ER Visit

 So 2 doctor visits + 1 ER visit in the past two months in Bordeaux.  Totally gained a different perspective on our BC public health care system.  I appreciate my family doctor more than ever.  Selfishly wishing I could just zoom her 😅  If BC ever moves away from the family doctor care towards the care center system, that would be the wrong direction to go based on my experience. Sadly I hear that's where we're headed.   And the long wait for the urgent care in BC...is no wait at all compared to the French ER.  I don't recall spending more than 4 hours at the ER with any of our kiddos all these years.  

Well, I spent 8 hours at the ER at the Bordeaux public hospital the other night.  The waiting area was a typical ER waiting room, maybe a bit smaller than the Canadian ones but felt like a party room.  You could barely find a seat.  The stretchers were lining up all the way outside the hospital.  At any given time, there were 3 stretches inside.  Each stretcher was accompanied by 3 firemen.  Do the math, that's 9 firemen + 3 stretchers + 15 other patients like me in a closed area, not well ventilated.  The firemen were chatting up a storm with each other and with the patients.  None of them wore a mask.  One stretcher was a man in his 20s, in athletic shorts.  His right knee was red and swollen.  Looked way too farmilar 😬 I overheard him saying "football" to the man next to him.  I symphasize.  Wish him a smooth recovery!

The nurse who registered me spoke perfect English with North American accent told me not to worry about the fees.  It doesn't matter who pays, I wouldn't have to pay a cent, he said.  Welcome to the French public health care.  But money was far on my mind.  Five and a half hours after the registration, I finally saw the doctor.  He didn't speak much English and he apologied for that.  I was thinking why would you speak a foreign language in your own country?  No need to apologize.  Thanks to Google Translate, he and I understood each other perfectly.  He ordered ECG and x-ray to check my heart and lungs and explained to me why.  The ECG and x-ray took no time at all, super quick, but the wait to get the result was another 2+ hours.  A total of 8 hours later, I was cleared and sent home with a copy of my complete test results.  However, the pain in my chest was unexplained.  I went home in the same condition if not worse.

My landlord drove me to the hospital and stayed with me the entire time despite my repeated plea for her to go home.  I got to know her quite a bit during the 8 hours 🤣  She's such a sweet lady, well traveled.  Been to Montreal and skied Tremblant.  Quebec French sounded really funny to her.😂  She couldn't understand why fresh fruits and veggies were so expensive in Canada.   She's also been to Taiwan a couple of times, tried every type of street food.  Her fav Chinese food is dumpling.  I made a batch just for her.  Noah wrapped half of these yummy looking dumplings.  Not bad eh?

The moral of the story, if you have to get sick in a foreign country, make sure you have a nice landlord 😁 I feel very fortunate!

Dune Du Pilat

We had an amazing time visiting Dune du Pilat, the tallest sand dune in Europe, situated between lush forest and turquoise Atlantic ocean, about 1 hr drive from Bordeaux. It's absolutely breathtaking. Walking up to the top takes no more than 10 minutes but with all the visitors lining up to go to the top, for a moment, it felt like we were trying to submit the highest peak in the world 🤣 Seriously, where did all these people come from? Why would anyone want to visit the sand dune on a beautiful sunny day in Feb? LOL! 

The crowd disappeared as we continued to walk along the dune towards the beach. We found ourselves surrounded by nothing but sand and the ocean. Not another soul in sight. Serenity!!!

 We encouraged the kids to get their bickering out of the way, the best location for that sort of thing. Mommy and Daddy can and will ignore your mischievous behavior here.  Well, they found themselves in Boba Fett, running for their lives or becoming the best shooter of the bunch. Or better yet, Frozen 3, starring Levina Xing with sand magic 😂 

Nature is the powerful place to heal and recharge.  I don't disagree one bit.  We'll deal with kids' bickering on the drive home. 

New Home in Chartrons

We moved to a new home yesterday amidst the French national protest chaos.  We've been looking forward to the move since the day we lost Evania and Noah temporarily.  Our new home is much closer to kids' school, about 15 min walk through a residential street, very quiet and straightforward.  No need for buses or trams.  It is located in the Chartrons district of Bordeaux, just North of the city centre, known as a trendy, posh neighbourhood.  If we use Victoria as a reference, I'd say Chartrons is a bit like Oak Bay or Fairfield neighourhood of Victoria.

As early as the 18th century, the whole district became a busy hub for wine cellars and merchants due to its proximity to Garonne River for wine exports.  However, in the post war years, it was abandoned by business owners.  In early 2000s, the government decided to revamp the entire area. If you take a stroll through the Chartrons neighbourhood, you'll notice the typical old architecture facade on most buildings, which are now occupied by restaurants, offices, schools, and even private homes.  Now, it's highly desired area to live.  It's quite nice.  It's like walking through a time machine into the past.

This is the residential street that our kids take to and from school daily from now on, one way traffic, not very busy.  We're planning on getting Evania and Noah to walk Levina to school next week.  

Our new home is only slightly bigger than the previous one but it feels like a home.  It's a two bedroom, one bath house.  Yes, we'll have to get creative with 1 bath for 5 people.  😂

Here's our living room with a pullout couch.  Kids will take turns to get the couch.  Noah started this time.  He said he had a great sleep last night.  

 Notice the coffee table?  It's made from an old barn door.

A solid dining set.  The dining chairs in our previous Airbnb were falling apart in the end.  I'm sure these solid wood ones will last our entire stay.

I'm enjoying the hot chocolate kids made me.

I love the big window in the kitchen, let in so much light throughout the day.

We actually have a dishwasher this time 😁 and a gas stove.  It doesn't cook as fast as the induction technology, but it's still faster than what we have back in Victoria.  It's great for stir fries, which I do on a regular basis.  The landlord was very considerate.  She bought a brand new set of pots and pans for us.  

Here's me happily cooking away.

The hallway leading to the master bedroom and bathroom.

This is the kids bedroom.

The master bedroom.  The bedding is so comfortable.

I hope I'll find myself in that chair with a book in the coming days.

Bathroom/laundry room.  We noticed something missing in the bathroom.  There's no fan or vent.  The previous Airbnb didn't have one either.  This is something I've noticed in a lot of buildings.  When you walk into a shop or a mall, you would feel the air so stale to a point that it's hard to breathe.  It's quite noticeable, at least to me.  I wonder if this is something that cannot be retro fitted in the older buildings?

Anyway, this is our new home.  We are super happy here.  The location is perfect.  The surroundings are beautiful and pleasant.  Kids say this actually feels like a home.