June 8, 2009

Scabies: 1, Shannon: SOL. Yup, sounds fun, huh? Well, I would start out where I left off last week, but the most immediate thing on my mind seems to be the mites traversing all over my skin. (I seriously wish I could see them because I would kick the crap out of them!) So ya, I haven’t been sleeping that much and thought a lot of it had to do with the fresh air that I was not getting as there aren’t any screens on my windows and I thus don’t leave them open at night. (Ah yes, did I forget to mention that the information booklet was completely wrong about the temperature here? Probably. So the average temperature of Gracias is about 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is always humid. I am thus always sweating in my room and breathing recycled air. I will say that the booklet was right on with the skin infections, though. Well done.) Well, fijase that most of my sleepless nights are instead due to the ridiculous itchy sessions that I have endured for the past week or so. Because last night was the worst of it, I finally went to the doctor today. Fun times when I found out I had some little bed bugs living in my room with me. I came home after my appointment (trying so hard not to be pissed off and upset while trying to maintain my knowledge of Spanish), tried unsuccessfully to explain the infection to my mother (who totally does not believe me and instead blames my bed bugs on the open window during the day), and with the help of the muchacha (the poor woman, she is so petite) moved my bed (reminder: the biggest I have ever had) to one of the spare rooms and switched it out for a twin. (I knew that ish was too good to be true.) I threw the majority of my clothes in my suitcase (as I patiently wait for the washer/dryer to be reconnected) and after a shower applied some of the most uncomfortable lotion I have every come into contact with all over my body. (It burns.) Let’s hope the homies don’t like the scent and feel as much as I don’t and get the off my skin!

Back to last week. Tuesday went well with work at the Escuela and another apartment search. Wednesday was alright but did not end well when I got caught in the heaviest downpour that I have even been in (it was literally raining through my umbrella) and ruined my camera that was stored in my purse. (Why I didn’t wait out the storm to walk home…no idea. Apparently the rain here will take you and your electronics to town.) Thursday morning was a free day for me. I spent the morning at the hotel updating computer software, afternoon at the Termos de Rio (the nicest of the hot spring spots) relaxing with a bunch of PCVs and snacking on chips and salsa (um, can you say complete joy? Hannah, you know what I’m talking about), and night hanging at Dan’s to celebrate his departure (which I hope to live at one day, it’s the cutest house). Friday was uneventful except for a potential appearance of ninjas in my stomach from the Chinese food that I consumed the night before (Bo, I thought I left those guys in SF!).

The weekend was so darn chill; I was proud of myself that I was able to endure it. (Usually I can’t sit still for two minutes let alone two days.) I cracked open my first leisure read book (by David Hunt, I highly recommend him as he writes awesome murder mysteries set in SF!), completed a solid amount of Sudoku puzzles (with the never failing strategy taught to me by the man himself: Pops), and took some naps. (Looking back, what a shitty idea on that last one!) Saturday night I went to a local hotel to watch the soccer game on a big screen with a bunch of norteamericanos (¡ganadores!) while Sunday was spent searching out more places to live with Bert and Kalin (my sitemates).

Tonight, well, here we are. Like they say…sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite…that’s so messed up.