A Day in Aylmer

After an errand this week. Me and my mom decided to take a little trip down to Aylmer. Aylmer is a small city in Gatineau, Quebec. It is a really cute town. My mother as a child used to go down to Aylmer every Sunday but she hadn't been there for 15 years so she was reminiscing on the old times as well as giving me a small tour on where she used to stay when she went.

On my part, I haven't been to Aylmer well ever, from what I can remember. So it was nice to see. I really liked the overall look of it and how it was full of history. I'll get to more of that in a bit. But as I usually tend to do I'll start with the beginning.

We took a quick stop at a local mall since my mother wanted to stop at a store that we don't have where we live. It turned out that we also stopped at a beer store that carried beer from all over the world while purchasing a variety pack of beers for someone in my family. We asked the man at the counter if he could suggest any good restaurants. Without a minute of hesitation he said, "L'Aubergiste".

 Now If you're lucky, when you ask a local for somewhere to eat or go he will tell you of someplace that the local's go. Someplace you wouldn't find on your own. And that has fantastic food.

Little sidebar here. That proves this story. Someone I know recently went on a trip to France for work. Some of their colleagues who travel there often recommended this little restaurant. As they went to find it they found themselves in a bit of a shady area with signs of it being kind of like a red light district. Their colleague that recommended it, is not the type of person to frequent those kind of areas so they where confused. They thought maybe they had went too far. They walked on a bit more and found a small little house with the name of the restaurant. In front of it sat an old lady who they later found out was 91 and the daughter of the first owner. She told them they where too early and had to come back at 8. They where hesitant but they decided to come back at 8 and found it to be their favorite restaurant of their whole trip with great food. They went back twice, the second time being on their last night in France and I know for a fact that they are still trying to recreate the salad they tried there it was so good.

All this to say that sometimes taking a chance and going where the locals go can pay off. So we went to where the beer store clerk suggested.

I had fish and chips and my mother had cream de chevre, bettrave, orange confites, pistaches et sauce aux frambroises. (Cream of goat cheese,beets,orange confits, pistachios and rasberry sauce). Both where good but I tried my mother's dish and it was just so good. She couldn't stop raving about it.

It was worth trusting his suggestion. We then went on to walk down to the water front. It was such a nice day.

Right by the water there was a small little museum.

We went through the museum and it was quite interesting. There were pictures of Queens Park back in the early 1900's which was quite interesting. One of them was the old water slide and of the merry go round and other attractions they had there. Here are some pictures I found online that where similar to the ones we saw.

 After some time there we headed back to the car. While we walked I took a picture of something I had been noticing since our arrival in Aylmer. It was these black markings on the pavement placed here and there. It turned out they showed who used to live in the older buildings in the town.

On the way back we stopped at a liquidation store where they had a lot of varied things. I ended up getting a Spanish learning set for more than 55 percent off. Why am I telling you this? Well learning new languages helps you while your in a foreign country and I might just be going somewhere where Spanish is spoken. More will be told on that subject when it is determined if I am or am not going. Meanwhile I will be giving updates on twitter (@MayaAdventure) and/or my blog on my progression in Spanish and what tools I am using to learn the language.

That ended my small trip to Aylmer it was great time. And overall a great way to spend a day!

That's it for this adventure.

So what are you waiting for? Go find adventure big or small!

Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival 2015

Not too long ago in Ottawa it was the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. If you haven't heard of it well the name describes it pretty well. It's a festival centered on Dragon boat races. Here's a picture I took of what they look like.

These boats are powered by everyone rowing in time to the beat of the drum in the front of the boat. Along with some commands that are yelled to keep the beat. These things combined make the boat move pretty fast.

The festival started in China over 2,400 years ago as a cultural tradition meant to make bountiful crops. The festival in Ottawa started in 1994 but was founded a year earlier. The first festival was half a day with 25 teams. This year it was over 200 teams and 4 day's long. Making it recognized as the largest dragon boat festival in North America. (for more information visits there website )

So as you see it's been going on a while and every year I hear about it through social media. And yet I have never attended it. So this year I decided I would. And I'm glad I did it was interesting and worth going to.

There's more than just the races at the festival there's also free concerts, activities, booths of food and more booths with some vendors and other with some information. Along with all that there's a children section with activities for them. And when I was there a bicycle stunt chow. But more on that later. Let's start with the beginning.

Part of my journey to get to the festival was a bus ride. It was a long one. The bus was packed and when I got to where there was supposedly a bus shuttle to the festival all I saw was a lot of people walking so not seeing a shuttle or anyone waiting for one I decided to follow the crowd. It was a bit of a walk but I'm so glad I decided to walk instead of wait and look around for a shuttle bus. Because of these guy.....

Living in Canada it is not uncommon to see these guys. But I usually just see them while driving I only get a quick look and then we have driven by. I have never really seen one much less two so close on a trail with so many people walking by. So naturally I stopped and too some pictures here's one last one.

And then we get to the festival

After a quick bag check there you are in the middle of it all. There was a decent amount of people walking around but not too many and a lot more people in the team and volunteer section of which I do not have a picture of. Here's the first view of the festival.

First I passed the Children section they had bouncy castles and a life size model of a cow people could try milking after which they got a sticker saying I milked a cow. I saw a couple children sporting them proudly in the festival grounds. Then on one side was the food vendors and further along some more booths with some wares to be sold, some causes that wanted support, and some centers publicizing there services. I spent some time walking around looking at all the sights. Like the main stage. Here's some pictures of the stage where concerts where going to be held later in the day. When I took the picture there was some people playing but I'm not sure who they where.

After that It was perfectly timed that I ended up at the bicycle stunt show right as the show was about to start. The show was sponsored by bell and it was partly about safety so the stunt man from new jersey would insert safety tips along the performance. And explain some tricks he used on how he did it safely. But he would also pretend he didn't know what he was doing at some points like bike towards the crowd and stop at the last second or do a trick of jumping the bike over a person and doing a cool move around him before actually doing it of course with room to spare.

Those weren't the best pictures I know. I had a good view at first but then the green hat child pushed through the crowd and went in front of me and well I figured making sure every one could see was a lot more important than taking the best picture.

Once the show was over I climbed the hill seen in previous pictures and took some neat pictures of most of the ground.

And then it was lunch and it all looked so good that I took picture. Chicken pad thai and freshly squeezed lemonade with watermelon flavor. Here's the photo of the stand I got the pad thai from and then of the food.

I ended my time at the festival with some time on the beach watching the races and taking yet again some more pictures.

All in all it was a good time and I'm glad I went. Lot's to see and do I stayed for about 3 hours or a bit more and I could of stayed longer if I found a place on the beach to sit, read and watch the races before going to see the concerts that started around 5. And if a person went with young children they could be there even longer since there was many things and separate activities for them. So there you have it The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. Free admission and interesting, worth to go have a look.

So what are you waiting for. Go out there and find some adventure big or small!

Montreal road trip

Hi I'm back.

I know I've been absent from posting on this blog for a while/ and there's not really a valid reason for that. Well there was a valid reason for a while but then when that passed over I could of went back to writing but I did not and don't ask me why I don't know. But like previously mentioned the blog is back and the tales of adventures big or small is too. So let's not waste any more time and get right to a recent adventure.

So not too long ago I went to Montreal, Quebec Canada a short little trip as I live less than 5 hours away from there. Someone in my family had work there and asked if I wanted to tag along. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity. Travel is travel and every opportunity might lead to an adventure that is amazing.

Our trip started with a long car ride and brings me to my first point I think you should know. Montreal driver's not the best. Now I'm not saying every driver is bad. But I think the driving style there is just different most people tend to drive aggressively. My tip when your there be confident with your driving and always look around. I say this because I've been to Montreal with different drivers. One was more of a timid driver and the other very confident both noticed that driving there was different than where we live but one driver the very confident one had less trouble. The other one, well lets just say it took us 25 minutes instead of 7 to get to our destination since we kept missing our exit our doing an unnecessary detour partly because of a faulty GPS but stress was also a contributing factor.

Our hotel for our stay was the Westin. First thing you should know about the Westin is that the entrance is pretty hidden here is a picture of it.

Photo taken from Google Images

What you see here is a picture of the entrance but that is not how it looks like from the street. That's an important thing to know since like us you might drive by it twice before realizing where it is. The entrance is somewhat hidden and when you enter it than it will look like the picture above the entrance is covered and part of the building. When you arrive there will be valets service for your car we took it since the only parking at the hotel is valets parking and if you don't take there is not really any parking spots anywhere near the hotel or in the general area. Any parking you might find if lucky would probably cost the same, close to the same or more. The way the parking works is that you pay for each day and can come in and out as many times as you would like. It takes up to 15 minutes for them to bring up the car so call in advance if your planning on driving somewhere.

Overall the Westin was a nice hotel with ideal place right next to old Montreal. The rooms where nice and the pool was interesting ( some parts of the pool had a transparent glass bottom.).

Photo taken from Google images

My family member's work was in the hotel and so we explored the surrounding areas pretty well. Like I mentioned it was next to old Montreal so we walked through it. I have to say it was not what I was expecting I had imagined something similar to Vieu Quebec(which is gorgeous by the way with old buildings and buskers and cute little shops) but it was not even close/ It had not many shops I was interested in, most where clothing shops and high end art shops with many tourist shops mixed in. Nothing very unique that I saw. Saying this it still had it's Montreal french Canadian flare in some parts and some buildings where very cool looking though they weren't the majority. I still enjoyed walking through it and in the tourist centered spot in the old Montreal there was little caricaturists booths one busker doing something that was not too amazing(sorry but it's the truth) and some balloons along with many little stalls with paintings from local artists. There where a fair number of people there and I think that in summer it must have lot's more things going on, more people and a better atmosphere than the day they we went.

For lunch we went to a place called Boucherie Charcuterie at the corner of the road Saint Paul in old Montreal it looked like a cute little restaurant. 

Photo from Google Images

The service however went from great to bad. Most reviews of this place on travel websites such as tripadvisor mostly say it's excellent or very good. With a few one star or two star reviews We went in not knowing any of this just stumbling on it and deciding to stop.

Like I said it went from great to bad. At first we came in got a seat right away and the server was a guy with lots of energy. He was nice and always throwing in some jokes. All was looking good. 5 minutes in it changed it started with microscopic things that if that was all that happened it would not have mattered a bit but when you add it all together it was somewhat irritating. My mom ordered a sangria with white wine and was brought one with red wine. The server assured her the red wine was better after she informed him that she preferred white. But with his suggestion she stuck with it. I noticed however at 2-3 other tables with people who also had ordered sangria that it was all red wine. Whether that’s a coincidence or that they where pushing the red wine sangria I don't know. But it was no big deal my mom informed me it tasted fine not great but ok.

Then came the next part we ordered soon after we sat down. When we asked about the deserts(since they where supposed to have fresh pastries there) He said they where probably out. It was only about 1 in the afternoon so that surprised me, still it was no big deal. We ordered our meal and started talking but we realized after a bit that it was taking a long while for our food. When we saw someone who came after us get there food before us than a man sitting next to us who got his food shortly after we sat down eat and leave before we where even served we were not too happy. After a few more minutes we asked how much longer it would be and the server said he would check and came back saying that it was coming soon. We waited some more with the server passing a couple times telling us again that it was coming but it was getting ridiculous more people came in someone who came in at the same time as us was getting ready to leave. My mom's theory was that he had forgot to put in our order until we had asked him about it 15-20 minutes after we had ordered.

At first I didn't mind waiting and so I told my mom to be patient and give it some time, that we weren't in a rush and to not ask again just yet. The point where I started becoming irritated again was when our server decided to take a break and go for a smoke outside. We saw him walk out cigarette in hand.

I gave it 5-10 minutes thinking maybe he was just going for a quick smoke and would be back soon but when he did not. I was like that's it and so this time we went to another server and asked again with him his response was “ who's your server I'll let him know” We informed him we saw him go out a while ago cigarette in hand. With that he said he would check for us and finally a couple minutes later our food came. We where very hungry by then and the food was sadly mediocre I had had high expectations for it it was supposedly a place with fresh meat and cheese made there but it didn't taste like it. When we where done eating we waited for the bill as we saw that at other tables it was brought to them before they could go pay at the front. But our server was still not back from his break so we went to another server once again. He told us “ I'll let your server know. Who is he” And we had to inform them that we hadn't seen the guy since he walked out of the restaurant cigarette in hand. We got the bill and let me say we were looking forward to leaving the crammed restaurant. When we got to the cash what do we see well what do you know pastries, when there was supposedly none. For some reason unknown to me my mom bought one a brownie, after all that and that at least the brownie (which we found out was made by another company) was good.

All this to say maybe we where unlucky and just had a bad server or came at a bad day but it was not a nice experience at Boucherie Charcuterie. And seeing other reviews on websites where not the only people it happened to. One review was saying they where not served because they did not speak french but me and my mom speak fluent french and we did nothing wrong and still waited there way too long.

The rest of he trip was good though. After that lunch we walked around some more and for supper went to a place suggested by the hotel concierge called Nolana. It was a nice restaurant with very good food. They where accommodating and the restaurant had a cool little style. When we asked about desert we were informed they where out of there normal dessert so they made a smore, caramel pizza with nuttela. It was so unhealthy but so good. If they still do that make sure you share it with someone we where two and didn't even eat half of it.

Overall Montreal was ok we didn't see much of it but what I saw was nice. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had had more time to explore than a day and a half. I know from research that there is a lot to see. There was some nice architecture and it was fun to be in a more french environment for a bit. Overall a great little weekend trip and I now know for next time what I want to see and what I won't go back to.

Little tips and information:

You should know is that even if it is a french place and a lot of the signs are in french most people do speak English so you won't be too stuck if you don't speak french.

Bring good walking shoes since walking is the easiest way to get around. ( I didn't have them and ended up with many painful blisters) There is very little parking in the busy area's such as old Montreal and downtown unless you are willing to pay a fair price. There are many attractions within walking distance from each other so that's another reason to go with walking.

That's all for this adventure

So I'll leave you with this as always.

Go out there and find adventure. Big or small.

Wanting to travel and thinking about the future

This post will not be about an adventure exactly but more about a step

to taking an adventure. I told you in my welcome post that I would share
how I got to reach my dreams and so this post is about that.

I've been asking myself a lot of tough questions lately. I just got out
of the hospital two days ago but already these questions have been
buzzing around my head so much that they demand me to answer them.

What are those questions you might ask? They are the humongous questions
of what I will do for my future. I know the ultimate goal, where I want
to end up. But I'm trying to figure out how to get there.

The goal is a life of traveling, of being able to work on the road and
be constantly traveling.

I've been doing some research and found two options that seem to suit
me the best. 1. teaching English abroad and 2. being a freelance writer,
finding jobs here and there and being able to work from anywhere in the
world. But it's not as simple as that, find a job and be on my merry
way. To get those jobs you need to have some background and some
education. At least a BA.

In September I was studying at the University of Ottawa in Classical
Studies, basically the study of the ancient world. The Greeks and the
Romans were what I was focusing on. I wanted to go in archeology because
it fascinated me and because it let you travel a lot. But after one
semester I found it wasn't for me, too much memorization and papers, not
enough actual archeology. I know that I won't be able to live through
another 3 and a half years of what I experienced in the first semester.
If I'm not invested in something it makes it incredibly hard for me to
excel.

Because of my surgery I had to take the second semester off school since
the recovery time for the surgery is almost 2 months and let's face it,
you miss two months of university and there's no way you can catch up.
You miss a week and you’re already desperately behind. The reason I'm
telling you this is that this semester off has given me a lot of time to
think and when I think of going back to what I was originally studying
there's no spark of excitement, no charge, just a sense that I'm not
sure I can spend the rest of my life doing it.

And so I'm now onto what will I do now. Like I said I know the goal, now
I just need to get there. If I need a BA (and a certification of
some sort) to teach abroad and get a better chance at getting writing
jobs. Then what do I want to study in that will be not torturous to do
for 4 years? So I came up with a BA in Creative writing. Not only
does it help me improve my writing for possible writing jobs and is
something I love but it also is in the English department and that might
help me with getting a job teaching English abroad.

This is however a big step. If I do this I'm officially committing
myself to a life of travel, I'm going to put a lot of money in this to
go to university and I will be putting also a lot of work in to get good
grades and then find jobs that will permit me to travel. On top of that
I will now have to start saving every single penny for both university
and for travel later.

So this is what I am thinking about. Do I go for the Creative writing BA
next year at a different university where I will have to move out and
work incredibly hard to reach my goals, and if not what do I do. Then
there's the thing that if I do this I won't be going traveling for
another 3-4 years unless I fit it in somehow without spending much money,
since I need the money when I go traveling around the world . But 4
years without travel might be worth it if I can do a lot of travel
after. So many questions!

But I think I'll go for it. Now I only have to build a writing portfolio
and a letter of intent while I feel like crap. And send it in this week.
Lot's of work ahead of me!

Thanks for reading. I'm off to work. :)

Adventure in Ottawa Hospitals

Today, on the first official adventure for the blog, we are exploring the world of Ottawa Hospitals.

Now, if you are lucky you are not familiar with this exotic place. Unfortunately, in the past month I have become intimately familiar with two of Ottawa's best hospitals. It has been an adventure and I am here to share it with you. Take this as a guide, the inside scoop. In the last month I have spent over 2 weeks in these establishments and so I have explored them fully enough to give you the low down.

One thing you should know is, don’t fret, Canadian's favorite coffee shop is present in Ottawa hospitals. In fact, they get a ton of business since everyone goes there. No matter if you’re at the hospital for an appointment, for work, for health reasons, or for volunteering there's a Timmy's sporting person around every corner. Yes I am talking about Tim Horton's and I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of their best-selling locations. Now that we got the dilemma of coffee out of the way, let's move on to what you can expect of your stay if ever you were to have one at a hospital. Now this is a general thing of course. Depending on the reason you are in the hospital, the overall atmosphere will be different.

Both hospitals are very closely the same so I am just going to concentrate on one specific hospital and my experience there. I first got to that specific hospital after an episode I had. I started feeling “really off” and then it proceeded to me having super blurry vision and almost fainting all the while dry heaving along with a plummeting blood pressure. As I had had open heart surgery 2 weeks prior (the reason for the first hospital stay), there was no messing around. We went to emergency where they proceeded to ask me some questions and then put me in a waiting room. One hour later, what do you know, it happened again. On a side note, I never got that. I'm here in the emergency because I feel there's something really wrong with me and you decide to make me wait in a room full of other sick people. I know it's the way it works and that the triage people take the worst cases first and can't take care of everyone at once, but there's nothing worse  than sitting in a small waiting room when you feel like crap. It seriously sucks.

Anyways, they put me in a wheelchair and at that point I don't even recall sitting in it, just being freaked out of my mind. So in my case I'm gagging and seeing the world through a haze so thick I couldn't tell red from green and they wheel me to a room with actual beds and equipment. I must admit they did it fast and efficiently. When I got there they did vitals and all that, but I won't go into details since this might get too long and it's not that riveting. Basically it was just me laying there for a day and eventually being admitted to a room. 

So I'm just going to hop on to the next part of the adventure and something else you should know about hospitals, namely something called the insertion of the dreaded IV.

Now some people are good at punching an IV into an arm, it only pinches for a second and then it's over. Others, like the person I had on one occasion, make it a very painful experience. If you don't know, here's a picture of an IV, the part they put in you

 

The arrow points to the part that goes in your arm, The long pointy part. I ran out of space in my sketch but it's a bit longer than the Image. I had a nurse that put that end in the skin like normal. OK, no big deal, I was used to it from my previous hospital experience. But then she proceeds to take it out, poke it back in a bit, then take it out a bit more and poke it back in all in the same spot. Let me tell you, that kind of hurt! The lady was nice but I'm not sure she was aware of the pain she was inflicting. Once it's in it shouldn't hurt, even when they put in liquid it shouldn't hurt, feel weird perhaps but not hurt. If it does or if an air bubble appears on your skin while using the IV tell the nurse immediately since it's not normal.

Another little bit of wisdom for you, IV's are hella annoying. When you feel well enough to take in your surroundings that thing will become very annoying, it catches on everything and when you are plugged-in to it it limits your movement a lot. So if you’re ever stuck with an IV here are some tips... there are none. You just have to live with it, sorry, I know not very helpful but the truth.

Now I'm just going to hit a bunch of points you might find interesting about my adventure in hospitals, some points might be good to know if your ever unlucky enough to spend some time there and might be helpful for your stay. But they can be read by all.

1. Be prepared for bad food. Seriously the food sucks … a lot. Most of it even just looks wrong. If you’re sick enough it won’t matter but when you’re at that stage where your feeling conscious enough to be aware of things you notice it, trust me. My tip: ask friends and family when visiting to bring in some food. Something you might not know, there is (at least at the hospitals I went to) a fridge where you can keep food. Just make sure the food is not too unhealthy cause the nurses won't be shy to take it and throw it out or ban you from eating it if. And if you’re not the kind of person to have visitors then ask a nurse. Those fridges usually have extra jello, pudding, and usually some kind of bread which in my opinion is the best of the hospital food.

2. Medication sweats. Yep that happens some medication makes you sweat so much it feels like you’re in a tropical island under a noon sun and if it helps you picture that, just don't open your eyes because all you'll see is bland walls, an IV stand and a bed.

3. Talking about beds. They are so uncomfortable! I'm not kidding. They give you killer butt aches when I was inexperienced in the art of maneuvering (I will divulge my secrets shortly) My butt hurt so much that it surpassed the incision pain from the surgery. Ya, that bad. Butt pain, it really hurts. So with all that it will come to no surprise that sleep is sparse. Sleep comes in two ways. One, you’re exhausted to the point where you just collapse into sleep after hours of being awake and staring at the ceiling, trying not to have a panic attack and being consumed by the boredom that is doing nothing for hours while everyone around you is seemingly sleeping when you can't. Two, you take a sleeping pill (I have not done this because I'm a stubborn head and hate taking medication, but it's an option). I;m told that the pills work quick and efficiently. There are the days when you win the hospital lottery and you actually sleep but you never will get a full night’s sleep. Even if you somehow manage to fall asleep, something or someone is always waking you up at the hospital. Whether its the blood tests at 3 in the morning (it happened to me) or them checking up on you by shinning a flash light in your face at midnight (again, it happened to me) or waking you up to give you more medication when you have just fallen asleep. Other things that woke me up are my IV beeping for 20 minutes in the middle of the night until someone came to fix it, morning blood tests, then other tests that wake you up 10 minutes after you just fallen asleep from being woken up for the first morning tests. The only good part about the beds is the fact that you can move them up and down by reaching the small button on the side of the bed, but reaching it is a problem of its own.

Here are Maya's butt ache prevention techniques. First, be aware that there is no fool proof method; for example, my butt is currently aching slightly because I've been sitting here typing for a while. But these tips will help. While in bed and experiencing butt aches these are your options.:
Change the position of the bed. Everyone has a preferred position that will be the least painful. Jiggle your booty every once in a while or as soon as you experience butt pain, it will help slightly. Next is turning from side to side. I know for me resting on my side hurt for the longest time so I couldn't, but if you have the mobility definitely do it. And the last thing is if you’re in good enough shape, to get up move a bit or simply sit in a chair. Now here is what you should do if you have butt pain while sitting in the chair. Simply move forward and backward in the chair. If you have difficulty moving like I did for a while, simply ask a nurse for a padded blanket for the seat of the chair and then it's much easier to slip forward and backward. And that's really all you can do. Sometimes there's no escaping the butt pain and when that happens, know that you’re not alone. Reader, I've been there and it sucks, especially when you have all the other stuff that hurts and lots of things on your plate that do not take to butt pain kindly.

4. When at a hospital here are the typical things to be aware of. Most people are in here for a reason and in my stay I have experienced, coughing, nausea, pain, palpitations, dizziness, etc. And what they do for that is try to find the problem that brings in the millions of the tests, some quite uncomfortable. Be ready for never ending tests because that's the thing. If you’re in here they will never stop!!! There's the morning blood test and pressure test and temperature and heart rate test. Then there's the other tests to find out what is wrong. Basically they’re endless and after a day or two I just came to terms with it and by now I don't actually mind it. In fact it's something that makes the boredom go away for a second even if it is unpleasant (I will talk about this more later). Lots of needles is something else you should expect and come to terms with. While typing this, I have like 15 needle holes in my arms, not to mention the IV. By this point I just feel neutral about them. 

What I don't feel neutral about is medications. I'm one of those people that hate taking medication. When I have a headache I wait till it becomes a migraine before taking Tylenol. They give medication here for this and that for pain, to prevent blood clots, stool softeners and many more. Take my advice, even if you’re like me and hate taking medication, take it. There's no need to be miserable on top of everything else going on in your life if you’re in the hospital. But I also recommend you make them point out each individual one to make sure they are right. Ask questions. Everyone makes mistakes and you want to make sure they got it right. They never made a mistake with mine but there has been occasions when there was 2 or three extra pills for pain or whatnot that I did not need at the moment and so after questioning them I found out I did not need to take them so I didn't. Remember to always keep yourself informed about these things and if they don't check the identification bracelet before doing a test that's a no no. Confirm with them to make sure.

5. Boredom. You will get bored to the point where blood tests and others tests will actually be welcomed because at least you are doing something. I know that's bad, but after a couple of days in a hospital it becomes the reality. Face it, there's not much to do here. But in case you ever are in a similar situation, here is a list of what you can do to pass the time. Eventually these things will grow repetitive and you will go back to the boredom square one but hopefully these will keep you entertained for a good amount of time:

You can read, draw, write, watch TV, phone and text people, surf the internet, and, when your well enough, walk in a circle around the floor. That's it. That's the extent of things I can think of right now. So as you can see if you are a person that likes to get out, being confined to a floor a in a hospital is not the best

6. Neighbours. Most of us, while staying in the hospital, are going to be staying in rooms with other people. In my case, I was lucky and was put in a room with only one neighbour. The two neighbours I had during my stay in the hospital were vastly different but they did one thing the same. And that is make noise. I'm sure they think of me the same way and the truth of it is there's no avoiding it. One neighbourh snored really, really loud. The other makes little, I don't know, gasps every so often. Every neighbour will have different needs than yours which means that you need to be prepared for some talking or lights being on in the middle of the night while they get the care they need. Also be prepared for different sleeping habits, roommates being up till 10-11 and awake at 6am. This enforces point number 3. Not sleeping well. But when frustration comes rolling in remember this: 1) You are probably as annoying to them even if it doesn't feel like it. 2) They also need care and deserve to be cared for and do what they need to do. 3)  In most cases there really nice people, focus on that.

7. Smell. You will come to smell if you are not mobile enough to move. They will give you a wipe down with a facecloth or make you do it yourself but trust me, that doesn't cut it. The day when you’re well enough to take a shower is a glorious one. Then there's the hospital smell, you know the one I'm talking about, it smells of disinfectant and a specific kind of soap. Another smell you will encounter is a nasty one. In my case my neighbor is not mobile enough to move so they use a diaper and a rolling toilet. They dispose of this in the washroom and let me tell you the smell is gross! So many smells, some worse than others, but you will most likely encounter them all.

8. Service. When you are in the hospital you are left alone most of the time and your safety net is the call button. This button is usually located at your bedside and with one press it will send a message to the nurse to come see you. Usually they come pretty fast but I've had times, today specifically, that it took 20 minutes or more for them to come. Granted I'm not in critical condition which is probably why it took so long. Be patient is my motto, breathe through the pain if there is some, they will eventually come. One problem with the call button is that it is placed for easy access when you’re lying down. But if you are seated in your chair it is almost impossible to reach it. Just be creative with this one, move your chair closer to it or tie it higher on the bed, there's many options.

There's also a food service. Yes the food is usually bad, as talked about above but, hey, when you’re hungry you will sometimes eat anything. Be cautious with the food trays. The food delivery people are not chatty and expect the bedside table to have a spot cleared for the tray. They will come in, ask your name, deposit the tray, and leave they don't like waiting with it while you clear the table so make sure you know when food comes and have it cleared and if you need help ask the nurse. One side of the tray will be hot sometimes, so much so that it burns to touch it, so when placing the food tray to your liking use the side that has cold food like juice or jello or bread. It's a handy tip because the people usually just drop the tray on the table and you will have to move it. After you’re done eating comes the annoying part, what to do with the tray. There's not really anywhere else to put it so it's stuck there taking all the place. Put it on the

floor you might say? Well I personally cannot bend to the floor or pick up the tray in my state so that is not an option. If someone walks by just ask for help. That's my best advice.

I know this has been a long post but there are two more things I want to talk about.

The first thing is what to expect of a typical day at the hospital (this is what I experienced).

7:00am wake up for blood test and then awake for the rest of the day or morning because you can't go back to sleep and if you do...

7:30-8:00 woken up for blood pressure, temperature and heart rate by the nurse that is replacing the night nurse.

8:30 breakfast is served.

9:00-12 waiting, boredom, maybe some more tests if they weren't done in the morning.

12-5 waiting, free time, boredom. You might see a doctor and do more tests and they might check your vitals depending on how you’re doing.

5-8 waiting, nothing

8 wanting to sleep but knowing you will be woken up at 9 or 10 for medications

9 woken up for medications because, let's face it, your exhausted and you somehow fell asleep.

9-10/11 trying to fall asleep while people are still bustling around and the big lights are on.

12-3 am still trying to fall asleep if unlucky.

7am it starts again

So this might sound bad but it's actually not that bad. I didn't include visits and talking with people if you get the chance as well as maybe actually enjoying the free time. But this is about what my stays at the hospital were like. Luckily, I have awesome parents that were very often there so I got to chat with them.

The last thing to talk about is going home anxiety. As much as you might grow to dislike the place and want to get out to the real world again, most people will feel nervous about going home. A place where there is no doctors and no one there in case of emergency. I felt this even if I really wanted out of the hospital. I am assured that this anxiety is normal. It stayed with me for a couple of days but eventually you will settle into your normal routine like I did and it will all be fine. What reassured me is that help is a phone call away and the people I live with are a yell away. So if you ever experience this, take it from me, it will get better and help is always close by. And if something does happen like it did for me a week after I got home, just call for help and you'll be fine.

So this is what my adventure in Ottawa hospitals were like. I hoped it was entertaining and that you learned a bit about it. Just want to mention as it is my first post that all images that look hand drawn are in fact drawn by me just so you know. :). And now I will leave you until next time with more adventures. Big or small.