I miss the NHS

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Today Rachael and I went to the doctors. Pain the neck to get there, we left the school at around 10.30am and got back at 6pm. We had to go to Hangzhou to see western trained doctors and there are two buses an hour, each with about 30 seats so they book up quickly. We were 45 minutes early and got the last two seats. Anyway, at Hangzhou you usually have to wait aaaages for a taxi so need to allow about 45 minutes for that too, then the traffic to get to where you want to go. Actually the traffic and taxi situation wasn't too bad so we had time to grab lunch before we went in. Normally, the thing that gets me through a visit to Hangzhou is the thought of McDonalds or some other western junkfood but there wasn't anything but little Chinese restaurants that we could see so we ended up and dirty looking place where we got very expensive (well, compared to Tonglu anyway) vegetables.

The clinic is an International Clinic called the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital - a name I just love - and it is very plush. It's three times more expensive to see an actual western doctor so we opted for a western trained chinese doctor. I'd read on the website that they are trained in America so same difference to me really. I'd gone about my skin and its odd, but there's a certain relief to being told that I have severe acne. Obviously I'd rather not, but seeing as I do, it's reassuring to know that a) I'm not overreacting, b) it's not something I can control i.e. it's not because I'm doing something wrong and c) because they can treat it! Yay! She prescribed me isotretion (sometimes called roaccutane) which I've always steered clear of in the past becuase of the side effects, but enough is enough. I've only got 3 weeks supply and Rachael and Tarik will be looking out for me. So, this time next month I'll be goddamn beautiful!

What else? Went to the gym again today. It was soooo warm I was even sweating in the changing room and after about 15 minutes my top was soaked. It's not a good look for me. Have got a little bit of lesson planning to do tomorrow then Tarik and I want to pull together some figures and ideas for the school so it'll be busy but that's how I like it! I'm also trying to find a correspondance French course. I would like to use the time when I'm here to continue to learn oral Chinese but also refresh my written and spoken French. I got an A at Higher but that was ten years agao so I thought I'd do an A Level but of course I'd forgotten that I'd need to go somewhere (presumably the UK) to sit the exam, so it's back to the drawing board. There's an Alliance Francaise in Hong Kong so I've emailed them to see what advice they can give. If I can do that, and pass the GMAT in the next year, then I will surpass all my own expectations of myself and deserve a massive treat - like a big box of Soaves Honeycomb icecream 😊

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