WHY?

This is the story of a Quebec city girl doing a 13 months term on an International MC...

21/07/2011

Random times

First of all, I need to apologize for neglecting you, dear readers.

This is why you're in for quite a lot of news.

So last time I wrote, I had just started my MC term in Puerto Rico. Now, I am six weeks in and I have settled into my new routine. The getting up everyday to go to work is now normal for me although I'm not used to doing such an "officy" job. In the summer, I usually work with kids at Keno Summer Camp in Quebec city. Let me tell you it's quite a change. I'm progressively adapting to it although it has been hard working without most of my teammates. Emanuel and Suzanne are on internships in Colombia and Panama, Ana and Karla are waiting for their visas and Huberto was busy with summer classes. That means it was mainly me and Miriam (the president) in the office. Happily this gave us the occasion to go do random things during our lunch breaks or to end the days by being "locas" (crazy) in the office. 

The good news is that Karla should be arriving within a week! YAY! That means a new roomate in the house and a new colleague in the office. I'm excited about helping her to discover Puerto Rico as she has never been here. Happily for her, I took care of the moskito issue and we now have screens in ALL of our windows. I am not ashamed to admit that I do give a kiss to my screen everyday because having it just changed my life. NO exageration.

Since you last read me, I celebrated both the Quebec and Canada Days here in San Juan. It was quite random for me to celebrate alone but it gave me a great opportunity to let Miriam know a bit more about my culture. 




On a less cheerful side, I started getting sick about a month ago. After seeing a first doctor that gave a wrong diagnosis (which implies also the wrong antibiotics), I ended up having to go to the emergency room after about 10 days of being sick. I had fever, I was coughing my lungs out, I had body pain and my energy was very low. It gave me the occasion to experience the Puerto Rican hospital system. I can't say I enjoyed my experience. (If you know me, you should not be surprised). I was alone to face a VERY mean nurse that ended putting me on IV in a hospital bed. I ended up laying down in my bed, freaking out because I have a phobia of hospitals when suddenly the power went out because of a tropical storm. It's one of those moments where you think "I didn't think this could actually get worse". Well, life prooves you wrong!. I just wonder what happens in case they have somebody on a breathing machine. After a couple hours, she let me out with a bunch of medication to take. Not only was I regularly happy to get out but also because I felt like an Ice Cube. The AC in the hospital is SUPER strong. We are all freezing. After walking back home in the flooded streets, I spent the next few days taking my medicine, going to work and sleeping. That was it. I was too weak to do anything else. Enjoy the photo of me freaking out hahaha.




That's the moment where my wonderful mom comes in and offers me to come rest at home (Canadian home) so I can eat some home cooked meals, see a Canadian doctor (because second bunch of medication did not work), celebrate my parents 25th wedding anniversary, celebrate my birthday and be there for my dad's cancer detection test. All planets were aligned like she said. We decided to make it a surprise for my dad. Evil us!

Right before I left, I had my birthday party! It was happening at Fat Tuesday (my favorite place) and it was organized by my dear roomate Oriana. It was lots of fun since my friend the DJ played lots of reggaeton (puertorican music I love) for me. I had to nap first, of course, since I had NO energy.  Four of my Ponce Boys (The executive team of AIESEC in the city of Ponce, the office I am coaching) even came down for the occasion. I gave them some training and then took them out to my favourite sushi place to take their sushi  virginity away. The next morning, I was boarding on a plane to Canada.
Photo of my Ponce Boys :)




The week I spent working from Canada was a blessing. I got to see my family, to eat healthy food (and LOTS of sushi because they are much cheaper in Canada. No, I did not say cheap.), to reconnect with friends and to relax. Work wise, I did get a lot of work done since I am in recruitment planning mode. It's a lot of work but at least, it's useful work. I came back to the island last Sunday sad to leave my loved ones but happy to come back to my latin land :) I am such a latina at heart. Going out in a Quebec city bar and seeing how the average quebec guy acts to flirt with girls and seeing how everybody dances alone drove me nuts. hahaha


 Family dinner on my birthday.

Sushi my friend Steph and I made :) YUMMY!

On the way home and back, I had issues with US airways, that was flying me. On the way to Quebec, my flight was delayed four hours because they dropped fuel next to my plane in Philadelphia while on the way back, I also got home 4 hours late but this time for a different reason. The plane that was from Philadelphia to San Juan supposedly got broken and they replaced it with one that supposedly had 50 seats less. That means that 50 people including me did not have a seat that existed anymore. Lesson: always choose your seat in smaller numbers of rows and letters closest to A. As an example, a plane will always have a 5A seat but not always a 2G seat.  Turns out I was not able to give my ticket to the 4 year-old little girl who was left out without a ticket since I didn't have one either. I was truly shocked at the way that US airways managed the situation. Proof that they tend to not use their brain: they told the mom of the little girl 

"Well, Mam, you, your husband and your son, need to get on the plane since you have tickets, we'll deal with those who don't have one later."

"But, my daughter is 4 years'old, she can't stay here alone!"

"Mam, get on the plane now."

"There is no way I am letting my daughter here!"

"Mam, I am so done dealing with you. NEXT!"


Seriously not impressed. I was the last one that was attended when it was time to reschedule us on other planes. Needless to say I spoke my mind. Although the situation did not happen to me, I felt really empathic with the Montreal family. I fought with them until they accepted to compensate me by giving me a 350$ voucher (certificat-cadeau for the french speakers). That's enough for me to shut up :P

On my way back, I brought back sooooo many things including maple syrup, my stuff to make sushi, more clothes (because a girl gets sick of having 10 shirts), poutine sauce, photos, my zebra blanket and lots of stuff for my hobbies. It felt nice to unpack while Oriana was staring at everything with curiosity. It felt really good being back in the house with her. I missed her "shower playlist" (which is the music she plays while she gets ready to go out. 

Now that my energy is still low, I hope to be able to go back to Zumba again soon.

Breaking news:  I found out yesterday that my dad is officially cancer free. This is the best I've had in a very long time!

So, that's it for the updates. Thanks for reading all the way down!
Please leave comments, that way I know you're reading.

Hugs from Santurce, Puerto Rico where the weather is like 40 degrees Celcius. It's SUPER humid today. Do not envy :P

Val



1 commentaire:

  1. Wow, that's quite an update. Hope you get back to 100% health and continue to make your own stories the best stories. Keep the blogs coming :)

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