Alrighty, I need a break from my homework so it's time for an update. I'm currently halfway through my second reading about eugenics pre-WWII, and it's not exactly the most light-hearted topic. So let's talk about something else!
On Monday, I went on an excursion to a monastery and brewery organized by my study abroad program, CEA. What they didn't mention when describing the event was that, in order to get there, we would be hiking up this huge hill. The experience would have been lovely had my knee been healthy, but as it turned out, I was honestly quite miserable. In hindsight, I really just should have turn around when I started feeling my knee twinge while we were walking. But I had seen these beautiful pictures of the library in this monastery, and I'm just so used to being physically able, and I'm exceptionally stubborn.
I'm sure that the monastery was even prettier than the pictures, but I just sat down as soon as I got to the top of the hill and tried not to cry, because I couldn't really do anything else. (I know that sounds melodramatic, but it's totally true.) I managed to compose myself in the monastery, and then we headed over to the brewery across the street. Apparently it's a really old microbrewery and they make really good beer. We got a free beer to taste, which I used to discover that I really truly don't like beer at all. (Luckily, one of my roommates shouldered the burden for me.) Afterwards, we got a tour of the brewery. They said stuff about wheat and hops and fermentation and temperatures and dark versus light beers, and I pretty much had no idea what they were talking about the whole time.
When we were done, I ventured down the hill slowly and my knee hurt. At the bottom of the hill, there was a conveniently-placed Starbucks.* I sat in the Starbucks and rested for awhile before I got my over-priced-but-so-worth-it Americano. Armed with caffeine, I caught the tram to the library where I had my evening class. In the library, I sat and sipped coffee and ate snacks and read "The Hiding Place" (kudos to Brittany for giving me this excellent book before I left). Of course, after my fairly hellish day, I was to give a 30-45 minute presentation in my Holocaust Seminar. I was nervous, but the presentation went well and I managed to make it through Monday.
Tuesday, thankfully, was a much calmer day. I had Czech language class in the morning, in which we learned a new Czech song. After class, I took the tram home and made some lunch before I got to talk to my awesome dad, who woke up at 6am his time to talk to me about my knee. I explained what was going on and he recommended I see an English-speaking physical therapist while I'm here. I did some research later that day (during my Anthropology of Religion class) and found two places I could go. After emailing both and getting price estimates, I am going with the one that has a student discount, which makes each appointment about $25 (go lower health care costs). The only problem is that they don't have an appointment until March 3rd, which feels quite a long ways away at the moment, given that walking is really becoming not fun at all.
On Tuesdays, I have class from 2:45-9:15pm, which passed fairly uneventfully. I did realize that I'm currently spending $8 per week on Starbucks though, so I'll need to figure out a different way to stay awake during my evening class.
Tuesday night we got an email saying that bedbugs had been found in parts of our building and that people would be coming to inspect our apartment the next morning. We were told that we would either need to be out of the apartment for one hour (for preventative spraying if they found no bedbugs) or for six hours (for fumigation if they found bedbugs).
With the way the week had been going, I should have expected them to find bedbugs. When they told us the next morning, though, I was rather unprepared. I packed a bag for the day and headed to the gym. After the gym, I went to the mall and wandered around for awhile, stalling to make sure that David would be at his apartment when I got there. After taking a tram and a bus, I made it to David's apartment, where I finally got to shower before we headed to the grocery store. We made beans (they didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped), and sauteed veggies. David swore he hated cabbage, but we decided to try it because I wanted to. He braved a taste of it raw while we were cooking and the look on his face was hilarious. He was trying to convince himself it tasted terrible, but as the seconds ticked past, it became clear that he actually liked it. It was fun to watch.
I should probably give David some credit here. He is having to deal with a rather unpleasant version of myself right now. Not being able to run/elliptical/bike was difficult. Not being to walk very well is just compounding the problem. I am basically a big ball of stress and issues, ready to unleash on him at any time. It's just so disheartening to feel like I'm being blocked from this part of myself. I identify deeply as someone who is active, and to not be able to pursue that in the ways that I want is extremely frustrating. (I can't help but notice the rather cruel irony of this in relation to my last post.)
On a related note, I feel like I've been getting an itsy-bitsy peephole view into how disabled people are treated. When I'm walking with a group, I inevitably fall behind and it's easy to feel socially excluded and awkward. When I'm getting in and out of the trams, I can feel the rush of people behind me and I feel pressured to go faster than I know is good for me. It is clear to me that people look at me differently in the gym than when I was healthy. Just to be clear, I am totally not saying this to equate my knee injury with a long-term disability. I'm just trying to say that I had no idea what people with disabilities were dealing with on a day-to-day basis. I can't say that I have any constructive suggestions on how to solve this problem; the extent of the problem is just astounding.
*Normally, I avoid American companies while traveling abroad, but this particular Starbucks is also close to my school and I'm afraid if I go to a local place, I won't be able to get a big enough coffee to sustain me through my evening classes. So I am consistently breaking my own rule.**
**I am shamelessly stealing this technique from Becca Kempe.
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