Vaccinations. Or how the National Health System failed once again.

Most of you know I never take any medicine and I never go to the doctor. Now I know why.

I should start by saying that I come from another region of Spain (Tudela) from where I study (Madrid). So although it’s called national health system, you have to ask to have a doctor assigned in the region you live, which of course I didn’t have, because I never use them.

Big mistake, as it turns out. Why? Simply because for any vaccination, you must have a doctor assigned so as to be reimbursed and have someone who will do the injections. So when I found this out at the beginning of the week, as well as the fact that I couldn’t be vaccinated of everything because I only have 3 weeks before leaving, it kind of freaked me out.

As you might imagine, this was kind of a chaos and I had to tell my mom to go and ask for these vaccines to my doctor in my hometown. This means that I have to go back home to be able to get vaccinated. And you would think more people do this, and it shouldn’t be hard to find these medicines. Here again, it’s not. The doctor couldn't find the one for typhus, so basically I had to buy one vaccination in Madrid. But then I discovered I had to transport it between 2 and 8ºC, so I thought what the hell?!?!

My next step was to ask my partents to call all pharmacies in Tudela, where finally we found one that had everything I needed, despite what the doctor had said. Or at least I hope so, fingers crossed!

So this leaves me here, after a week running from one place to the other, dealing with confused people who don't know what they are talking about. Anyway, I will be taking the bus in a couple of hours, and tomorrow, hopefully, I will be completely vaccinated. Thypus and Hepatis A, beware!

*I shall make an entry on malaria, which has no vaccine, next time!

Flowing choices. A philosophy for life.

I feel the best way to get started in this journey is to explain how it all began.

A couple of months ago, I received an email offering internships in a spanish NGO in Cambodia. As always, I thought, how crazy would it be...?

Truth is, as most times, I just stumbled upon something I thought was interesting, and somehow decided to follow it. As my friend says: "Just flow".

So I applied with little hope and a couple of days later I did a "job" interview with the organizers. I knew I had to wait 2 weeks to get the results and I was at home when they called me and said: you are in! I started jumping up and down, I really didn't expect a positive response.

Nevertheless, I then decided to start checking the news -which only included border clashes and dead people-, diseases, thinking that I had to change all my exam dates, leave my appartment, quit my job, get vaccinations... And all in less than a month. I even got a great offer to go to Morocco with another NGO. This is just crazy, I thought to myself.

And still undecided I went to the first meeting. There, they started speaking about how we could help, what the country was like, who we would be meeting, and something just told me: "This is IT". So here I am, learning Khmer, wondering about mosquitoes, changing exam dates... "Just flowing". But more on that later.

So once again...

Hi there!

Those who know me might be wondering why I am writing a blog again... Well, it's quite simple really, my plan is to share with you a new experience. And what experience is that, you might ask? Well, after Canada and Italy, I've taken it a step further: My next stop? Cambodia.

I leave in less than a month, so that leaves me with really little time to plan everything, let alone writing this and I am guessing it will be even harder for me to write from Cambodia. Nevertheless, I will try my best to complete this blog as soon as I can and show you what I will be discovering in that unknown country, which I am sure will be quite a lot!

Thanks for reading, more soon!