Sisters, Sickbeds, and Strepsils

I awake with a start to the noise of church bells in a dark room. I can just make out the image of an angel on the wall across from me. I stumble over to the shutters and open them to cast some light on my small room. The painting of the Angel Gabrielle hangs on the wall above a small desk and a cross hangs above my bed. Unfortunately neither seem to have done me much good as on the journey yesterday I came down with a cold, and my back took a dislike to the supposedly comfier Austrian train seats and so this morning I find myself hobbling about like Igor out of Frankenstein, unable to straighten up and with a hefty cough to boot.

My home for the next few nights is with the Suore Oblate dell’Assunzione (the Oblate Sisters of the Assumption) who run a holiday home in central Florence. Designed to be a crossroads for humanity and provide hospitality to pilgrims, tourists, and ironically, according to their website, the sick. The accommodation is simple but welcoming and a peaceful sanctuary from the hordes of tourists outside which I’m incredibly grateful for at the moment. My plans to go and explore Florence are written off and instead all I see of the city is the pharmacy and a supermarket. While I’m miffed to be unable to explore, out of every where it could have gone wrong, I’m lucky it’s here.

The sisters are mainly from African countries, switching between Italian, English, and French. They’re friendly, kind, and welcoming and it’s the perfect place to recuperate for a few days. One of the sisters, Suor Jeanne, kindly gives me a hot water bottle and a kettle so I can hopefully ease my back out. She tells me she’s from Congo and as I’m about to ask how to say thank you in her language, she tells me she speaks Swahili and so I’m able to break out the few rusty phrases I know to thank her. Armed with a hot water bottle I hobble back to my room and spend most of the next couple of days napping and coughing and rewatching one of my favourite series which just happens to be in Italian.Read more