Red eye

I’m sick with conjunctivitis*; first time sick since I’ve been on this continent. Darn, I can’t brag that I’ve never been sick here now.

Come to think about it, I’ve been remarkably sick-less these days. In Canada, I would have had at least two colds by now. I think it’s the stress. When you’re at school, all nighters are so common. Here, nothing would make me sleep less than I need, except maybe the occasional day where I have something at work I need to finish. (actually, I don’t usually get sick in summer in Canada…no school!)

I’m not that careful either. I tend to have this silly philosophy that if I slowly introduce potentially disease-inducing materials into my body a bit at a time, it would make me less susceptible to major sicknesses. Hence, I don’t carry around hand sanitizer (nor wash my hands with the really harsh soap that is usually provided; sometimes I think it’s probably worse to wash with that…I eat mostly with a spoon anyways). I occasionally drink tap water from home if I’m just lazy or there’s no bottled water. I don’t fret if muddy water splashes on me on the road. I eat street food all the time. In Canada, if things drop on the floor, I still eat it (most of the time). Yeah, gross, I know.

I went to see a doctor at CCBRT. My friend who lives upstairs works there. They have amazing doctors there, thank goodness. Plus, they run on a model where the rich patients subsidize the poor ones. I pay more and those who can’t afford don’t have to pay. Definitely something I can support.

But now I have fever-like symptoms of a headache and a sore throat. And a swollen and itchy eye. Doubly great since it’s almost the holidays…

*More commonly known as pink eye. Apparently, it’s called red eye here (just like in Cantonese).