I sit here in bed. With no hot water to shower, all plans of going shopping today are tossed out the window as my hair is an absolute mess and I desperately need a shower. I tried the cold water and I literally lost all feeling in my toes within 20 seconds. It's freezing cold water.
As I sit here contemplating what else can I do, I came up with nothing. Instead, I got reminded of all the times I sit and contemplate what to do everytime the water system OR electricity system gave up on me. IT ALWAYS HAPPENS!
1. My first apartment in Shanghai. A few months after I moved in, I was taking a shower (in winter) and was shampooing my hair, enjoying the nice hot water, when the water slowly trickled, and STOPPED. No water AT ALL. I had no idea what had happened and with a head of foam, I had to use the only other source of water I had. The water dispenser. Bowls after bowls of water was collected painstakingly and poured over my head. I found out that every couple of months, they drain ALL the water out of the water tank to clean it. They had also put up a notice informing us of the dates and times this will happen. Of course, I did not read it. Ok. I only have myself to blame for this them.
2. Same apartment. I woke up one day to find that the water dispenser had decided to give up holding the water in and flooded my entire living area. I had just replaced the bottle with a brand new one the night before. FLOOD.
3. The washing machine was situated in the bathroom in this apartment. The pipe leads out into the toilet area and I have been warned by the landlord to stick the pipe that dispenses the water into the toilet bowl everytime I use the washing machine. What a pain in the ass! Of course, I forgot! I would soon learn to remember as I had a really fierce old chinese lady who lives one level below me. Apparantly, the wonderful buildings in China had floors and walls and ceilings that are like sponges and while the washing machine was flooding my bathroom (which I had no issue with it as I let the drain deal with it), the water leaked down into HER bathroom and flooded it too. Therefore, I had a very angry old lady banging on my door at night and screaming at me for flooding her bathroom. Twice.
4. Second apartment in Shanghai. The electricity in this apartment seems to be against me here. I had a power failure in winter and I realise my apartment had no fuse box! Why an apartment that has this many power sockets and switches will have no fuse box is beyond my understanding. I had no idea what the electrician did, but he brought me power after 2 days. TWO DAYS.
5. I subsequently had at least 4 to 5 or more power failures. All of which sent me into huge distress and most of them happened in the night! Candles became my best friend. The only good thing to come out of it was that I grew a little less afraid of the dark. The power even went off one time while I was in the shower. Remembering all the horror movies completely freaked me out in complete darkness.
6. A month before I was scheduled to leave Shanghai, I woke up to water gushing. I thought they were hosing down the corridors. Then realised it was too loud for that. SO I thought they were washing the building's exterior (I just woke up, mind you, it was not the best time for my brains) but it was too loud to be outside of my apartment. I walked out to a flood in the bathroom. My toilet bowl's pipe had burst. The water had miraculously skipped my living area and leaked all the way out into the corridor and the lift's lobby and, my neighbour's apartment. Lovely. I get acquainted with the Chinese a lot, no thanks to the help of water and electricity.
7. NOW there is not hot water. I am thankful enough that staying here for a month has not prompted any form of failure. This lack of hot water is mild compared to everything before this.
So now, I wait.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Another doctor experience
I have got to stop experiencing trips to the doctor at every city I spend time in!
Went to The Groves Medical Clinic that was 20 minutes walk away from me. The appointment was at 720pm and when I arrived, they told me it would cost £60 for consultation and if I was ok with that. I don't really have a choice. It was either pay or suffer. Of course I said ok! I walked into a huge waiting room that was filled with chairs and toys (for the kids) and sat down on a chair. There was an old man and a lady waiting. It was absolutely quiet in the room and it was kind of nerve wrecking for me to wait and not do anything.
After watching the 2 patients go in and leave, it was my turn. I told the doctor what happened, and showed him the pill I was taking. He had never seen it before and guess what? He GOOGLED it! He googled the medication name and googled another medication which he thought might be the same. After googling, he looked through the results page and said, "Yes, I think (THINK!) this is the same as the one I thought". He then explained 2 other medications to me and googled (AGAIN!) the 2 meds and showed me from google, the dosages and the side effects and how it helps with my condition. He wrote me some prescriptions and said I need to get them from the pharmacy (which was closed last night).
This was definitely a mild experience compared to China's, whether it is the local or the foreign department. However, I am not sure if paying £60 for a doctor to google medications is worth it. I think if I see it as paying the money for that prescription paper, it might be worth it. Barely.
Went to the pharmacy today and bought shit load of pills for £40. Great. That made the whole doctor experience £100. Awesome.
I don't wish to see another doctor's face until I get to Singapore.
Its Tuesday. I go off to Copenhagen on Monday and the hotel is not booked yet! I have been hoping it will get cheaper as I near the dates, but it has just gotten progressively pricier as the days pass. Grrrr!!!!! Ok I better get my ass on that before I end up with no where to stay in a foreign land.
Went to The Groves Medical Clinic that was 20 minutes walk away from me. The appointment was at 720pm and when I arrived, they told me it would cost £60 for consultation and if I was ok with that. I don't really have a choice. It was either pay or suffer. Of course I said ok! I walked into a huge waiting room that was filled with chairs and toys (for the kids) and sat down on a chair. There was an old man and a lady waiting. It was absolutely quiet in the room and it was kind of nerve wrecking for me to wait and not do anything.
After watching the 2 patients go in and leave, it was my turn. I told the doctor what happened, and showed him the pill I was taking. He had never seen it before and guess what? He GOOGLED it! He googled the medication name and googled another medication which he thought might be the same. After googling, he looked through the results page and said, "Yes, I think (THINK!) this is the same as the one I thought". He then explained 2 other medications to me and googled (AGAIN!) the 2 meds and showed me from google, the dosages and the side effects and how it helps with my condition. He wrote me some prescriptions and said I need to get them from the pharmacy (which was closed last night).
This was definitely a mild experience compared to China's, whether it is the local or the foreign department. However, I am not sure if paying £60 for a doctor to google medications is worth it. I think if I see it as paying the money for that prescription paper, it might be worth it. Barely.
Went to the pharmacy today and bought shit load of pills for £40. Great. That made the whole doctor experience £100. Awesome.
I don't wish to see another doctor's face until I get to Singapore.
Its Tuesday. I go off to Copenhagen on Monday and the hotel is not booked yet! I have been hoping it will get cheaper as I near the dates, but it has just gotten progressively pricier as the days pass. Grrrr!!!!! Ok I better get my ass on that before I end up with no where to stay in a foreign land.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Waiting is no fun
I'm waiting to go visit the doctor at 7:20pm. Its freaking 3:45pm now. I have been waiting since Saturday night. Its not something I would share with the whole world, but waiting here with nothing to do is making me nervous and on the verge of chewing my nails off.
When I was in Singapore, I was told by my doctor I have Polycystic Ovaries. POLY-WHAT? And a huge freaking fibroid sitting smack in the middle of nowhere. Which explains the irregularity and the pain and cursing and swearing once a month. Which also means I need to be on medication or remove the blob.
Cannot remove the blob as I will be travelling. So I am on medication. However, they have not been working, and I am on my way to bleeding myself to death. I am also getting really tired everyday and feeling like I did a million things when all I did was lie in bed. So my wonderful doctor in Singapore told me on Friday night to find a doctor here in London. I googled it and found a clinic near me. So I called this morning, as they were closed over the weekend. They told me I need to register with a clinic near me and said they will call me back tomorrow to let me know which one. I panicked as I did not want to wait anymore! I told her my entire situation and she immediately said, "Ok, come in at 7:20pm today. You just need to register as a temporary resident and see the doctor." Bless her. I wouldn't have known what to do otherwise.
Its now up to the doctor to prescribe the right medication. Keeping my fingers crossed.
When I was in Singapore, I was told by my doctor I have Polycystic Ovaries. POLY-WHAT? And a huge freaking fibroid sitting smack in the middle of nowhere. Which explains the irregularity and the pain and cursing and swearing once a month. Which also means I need to be on medication or remove the blob.
Cannot remove the blob as I will be travelling. So I am on medication. However, they have not been working, and I am on my way to bleeding myself to death. I am also getting really tired everyday and feeling like I did a million things when all I did was lie in bed. So my wonderful doctor in Singapore told me on Friday night to find a doctor here in London. I googled it and found a clinic near me. So I called this morning, as they were closed over the weekend. They told me I need to register with a clinic near me and said they will call me back tomorrow to let me know which one. I panicked as I did not want to wait anymore! I told her my entire situation and she immediately said, "Ok, come in at 7:20pm today. You just need to register as a temporary resident and see the doctor." Bless her. I wouldn't have known what to do otherwise.
Its now up to the doctor to prescribe the right medication. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
All the chopping, slicing, dicing, stirring, frying and baking. Wicked!
I never would have thought I actually have enough recipes to sustain 2 meals a day for a month. Ok, so not everyday, but at least 10 meals a week. Which is pretty impressive for me, who started off with no cooking at all in Singapore (maybe just an egg and instant noodles, if that counts) to simple cooking in Shanghai and now, I can cook anything! (almost)
It doesnt always end up good. The other day, I cooked noodles and thought, 'Black bean sauce will go extremely well stir fried into it, with onions, garlic, mushroom and minced pork.' NO. Doesnt work. We had to experiment with ketchup (yuck) and vinegar (was not bad, but still.. ugh) just to try and finish it. Then again, there has been many times where it was not a failure, and I was actually really proud of myself! For the record, nothing has been burnt yet.
I did however, tried to make curry rice, according to a certain Indian friend's recipe for curry. Instead of adding meat or vegetables, I added rice. Instead of using 3 spoons of curry powder, I added 4. Or maybe a little more. And ended up spouting fire for the entire meal. Dousing the whole plate with ketchup was the only way I could eat the whole portion up.
As you see, ketchup is my very best friend. It saves me from ANY situation, foodwise.
Shopping here in the supermarket is not an experience I enjoy. Gone were the days of Shanghai where I will just put ANY food into my basket without any thought about the price at all. I can afford to buy almost any kind of ingredient whether it will be used or not. Now that I am no longer on a paycheck and being in one of the most expensive cities, every single purchase is painfully considered and re-considered. I have even resorted to comparing prices of products in different supermarkets! I have learnt that the Korean shops sells the freshest vegetables, but that supermarket sells the cheapest. The co-operative sells cheaper chicken than waitrose. Same goes for pork. BUT Waitrose has cheaper cookies. It startled me to find myself doing these comparisms in my head for it is a new skill I have acquired here in London.
Enough about cooking. I watched my very first musical in London yesterday. Wicked. About the witches of Oz. It was absolutely wicked! I love the music and the lyrics. They were both witty and made the audience laugh and clapped and cheered. Elphaba, who was the wicked witch of the west, was not born evil. Just green. She was never wicked and was just framed by the wizard of Oz to maintain his reputation of being a wizard (he has no powers). Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and thought it was worth my 40pounds. I turned over to him and asked, did you like it? "Yea it was nice, but not worth the money at all. I would rather eat than watch this."
Boys.
It doesnt always end up good. The other day, I cooked noodles and thought, 'Black bean sauce will go extremely well stir fried into it, with onions, garlic, mushroom and minced pork.' NO. Doesnt work. We had to experiment with ketchup (yuck) and vinegar (was not bad, but still.. ugh) just to try and finish it. Then again, there has been many times where it was not a failure, and I was actually really proud of myself! For the record, nothing has been burnt yet.
I did however, tried to make curry rice, according to a certain Indian friend's recipe for curry. Instead of adding meat or vegetables, I added rice. Instead of using 3 spoons of curry powder, I added 4. Or maybe a little more. And ended up spouting fire for the entire meal. Dousing the whole plate with ketchup was the only way I could eat the whole portion up.
As you see, ketchup is my very best friend. It saves me from ANY situation, foodwise.
Shopping here in the supermarket is not an experience I enjoy. Gone were the days of Shanghai where I will just put ANY food into my basket without any thought about the price at all. I can afford to buy almost any kind of ingredient whether it will be used or not. Now that I am no longer on a paycheck and being in one of the most expensive cities, every single purchase is painfully considered and re-considered. I have even resorted to comparing prices of products in different supermarkets! I have learnt that the Korean shops sells the freshest vegetables, but that supermarket sells the cheapest. The co-operative sells cheaper chicken than waitrose. Same goes for pork. BUT Waitrose has cheaper cookies. It startled me to find myself doing these comparisms in my head for it is a new skill I have acquired here in London.
Enough about cooking. I watched my very first musical in London yesterday. Wicked. About the witches of Oz. It was absolutely wicked! I love the music and the lyrics. They were both witty and made the audience laugh and clapped and cheered. Elphaba, who was the wicked witch of the west, was not born evil. Just green. She was never wicked and was just framed by the wizard of Oz to maintain his reputation of being a wizard (he has no powers). Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the show and thought it was worth my 40pounds. I turned over to him and asked, did you like it? "Yea it was nice, but not worth the money at all. I would rather eat than watch this."
Boys.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
And the silence is broken..
Its been too bloody long since I last blogged and retrieving the password was such a pain in the ass as blogspot is now blogger and I have to use google to log in. GOOGLE?! I don't have gmail! At this point, whenever I say that, I get weird looks and a snigger. Anyways, its been sorted out, and I am back in. Yay!
Let's see. To update where I left off in January 2009 will be outright impossible. So to make the long story short, I've had great fun in Shanghai, had my best friend over working with me(which was awesome yet there are days where we would want to tear each other up), boozed too much, ate too much good food, visited Yunnan (!!!!EXTREME FUN!!!!), visited Singapore (mainly for the food. AND my mum!), quit my job, bought an air ticket and am now in London.
London. The city thats completely different from Shanghai, yet similar in many ways. I am somewhat relieved to be in a city where people are generally more polite and keep their elbows to themselves. However, I still see people who are rude and outright insane here. In a big bustling city, people are always rushing around and most of them look like they are not in a terrific mood. Which is the same in Shanghai! WHY??
The place I live in is in an area away from central London. It has a rather laid back and slow atmosphere, which I was not used to at first. The lack of tall buildings created some uneasiness in me initially, but now I grow to love and appreciate the unobstructed view of the lovely sky.
The blue blue sky. Or grey right at this moment. Yes, I enjoyed a few weeks of beautiful blue skies and sunshine. I had no idea what people were talking about when they said its so gloomy and weather in London is horrible. NOW, I get it. The sky threatens to rain everyday and sometimes send light showers my way, but mostly send grey skies with an occasional appearance of the sun for a maximum of 30 minutes each time. Its like the sun is tired of showing up in London for long periods of time. FINE. I figured, this is better than the summer I will be going through in Shanghai if I had been there. I will take cold and gloomy any day.
Spending one month in London, I have been to most of the tourist attractions and outdoor markets. I love the markets! There are lots of things to look at, from vintage stuff to clothes, shoes, bags to handmade accesories and handmade ANYTHING. All kinds of food and all kinds of people walking around. Every market I've been to is always busy and crowded. There is always a good mix of people, which means a lot of gawking of the weird and strange for me. I found 2 old vintage perfume bottles which I absolutely love.
After the markets, museums, castles and shopping areas, I have no idea where else to go explore in London. So its off to another city! Will be joining D's family in Switzerland during September, which will be fun!! Before that, I visit Copenhagen for a few days. I am looking forward to that, as it looks like an amazing city.
Let's see. To update where I left off in January 2009 will be outright impossible. So to make the long story short, I've had great fun in Shanghai, had my best friend over working with me(which was awesome yet there are days where we would want to tear each other up), boozed too much, ate too much good food, visited Yunnan (!!!!EXTREME FUN!!!!), visited Singapore (mainly for the food. AND my mum!), quit my job, bought an air ticket and am now in London.
London. The city thats completely different from Shanghai, yet similar in many ways. I am somewhat relieved to be in a city where people are generally more polite and keep their elbows to themselves. However, I still see people who are rude and outright insane here. In a big bustling city, people are always rushing around and most of them look like they are not in a terrific mood. Which is the same in Shanghai! WHY??
The place I live in is in an area away from central London. It has a rather laid back and slow atmosphere, which I was not used to at first. The lack of tall buildings created some uneasiness in me initially, but now I grow to love and appreciate the unobstructed view of the lovely sky.
The blue blue sky. Or grey right at this moment. Yes, I enjoyed a few weeks of beautiful blue skies and sunshine. I had no idea what people were talking about when they said its so gloomy and weather in London is horrible. NOW, I get it. The sky threatens to rain everyday and sometimes send light showers my way, but mostly send grey skies with an occasional appearance of the sun for a maximum of 30 minutes each time. Its like the sun is tired of showing up in London for long periods of time. FINE. I figured, this is better than the summer I will be going through in Shanghai if I had been there. I will take cold and gloomy any day.
Spending one month in London, I have been to most of the tourist attractions and outdoor markets. I love the markets! There are lots of things to look at, from vintage stuff to clothes, shoes, bags to handmade accesories and handmade ANYTHING. All kinds of food and all kinds of people walking around. Every market I've been to is always busy and crowded. There is always a good mix of people, which means a lot of gawking of the weird and strange for me. I found 2 old vintage perfume bottles which I absolutely love.
After the markets, museums, castles and shopping areas, I have no idea where else to go explore in London. So its off to another city! Will be joining D's family in Switzerland during September, which will be fun!! Before that, I visit Copenhagen for a few days. I am looking forward to that, as it looks like an amazing city.