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Don't Panic
Posted by Miz B
on
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Don't worry, folks. In the words of Mark Twain, "The report of my death was an exaggeration". I got pretty sick on Friday, to the extent that someone felt the need to call our neighbors to come pick me up early from school. I can't pretend I didn't like that (I went home, covered myself in blankets and slept for 12 hours), but I kind of wish they hadn't made such a fuss. I got a common-or-garden variety virus, but getting sick is not a very normal thing in a tropical climate (I'm just guessing this. The other kids at school weren't that worried, it's only the adult women who seemed really upset). I've been fighting for days against antibiotics. It's not that I find anything morally wrong with antibiotics, it's just that in my eyes, about half the time I try them I end up getting either some side effects or some sort of allergic reaction, which is something I like even less than being sick. And I don't think I could accurately explain an allergic reaction. I could barely explain a regular cold in the first place. I'm getting better with sleep and lots of water, but now I've gotten to the annoying 'can't stop coughing' part, and everyone keeps freaking out. They say "It's getting worse" and ask if I'm sure I got a H1N1 vaccine back home. Anyway, in other news: It has been brought to my attention that several of my blog followers don't use Facebook, and so have not been able to see the photos I've been posting there. So, for your viewing pleasure, I have put a thing labeled 'Picasa Photostream' in the sidebar. It's not perfect, but I think if you click either on the link or on one of the pictures themselves, you should end up at my Picasa album collection. Since I'm really to busy to upload and label any of my photos and still have time to write, I'm going to be pretty much data-dumping all my pictures into there. The labels of the albums are the dates the photos were uploaded to my computer. Sorry if some of them are indistinctly blurry, like I said, I don't have a lot of time for labeling and sorting. If you have any questions about some specific pictures, don't hesitate to email me (if you don't have my email address, simply click the 'contact me' button in the sidebar, right under the completely useless 'search' function. I'll get the note like a regular email).
I wrote most of this post yesterday, but I had to stop because my computer ran out of power, and for some reason if I plug the charger into the surge suppressor in the computer room and touch any of the metal parts of the computer I get a very unpleasant, open-wire shocking sensation. Charming. So, I charge the computer in the other room and only plug into the internet cable, which doesn't seem to cause spasmodic muscle cramps. I think I've only been to about a week of school since I got here, and I don't mean all at once, I mean 7 days spaced out over a month. For many different reasons, I have missed all the rest of days. People were tired, people were busy. We had to go on vacation, I was sick. Immigration. Mostly immigration. For some reason, immigration is only open when school is in session, and I am not allowed to come and go, so I have to keep skipping so I can go to the immigration office, wait in line for an hour, and get kindly explained to by yet another person that I don't have the correct forms or whatever and to come back on yet another day. I've been a grand total of 6 times now, I think, and tomorrow will make 7 (and fate willing, last). I missed school yesterday because my parents and brother went back to his home in town called Lerdo (I think). We went through it on the way to Veracruz this weekend. It turns out most of the towns along that stretch of area are in the floodplains of several major rivers, and spend a good 3 months out of the year the next best thing to underwater (many pictures to be added to Picasa soon). The family left early in the morning to return to Lerdo with an empty car, and try to rescue as many valuables as possible and set the house up for use when it's partially submerged. They returned late in time for Petrona and Jose Luis to get to their night shifts at the hospital. Luis stayed in his house. He has to intern at the hospital down the street (and uphill) from his house. Now, Petrona is getting sick. She says it has more to do with spending most of yesterday up to her knees in freezing water than me being contagious, but I still feel extra guilty. More credence is added to this by the fact that poor Arnoud, who was stuck sitting next to me in the car for 8 hours over the weekend, is sick enough to be missing school too. At least I'm feeling better, although all my limbs are kinda fuzzy-feeling from the random electricity buzz. It's very subtle, but I keep getting it all over the place. It's hard to tell it apart from the whole feeling-really-sick thing.
I feel like there's probably more to say about something or other, but I can't really think of what it is. So, as per usual, That's All, Folks!
I wrote most of this post yesterday, but I had to stop because my computer ran out of power, and for some reason if I plug the charger into the surge suppressor in the computer room and touch any of the metal parts of the computer I get a very unpleasant, open-wire shocking sensation. Charming. So, I charge the computer in the other room and only plug into the internet cable, which doesn't seem to cause spasmodic muscle cramps. I think I've only been to about a week of school since I got here, and I don't mean all at once, I mean 7 days spaced out over a month. For many different reasons, I have missed all the rest of days. People were tired, people were busy. We had to go on vacation, I was sick. Immigration. Mostly immigration. For some reason, immigration is only open when school is in session, and I am not allowed to come and go, so I have to keep skipping so I can go to the immigration office, wait in line for an hour, and get kindly explained to by yet another person that I don't have the correct forms or whatever and to come back on yet another day. I've been a grand total of 6 times now, I think, and tomorrow will make 7 (and fate willing, last). I missed school yesterday because my parents and brother went back to his home in town called Lerdo (I think). We went through it on the way to Veracruz this weekend. It turns out most of the towns along that stretch of area are in the floodplains of several major rivers, and spend a good 3 months out of the year the next best thing to underwater (many pictures to be added to Picasa soon). The family left early in the morning to return to Lerdo with an empty car, and try to rescue as many valuables as possible and set the house up for use when it's partially submerged. They returned late in time for Petrona and Jose Luis to get to their night shifts at the hospital. Luis stayed in his house. He has to intern at the hospital down the street (and uphill) from his house. Now, Petrona is getting sick. She says it has more to do with spending most of yesterday up to her knees in freezing water than me being contagious, but I still feel extra guilty. More credence is added to this by the fact that poor Arnoud, who was stuck sitting next to me in the car for 8 hours over the weekend, is sick enough to be missing school too. At least I'm feeling better, although all my limbs are kinda fuzzy-feeling from the random electricity buzz. It's very subtle, but I keep getting it all over the place. It's hard to tell it apart from the whole feeling-really-sick thing.
I feel like there's probably more to say about something or other, but I can't really think of what it is. So, as per usual, That's All, Folks!
