An earful

It seems our family enjoys having ear infections together. First was Keira, then Alesia. Now it is my turn. I had a horrible experience last night when a middle ear infection kicked in. It was like being on all the rides at Luna Park at once. I could barely walk, and it took lots of deep breathing to keep all my dinner in my stomach. After an hour or so the symptoms passed and I went to sleep. Today I took myself to the doctor at the United Nations. We are on a list with the clinic there, so we can go to see them after surrendering a passport at the gate. It is $25 (US dollars) per visit. The doctor is very thorough, she wanted to be sure I did not have an emerging neurological disorder so I had to perform a variety of physical feats (stand with my eyes closed and slowly put my finger on my nose; walk in strange fashion around the office without falling over). After testing my reflexes, blood pressure etc she settled on my left ear, which apparently was fire-engine red inside. She wrote me a prescription for some ear drops and told me which pharmacy to go to. This is the problem with the UN clinic, you have to go find your own medicines. For the girl's I went to SOS Expatriate Clinic, as they give out the medicines during the visit, but I was tired of paying US$100 per visit to that clinic.

The driver took me to the pharmacy as directed. I went inside and was told that they didn't have the ear drops. I went back outside and no driver, no car. I rang the office and the driver had gone back to the office. Not sure why, but I was glad I had a hat with me. Even though it was a bright 4 degrees today the wind was nippy and the doctor had just told me it was important to keep my ear warm. I decided to walk back to the office (about 10 minutes) and stop in at pharmacies on the way to find the ear drops. Five pharmacies later I was very familiar with the term "bukwey" (don't have). My head was getting cold, so I thought to try one more before heading down a back lane and back home. The lady sitting at the desk in the small pharmacy could barely summon enough energy to look at me when I came in. I handed her the perscription. She looked at it, grunted and handed it back. Then she reached behind her and gave me two bottles. They came to the grand total of 5000 Tugruks (about AUD$5), and I got to keep the perscription for next time! Alesia is torn between commiseration and gloating - as she hated her ear drops and I was the lucky one who had to give them to her three times a day last week. Chris is just wondering when his turn will be.

On to some photos - Keira has been playing mobile phone lady lately. This one was taken at our favourte pizza restaurant:

Can't you see that I am busy with a call?

Keira is growing up so fast. She is in the bottom bunk bed now. Alesia came out last night and said "I need an adult to deal with Keira, as she keeps trying to climb into the top bunk." Chris went in and Keira was grinning down at him from the top bunk. In the mornings now Keira comes bouncing in to our room and announces that she REALLY WANTS BREAKFAST. Nyamaa did Keira's hair in pig tails the other day and Keira looked a year older.

Our sleding escapades continue, and I now have 100s of sleding photos to sort through. Chris got this nice one of me, where you can see that it was actually warm enough to show our faces outside. Today I walked with my jacket undone for a little while. That said, I have been told that some really bad weather is coming, and my field trip this week has been cancelled due to my bad ear and the bad snow in the location we were going to visit.