The thing is, no matter where you live, sometimes you get sick. It's just easier to feel bad for yourself when you're under the weather and living abroad. Everything seems harder. And it is.

When I'm well and communicating in Bulgarian there's an element of fun and achievement upon getting what you need or want across to someone who doesn't speak English. When you're not well, there's nothing fun about it. It's not a game and no, I don't feel like coming up with another creative way to try to express myself.

Luckily for me I've never been seriously sick in Bulgaria. To date, I thought I had strep throat once, I had a flu that kept me home in bed for three days and most recently I've had a urinary tract infection (twice). All things considered, this isn't bad for three years living in Bulgaria. Oh and I also <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2011/01/03/ive-got-pneumonia/" target="_blank">got pneumonia (and a chest x-ray) last Christmas in the States</a> but that doesn't really count because there I speak the language.

Anyhow I got a comment on my last post about <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2012/01/22/a-trip-to-the-doctors-office/" target="_blank">visiting the doctor's office</a> and my inability to integrate in Bulgaria. I read the comment, rolled my eyes, sighed and then I didn't approve the comment for 24 hours. In the meantime, I talked about my unwillingness to approve the comment with my parents during our standing Sunday night skype date. My MoM wisely (and rightly) pointed out that I never get worked up about comments on my blog and must still be recovering.

She's right. I never get worked up about what people write. I don't approve spam or racist/homophobic comments but pretty much everything else ends up on my blog. By in large, people are really kind and supportive. Well, aside from the people who take the time to write me some version of the-if-you-don't-like-it-here-then-leave comment.

So we started joking about the whole thing. Me at the doctor's office armed with my textbook Bulgarian and the various sentences I have command of (or not) as the case may be.

The first time I had a UTI, I went by myself on a weekend. <em>Ug</em>.

Of course the thing is that when you have a UTI, you know it. There just aren't any external signs. The result of this is that you get to say things like: it hurts me here and gesture. But if you stop and think about it for a minute the emerging problem is that there is a lot that you could be gesturing at. It's not a having a sore throat or needing stitches. It's all internal.

For me, it was about this point that I realized that this all I could say because I realized that I don't know verbs either in the perfective or imperfective form for to pee in Bulgarian. I know how to eat and to drink in Bulgarian but apparently nothing's coming out of my body in Bulgarian. This was about the time I started cursing at myself for not looking some some words I might need before heading to the doctor's office or for not having a smart phone.

But really, who thinks about these things when they're sick?!

The result is that you put on a smile, the best you can, and say things like: I have to go to the toilet, at lot. Then you try the it hurts me here business again. Another semi-reliable trick seems to pronouncing English words related to the body with what you think might be Bulgarian emphasis. Hello, sinus and синус.

Mind you, I got pretty far with this exchange in Bulgarian (if you're dying to know the specific details to a urine sample) but then the doctor started asking me questions in Bulgarian that I didn't <em>really</em> understand. This is of course the worst part because you actually want to give the right answers at the doctor's office. The smile and nod business that I can sometimes get away with just doesn't cut it here. Sure, I am not allergic to any medicine that I know of but I'd like to know that I'm taking the <em>right</em> medicine.

So I got my cellphone out and tried to figure out which of my female Bulgarian friends I could call on a Saturday morning to talk to the doctor for me. I actually have a fairly large circle of Bulgarian friends but one who will be up on a Saturday morning and know enough medical English to help me narrowed my list significantly. Needless to say, I caught a friend at home who gladly helped me. Or at the very least, I was glad that she helped me. There was a lot of back and forth--me to my friend, my friend to the doctor, the doctor to my friend, and my friend back to me. And we played that game few times. <em>Phew</em>. I was glad when that was over and I had a prescription for antibiotics in hand.

At the pharmacy near my house, I had an awesome back and forth with the pharmacist about whether or not I was pregnant. I, of course, didn't understand what she was asking me and she was unprepared to give me the prescription without confirmation that I was not pregnant. She somehow dug out a picture of a pregnant woman--advertising of some sort and pointed at the picture and then me. Luckily I am good at both pictionary and charades.

Needless to say, this time around, I was very happy to have an appointment with an English speaking doctor under control before I arrived at the clinic on Friday. Could I have managed without this? Well, pretty clearly the answer is yes. Would it have been easy? No but I'd have done it.

Probably this whole thing should