A Daily Thing

There have been many things to adapt to for me since moving from France to Australia, and this is the beginning of an attempt to explain.

Some things are strange when you live in a different country than your own. Like what people use to disinfect wounds. Or what they don’t use. And how they look at you when you ask for what they don’t use (but what is traditionally used in France).

Take the first time I asked for 70% alcohol in a pharmacy: I was looked at with a mixture of bewilderment and suspicion. It turns out 70% (or 90%) alcohol cannot be gotten here.
I felt like saying ‘What lady, do you think I’m going to drink it?’, but I thought she might take this as an admission of guilt so I decided to keep my mouth shut*.

Except now, I have a contact: a French chemist who relates because she’s been given the same response (and look). We didn’t just bond over our nationality, but also our love for disinfecting wounds with virtually pure alcohol. And since she’s connected and she can get the stuff, she gave me a small bottle of it. Yay!!
I am almost looking forward to having a wound to disinfect… Take that Dettol.

*I really don’t drink it. I use it as a disinfectant.