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The Wonderful World of Dsyentary

Hey you two,
We're almost finished with training! One and a half weeks to go.

Things are good now, but last weekend and last week I had bacterial dysentary. I basically didn't want to eat anything. It was my first stint of a mini culture-shock experience. I had also been vomitting a lot the week before that too. It all sounds bad, but it could have been worse. Everything with illness has to be put into perspective. Getting malaria is like getting the common-cold here. One of our language trainers has it all the time it seems. I asked him one day how he was doing. He said he was a little sick...with MALARIA. (He stays out with his friends at night, so there's a higher chance that he would get it. That's when the mosquito that carries malaria is out biting people.) A month later, he had it again. What's really important is that one good to a hospital when there are symptoms of malaria. People are dying of malaria, because they can't pay for medical services. People would rather go to traditional healers. I don't blame them. It's much cheaper.

Leah too has been sick sometimes with some stomach related issues. Overall, we've been under a lot of stress lately with the routine.

I think Leah and I will really miss our host family. They're fun. Leah and I are always teaching the kids yoga. Leah and I creating our first home together will be nice however. I will have to say that I won't miss almost tripping-over chickens. For some reason I'm not a fan of stepping in the feces either...or the goats breaking into the compound and knocking over the dishes. But that's just me. Others may love it. Chickens eat a lot of the scraps you don't want, but you have stay up on cleaning up after them.

On another note, I was almost pickpocketed yesterday in a crowded area. A guy walked right past me, and I felt his hand on my pocket. I snatched his hand immediately and we just stared at each other for 3 seconds. I totally lost my French in the face of such incredulity. Then I started grunting sort-of: "Unhhhh! Unhhh..." He wasn't running away, so I started to have pity for him. He seemed really scared. I let him go and he went up to other volunteer 10 feet away and was about to pickpocket her, until I told her about his proximity to her. Apparently, since Christmas is coming up, thefts increase. It makes sense, because a current volunteer got pick pocketed TODAY!

We're almost about to swear in as volunteers. I expect to get more pictures up by the end of December. They'll most likely be of our new home.