When Life Throws You Lemons...

"When Life throws you lemons... get some salt and tequila and call me over.."

What happened to the ol "...make some lemonade" part? hehehehehehehehehe. I got the above twist to the Life n Lemon saying from Rina Macharia who I spent an absolutely wonderful 3 hours chatting with yesterday. Up until 2am NZ time.

It was actually quite an interesting chat. Both in content and manner.
Content - We spoke about love, life, sex and future dreams. Pretty intense conversation wouldnt you say?
And Manner - it was normal MSN typing at first, then she called me up on Skype. But since I didnt have a microphone, she did all the talking while i typed my responses on MSN!!! Very very funny. Thank you very much Rina for cheering me up and being with me at quite the low period!

And where have I been all this while? Been in training for the last 4 weeks at work. Induction training I should have attended when I started my traineeship but which I (and the remaining 3 interns) missed in July.

And oh! I also managed to fall sick with the flu and get a lung infection.

Been such a long while since I was this sick and in this much pain. It all started last week Monday when I woke up and felt like I had been mugged in my sleep. My ribs hurt, My left hamstring tweaked with pain when I stretched it and my right wrist felt like I had slept on it and sprained it. "After-effects from the intense session at the gym on Sunday", I thought to myself. Nothing to worry about.

But then a slight fever and a scratchy throat on Tuesday night let me know I had caught the flu. I left work slighty earlier than usual on Wednesday as we had a field trip to one of the Fonterra factories and pack-plants on Thursday and I had been really looking forward to the trip.

I am glad I made it for the trip on Thursday but maybe if I hadnt, it wouldnt have been this bad. High fever on Thursday night and in the middle of the night, breathing while lying down suddenly became intensely painful!!! I called in sick in the morning and spent the whole day trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with me. Friday night was absolutely horrible. Every breath caused me pain and it was with an effort that I stopped from crying out in pain (ok... maybe I did a few times...) A trip to the General Hospital on Saturday and I was advised to go to a WhiteCross Hospital Clinic where I would get the same consultation for cheaper. (It really sucks not to be accessible to free treatment with my work visa even though I am here for 18 months! Myabe this will spur me to get some damn health insurance at least)

I was diagnosed with plurithic inflammation of the lungs due to a bacterial infection and given some pills to reduce the inflammation and pain. Thank God for the miracles of modern science! I was supposed to go back and take an X-ray if the pain hadnt reduced by today but thank goodness it did.

Do you know you need a good deep breath to cough, laugh and sneeze. These 3 simple actions were denied to me while my lungs were inflamed and hurting like hell!!! Now I am taking a whole bunch of pills and hoping the infection is not a viral one and that i have been able to stave off pneumonia.

Some highlights of the past 3 weeks...

Hosted a party in our apartment for cute little Ana from Ecuador. She made all the food and brought all her friends and it turned into quite the event. We ended up dancing AIESEC songs and singing really badly at the top of our voices. And a group of us headed out to the town where burned up a couple of dance floors. Well... at least I DID!

Induction training. has been a real slog for me. I have been spoiled by all the bright lights and awesome presentations and speakers in AIESEC. While some of the courses I am attending have been really lively with discussions, questions and debates, some have been downright boring and I ashamed to admit that I was able to follow a Chelsea game online on the training computers we have in front of us which were connected to the internet.
It didnt help that a lot of what was being said, i had managed to pick up while working on the floor already.

My team (Middle East & Africa) had a Friday night out and consensus was that we should definitely try and do it more often. I had the most interesting conversation with my manager about... well... a whole variety of topics. Nothing like a couple (or 4) vodka martinis to break the ice between you and your boss! I ended up with 2 other colleagues at a very classy wine restaurant where I met this most passionate Chinese woman. She loves classical music and we spoke about living and growing up in communist China. Having lived in NZ for 10 years, it was quite amazing to hear some of her views on capitalism and all.

Induction Training Field Trip. Since this was my second trip to a Fonterra factory and pack plant. The main Highlight for me on this trip I have to admit was the bus ride back from the factory site.
We drove about an hour and a half to Hamilton to the Fonterra Te Rapa Powder Factory and my colleagues had tried to get me to entertain them on the trip there. I largely ignored them as I was still trying to get enough energy to get through the day.
On the trip back however, I was sufficiently psyched up enough to sing, tell jokes and entertain to everyone's delight on the bus. There were 12 of us on the bus and it was quite a varied bunch. Uruguay, India, South Africa, Argentina, Colombia, Kiwi, Malaysia, Japan... might as well have been an AIESEC after conference study tour!

I taught them how to play "Bitches Bitches" and there were various other games as well. Some of them quite flowery and boy-scoutly (I went to the shop and bought...) and others that had "pussy" as the main theme! Women outnumbered the boys on the bus ladies and gentlemen! We all agreed that we had to get together again as a group and re-play some of the games. But this time with lots and lots of alchohol!!!

So I am stuck at home for the next couple of days. Resting, taking pills and getting lots of fluids. Doctor's orders! I am already complety bored. And I should probably call work and speak to my supervisor at work who is covering for me while I am away. Just in case there are any issues.

I hope everyone is healthy and taking some tequila shots with the occassional lemons thrown at you by Life.

PS
I might take a trip to Thailand after the New Year