Ce n'est pas facile!

Well, guess who's sick ... AGAIN!! I will apologize in advance if this blog has curses or not as happy things in it, but I am not winning any "Happy Volunteer of the Week" Awards this time around. I think I picked up some bacteria or another right before I left Bobo a little over a week ago, because the past week in village has been nothing but stomach problems. And without details, I will tell you that having to go to the bathroom (um, for me that is a roach-infested hole in the ground) in the middle of the night when it is across the courtyard, pitch black, and raining is no fun. So, around 3 am Tuesday morning, after I came back soaked and nauseous, I decided that F this! I'm going to Bobo today and finding out what is going on. The nurse said it's probably E Coli, and if I'm dying to know the name of the bug for sure, to call back tomorrow - otherwise I have my antibiotics and will go back to village.

In village, I have changed houses. If I had stayed in the one I started in, I think I would have quit before work got started. The only way I can describe it is creepy. Every night I was paranoid about spiders and other insects because I had a sheet metal roof that prevented nothing from getting in and was deafening when the rains came. The walls inside are made of mud and are not painted, so if you brush by them accidentally, they will crumble a little every time. My new house is the same size and in the same court, and no one was living there, so it was OK with the 'landlord' that I switch. But it does have painted walls, a drop ceiling beneath the sheet metal (makes a world of difference), and an indoor room to wash myself in (practically heaven). I feel like I am being a diva asking for such luxuries, but no one was inconvenienced in the move except me, so I don't feel THAT bad. Who knew that some paint and a 4x4 room for a bucket bath could make a world of difference in my life?

I have spent most of my time with the 2 students who come over every morning for math and english tutoring, Awa, and a few other local people who are not in the fields cultivating all day. One person in particular who has become one of my favorite Pademanians is our tailor, Issa. He's the one whose daughter made the comment about cutting away black skin if you had to become white. Well I know where she gets it from because when I was particularly homesick one day last week and feeling down, I was telling Issa how I dream practically every night about America and my friends and family, so when I wake up I'm kind of sad and confused that I'm not with them. Issa had a good reason for this - He told me that every night, as soon as I go to sleep, my soul/my shadow gets to America in 6 seconds and is experiencing everything with all of you while I am asleep but relaying it to me through my dreams. So when I wake up, it was like I was right there with you. And I guess since you're 4 hrs behind me, I get to catch up on a lot. So I like that explanation - I just hope I don't miss anything good in those 6 seconds of travel time!

I don't really have much more to say right now, and I don't want to be so whiny. This experience begs for emotional highs and lows, and I prefer to relay my experiences and feelings when they're in a positive light, which will not be now. Therefore, I am just checking in, since I am in Bobo, but I will be back here for a Girls Camp from the 24th-31st, if anyone cares to give me a call then .... *hopeful sigh... *.. in case you didn't see my friend, Emily's comment, there is a cheap website where you can buy calling cards to Africa: www.mobilecaller.com

Missing everyone tremendously... and sending hugs across the Atlantic!
steph