The Next Adventure: January 2009

The holidays are officially over and now I'm just getting back into the swing of work. My Christmas holiday started off a little bumpy as I ended up in the hospital for the first weekend of the break. I am convinced now, after ending up in the hospital here and in Bolivia, while living there, that I must be cursed to experience the hospital systems of each new country I live in. I am also convinced that they have much heartier flu bugs over here in England than we do in Canada. Since I've been in England I think I was only actually healthy for the first week. Before the break I was feeling particularly unwell, and not having a GP here yet I went to the A&E (Accident and Emergency) at the hospital just up the street. The nurse I saw first said I had a fever, gave me some painkillers and sent me back out into the waiting room until a doctor was available. The doctor said I had a fever and he wanted to do some blood tests. At this point Leah was nice enough to come to the hospital to hang out with me whilst I was poked with needles. After several tests came back inconclusive, the doctor decided to call in the Infectious and Tropical diseases doctor, since I had recently moved from the infectious and tropical country of Canada. After being asked a bizillion questions and having more blood taken, I was admitted to the hospital for further observation until my fever went down. This all happened on the Friday that started off the break. Fast-forward to Sunday and I'm still in the hospital, and rather ticked off that no one had been able to tell me anything about my test results or when I would be getting out of there. I must say, though, that I was very grateful for Leah, Nicole, and Megan who visited me in my interesting little corner of the inpatient ward throughout the weekend. Finally on Sunday, I had a visit from a doctor who could actually tell me something about my test results. It turned out that all my tests came back fine and that I most likely had a virus. It also turned out that I should have been released as soon as those results came back, but through some communication error I had been kept much longer than needed. So I was finally released, but not before this doctor emphatically told me I needed to go home and rest... and quit my job as a primary teacher! And he was totally serious. "No one should have to work with children," I believe were his exact words. Apparently he wasn't fond of children and their germ spreading abilities.
So I was out of the hospital and just in time to get ready for my trip to Spain that Tuesday. All packed up and ready to go, Leah and I arrived in Spain after a slightly painful flight due to lack of ear-poppage. Once on the ground in sunny Alicante I realized just how accustomed I had become to the dreary skies of London. The sun was fabulous! After a short bus ride into town we set out to find out hotel, which we had booked online. It turned out to be much more of a hostel, with no heat, which proved interesting at night (pictures to come). But we had our own room that we could lock, and we spent most of our time outside. Alicante is right on the ocean, and I was surprised at how much I missed walking on the beach or watching boats out on the water. The climate definitely wasn't as warm as I'd expected. During the day it got up around 17 degrees, maybe a little warmer. But at night it felt a lot colder than the 10 or 12 degrees displayed on the sign board in town. We spent a lot of our time roaming the streets of Alicante, shopping and eating at restaurants. One day we went up to a castle on a hill overlooking the city. The castle had been there for centuries without ever being overtaken. It was impressive and the views were absolutely amazing. After five days in Alicante we headed back to London, which surprisingly was sporting a sunny sky as well when we arrived.
For New Years Eve I went out to a little pub near Little Venice with Leah and Alexandra. Upon arrival we found out there was a Rocky Horror Picture Show theme to the night, which we quickly realized only the staff had observed. We were there with a party of about 20 people, along with several other large parties, in a rather small pub. Suffice it to say there wasn't much room to be had in there by the time midnight came around. We toasted, we danced, and we rang in the new year in London.
2009, a brand new year filled will all sorts of possibilities here in London.