Mara Jevera Fulmer's Blog

Pick any one of these and you’d be correct. In less than two weeks I will be in Russia facing a group of students speaking a language I don’t know, written in letterforms I barely recognize, in a place I cannot navigate, with customs that are unfamiliar. Of COURSE I’m excited!

I’m also just a little nervous. After all, I’d hate to offend someone accidentally. And I want to make sure I’m prepared. I’m a little nervous about the schedule – since I’m not quite confirmed on the final details. Not that it really matters. If I learned anything from living in the Pacific for six years, it’s that you can’t let an uncertain schedule get in the way of having a nice time. 🙂

But I’m a bit anxious about all that is still to do before I go. Monetarily, I’m cutting it very close. Some funds are due to me such as professional development, an innovation award, a “travel advance” for the airline ticket I put on my credit card… and yes, I’m supposed to get a nice tax refund. I just hope some of this happens before I leave so I can get a months worth of bills set up to be paid for, and still bring a little $$ for day-to-day expenses.

Then there is my final assignment for my qualitative research course for my doctoral studies, and grading of all my own students’ work this weekend. And… writing a final report for a research grant, a 1-hr plus lecture for a public talk in Russia, the classroom lectures, jury my Mott students work for the student show, draft the Winter 2013 schedule, and… prep. Flickr feed for our new GD website.

And… I’m sure there’s something I’m missing…like packing, my daughter’s graduation, and my birthday! (and my mom’s, too).

Okay. Enough blogging. Now we pause for a little motherly bragging…..

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This is a photo of my daughter Anastassia at her BFA exhibition at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She’ll graduate on April 28th at the big stadium. The family is very proud. She already has a job! Not an easy thing for an art major! But her work at the UM Museum of Art has been good training.

Which way to go...

I lived overseas from 1991-1997 in Fiji where I worked for the University of the South Pacific as Art Director of their media centre. In order to arrange for a residency permit back in 1991, I had to make sure my vaccinations were up-to-date, especially measles, and also obtain a chest x-ray to prove I did not have signs of tuberculosis. Over the years, I’ve traveled to Fiji, around the US, UK, Mexico and Canada. But since I wasn’t migrating anymore, I did not worry about pulling out my record of immunizations.

So here it is more than 20 years later, and I’m preparing to visit Russia in May 2012 as part of my Fulbright. Checking the CDC website, they recommend making sure your immunizations are up-to-date. Since I know everything was up-to-date in 1991, I guess the only ones I would need are some newer vaccinations such as the Hepatitis B shots. CDC also strongly recommends a booster of the IPV polio vaccine prior to departure. Problem is, I can’t find my immunization records. Maybe it isn’t a big deal and I guess the good news is that I am not finding any specific requirement from Russia for proof of immunizations. But I hate to be surprised!

Thinking that I could take care of the HpB and IPV that I need, I called my insurance company. No problem, they said. Since these are normally required, they can be covered under “preventive” care. The only hitch – they will only be covered if administered by an in-network provider.

Ah, but there is the challenge! I have called a half-dozen “in-network” doctors, including my own family physician and none of them perform vaccinations, and especially not for adults. Many referred me to the county health department.

So I called the County Health Department and left a message since they do not answer the phone; there is only a recording saying that you can leave a message and they’ll call back. Surprise, surprise, the next morning they actually DID call me back, only to tell me that “no”, they did not do adult vaccinations. Their suggestion – Walgreens or Rite-Aid drugstores, start calling them to see which one of those stores would do adult vaccinations. If I figure that out if one of these stores WILL do it, I’ll be calling my health insurance company for the fourth time in about a week to find out if doing it THAT way would be covered.

How ironic is this that here I am, one of those lucky people with a “cadillac” health insurance policy that says they’ll actually cover something. But I can’t find anyone to deliver the service!

oh dear…