Big toe

by Dom on October 10th, 2008

So I had to get my toe cut open this morning. Just a little bit. Apparently I have a pretty deep infection from some stupid cut where I kicked a stump and it just hasn’t healed. So the doctor re-wounded it and now I have a huge gauze toe and can’t bathe for a few days. Hopefully I’ll be allowed to before I come home cause it’s hot season and that tends to also coincide with stinky season!

Pink Eye

by Dom on July 25th, 2008

I have it. yay.

A bit stressed

by Dom on July 22nd, 2008

Term three was over days ago now. I’ve come to Mzuzu to do some work. See Jenn left and I started thinking, I’ll see her soon, I don’t have much time left here. Only then I took it to the next level and started worrying about grad schools and moving out and TJ coming and my peace corps paperwork. I think I worried so much it caused my face to break out in hives. I think. It might not be hives. It might not be stress related. Could be an allergic reaction, though I didn’t think I was allergic to anything. Plan on seeing the doctors next week before I pick up TJ. We’ll see what they say. It’s starting to go away.

Another teacher was transfered from my school. I’m not sure if I’ve posted this already. It was the only woman we had. She was pretty awesome. Real nice, laughed at everything. So now we’re down to four plus me. I went to the division education manager with a letter from my headmaster to request more teachers. that was only a day or two ago though so no action has been taken. Atleast none that I know of. I hope I get replaced. They need it.

Jenn’s still in thailand. She went to Cambodia, said she loved it but super corrupt. Now I think she’s gone to visit Vietnam. From all her emails it really sounds like the place to be. Like the place to be. I’m a good bit jealous.

Term 1 ‘08

by Dom on January 11th, 2008

So Mid Service Training is next week. This past week I started teaching. I teach Form 1 Physical Science, Form 2 Math and Form 4 Math. It’s really amazing how much Form 2’s English came along because I’ll tell you, Form 1 doesn’t know squat. It’s so difficult. They don’t answer questions, write notes, even look at you like your from earth. I’m also the Form 4 Formmaster. That means I take role. Yay.

We also moved the plantain trees that I planted; they were getting too much water and rotting. I also tried to plant some seeds. I know I did a poor job, but it was the most effort I could muster. I planted cucumber, loofa, onion, and tomato. Something might grow. We’ll see. Otherwise, just looking forward to next week. Today isn’t that great. I still have loose stooles, as they say. I doubt I spelled that technical word correctly but we’ll see. Thanks for the dictionary mom, it’s in Mzuzu. Shephards pie for dinner, think I’m gonna go buy some beer.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

by Dom on December 31st, 2007

Back in Lilongwe. New Years is tonight I guess, woohoo. Almost forgot about it. I’m a bit more excited because Jenn comes back tomorrow. However right now I have a Gastro-Intestinal Tract Infection. Which means I have lots of cramping and other things that most people don’t like when I say.

Christmas at Paiges was good though. Played a lot of bored games, went swimming and had duck. Bought it off this lady who claimed she didn’t have any, but there were like 10 waddlin around her. So we got one, for K500 too. She said we had to pay more because we were white though and we did the whole, I’m-gonna-fake-walk-away-cause-I-know-you-want-the-money-more-than-the-duck trick. It worked. She buckled, we paid, but it was still over priced. Apparently ducks are like 3 or 4 normally. Whatever. It was good. We ate it with potatoes.

After that I went to visit Jessie for a bit in Nkhotakhota. We basically just ambled around town. Helped her turn an old chicken coup into a dog house. By that I mean I moved it into her courtyard. Her place was pretty snazzy. However I think that’s where I got my little belly viper, I mean GI Infection.

All that said, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

The Doctor

by Dom on October 9th, 2007

So just went to see the doctor. Yay. That was a good time. Nothing too special, no prostate exam. Really just step on the scale, blood pressure, anything wrong…no? cool. We discussed what illness means and why he decided and how he got to working for Peace Corps. We checked the calibration of his scale versus the other doctor’s. So I’m healthy, except this cold that is still here, just a bit. Congratulations me!

My tooth that got the filling is kind of hurting though…hmm…no apparent reason. Hopefully that goes away.

The Dentist

by Dom on October 9th, 2007

So I’m doing the medical for my mid-service today. I already did the dentist. I had a cavity. I knew I did, the first time ever actually. I could feel the pain due mostly to hot beverages like my morning tea.

The place overall was decent but the actions were pleasantly third world. The lady poked around looking for a bit trying to figure out where I already had fillings and root canals. Seems pretty dumb when I had that rather extensive dental records sent to peace corps before I came, why she had to poke around…who knows. Anyway. She did the little jab thing with the scrappy thing when it sticks you normally have a cavity. I’ve deduced this from my years of experience. She suggested a x-ray first. I said just fill the thing. So she did.

They had that suction thing in my mouth, I bit down, the tube came out of the actual apparatus and thus I spit all over myself as the actual vacuum fell to the floor. Then she had the ultraviolet laser for the solidifying, which I was impressed with. No shots. It went ok. The cleaning however was more of a joke.

Instead of that paste with the rubbery spinny thing, they used a pick with a vibrating motor. She tried the first thing after smearing the paste on my teeth but she didn’t seem to get any power to the tool so she switched to the pick thing. It was loud. Then she had this yellow spray thing with a clear dome on top, they put some powder into it and closed it up. I expected some like bead blast or soemthing but it was more like water. Like the normal water spray gun. No idea what that actually did. I was done. Don’t drink hot or cold beverages for two hours. I think that was a cavity restriction. I really have no idea when the cleaning occured. Either way the cavity filling happened before the cleaning which I thought was odd. I’m just curious if the one month of peace corps insurance when I get home will cover the replacement of it?

Next I have to get my physical later today. I think that should be a bit better, or probably worse, but atleast I’ll know they know what they are doing…wish me luck.

Bacterial Dysentery

by Dom on June 18th, 2007

So yeah, that’s me. I was just passing through going back north from Mulanje and woke up with it. No idea what it was from either. I got peace corps transport from blantyre and we stopped at a couple little markets and I was like “oooohh, I’ll take some mandazi/samosas/chipis/bananas/meat pies/egg sandwiches/meat sandwiches… and then I got take out for dinner at this indian place. So who knows. Either way, I woke up with a massive headache, fever, and weak. So I called the doc, took some tylenol and waited for transport to the office. After a couple of tests, I just laid around in a room with a couple of blankets and a heater drinking water. Then I vomited. Like 5 times. So I was put on an IV. Took 3 liters through the arm without going to the bathroom once. Then my loose stoole became watery…yes yes, I know too much information. But I think it stresses the point. The doctor said I got dehydrated from sweating at night due to the fever. Anyway, 3 liters of Oral Rehydration Solution a day, 3 days later, I’m feeling a good bit better, but certainly still ill. I have to reschedule that summer school site visit, oh well I guess. That’s the big news in my neck of the woods right now.