things just keep getting crazier and I am slowly losing my internet addiction... currently replacing it with a different hobby right now that I am keeping a surprise for now...
*ahem* anyhow back to Cork (feels like so long ago)
so I left off in Waterford, about to go to Cork. The buses left every hour, so that was simple enough. I just packed up and walked on down. The ticket machine messed up and gave me three tickets. That wasn't good - they were not so cheap!
I went to the help desk and they said they didn't have forms to refund them, plus there would be a refund fee so I would have to do so in Cork. Ugh. So I contemplated trying to sell some, couldn't, then went on with my three tickets and took the bus.
It was a pleasant journey - not too long either, but long enough that I arrived after the ticket office was closed. I'd have to get it fixed tomorrow.
Speaking of fixing, I forgot to mention that intermittently since my last morning in Kilkenny I had been feeling my bladder get really irritated. It went away before the trip to Waterford, came back in the morning, then on this day it was gone again and I had hoped that meant it was gone for good. It stayed away while on the bus thankfully. This gets more important later...
My host met me at the bus station! I was again so impressed that he came and met me! Benny lived super close by, right beside a big cathedral (perfect for directionally impaired people) and had the whole house at the time! He's in the process of moving, so the other roommates had moved and now there were extra bedrooms and such :)
I was kind of zoned out from the bus, so we lounged and chilled for a while. His friend came over to visit, so we hung out for a while... He played some guitar, and we watched a movie I had hijacked from Montreal. Before I knew it I was falling asleep... so I did.
I was woken up rather rudely by my bladder.
This time it was wayyyy worse, I could see blood even though it was not time for that... I knew it was my bladder that was bleeding, and that is a bad sign. I was beyond trying to drink lots of cranberry juice... it was doctor time.
Benny was super nice and walked me to the hospital - where they told me it would be over 100 euro just to get looked at there, so it would be easier if I went to a GP, which would be about 50 euro. Both sounded crappy, but I was using every washroom available while walking around, and it was getting painful.
We found a GP that would take me in a couple hours. Benny had to go somewhere, so I used that time to go get the bus tickets sorted, and get to the tourist office and get some brochures on stuff, and a bunch of maps. Took some pictures...
Of course now that I had a doctor's appointment the discomfort lifted for a while. I was happy though. I went back to the Doctor and waited for over an hour in the waiting room, just like back home! Haha so even if you pay for it they are still really really late.
I peed in a cup, and it was not as red as usual, so I was worried that it wouldn't show up as much and he wouldn't give me strong enough antibiotics, but it still showed up as positive...so I got my prescription, went next door, and got my precious antibiotics!
There was also a coffee shop with wifi next door, so I went online, got on Skype, and made a claim with my travel insurance. It was surprisingly easy to do - the person on the phone was really nice, and I got everything done except mailing in the documents.
The coffee shop was closing though!
I walked back to the house on my first round of pills. I knew I might feel sick, so I sat and watched some Deadwood. I got addicted to it, but I was hungry and cold eventually so I had to go out and get food.
I went for a bit of a walk into the city... found a Centra and got a frozen pizza. I figured out how to use the cooker (they are different than North American ones) and continued on my Deadwood marathon.
Benny was going out, but I was not feeling the best, had just eaten a whole pizza, and was in the Deadwood zone. I decided to stay in that night and just take care of myself. I had cranberry juice to choke back (yuck) so I did my best and went to sleep.
The next day I was not awoken by my bladder, so that was nice. It was still there though; every time I had to use the washroom it would be sudden and a major emergency, so I had to be careful that wherever I went had a toilet.
I printed off forms for my insurance claim, photocopied others, mailed a postcard... All with success.
I went to an exhibition about undersea creatures in Croatia, and they had a model of Cork City! It was a neat space:
I had my hula hoops collapsed with me, but I was not feeling confident enough to put them together in the middle of the street and just start going off. I was feeling lightheaded too, which I now know was the antibiotics because it lasted for the duration of the round. I felt sad that I was feeling weird (if that makes any sense at all) so I went into a park to hoop where I would be more comfortable and possibly cheer myself up that way.
It seemed to work, although there was no toilet there and I barely made it to the house to use the toilet.
It actually got really really bad. I was so desperate I speed-walked, almost delusional, into a church hoping so bad that they had one. There were people in there though (service was starting), and no clear door that said toilet. I thought I was going to pee myself; I ended up kneeling/crouching in the back and digging my heel in with as much pressure I could use. It looked weird, but it was that or pee. My stomach hurt from the effort, but all I could see what confessional doors. I realized this was a catholic church, and I had never been in one when there was a service.
The wave receded and I was able to move up into a pew to look less conspicuous. People started chanting and stuff and I had no idea what to say. They made the cross hand motion thing and I tried to imitate. I had to get out of there before it came back, so I walked out as fast as I could ignoring the looks.
The walk back was the hardest thing I have done on this trip so far. I could barely see straight. Nowhere I walked by looked like they would have a toilet. I was on the street so close to the house and the wave came back. This time I had to do the heel pressure thing again, but it was on the street. Good thing I don't live there haha. It looked weird I'm sure, but luckily it wasn't a SUPER busy street so I just sat there wincing until the wave finally passed. This time I ran to the door.
After that experience, I was not inclined to go out right away. I ate and filled in my paperwork for the insurance people. Benny came back to the house, and we got some food at the corner store I think. Tonight was Friday, so people were going out.
The crazy waves were subsiding a lot by nighttime, so I decided to come out for a little while. We met a bunch of his friends at a bar with pool tables and air hockey. I played air hockey and lost! I am not used to that! I was confused! There are some pictures! I played pool too and that was fun :)
The night progressed, and I ended up at a couple more bars before eating a burger and heading back to the house! I'm not sure how late it was, but I had a really good time :)
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