I was sick.
Chris bought me tulips.
Tulips are my favorite!
Posted by
Monica
comments (1)
I was sick.
Chris bought me tulips.
Tulips are my favorite!
Posted by
Monica
comments (0)
My fever broke at the perfect time, right before The Star Wars Symphony Orchestra and our two week trip to Italy and France. Chris and I left my house in London (Chris carrying the backpack-4-two) and went on our way to the tube and then Easy Bus which took us to the airport (located in the London boonies).
We checked our backpack at the Ryanair desk and went to exchange currency and find something to eat. Unfortunately for Chris the Canadian Dollar to Euro exchange rate sucks. We had a few minutes to eat before we had to go past security check so we stuffed our faces with Burger King (bad idea).
We passed security and ended up in this huge "mall" of some sort. We checked the board for our flight but it wasn't even listed...uh oh. Our boarding pass said it would close the gate at a particular time and we had about 5 minutes to find our boarding gate. This place looked like a mall! Stores everywhere, no flight customer service to talk to. We had no idea where to go. We began wandering the place with me beginning to lose my temper. We walked toward one boarding gate, nope that wasn't ours. I started jogging through this mall looking for some indication of where our boarding gate might be all the while yelling at Chris that we better not miss this flight or I would lose it (like one of those couples from The Amazing Race). In Chris' confused voice, "Why are you yelling at me?" Chris noticed a few Italian destination flights at one particular location - so we sprinted there. We found a customer service desk where a lady urgently told us what gate to go to for our flight to Rome. We made it to the line sweating and panting...yes there was a line, they didn't close the gate like they warned they would on the boarding pass, we made it.
With passports checked we walked out to the tarmac and boarded the plane. Being the last few passengers on board we managed to only get seats next to each other separated by an aisle and no window seat. The flight was alright, nothing like Air Canada that's for sure. Funny thing is, since flying with Ryanair is so cheap the stewards' stand in the aisle every 10 minutes or so trying to sell something (scratch tickets, perfume, food, etc)!
After about an hour and a half the pilot was planning to land in Ciampino airport but there were severe thunderstorms (causing turbulence, resulting in me hoping that Burger King would stay in my stomach). The pilot attempted to land again but the weather was unbearable - not to mention the turbulance and the circuling around the airport! Images of "Lost" kept popping into my head. We got diverted to Fiumicino airport instead and managed a train to our hostel in Rome, getting there at 1 in the morning! Atleast we arrived safely!
Posted by
Monica
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Chris is my 2nd visitor in London :) and I bought him tickets to see the Star Wars Symphony in Concert at the O2 Arena here since he missed them in Toronto. He loves Star Wars. I fell asleep through some of the movies he wanted me to watch but I have to say this performance definitely kept me awake! What amazing music, lights and video montages. We had pretty good seats too so I could get some decent pictures and take some videos.
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Monica
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For the past couple of weeks (and 2 more weeks after the Easter holiday) these two reception (aka kindergarten) classes need me as a second teacher because they have taken in too many children into their classes. It's been alright, some children can be (to put it lightly) difficult but the teaching is easy (phonics, counting, nursery rhymes).
On Wednesday the children were kinda wild. I was asked to be outside for an hour in the afternoon supervising play and making observations. Well, it was freezing and children were constantly coming up to me every few seconds asking to use a bike (there were only 4 bikes out and about 24 children) and I was raising my voice at children who were pushing others on the bikes and wrestling on the mats. When the day was finally done I was happy to get outta that school but I had to wait about 20 minutes for my bus straight home. On the 30 minute bus ride I was dozing and probably looked like one of those people that drops their head and jolts it back up every few seconds while sleeping on a bus or train. I laugh at those people.
Wednesday night I was exhausted and could feel a scratchy throat coming on...uh oh...I told myself I am not getting sick, only one more day of work and then Easter Holidays. Sure enough, I woke up Thursday morning in severe pain (throat, ears, head, body and a FEVER!) I called work to cancel my booking and they were very understanding, I fell back asleep with sweats and chills. In the late afternoon Chris and I walked to my GP where the doctors were done for the day and there were no more appointments to see the nurse practitioners. Plan B - emergency room. We walked to the hospital and I checked in at the emergency room to be seen by a nurse and doctor. After 45 minutes of waiting I was seen by a nurse, when I told her my symptoms she just said, "So you have a flu?" Well, Miss Nurse, I don't know that's why I'm here! She gave me some paracetamol to lower my fever (it was just above normal) and I was back in the waiting room to wait to be seen by a doctor. Another 45 minutes a doctor called me and I was taken to the Primary Care Suite where he asked me what was wrong. I told him my list of symptoms. He looked at my throat and said, "Yep you're right, you have a throat infection." He prescribed me some antibiotics and I was on my way to get 'em!
That Thursday night I had another fever, could barely function Friday - ate some garlic on a sandwich and boiled a clove of garlic in water and tried to drink it but gagged - this may have helped me though because this morning I think my fever broke - I woke up drenched in sweat (I know spare me the details right?) but I didn't feel horrible so that is a good sign right? My throat is still very sore - looks like that bacteria is having a good fight with the meds, but I know I will win - just in time for my trip to Italy on Sunday with Chris to meet up with Susan!
I also bought tickets to the Star Wars Symphony Orchestra in concert for Chris which is tonight so hopefully I will have built up enough energy to sit through that - Chris' eyes and ears will be glued to that stage for sure.
Of course this ordeal would only happen to me, the last time I went on a trip (Nigara Falls with Chris c. November 2009) I had a throat infection, fever, etc - but that was during the trip and this sickness is before Italy/France so I can't complain...if it's meant to happen might as well be before I fly out.