Replacing English products with Spanish ones.

When we first moved to Spain we made sure we had planty of our normal pills and solutions that we use regularly. Over the year we have been here we have managed to find an equivalent for things such as Nurofens and Glucosamine from the chemist by taking our UK packet down and they check the ingredients on their computer and find what we need.

So that works well when you have the package, but what about when you don't?

Back in the UK we always had Corsodyl in the house so that if we felt any problems with our gums we could stop it before it got too bad. When I flew back last summer I brought some more back with me but of course, we are now at a stage where the bottle is empty and got thrown out - and we haven't got a clue what to buy or where.

So, last night I googled (never sure whether that deserves a capital G or not) Corsodyl and found their website. After a little searching around I found what the active ingredient was and how it was described (officially, as opposed to the way we describe it - that really strong mouthwash that taste's like.......). So armed with my bit of paper that had 2 words written on it - Chlorhexidine Digluconate.

I tootled off to the dentist as I needed to book an appointment to get my broken tooth fixed. Of course, the only receptionist in today was the girl who doesn't speak English, no problema I can speak Spanish, I learn it from a book (a la Manuel!). She told me I needed to go to a chemist so, as I was in Aguilas and there is a good chemist there, I thought I may as well do it straight away. Again, no English is spoken there but I managed to explain what I was after and passed over my bit of paper with the key ingredient - and a few minutes later I had a bottle of Perio.Aid in my hands, which has the exact ingredients in. It's a good bit more expansive than Corsodyl, which has surprised me as other similar medicine stuff is generally cheaper here than in the UK, but I've paid €7 for 500ml and on Asda website Corsodyl is £2.76 for 300ml, suppose we're outside Asda's delivery zone! I'll have to look in the supermarkets to see whether they sell it - now that I know what I'm looking for.

Still, it's great for my practicing my Spanish, having to do this a year ago would have been such a challenge, now I don't even ask if they speak English I just get stuck in with my Spanish and go for it.