Sooooo hospitals, we all ❤  ’em , don’t we? This summer I was lucky enough to experience a UK hospital admission for the first time. You see, I live in Greece, but I spend my summers in the UK. This summer I had a really bad infection. I took penicillin, went to the doctor, they changed my penicillin. Infection still there. Different doctor, different penicillin. Infection still there (little bugger wouldn’t go away). So after taking 3 different penicillin based antibiotics, I heard the magic words, ” Joanna, you need to be hospitalised”. You need to be given the medication intravenously. ”Oh” (that’s me in my head).

So, off I went to get admitted. That’s when I met the lovely nurse. let’s call him Brad. Brad is a good-looking nurse! WE (me and you guys) ❤ Brad.  He took my details and then said, ” Oh, you have xxxxx on your leg, sweet, can I see?” My response: “Hmmmmmmm, sure!” :p .

He then gave me the  grand tour and took me to my bay. I had no pjs, so I had to wear those groovy hospital ones. I was actually alone in the bay and there were loads of beds. I got some toast and then Brad came to give me my antibiotics.

He asked, ” So, Joanna. Can you breathe?”

Me: “Ummmmm, yes…..”

Brad: “Is you mouth swollen?”

Me: ” Ummmmmmm, no…..”

Silence………..

Me (again): ”Brad… I feel the taste of the medication in my mouth. Is that normal?”

Brad: “What? You can taste it? I hate intravenous medication, it is the most dangerous way to give medication!” and he runs off.

Meanwhile, I am in my bed wondering if I am gonna die or not (obviously, I didn’t).

Anyways, Brad runs back in with another nurse this time.

She goes to me: ” So, you can taste the medication?”

Me: ” Yes……”

Female nurse: ” Some patients have said that. Don’t worry Joanna, even if something happens, I know how to reverse it.”

Me (in my head) “If something happens, you know how to reverse it?Oh man!!”

Anyhow, to cut a long story short, I lived and I am here to tell the story.

What did I learn? Don’t go to the hospital alone. Always drag someone with you especially if you are in a foreign country.

That’s all folks

xx

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One summer, a long time ago, I attended a summer school for teachers in the UK. We were staying in Lancaster and the place there is very green. I was staying at the university’s accommodation and sharing a kitchen with my friends. One morning, I woke up and decided to be extra nice and make brecky for everyone. I did. But, my lazy bones friends wouldn’t get up, so I ended up munching on my crumpets all alone.

I decided to make some tea cause when in Britain do as the Brits, and I did. I started flipping through my magazine, drinking my tea, and just enjoying my British breakfast. Then, my friend came in the kitchen and I happily said, “Hey, Kat, I made tea it’s in the pot over there”.

Kat to me, ” So, are you drinking from this pot?”

Me: ” Yeap”

Kat: ” Have you had all of it?”

Me: “Yeap”. I started to get a bit worried.” Why? What’s up?”

Kat: “Well, you boiled a spider as well!”

Me:

First reaction: ” A spider? Yuck”

Second reaction: “Um…. are they poisonous?”

Kat: “Dunno”

So, I started running around trying to find an English person to answer the million dollar question. Was I gonna die? You see, those days no one had internet on their phones, so my quest for this answer was nerve wracking. My professor (yeap, I asked my English lit professor the spider question) informed me that they weren’t. Pfew. I dodged a bullet there. I was very, very lucky.

Of course, I survived cause I am here to tell the story. That, yes, people, I have had orange juice, apple juice, cactus juice, and spider juice (or tea)…. : P

What did I learn?

Spiders in the UK are not poisonous!!

Feel free to leave a comment below. Share your spider or insect experiences. Follow and share this post if you like it. Thanks for stopping by.

Talk soon

xxx

Some of you may know me from my other blog (myeltrambles.com), but if this is the first time you are reading my posts, allow me to introduce myself. I am Joanna from Greece. I grew up in Sydney, but have been living in Greece for the past 27 years (I am 39 at the moment). If you ask me if I feel more Greek or Aussie, my answer of course will be Greek, although I do like that fact that I am from the land down unda. I am an English teacher and I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to work in the UK. For the past 5 summers actually, I have been going to the UK and these posts will be about that. What life is like for the Greek gal in the UK. So, here is post numero uno!

Opening doors

The first time I lived in the UK I felt like a princess. Let me explain. You see, there is a whole philosophy (mannerism/politeness?) of holding the door in the UK I neva eva knew existed. So, imagine this. Me, at work walking around and people holding the door open for me. I thought, “Wow, this is really cool”, but when I would be at the door, yeah, I would check to see if anyone was coming, but if someone was not right behind me, I would just leave, and the door would probably slam in the next person’s face (I am overexaggerating a bit to make this more dramatic). Now, if you are English, you know that this is very inconsiderate (not holding the door for a while , I mean), but in Greece (from my own experience), sure the majority of us doesn’t slam doors in people’s faces, but we don’t hold it open for the next person who is 10 meters away either!! Or maybe it’s just me, I don’t hold the door open for someone who is far far away!! Now of course, I know better and I, too, have become a door holder-opener, but in the beginning this was soooooooooooooo strange and soooooo cool at the same time. Felt like a princess, a rude one, but a princess!

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#adventuresintheUK

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