It's June, which means my allergy season is in full effect right now. This was something I totally…read moreneglected to think about until it was already upon me, and I realized I only had a few weeks of Allegra-D left. After finding out the German name from a doctor friend, I decided to see an allergist. Need allergy medicine? See an allergist. Makes sense, right? Except that every English-speaking allergy doctor I came across was booked for months. That wouldn't do. Instead, I decided to see a regular practitioner. Of course, I encountered a similar problem. All the doctors were either booked for months, or on the other side of town. I, for one, would like to be able to walk a few blocks or take a short bike ride to see mine. Well thank goodness for aerzte-berlin.de - I was able to put in advanced criteria and when looking for English-speaking doctors in my neighborhood, came across one just a couple blocks away. I quickly called and was told to come in and wait. The reception area is super small and it took a while to be helped, although I don't think that was any fault of the people working. Once I registered, I waited in an adjoining room for maybe 5 or 10 minutes before I was seen. The wall is covered in (faded) reprints of Van Gogh and Monet paintings - a nice touch when compared with some of the awful art I've seen on office walls elsewhere. The seats were multi-coloured with shiny plastic shells - they reminded me of M&Ms... I can't say anything about Dr. Cotanidis, but as for Dr. Engert, he was great. I immediately told him that I heard he spoke English, and he switched right away - and speaks it well! He sat down with me, took the time to not only hear what I needed but also ask the appropriate follow-up questions, and then accompanied me to the front and waited until my prescription was given to me. All in all, the experience was about 30 minutes. I got what I came for and left with a good impression. Extra note: In addition to speaking English (and German), Turkish is also spoken here.

Dr. Cotanidis is very nice, fast and speaks English…read more It's worth noting that even the receptionist speaks a bit of English, and you can come in without an appointment during the practice hours. I needed to do a medical check up for health insurance, and I really needed to get the blood test results rushed. These wonderful ladies got them to me on Thursday morning, instead of Monday (which would be their normal lab processing time) after I explained my situation. Super grateful! Will be back. PS. Dr. Cotanidis is lovely, and she looks a bit like a young Tove Jansson. I grew up with the Mummins, and found this incredibly sweet and reassuring. :)