Previously I wrote about registering to GP and couple days ago we visited the GP for the first time. But like one might guess - there were some issues with our registration.

The whole process started when we moved to Kirkcaldy and we filled the address change form for the NHS. The GP assignment office in Edinburgh had their raffle and we were placed for a GP on other side of the town. How come I saw this happening... But we rebelled and we sent a polite email to the office. Shortly after that we got a letter from NHS apologising silly assigment and we were assigned to the closest GP. The GP was the same we visited in the very first place.

So, couple days ago we went to this GP to return the health questionnaire and to receive quick health checkup. But we weren't in their system anymore because we were assigned back to the GP on other side of the town. After some discussion with the staff, two phone calls from senior member of the staff to the assignment office and almost an hour waiting we were assigned back to the right GP. We also heard some explanation of overlapping automatic and manual patient data systems, NHS politics etc.

After similar experiences, not just in the UK, I am always overwhelmingly astonished when something actually works as promised on the first attempt.

One difference between Finland and Hungarian is that sometimes almost everybody work on Saturday. In Hungary May 1st is a bank holiday as well as in Finland. But the day before that is a holiday in Hungary as people work today to compensate it and then they can have a long weekend. In Finland holidays and such compensations are much more stiffer as far as I remember.

I got a flu last Thursday and I didn't feel too great on Friday so I decided to stay home. But to get the day of with salary I had to get a Doctor's Certificate. I had two choices. Either to visit private doctor and pay premium fee or use free public service.

I decided to try out public but it wasn't that simple. I had no clue which doctor or hospital I should use but my girlfriend found a list of all hospitals and doctors in this area. We headed to the closest one but it seemed to be closed (later on it turned out that it was doctor's flat - not an office).

Then we walked to the next hospital which wasn't that far. But I had a little bit fever and I didn't really enjoy walking. In that hospital we met an reception person who didn't know too much about anything. It was anyways clear that there was no doctor's reception before 4 PM and it was closer to noon at that point. Maybe I should have looked more acute case with bleeding and bones sticking out.

We got a new address from a man who seemed to take care of the hospital's visitor's coats. That address was supposed to be a place where there would be a doctor able to do necessary diagnosis for common flu. Unfortunately it required to use two trams and took us even further away from my flat. But there I got my diagnosis but because he was not the dedicated doctor for me he could not write that damn Doctor's Certificate. So I got some kind of temporary paper with diagnosis and obligatory stamp on it.

Then on Monday morning my girlfriend phoned around and found my doctor. His location actually turned out to be in the same building where we went first - on the other side of the building. So the web site had wrong information. But this doctor was not there because his duty starts at 3 PM and naturally only he was supposed to handle my case.

Finally in the afternoon we went there again. Now the right doctor was there but there was some troubles because my information wasn't on his computer. Because of this I had to fill some nonsense forms and hand it over to his assistant. After that he gave me a Doctor's Certificate. Finally.

Some time ago I heard that a person who starts career in Hungary needs to get a membership of a mandatory pension funds. Before new this new rule government withheld around 8% of salary for pension. Now this amount goes almost competently to a private fund. Ideally the private funds could provide better handling in means of investment. But I have to choose myself which one to use and make a contract with it.

So, the problem is that they require my hungarian social security number. Unfortunately I don't have it yet because I my signature was on the wrong line in the application form. That caused around one month delay because the form had to be sent again and I should receive my social security card in early October...

After being happy about new flat it was time to come down. First the flat. The shower hose broke down and it is now spraying water in random directions while showering. Also kitchen sink has a leak in over flow channel. Minor things but annoying ones. Luckily the landlord is coming to see those defects and hopefully he manages to fix them.

But the real killer was reply from a relocations service which is dealing with my work permit. Somehow they have screwed up with papers and I am not able to start working 1st July but 13th July earliest. This was surprise also for my boss so there are at least two persons now pretty pissed off to that service. This is also direct financial loss for me. Besides the half month salary I could have also signed the rental contract to start from 1st July instead of 15th June. To put it in numbers it is around 125 000 HUF = 500 euros.

Well, now I have two weeks more holiday...

So I signed the rental contract on Thursday evening and during the evening we also agreed with the owner aboutInternet-connection. Luckily he accepted my offer to start the rental contract from 15th of June, so I will save half months rent. The rent is 60 000 HUF plus expenses at the moment. That means that I have something like 100 000 HUF to spend each month. That is around 400 euros. It does not sound too much but living costs are cheaper here than in Finland. However, I did find consumer electronics to be at the same level or even higher here.

On Friday I opened a bank account here. I compared couple banks and I selected Raiffeisen. It might have a little bit higher fees but they have decent english Internet banking and service. Next thing is to transfer some money from my account from Finland to local one.

I also had a medical examination on Friday morning because it is compulsary part of the work permit. Funny thing was that the reception woman in the medical center was from Finland. Anyways, I was found to be healthy and there should not be any obstacles on the way.