Poking, Prodding and Peeing…

Within the first two weeks of my arrival, I was sent to the hospital to have a medical exam done. I was lucky to have Selena, the adorable receptionist from my Appletree (my school), to help interpret for me. I was asked to fill out a few forms and then sent to pay (well Selena paid with school money). Then we made our way up a few floors, lead by a very nice lady who spoke fairly good English. In one room, I had my eyes checked and my temperature and blood pressure taken. Then we walked down the hall and I was told to change into these ugly scrubs. They did a chest x-ray (probably to check for TB) and I think also checked my heartbeat (it’s been a few weeks…I promise to write more regularly and up to date once I get caught up!). I was then sent to have blood taken and the lady from the blood room gave me a cup for a urine test….this is where it got interesting. I walked into the bathroom and saw one stall that said “baby seat” and initially, I assumed that meant it was a child’s potty. I wish I had gone in that one and spared myself time and embarrassment. The other stalls were stand-up toilets!!!! At first, I was like oh no! Then I figured if other women of the world can do it, then Ingrid Anna-Lisa Keller sure can! Well…. I failed. Much of my urine made its way on the floor and it was just a bad first experience with the stand-up potty. When I walked out after about 10 minutes (I’m sure Selena wondered what in the world I was doing), I saw that the “baby seat” toilet was in fact a sit-down toilet….who says only babies need to sit down to pee??? I plan on trying again at some point if I encounter a similar situation and will perhaps let you know if I’ve progressed in my skills. But at this point, I still stand by the idea that “True ladies sit down to pee.”