Where are my flippin GIFs?

Today was an intersting experience. Any of you who know me, know that I like to do most things for myself, I take pride in being independent. So when my flatmate Virginia offered to accompany me to the hospital I politely refused. She can't speak any English, so I'm not sure what use she could have been. When Chus offered, I wanted to say no, but had to concede that her translation skills and medicinal knowledge might come in handy, so even though I felt like a helpless little boy, I allowed her and Virginia, who decided that she wanted to come along, to take me to the local Emergency department.

Yes, Emergency! I felt a bit of a loser taking up the Emergency Dept's time with a little flu, but the girls seemed to think that this was the way to do it, and they know this town a lot better than me. Honestly, I was also very uncomfortable with both of the girls accomanying me. As it turned out, we were there for about 3 hours waiting while the sun was shining on this beautiful saturday day, meanwhile they chose to hang about in a hospital waiting room with me and loads of other sick people. I would not have been so generous with my time, had the tables been turned, that's for sure. I did get a little irritated with Virginia's habit of treating me like a helpless child. I know she was being nice, but there's really no need to rub my back and check my forehead's temperature every two minutes. Another good example of her underestimation of my intelligence follows; in this country, a lot of people write the number "1" like an upside down "V", almost like a "7", so I asked Virginia if one of the figures in this number that the receptionist had written was "1", and she started reading the full number, as if I couldn't read numbers! Quite funny in a way, but if my Spanish was better, I suppose she wouldn't treat me this way, so I've only myself to blame.

That brings me onto a little gripe about the Spanish. Generally speaking, they are quite shit at learning English, yet they all expect you to learn Spanish in a month. At work, the secretaries just jabber on at me all the time, despite them knowing full well that I don't speak or understand much Spanish, then when I say I don't understand, they give me the "You must learn Spanish!" little passive aggressive "joke" that makes me more determined to just speak fluent English to them just to piss them off. They give you so much attitude about it here, not like the lovely Japanese who are totally gracious about it.

I don't think that they understand how hard it is to learn a language, or even the concept that when I say "no entiendo", it's because they're squashing all thier Spanish words into one big long fast word that makes no sense. I'm getting better at understanding Spanish, so I'd prefer to practice, but someone will say something to me that sounds like "demacidomusicolachomanorugodomasangrehijodeputaparecidopajaolvidarsegilipollasjodertuveencatardo", so then I say I don't understand, and they go to the other extreme; "a... DOOOO YOOOO LAAIIIK THE SEEEEEE TELEVISION?" That can be a bit tiresome sometimes. A good phrase to remember if you ever come here is "Mas Despaciado, por favor" (more slowly please), because no matter how slowly they think they are talking, it's always too fast, especially if they are women. I am sure that a lot of Spanish people say the same thing about the British in Britain or Aussies in Australia, so I'm sure its not just a Spanish thing. Next time you're speaking to a foreigner and they give you the blank look that I've been perfecting, you might want to consider just putting spaces between all your words, instead of just saying the same thing louder!

So anyway, we thought it might be bronchitis, but no, the doctor just told Chus that it was a cold, even though she said I'd had colds and fevers and whatnot for a month, his reaction was apparently "yeah, there have been a lot of viruses around this city lately". Great! Thanks for theexpert advice Doc! People have been giving me all sorts of advice that seems stupid to me, like always wear a scarf when you go out, or never walk around the flat in bare feet or socks. Sure, if it was 5degrees, but its like 15-19 degrees right now. I reckon the swimming pool I use might not have enough clorine in it personally. Anyway, if I die, its this towns fault, not mine!