Trip to the hospital and a Cuban Barber

Hey all!
I have responded to the wonderful comments that you left me! Thank you. I am sure this will be a shorter entry because tomorrow morning I leave for an exciting 3 weeks of spring break in Europe!

Last weekend was my 21st birthday and we had a lovely time! I made tacos and had a small party with my friends. Then on my actual birthday we ordered take away (take-out) Chinese food and watched one of my favorite films, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The next morning I became violently ill. I am not sure if it was the dodgy Chinese or what, but I didn’t eat properly for nearly three days. The American in me refused to go to the doctor. This whole “free national health care” thing sounded a bit too good to be true. Finally I caved. Wednesday night I was getting worse and asked James to take me to the hospital. Knowing that I would have to fill out loads of forms I took a billion forms of ID (passport, student id, drivers license etc.), my insurance card, and my credit card (just in case!). When I got there the woman at the desk asked me for my name, date of birth, address, phone number, and an emergency contact (thanks James!). That’s it. I never filled out a single form, never showed any sort of id. She sent me round the corner to wait. Here it goes I thought! This is going to take foooorever! I glanced round while I waited, sizing the place up the way one looks over mom’s new boyfriend, still loyal what you hold dear, but curious nonetheless. A few minor, minor things were in disrepair (the paper towel dispenser had to be taped shut and the molding on the floor had duct tape on it in one spot). Other than that, it was fine. Nothing too flashy, the walls might have needed some paint, but it was a perfectly functional hospital! There was even a machine that went “ping”!

I waited about 30 seconds before a nurse got to me. The woman sent me to see someone else. The second woman told me I had a “tummy bug” (I think she was a pediatrician) and gave me four boxes of various medicines to try. I checked out and that was it. We called a cab and I went home. No forms, no co-pays… nothing. The hospital doesn’t even have a cash register. It was possibly one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

I am not sure how I feel about having a National Health Service. Our schools and law enforcement are nationalized. When we call the police because we’ve been robbed, they don’t take our insurance information before sending someone over. Having a national health care system seems great in some ways. The citizens do pay for it in taxes, but everyone is guaranteed treatment, no matter who they are. I think too there is a propensity to abuse the system in a sense. I became ill again this morning and was tempted to catch a cab right back to the hospital, a little drunk on the excitement of free health care. So I could see how people would go for every little thing. What do you all think about it?

One last note. I went to get my hair cut at this really ritzy place in town (we had buy-one-get-one free vouchers!). I ended up with this guy who didn’t speak much English and Rachel got a fellow British woman. Of course when we sit down, I start chatting to him. Turns out he’s a contemporary dancer from Cuba. He worked at a hotel when a Scottish woman visited on holiday; they fell in love and married. He moved to Edinburgh to be with her. He likes it here, but definitely had some complaints! We chatted easily about the things we missed about home and had a few good laughs, both relishing in having someone to loud with again! Later Rachel told me that she and her barber were amused by how American I was being. I asked what I’d done. She said that people don’t talk to strangers. They may make small talk, but no one would share all the details that we were discussing. That seems to be so much more commonplace in the states. I think I rather like being open. You learn so much more about life. Think of all the great information I would have missed out on if we had made small talk, rather than having a real discussion!


Observations from the past few weeks
- The grade in my Social Work class is 40% an essay and 60% a final exam. Over 20% of the class simply didn’t hand in the essay. But remember, they only have to pass their first and second year classes, grades do not count. So if they do well on the exams it will be fine.
- I had an interview over Skype with a summer camp in Michigan! How’s that for technology flattening the world! I knew you would be proud Dr. Perruci.
- Two of my classes literally told us what the essay questions are on the final. For both classes, I could have skipped every single lecture and still passed with a little research on my own before the exam. No wonder people skip class so much!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!
Katy