The waiting room of the infectious ward was empty… a good thing, I thought. The goal was a TB vaccination for me. Mark had been vaccinated prior to his previous RTW trip. (Fortunately, you are only vaccinated for TB once in a lifetime.) However, before they can give you the vaccine they have to test you to see what antibodies are in your system. So I had to go back twice to finally complete that jab. Now – in anticipation of the questions… did it hurt? Well, the jabs… not really. Although I’m feeling a little stiff and sore right now.  And was it expensive? Yes. Our bill was pretty steep at almost €400 for the two of us with the bill for a few more shoots looming in the near future. However, we’re not sure how much of it we can claim back on our Dutch medical insurance and having reviewed some of the sites of other US travelers, the cost is considerably lower over here than in the US. Mark chimes in that under the Health Service in the UK, it would all be free. But, regardless of what you do or don’t pay, it’s not a place where you want to skimp just because of cost.

We also had the pleasure of one last meeting with our Dutch instructor, Julienne. It was a social occasion... lunch! And we practiced our language skills one last time with a bit of tutoring. Julienne has been a joy to visit with each week. Not only is she a great teacher, but she also has a wonderful listening ear which has been very much appreciated over the last few difficult months!