jungle disease

So this Sunday at st lukes was nomination day for council, wardens, and whatever else. Being an outsider, i did not know this. But then again, neither did anyone else. The vicar finished the service by announcing that next week everyone would vote, that this week they would have nominations, and introduced the woman who to facilitate it all. Now remember that I can only understand half of the words they say because of the thick accent. As he began the announcement, a very large woman in one of those dresses that look like a nightgown or a bag marched up the middle isle and waited for the microphone. Then in a commanding voice she began. “now of course you all have the guidelines sheet and the nomination sheet...(she listened to the people in the front row), wait, the people in front need nomination sheets.” The helpers bearing armloads of paper charged that way. Suddenly half the people in the room raised their hands to get the paper. In church, that means everyone needs the paper. Why raise your hand when your neighbor called the helper over anyways? I wanted to laugh, but a big grin stayed plastered on my face. So everyone slowly got the nomination sheet; a page with titles with lines underneath each for names. Now more blank faces. Who to nominate? So the woman up front saw the dilemma and asked anyone who wanted to serve (“be nominated” in english) to come up and introduce themselves. So a few did that. Everyone wrote down their names. Then finally the helpers with the guidelines sheet made their way around distributing. Yay instructions! Others kept walking up and whispering important info which the woman hadn’t divulged yet. Like this was for a 2 year term, half the council needed to be replaced cuz of term limits, all the vital info the people didn’t even know they needed. As the blank faces did not dissipate, the woman decided just to remind everyone 5x to get the nominations to the church by Wednesday and to come next week and vote. This situation could have been anywhere in America. Some parts of western church culture just shoudnt travel to other continents. I go to churches here and I find the unnecessary parts of Christianity. So sad.

I don’t talk much in a group of people I don’t know very well. Even with people I know very well im quiet. But some misunderstand why. The other day someone asked if I ever complained cuz he wondered about my silence. Nope. “you much have great fruits of the spirit; you are so gentle.” Jp and Bryce gave me sidelong glances. So I broke the silence in a very ironic voice “well, that’s one I haven’t heard before.” We all laughed. Not sure he understood the joke.

We put up a tarp covering so we can work in the rain. Henry and I talked upstairs till we heard the guys yelling my name. They wanted help, but by the time I got there they decided to use someone else. Then they wanted my help… hehe, I told them bummer. The design consisted of several poles for the uprights to go into holes in the ground and more poles nailed crosswise. So eventually each manned a pole to lift. I asked henry if he was ready to watch them fail. 1, 2, 3, and… each lifted at a different rate so that everything twisted at a different angle and came apart. Eventually they got most of the poles up. More nails and twine later they had a respectable shelter. I did help a bit eventually.

So I have typhoid. Yes, I had my immunization. Obviously something didn’t work. I didn’t feel that sick, but since a malaria test is routine at the second day of being sick, I went to the doctors instead of working. I went, followed by bryce’s envious gaze. He wants malaria for reasons incomprehensible to the rest of us. I went to the lab first; a room fitted into the front of a cargo container. I got to watch the lab tech prepare my blood for the tests. Very cool to watch. The hygiene of the place didn’t look fully kosher, but after making sure the syringe came out of a sealed package I could relax and watch. She gave me a paper with indecipherable writing on it to take into the actual clinic. There they told me I have typhoid. They gave me a shot and an IV which they said would only take 30 minutes. Again I made sure everything touching my veins came straight out of the sealed packages. 2 hours later they handed me a baggie of pills and another of pain pills. Why? I have no idea. Im not in any pain…yet. I had ice cream later. Was I supposed to panic? For having a dangerous jungle disease, I feel fine.

I was going to post this earlier, but the internet was out, then the power went out. The power came back on earlier, but the internet just came back on. so here ya go.