Friday, February 20, 2009

Flamenco doctors

Flamenco last night was pretty amazing. They performed about ten different styles of flamenco, each with intense dancers and incredible costumes. This flamenco show was very different than the last one I saw. I'm pretty sure I was at a touristy venue last night, and the show was choreographed. The last one I went to looked completely improvised. They're both fun, in their own way. In the tango flamenco style, the dancers performed to music from the opera "Carmen," which was very exciting. I still have pictures from Córdoba to post, but they can wait. Today I post pictures of the flamenco show.

For those of you who don't know, my health has not been perfect for the last week. Eight days ago I woke up with a sore throat, and it's been bothering me ever since. Today I spoke for the first time since Monday, and it was to tell my program director I needed to go to a doctor. One of our Geranios program ladies (Maria Luca) escorted me to a nearby clinic and I saw my first Spanish doctor. I was able to describe my symptoms to her pretty well, I think. I didn't catch the majority of what she said (good thing Maria Luca was there), but it sounds like I have a cold with a mild ear infection. My ears are plugged up as though I'm in an airplane. I feel fine otherwise, I just have some issues with keeping my upper respiratory tract healthy for long.

The doctor gave me a prescription for three different medicines. I get an antibiotic, something I take that dissolves in water, and normal cold medicine. Hospitals don't sell drugs, you can only get them in pharmacies. Maria Luca and I found the last two medicines at the first pharmacy we went to, but we had to go through 4 more before finding the antibiotic. Luckily, there's practically a pharmacy on every block, so we didn't have to look for long. Spanish pharmacies are interesting. They sell things like fish oils and herbal supplements, but you need a doctor's prescription for anything stronger than cough drops. Even common barrier methods for birth control (which we have sitting out in several jars at Health Education Outreach at school for the students to take free) are behind the counter and require more human interaction than the average American is used to when purchasing such things. I'm also not used to smelling smoke near medical facilities, so I was shocked to walk into one pharmacy and smell a very strong odor from cigarette smoke. It's ironic to see someone coughing their lungs up, then soothing themselves with a cigarette. Or with a baby in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Ironic and sad.

Anyway, I've seen a doctor, I have medicine that I'll start taking today, and hopefully I'll get better soon. The miming was fun, though. I can communicate surprisingly well without words when my voice doesn't work. Bring me back to my choir plague days in high school.

Pictures!








1 comment:

  1. Oh dude I so wish I could have been there to see the dancing. Soo jealous. I love you and miss you. Take care of yourself!

    ReplyDelete