the 36 hr transit with mc

ant · Post by **ant** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:35 am

Dear gabes,

Hope you get some rest and gets some "frog" co workers to write out in full french what you can buy (and what not buy) at the shops.

all best and hope the trip gets better and u can start to enjoy it, ant

kimtg68 · Post by **kimtg68** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 11:15 am

Poor Gabes. I hope by the time you read more of these responses that you are well rested and fed and ready to give it back to the ole' MC! Heck, I'm just in amazement at what you are doing. After only a 9 hour flight to Hawaii and a week vacation in a "state" outside my own, I thought I was wonder woman! YOU ROCK GABES!!!!

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 1:47 pm

thanks everyone for your support. good night sleep and i was much improved.
my PP family understood what i was feeling. it seems surreal to have work paying for ALL my food (89 euro allowance per day) and i cant really go and splurge and enjoy it!

it was pouring with rain this morning so the drive in was a bit full on, once my nerves recovered from that, we had the first day in the 'head office' today. as promised by french colleagues in australia, the cafeteria at our head office made lunch very easy (it supplies food for about 1500 people)
i had some boiled rice, steamed veges and plain chicken. everyone in the group were saying 'is that all you can eat?' meanwhile i was really excited as it was step up from rice cakes and apple juice! they all had their three courses (entree, main, desert)

dinner tonight we went to restaurant across from hotel where we were told the chef speaks english, we get there and guess what, it is his night off! so with my sheet (THANKS ANT!) we managed to organised well cooked meat and vegetables, there was much discussion with the owner (broken english) and the chef (no english) re my dinner. the lovely french chef bought out a plate of vegetables she had and i picked which ones i could eat.
the owner (lady) after the meal came and hugged me and kissed me and said in broken french how sad she felt for my small diet, and that the chefs son had allergies and it is hard.

the meal was very cheap (and who cares work is paying for it) and i was too tired to embrace cooking.

I am taking a half dose of questran at lunchtime and this seems to be working well, i am doing softish BM's not quite D type thing 2 - 3 times a day. the questran is more as the safety net to ensure inflammation does not occur and just in case there is small amount of contaminates. and if something really bad happens i will up the dose of the questran and start the loperamide.
questran doesnt stop things from moving it just slows it down absorbs the bile and bundles it up.

bed time for me and another big day tomorrow.

thanks again for the support and love and for listening to me vent.

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:00 pm

You're managing one day, rather one meal at a time. Hopefully the chef will be back tomorrow and you'll have an easier time.

I can't imagine driving in the rain, on the other side of the road, in a foreign country. No wonder you were stressed. I think the trip will become easier as the time goes on and you become more familiar with your surroundings.

I hope you can do some sightseeing!

Gloria

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 6:07 pm

Gabes that's great that you had good experiences with the chef and the work cafeteria. You mentioned doing some cooking? Do you have a small kitchen in your hotel room?

Hopefully you will have some time for fun.

--Joe

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:51 pm

i do have a small kitchenette about the same calibre as my camping set up!

it has less cooking implements and utensils than my camping kit. the hiccup is that in the downgraded room they gave me, i am in a 1 room studio so my wardrobe is part of the kitchen, i am not keen to have my work clothes smell of cooking!

the commute at the moment is taking us bout 1.5 hrs so we left the office at 5.45pm and got home at 7.15 pm. and we are leaving at 6.30am in the morning, the thought of cooking was the last thing on my mind! which is why in australia i do my big cook up on the weekend so i dont have to worry about cooking through the week. I need to go and get some essential utensils to enable cooking.

i am thinking tonight i will take my sweet potato and carrot across to the restaurant and ask them to cook it with the potato. they only charged me 8 euro for my steak and potato so if i give the veges and they cook them (and i dont have to wash up! ) i will be estatic!

as i said above i have a 89 euro allowance at this stage i will pay someone 40 euro a day to cook my food!!

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 10:02 pm

It sounds like the local restaurant will work out well for you. As far as a travel strategy, tallking with the local chefs may be the best way to deal with food prep while traveling; I am glad that you found a friendly establishment. 89 Euros would be about 125 Aussie dollars, how well does that amount cover all 3 meals withe the food costs in France

That's a long commute 1.5hrs are there any hotels closer to your companies headquarters.

Good luck with your meetings and food challenges Gabes, and thanks for keeping us updated.

--Joe

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:09 am

Afternoon Gabes,

Well you sound like you are starting to really get things organized in the meals department and I do hope the restaurant can help you out. This is a great thread for long-distance travelers and I will count myself into that the next trip to see the family in the UK.

I am very much enjoying your posts and gives one a real insight into traveling with this disease and also the country you are visiting. Thanks for taking the time from your busy schedule to post to us.

Love, Maggie

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:54 am

Maggie
thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I really think i would have exploded had i not been able to debrief via this site.
the support of everyone has been amazing and knowing my pp family are there has helped me with making sure the Demon does not take over our lives.

well what else does a gal do when she is in france...go shopping!

while the lads were getting their lunch i got 30 mins to browse some clothes shops **Sigh** nothing brings you back to normal and cheer you up like finding nice clothes, reasonably priced..... you dont need to speak french to buy clothes, sign language and moula works really well....

what were those issues earlier in the week..... they are long forgotten........

Linda in BC · Post by **Linda in BC** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 8:27 am

Hi Gabes;

nothing brings you back to normal and cheer you up like finding nice clothes, reasonably priced.....

Ah, so true!

I hope you got something nice. I am surprised that clothes were reasonable there.

I have been away myself for a couple of days so am just now catching up on your thread of travel adventures. I brought my own food for my trip ( big cook-up on sunday before I left) but still did not have much luck. Switched from white rice to brown and think that is what messed me up. I read what Tex posted about brown rice having too much fibre when I got back!

Anyhow we are all with you in sprit, Gabes, as you navigate the pot(ty) holes on your journey. You are a brave, brave girl just for driving there, let alone everything else!!

Hugs,
Linda

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:59 am

A new treatment for MC --- At least for the lady folk

Shopping in France...

:party:

--Joe

ant · Post by **ant** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:36 pm

Wonder if you can claim shopping therapy on insurance

Best, ant

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 9:50 pm

Ant
dont think our friends in the accounts department will approve it
i looked at the receipt to try and figure out if you could tell it was clothes or not... whether it was worthing trying to claim it as a meal

well for a girl, shopping is like a meal, enlightening, satsifying

another huge day ahead. yesterday, one of the managers questioned our worth ethic as we were leaving the office after 10 hours. (with intent to come to our hotel, have dinner and do some work after dinner) one of the main reasons we were doing it was for me, so i can manage fatigue etc, (as i am the driver for the group of four)

i have taken it a bit personnally. our commute is 2- 3 hours per day, so a 10 hour work day with lunch and commute is 13 - 14 hours . i know that we will be working this weekend and it is going to be really full on next week and i am concious of managing my fatigue so i can make it through.

the senior managers of the bid have been great making sure i am feeling ok, i think this guy is tired and stressed and us packing up to leave pinched a nerve.
if they put me in a 4 star hotel with room service different story! while i am in a 2 star and having to hunt and gather my food and prepare my meals i will not be pressured.

Stanz · Post by **Stanz** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 12:41 am

Well, I've not the energy to digest ALL of this right now, but this is all quite exciting and I'm glad to know you arrived in France w/o any disasters and that you and Ant met up, some of my best friends are those I originally met online. I'm on day 6 of 9, I will read through this and all else when I am off this job on Monday next.

kimtg68 · Post by **kimtg68** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 7:05 am

Aww Gabes! I'm so sorry that now you've had that added stress of their disapproval. Some people just don't get it! Even if you didn't have these extra life style changes to deal with, a 10 hour work day with a 2-3 hour commute would be tough for anyone. As I'm sure everyone here and those who know you well will agree, you are doing a fabulous job and much better at it then most! You do so much to have added limitations. Don't let that manager jerk get to you. Keep truckin' girl!