Jabbed

My big China trip is coming up soon, and there's so much to do. My contract ended on Friday, so today's the first real day I've had free to get all my travel things sorted.

I needed a bunch of passport pictures for visas I'll apply for along the way, and I discovered that Photobox does a great deal - 8 photos for 4 GBP (includes delivery). I just snapped a picture of myself against a white background and uploaded it, and I'm supposed to get them by tomorrow. Fab!

I also needed to get updates on a lot of my vaccinations, specifically polio, diptheria, tetanus, hepatitis A, typhoid, and rabies. I got my tetanus booster a year ago, but the polio, diptheria, and tetanus is a three-in-one so I got to get another one. Not fun. I ended up getting jabbed 4 times, and the technician was really quick so it wasn't too bad. I used to think it was odd that they call it a "jab" over here for a needle stick, but I've decided that's a pretty accurate description of what it feels like.

Yes, I've got a FOB mark. Lol

I did a ton of research to figure out where to go, and I ended up picking MASTA. They have a location within walking distance from my flat, and their prices are a wee bit cheaper than the others I looked at: Berkeley Travel Clinic, 1st Contact, and CityDoc. I know NHS does some for free, but I don't have much time left to get this done, and I was concerned about the difficulty in trying to schedule three different appointments before I leave for my trip.

All in all, I was pretty happy with the way the appointment went, but some things are a bit different here. For instance, the jabber didn't wear rubber gloves and she didn't swab the site of the injection with alcohol. She also didn't warn me when she was going to stick me, she just went at it with syringes blazing. I'm not complaining, it's just different. I actually didn't mind the lack of warning, since I didn't have time to tense up. I'm now riddled with MASTA plasters (band-aids), and the ache is starting to set in.

Only two more rabies shots to go. Woohoo!