatically over his shoulders (a product of our laboratories), introducing himself as Dr. XXXX, and going on to act as if was just coming from the farm fields. He started to tell me how dangerous a surgery would be, because of possible wound infections, etc. My chin dropped almost to my knees because of the bull->-bleeped-<- he was telling me. Anyway, as I left I told him, by the way, I am Dr. XXX and my specialty is infection control and prevention, and you better read up a little about this! He did not say much anymore!
If you do surgeries in your ER, you might be working with some products i have the patent on (Ioban Incision Film, Tegaderm, etc.)
He did not even know what I have, because he never did any real examination. I don't think I have any bacterial kind of infection. I told him that I have this pain already for quite a while, and I do not run an temperature nor did the pain change much. If this would be an untreated bacterial infection, I should feel definitely way different after a few month of having it. He prescribed some brought spectrum antibiotics, and I take it just in case. However, today, after several days on it, I still don't feel any change in pain.
I think I have some kind of chronic inflammation down there, and not antibiotics of the world will solve this. But that is how some physicians are around here, if in doubt, throw some handfuls of antibiotics at a problem and sit back and hope it will help, while creating more serum resistant super bugs at the same time!
Yes, I hope to have an orchi, to eliminate some of the chemicals I have to constantly pop into my system. An easy, short and cheap in and out procedure, which can almost be done while unwrapping the sandwich for lunch!
We too have laws against discrimination, but since our fearless chief in Washington has made it popular to violate them left and right, hardly anybody, who likes to discriminate, cares anymore.
Northwestern Europe sounds better at every next turn of some of the idiots here!
Nog een prettige dag
Linde
