Anyway, I’ve been out of commission for the past few days so let me catch you up to speed.
Friday’s class went well. We finished up talking about
prayer, focusing on elements essential to a “good” prayer and places that we like
to pray. Until our Spanish is better, our classes will always be a bit rough,
but considering the circumstances I think we’re doing the best we can.
Saturday’s children’s classes and service was a little
different because of Fiestas Patrias, Peru’s Independence celebration. Instead
of the traditional classes, the children performed a dance and we played trivia
games about Peru. It was a spirited night, despite it being positively freezing
in the church (although, that may have just been me starting to get sick.)
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| Decked out for Fiestas Patrias |
Sunday we went to
Filidelfia for a service. This time around, Johnny and Karen took up the lead
roles and I was able to sit back and enjoy (as best I could with my stomach bug
acting up.) I do feel like I’m beginning to be able to understand a little more
of the services every time around, but my Spanish is definitely still a work in
process.
Monday through today have been slightly blurry, because I
have been doing a LOT of sleeping, trying to get rid of this bug. We did get to
watch the Fiestas Patrias parade on Monday, then trek to Miraflores to watch Wolverine,
which, conveniently, was in English with Spanish subtitles. We came back from
Miraflores by “combi” which was where I discovered I had made a horrible
mistake by thinking my stomach was ready for this journey. A combi is a van, sausaged
full of about 18 people, that would comfortably seat about 10 people. Generally,
there is someone in the back of the combi (who doesn’t always have the greatest
odor) that keeps their head out the window, trying to recruit more people to
get on the combi. The ride is ROUGH and the stops are frequent and sudden.
There are no seatbelts, so the only reason you don’t fly across the van is
because you’re sausaged in so tight you seriously can’t move. As soon as we got
it, I threw a motion sickness pill in my mouth, and shortly after I took
another, but I spent the grand majority of the ride holding in vomit. I’m happy
to say I managed to make it home without barfing—but I did go straight to bed
as soon as we got home.
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| Youth at Monte Sion dancing for Fiestas Patrias |
Yesterday, I finally gave up and went to the clinic. Since
Saturday night I’d been sleeping horribly, having hot and cold flashes, waking
up the next morning exhausted and drenched sweat. My fever would fluctuate between
totally normal and 102 without much inbetween. My headaches were constant and I
was having the worst stomach cramps I’d ever experienced. And I’ll spare you
the details, but the diarrhea wasn’t pleasant either. Anyway, after a long wait
in the clinic’s reception area, Katrina, Wilfredo and I managed to get across
to the doctor what was going on. I also learned how to say “pee” and “poop” in
Spanish—because the doctor wanted me to give a sample of each. Tired of my frequent
bathroom trips, I hadn’t eaten anything that day—so Wilfredo, Katrina and I got
to play the game of Drive Around And Decide Which Foods Will Make Melissa Poop.
We eventually settled on a chicken sandwich—which was a great success—and we’re
going back to see the lab results Friday morning. Until then, I got an
antibiotic which, thankfully, has been helping greatly.
Today I finally had the energy to do a few things that desperately
needed done—namely, laundry and a shower. I’m still not at 100%, but I’m happy to
be able to keep food in my stomach. I haven’t eaten a real dinner all week and
I’m excited to finally have one tonight.
Looking ahead, we’re meeting tonight to continue planning children’s
classes for the year. We haven’t gotten word on if we’re teaching anything this
week yet (or perhaps we have and I was just asleep for it) but I’m sure we’ll
have a busy weekend!
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