Momma called the Dr. and the Dr. said...

I'm sick, guys.

It sucks!

This has to be one of the worst sicknesses I have had in a very long time.

Sunday morning I woke up early because my stomach was hurting. I went to the living room and laid on the couch for a bit and after a while I started feeling worse. I was feeling really dizzy, I had major sensitivity to light and noise, my head felt like it was about to explode and I was majorly nauseous. I decided to take my temperature and the thermometer read 38,3 (100.9)... I wrapped myself in my comforter, laid on the couch and drifted in and out of consciousness for the next 4 hours...I would sleep for 20 minutes and then be awake for 10-20 minutes and then fall asleep again. Every movement hurt and made me feel dizzy, my head was feeling worse.. I took my temp again and it was 38,6 (101.5) so I took some medicine (I had to force myself to drink a tiny bit of water in order to swallow the medicine because even a small amount of water made me feel like I was going to throw up)... I checked my temp again later and instead of going down it had gone up to 39,1 (102.4)!

Anyone who knows me knows that I NEVER go to the Dr.'s, but I felt so crappy that I started crying.... (can you picture this, me with my eyes closed in complete silence on my couch wrapped up in my comforter just crying because everything hurt so bad)...it wasn't a pretty sight. 

Here in Italy they have the E.R. but they also have the Guardia Medica*, which is kind of like an E.R. but for cases that aren't so serious (like mine)... I called my roommate** and asked her when she would be home (soon) and asked her if she would accompany me (I was so dizzy and felt like I was going to faint that I didn't dare brave the 3 flights of stairs down my building alone). She came home and took me to the Guardia Medica, which is literally a m one-minute walk from my place. 

According to the Dr. I caught a nasty virus going around which gives you these exact symptoms, it lasts about 3 days and then you're fine. She said I am only allowed to eat: Apples, bread, boiled rice, and boiled potatoes for the next few days. She also said she was going to give me a shot for the nausea, which would allow me to eat and drink and which should help out with the headache... I started rolling up my sleeve and she goes, "No, on your bottom"  

YUP...she gave me a shot on my ass!

I don't know what she gave me, but it was a miracle drug...within an hour my fever had gone down, I managed to drink some water and eat an apple and I got some color back in my face.

I haven't had a fever today, which is good. Head still hurts quite a bit, still kind of nauseous, slightly dizzy..but no fever. I have had no appetite at all but I managed to eat half a bowl of plain boiled white rice for lunch and I had some boiled potatoes for dinner (which I was unable to finish), but at least I have been able to eat. I do feel very nauseous after every meal, but I manage to keep it down it goes away after a while.

Who knows, maybe tomorrow I will be able to eat a whole bowl full of food...

Baby steps!

*Huge props to Italy....all of this cost me $0!!! The consultation, shot, prescription for medicine, etc. came at no cost to me...and no, I will not be getting a bill in the mail because they never even asked me for my address.... I may complain a lot about the way Italy runs things, but I was thoroughly impressed by this.

Way to go, Italy, you surprised me...In a good way!

** My roommate, Esther, is an angel...she has become one of my closest confidantes out here. She has taken such good care of me...the only reason I ate an apple yesterday is because to her... she cut it, peeled it, chopped it up, put it on a plate and brought it out to the couch where I was laying. I love her!

Random Ramblings

*I threw up last night. It was gross. I cried. If this is what morning sickness is like when a woman is pregnant, then NO THANK YOU! My roommates are angels!

*While on the train this past weekend I couldn't help but notice that all the African men who would get on would greet one another and shake hands. I wondered if they all knew each other. After a while it became apparent that they did not, as most of them were introducing themselves when they shook hands with one another. I found this really interesting. Stop after stop everyone else would get on the train and look around for an empty seat, they would promptly sit down and either listen to their ipod or pretend not to notice anyone else. These men would get on board and every time, without fail, they would walk over to the other African men, shake their hands, introduce themselves and start up a conversation. Why? Is it a cultural habit? A form of solidarity? Whatever it was, I found it comforting to know that there are still people like that out there.

* I am watching Anne of Green Gables. It is one of the handful of movies I like to watch while I am sick. It takes me back to a different time and place. Back to a time when my sister, mom and I sit around in our pj's, eating oatmeal or arroz con leche and watching this movie! This movie makes me A) miss my mom and my sister and B) want to visit Prince Edward Island soooo badly!  

Oh yeah, it also makes me daydream about meeting a man like Gilbert Blythe!

How can you NOT love a movie that has little gems like these:

Mrs. Cadbury: Tell me what you know about yourself. 
Anne Shirley: Well, it really isn't worth telling, Mrs. Cadbury... but if you let me tell you what I IMAGINE about myself you'd find it a lot more interesting. 


Anne Shirley: Don't you ever imagine things differently from what they are?
Marilla Cuthbert: No.
Anne Shirley: Oh Marilla, how much you miss. 


Anne Shirley: Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it. 


Anne Shirley: I know I chatter on far too much... but if you only knew how many things I want to say and don't. Give me SOME credit. 


Aunt Josephine: I like people who make me like them. Saves me so much trouble forcing myself to like them. 


This one is for Kate:
Marilla Cuthbert: Oh, this is a fine kettle of fish. 


And here are my favorites from the sequel:


Morgan Harris: I've always held that early marriage is a sure indication of second-rate goods that had to be sold in a hurry. 


Anne Shirley: Fred is... extremely good.
Marilla Cuthbert: That is exactly what he should be! Would you want to marry a wicked man?
Anne Shirley: Well, I wouldn't marry anyone who was really wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't. 


Anne Shirley: I went looking for my dreams outside of myself and discovered, it's not what the world holds for you, it's what you bring to it.


and my all time favorite part:



GILBERT: Anne, I'll wait. Even if I thought you cared just a little.
ANNE: I do care, Gil. I always have. But I can never, never love you in the way you want me to. I'm happy as I am; I won't ever marry.
GILBERT: You'll marry, alright. Some fool who will sit and read Tennyson by firelight, no doubt. Build you your castles in the sky. I know you.
ANNE: Please, Gil, I don't mean to hurt you. But you'll see I'm right by and by when you fall for someone else.
GILBERT: You haven't hurt me, really. It's just that I fool myself into thinking that you loved me, that's all.
ANNE: Gil, please.
GILBERT: I hope he breaks your heart, whoever he is.
ANNE: You don't under--
GILBERT: Then maybe you'll come to your senses.

I can't find the exact scene, but it comes right after this:

The transformation

When I got my hair cut I had them do this straightening thing...basically, it gets rid of the frizz in my hair and it is amazing! The only bad part is that you can't wash your hair for 3 days.... I got it done on Wednesday and wasn't supposed to wash my hair until Sunday morning. I tend to wash my hair on a daily basis (I get told often that it's really bad for my hair, which is why I am trying to was it every other day now) so 3 days without washing it was not pretty.... here are some pictures:

This is day 1:

By day 2 it was not so good:

I couldn't take it anymore and I washed my hair a day before I was supposed to and this is the result:

I think I love it....and it is SO easy to style in the morning!

Tales from the workplace

I was at work yesterday and I see some pictures of L's mom on the table, I pick them up and am looking through them and I find a picture of her as a kid with none other than Pope Paul VI... 

I look at her and go, "You met the Pope?!?"

She responds very nonchalantly, "Yeah, well he was my grandfathers cousin"

How do you respond to that?

In another, work-related story... I was at A's house and his mom, D,  invited me to stay for dinner. I accepted since we're good friends. She made pasta with Pesto for A, I tried it and told her that it was really good. She said that it was, but that the big problem was that it oxidizes too quickly.

A look at her and goes,

 "Mom, what does Oxidize mean?"

D: "It means that something is dark"

A remained quiet and kept eating, after a couple of minutes he turns to her and goes,

"You know my friend Marco from school...

...he's really oxidized"

His friend Marco is African... 

D and I couldn't stop laughing. A was looking at us trying to figure out what was so funny. 

He gets a really serious look on his face and goes,

"No, really, he's really oxidized...

...from life"

It was at this point that I had to excuse myself from the table because I was laughing so hard that I was about to choke on my food.

D, still laughing, asks,

"What about Cynthia, is she oxidized?"

A looks at me and goes, 

"Hmmm, YEAH, a little bit"

This is why I love the kids I work with!

The Toad

Another little gem I found in my box of old stuff... a list that Kate and I compiled cleverly entitled, "Reasons to not like 'The Toad'".   In order to understand this you will need the back-story.

Sophomore (did you guys know it was SophOmore and not just sophmore? I kinda feel like an idiot right now... I digress) year I started dating this guy, we'll call him Tim*. I think we met in a class or something like that...we started "studying" together, even though we got very little studying done, and voila...we were dating!

 He was a nice enough guy...smart, funny, kind of awkward but not awkward enough to be too weird and whatnot. Things seemed to be going well, we would go out to the movies, out for walks, go to parties together or just hang out at my place.

 He was definitely a gentleman...he would open doors for me, he never pressured me to do anything I didn't feel like doing and if I said I wasn't ready/didn't feel like doing something, he respected that....and not in an 'I respect that, but I'm really bummed out kind of way'...he truly respected my decisions and feelings and if it did bum him out he never let it show. 

Basically he was an upstanding guy. 

I don't remember what happened but eventually things cooled down, we never broke up because technically he was never my boyfriend, we just stopped talking and hanging out as much and eventually it died down completely.

 Then one day, months later, don't ask me under what circumstances because I truly don't remember, we met up again...

we didn't start dating again, we weren't testing the waters...

...it was purely physical!

Kate and I sat down one day and were trying to figure out if I should like him or not, if I should pursue something serious with him or just leave things the way they were...

the result being the list mentioned above.

Here are a few gems extracted from the list:

"1) Hairy

2) Vertically Challenged (i.e. not very tall)

5) Weird nose

7) Devil tongue - Not the best maker outer; swift jabbing motions (hence the nickname, The Toad)

8) Not too cute hands

15) Bad influence on Cindy's educational career

16) Cindy is too cute for him"

There was, however, a part of the list entitled "Good things":

"1) Nice guy, very gentlemanly

2) Makes Cindy laugh like Kateska does, only he's a boy

3) Had a bris

4) Brings a smile to Cindy's face

5) Makes Cindy feel special"

And that was it...

As you can tell the reasons not to like him far outnumbered the 'good things'...

Needless to say, things didn't quite work out with him! 

*Name has been changed...especially since I am still friends with him!

My dream man

  Remember how I found some old stuff not too long ago.... well something that was in that box of stuff was a list i had made of qualities I looked for in a guy...On a lined sheet of paper I wrote:

Tall (at least 6ft)

Muscular but lean

Nice smile

Nice eyes

Big hands

Nice voice

No excessive hair...

...or smell

Funny

Smart

Well-read

*Has to get along with my friends

No violent tendencies

No habitual drug use or smoking

Must have a sense of style

These were non-negotiables! I have to admit that some of them still are, while I feel like I could turn a blind eye to others. I think there are things that are much more important than some of the physical features on that list... a sense of humor, being able to laugh at yourself, being able to make me laugh, caring about others..even if technically it's not your problem, being able to stand up for yourself, etc! 

Wow, you look so different...

That's what I have been hearing all day, or at least all afternoon. I woke up this morning thinking, "I want to cut my hair" but I couldn't figure out when I would have time to do it since my next 3 weeks are packed, weekends included!  Then today I had a cancellation in the day leaving me free from 12:30-4:30...I took it as a sign and called my hairdresser and wouldn't you know, they had some openings....

I told her I wanted it shorter and let her do what she wanted...she also did a straightening treatment on my hair, which means that I can't wash it until Saturday....3 whole days without washing my hair and this stuff weighs my already fine hair down...I imagine that by Friday my hair is going to be horrible...

Then this happened:

 Nadia (owner, estitician, hairdresser extraordinaire): You have such beautiful skin

Me: Thanks

Nadia: You know, we just got some new make-up in... (she gives me a mischievous look) Do you want to be my guinea pig? They would look amazing on you.... Will you let me do your make up?

Me: Ummm...SURE!

So, I had one guy washing my hair and doing the straightening treatment stuff, Nadia doing my make-up and the other guy who works there goes, "what about me? I just get to stand here and watch???" So I held out my hands and said, "Well, if you must do something you could always give me a hand massage"

AND HE DID!

Talk about relaxing!!!

So, since my hair is, umm...interesting due to the straightening, I have decided not to post any pictures of my new hair until this weekend when I can try to do my own hair and see what it's like...but here's a couple before pictures:

Maybe this is a sign...

....that I need to get more...

Today, while in the elevator at work, I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed that some of the black from my eyeliner or mascara had smudged under both of my eyes making it look kinda blackish.

 I did what any girl would do, I took my finger and tried to wipe it off. 

It didn't work, so I licked my finger and tried again....

nothing. 

I got into the office and went straight to the bathroom.. I looked at myself closer in the mirror and realized that...

NO, that wasn't smeared make up...

those would be DARK CIRCLES under my eyes. 

FUUUUUUUUCK!!! 

I think I need to start going to sleep earlier (as I type this at 12:30am...will I ever learn?)