I'd always thought of Greece as a country where people in the 1920's fled to for good health in a good climate. You are always reading tales of American writers, their wives and friends taking Mediterranean vacations for their well-being, both somatic and psychological, and technically speaking, Greece does seem to be a good place for that, what with its overwhelming days of sun and warm weather.
Yet for some reason, ever since I've moved here - whether we lived in the big cities or the islands or the mountains - I have managed to get colds and/or the flu multiple times in the fall and winter months. In Nashville I had a sort of schedule for these illnesses - once in the summer, once in the winter, and once in the spring - which wasn't really surprising considering I have a "challenged" immune system. But here in Greece I seem to get upwards of a half dozen colds, right on top of another, between October and February. I'm now working on my third cold of the season, which started a week after I had been fully recovered from the last one.
I would understand this if it had been cold and wet for the last couple of months, but the temperatures have been relatively warm for winter and the days have been quite sunny. Why does Greece make me sick? Do Greece and I not get along? Do we have a bad relationship? I really don't think so. I've become quite fond of Greece since I've been living here and I like to think Greece has become fond of me. So why the sickness? Why does Greece seem to be a breeding ground for infectious microbes this time of year? And why, oh why, do I have to get sick so many damned times?
At first I blamed it on my husband working in a hospital - but when we were on Kos and in Litochoro he worked at the Army camps, not the hospital. I don't think I interact more with the world here than I did in Nashville, but I guess I do spend a lot of time at cafes. Still, I didn't really start doing that a lot until we moved to Thessaloniki. I just want to know why I keep getting sick. Why that scratchy, itchy, painful glut in my throat rears its ugly head so often. Why my nose is filled with concrete. Why I can't stop coughing.
Somehow, I think there is some type of Murphy's Law at play here. Leave it to me to move someplace that is supposed to have a healthy climate and get sick so often. For now, all I can do is take my decongestants, drink my tea, suck on my cough drops, and pray. At least I get one thing out of it - my husband waits on me hand and foot. Hmm, maybe my constant sickness is psychological...
4 comments:
Sorry to hear you're feeling under the weather. Perastika!
I think your chain-colds might be related to this crazy warm weather that refuses to acknowledge (thanks to global warming) that the northern hemisphere is in winter mode.
Maybe if the weather finally got cold, reeeeeeally cold, the silly flu bugs would freeze their little tooshies off and stop bugging us so often.
Ugh. Sorry you're being plagued with colds. Miserable!
Since moving to Germany I get way less colds than I used to but then I'm around way less people than I used to be.
That and I wash my hands like crazy because of taking care of my husband.
Well, if memory serves me right, don't you go outside with wet hair? Or is this Emily from Thess?
My mother-in-law says if you go outside with wet hair, you get a cold.
Of course, I'm kidding a bit but thought I'd throw that at ya..
ZARDOZSAYS:
Then again an offering
to the GOD "apollo"
might put you in good standing
with your health .=z=
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