It's a girl!

A girl mosquito that is… which gave me malaria… cuz only females transmit it… 

Bleed on a stick, know your
results 15 minutes later!
Super simple stuff

Please join us as we dive into this heartwarming story of an unsuspecting PCV and a bite she just couldn’t find. “Captivating!”-New York Times

Twas the night of Sunday and while sitting in my chair,

my muscles felt achy like I’d just fought a bear.

Monday came round and I felt so much better,

I enjoyed the day and its beautiful weather.  

On Tuesday evening I fell in my bed,

shivering cold, teeth chattering in my head.

I piled up blankets to make a heat trap,

and closed my eyes for a very long nap.

Ok enough rhyming for now. It’s getting difficult :P

After the chills, the sisters I live with came to check up on me and brought me dinner and tea. Then the fever came. I put a wet wash cloth on my head and spent the night trying to sleep through the heat. When I woke up Wednesday, I felt much better so I went to school. I felt fine the whole of that day.

Thursday I was fine until lunch. After lunch I was teaching and I started to feel really bad so as soon as class ended I went home and rested for a couple of hours. I was going to meet friends for dinner, but on my walk to their place, I started to get chills. “Oh no” I thought, but I kept going. I knew I couldn’t stay by the time I reached there though so I had her drive me back home. I got in bed again and the sisters once more came to check on me. Since I hadn’t eaten all day, they brought me juice boxes, biscuit cookies, pineapple, watermelon, and bread with peanut butter. After seeing my temperature was 102.5, I took my malaria test.

I don’t like pricking myself, so the sisters got a nurse from the hospital next door to come do it for me. She had never done one of these tests before though, so I had to read the instructions and walk her through it :P But finally, the results were conclusive… I was positive!

I spent the next couple of hours on the phone. Talking to Peace Corps medical about what meds to start taking and how I was going to get to the capital for treatment. Finally agreed they would send a driver to pick me up the next morning.

One of the sisters sat in my room with me to make sure I ate something because I wasn’t. While I ate she updated me on what I’d missed in the episode of the Mexican soap opera we watch every night. After making sure I was ok, she left and I fell asleep. This night’s sleep wasn’t so bad.

On Friday I was so thankful for the private driver instead of taking a public bus. That would have been so terrible! We arrived at the PC office and the doctor did some tests. Before I left to go to the nurse’s house, I used the bathroom. What crazy timing that this should happen, but there was blood in my urine. So I they also did a test on that. Results came back that I had a UTI so I got meds for that too. I knew my “haven’t been sick yet” streak would end with a bang ;)

I spent the weekend at a really nice house of a very sweet, elderly Ugandan nurse who was essentially the role of a grandma. I honestly think the love and care she showed me (also the really good food) is what really helped me get better. It was also in a very quiet neighborhood so I spent all weekend outside reading. I definitely felt like I was on vacation with how relaxed I was. I even took a hot bath while I was there! Wow.

Monday I went back to the doctor to get more tests to see if I was ok and ready to go home. Good news everyone: I was!

I came back last night and the sisters were having a big party. There were lots of guests, food, drink, music, and dancing. A good welcome home! Then today at school, my pupils brought me passion fruits, eggs, and four pineapples since my counterpart had told them I was sick. Some of them helped me carry the things home. It was so sweet <3

Some of my great pupils.
I treated them with dum dums and showed them
pictures from home

A funny point to mention: The reaction you get from an American when you tell them you have malaria is soooo different than the Ugandan one.

           

            American: WHAT!! MALARIA?? OMG, ARE YOU OK? YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!!
            Ugandan: ok

Not even joking, that is how it went. Sometimes, a Ugandan would also say “sorry”. But it happens to everyone all the time here. It’s really not a big deal so they’re just like whatever.

**ATTENTION**FAVORITE MOMENT IN COUNTRY MENTIONED BELOW**

While I was walking with my pupils today, some other kids from a different school shouted “mzungu!” at me and my favorite pupil shouted back at them “She’s not a mzungu! She is Teacher Hannah!” I love these kids so much :)

Best Day(s) Ever!

I have so many things to mention that you don’t even know! But you will after reading this ;)

Let’s start with how one of my good friends returned from her visit back to the states. Not only did she bring me a new camera (to replace my stolen one) but she also brought me Crest toothpaste and 6 packs of my all time favorite gum: Extra Spearmint! :D *Happy Days*

Let’s continue with ‘Murica’s birthday. Spoiler alert: I RAFTED THE NILE! :D

Most of us PCVs went to this town in the eastern part of the country where the source of the Nile starts. I traveled there with some friends and along the way we got to stop in the big capital and eat some tasty lunch (I got Korean) and then we got brownie sundaes. MMM. Anyway, we get to the place and it’s set up dorm style with 8 beds to a room and a common bar area right next to the Nile. So cool. Since it’s such a tourist place, the rolex stands are super legit. (rolex= egg wrapped in a chapti) (chapti=oily, thick flat bread). But you could order these with tomato, onions, cabbage, avocados, potatoes, and even nutella! Let’s just say I *might* have only eaten those all weekend cuz they’re super good and very cheap.

On the 4^th, a bunch of us woke up and got on a bus type thing that took us to a place with rafts to choose. I had some good friends on mine and we had a great day going over the rapids, getting stuck in one and eventually flipping over, making way too many chants for our boat, paddling past an island full of thousands of fruit bats, eating pineapple, doing back flips off the raft into the river, and having a freak out moment when we turned around after a rapid and noticed our guide had fallen off ;) It was seriously tons of fun! That evening everyone dressed up in the good ‘ol red, white, and blue and had a huge party in the bar area. But it wouldn’t be Independence day without grandma, so I had to give her a call of course :)

On the left you'll see my friend who will shortly fall out.
On the right you'll see the foot of our guide who fell out.
One of my favorite snaps from the day <3

The next day, some of us went to town and I got a chocolate peanut butter milkshake… which might have only lasted 2 minutes :P When we got back to the place, we tried out a slack line a friend had brought and then a couple of us went down to the dock and swam quite a distance to the rope swing, which was super fun! But my foot slipped off and hit a root which has since caused my toe to turn a little red and I think my nail is going to fall off soon ;P  Worth it.

This week I got to see what it was like to teach at a Primary Teachers College with older kids, I was on a radio show with some friends talking about gender roles, and I ate way too many baked goods (cookies and cake). I also became a giant ball of dirt on the journey back home. I don’t even want to tell you what color the water was when I finished my bucket bath…

Today it rained. Scratch that, it stormed! A LOT. I forgot my umbrella so I walked home in it after school. No sun and lots of wind made me soooo cold! I had forgotten what it felt like to be so cold. It was amazing! This evening while watching our Mexican soap opera with the sisters I live with, I drank 5 cups of tea to try and warm up! Also, four other sisters (three of which I already knew) have moved in so it’s much more lively here now.

Term 2 of school is quickly coming to an end. Then I’m going for holiday to Taiwan! When I return, there’s an event where I’ll get to see all the volunteers and then my friend is coming here (to Uganda) to visit me for two weeks! I’m very excited for all of these things! Watch out for the blogs to come ;)

Of course everyday life is not always so exciting as this and sometimes I even wonder if I’m supposed to be here, but it’s the little things that make even these average days great. Like getting a letter from a friend back home, having a pupil say “Teacher Hannah, you are good” after a lesson I thought was a flop, or being sincerely welcomed back by some good friends in my community. Lucky me, all of these happened today. It might be hard sometimes, but all you can do is try to make every day better than the last :)

Thanks for reading! <3

PS I left my home 8 months ago. About a third of my time here is over. That’s so weird.

Legit/dedicated rolex stand
"You can't sleep with no money in the pocket"
is what he said to me when I asked him why he had
only slept 1 hour the night before.

America day with some of the besties :)

Did I mention I was at the Nile?