1/2/14
The last week
has been a little rough. Starting Sunday
I was really ill-standard stomach problems, but with nearly crippling
nausea. It’s really hard being sick to
your stomach here-no ginger ale, saltines or soup to force down. I stupidly resorted to not eating anything
for one day and was really weak.
Of course, that
was the point that some people from an American agricultural assistance
organization which shall remain unnamed here, came to visit. They were incredibly rude to me-telling me
how bad my Nepali was(which is both not true and not helpful), telling how much
other work the other agriculture volunteers were doing in my area(also not
true) and not letting me go back to sleep after I had to run to the bathroom in
the middle of our conversation. Our
encounter ended with my “favorite” question that people ask me here-“So, you
studied and have experience in agriculture, right?” Fabulous.
I left feeling even worse than before and they left with looks of extreme
disappointment on their faces.
The fact that
these people just pop in, all the time, unannounced, to check on me is infuriating. I do not work for them and do not appreciate
how they expect me to answer to them. I
find it very difficult to try and pretend to be an Ag volunteer when all I
wanna do is work that I know a little bit about! GAhhhh!!!
The rest of the
week was much the same-trying to eat and spending time in my room. Wednesday I was feeling well enough to
venture out to speak with some people at the health post about my VSA.
I had a great
conversation with a doctor at the health post but failed when I sat in on a
women’s group meeting. I waited for
three hours for an opportunity to ask my women-focused questions, but after
three hours, when they were still doing bookkeeping work, I left to go
rest.
Thursday was
fine-got a bit of work done. Friday I
went to Tulsipur, where Ben and I finally got our bikes!!! Plus, I got to chat with Lex and Skype with
Tyson-such treats! Getting my bike was
amazing. You have to pay out the ass for
a real mountain bike with gears, so I got a slightly simpler version with
shocks and wide tires, but no gears. The
ride back takes an hour and is ridiculously bumpy and rough.
I was riding
with Ben, who isn’t super confident on a bike, and had made things harder for
himself by deciding to strap a large metal storage box that he’d bought to the
back of his bike. I was anxious the
whole way lest he flip over on his head and I would have to do some sort of
emergency bush surgery! Things went fine
and once I turned off onto my slightly nicer road and put on some girl power
music, I booked it. I’d forgotten how
amazing riding a bike feels(even if I’m very sore today). The speed, the power-I felt happier and freer
than I’d felt in a long time.
Those endorphins
carried over once I got home and I had a rather pleasant night with the family,
even if there were two small, creepy children visiting us.
This morning I
was feeling almost completely recovered from my sickness-ready to have a day of
rest and getting things in order for next week when I had an unpleasant
surprise in the toilet-blood.
I was planning
on going to our district capital Mon-Wed, anyways, to go the District
Agricultural Development Office, and spend some time with Elizabeth, who is
meeting me, but now I’ll have to spend some time at the hospital, having tests
done-fun!
I’m trying not
to freak myself out too much-it is probably just a new parasite to add to my
list, but it’s definitely disconcerting.
I think I may
make secret pasta(what I have named the pasta that I make in my little electric
kettle) today and nap with Danny.
Speaking of,
Danny is good. We had a rough couple of
days where he was pooping and peeing everywhere and crying in my room before
bed, but the addition of a little piece of beef jerky and a break from each
other, yesterday, have settled things down.
I’ll be
available to Skype Feb. 3-5 and then Feb
17-30, so hit me up!
Xoxox
Zoop
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