Sickness and Shillings (Monday 6/15)

I did not sleep well last night. To start, I got woken up at 1:45am to a bright light and banging coming from my window. It was Paul! Yelling, “Mr. Keppy! Open the door for us!”. Turns out when I got home from watching soccer, I locked up the house because it genuinely seemed like Paul had gone to bed, obviously he did not. In a dream-like state I jump out of bed and open the door for Paul and his friend before going quickly back to bed. After that moment I went in and out of sleep for the entire rest of the night.

Paul woke me up at around 8:00am but I easily could’ve slept for the rest of the day. I got up and boiled myself some water. While getting things ready to take a bucket bath I heard and felt an extremely loud gurgle in my abdomen. It was as if water was being poured and was sloshing all around. Before I knew it I had to use the toilet and to save anyone from the details, I’m definitely a little sick now with diarrhea and it’s not fun to squat on a toilet when you’re feeling that way! Of course this meant that I now had to take a shower in the same bathroom, which didn’t smell great. I was feeling very down after this whole series of events and it was the first time this entire trip I really, really wanted to go home. I prayed and told myself it was going to be okay. 

I got ready and was on my way to leave before Paul stopped me and informed me that he would teach me how to cook today. The kitchen that has been serving me amazing meals the entire time I’ve been here will not be making dinner anymore. I have no clue why but it makes sense, cooking every night for a bunch of people has to be a ton of work!

I walked up to the office and was the first one there. I just relaxed as I wasn’t feeling very good. I was absolutely freezing yet I had several layers on which made me think I probably had a fever for a little bit. I got a little bit of work done before Michael showed up. We went to tea time (had the regular) and met up with Michael and Mr. Chesco. While eating my mandazi I saw quite the rustling in a nearby tree. Upon closer inspection, I saw a monkey! This was the first time I’ve seen a monkey in the village! Mr. Chesco called it a “chipmunk” which was funny as that’s far from a chipmunk in America!

We went back to the office and got some more work done. Eli showed up and he’s feeling better! He had a stomach bug thing similar to Henry. Soon enough, Henry showed up well but unfortunately was only feeling a little bit better. With all of us working, Luka came in and brought us a treat of strawberry creme filled crackers which were good. Lunch time arrived, but I wasn’t that hungry. I had a small plate of rice with cabbage and sauce with a piece of chicken. The village dog had shown up to eat our bones! I know that you should never give a dog a cooked bone as it can shatter and harm the dog, but here that doesn’t matter at all. The dog seemed very happy to receive all of the bones and specks of rice! I noticed that everyone else didn’t eat that much as well as we’re all kind of under the weather.

A much needed morale boost was needed so Miraclin encouraged all of us to go to a nearby shop to buy something. I needed laundry soap and wanted an Embe drink so I grabbed my money and walked down to the shop with everyone except Henry. The shop is no more than a two minute walk away yet Miraclin couldn’t find her way. We all thought it was hilarious and is the reason why all of the locals escort us to places. The shop is very simple, you pick out the things you want at a window and the person inside grabs what you want. I went first and purchased “White Wash” soap (hilarious name for soap out here) and a new Embe drink I’ve never had before called “Tunda”. For some reason this drink had an interesting seasoning flavor to it that tasted like some sort of chip. Everything only ended up costing me 1900 shillings; less than a dollar! Everyone else got a little something too as well. 

The walk back was quick and we were back to the office in no time. We just chilled, played some cards, and relaxed. To be honest, it’s extremely difficult to get work done when it’s self paced and nebulous. We all kind of have an idea of what we need to accomplish, but nothing set in stone. Since Mzee and Jonathan aren’t here it makes it even harder. We sat around and did more “work” but we weren’t that productive. I played a lot of cards with Eli and the entire time he could not stop farting. It was hilarious as nearly every turn of the game there was a toot coming out! 

Feeling under the weather and the food hitting me, I took a short nap. We filled the time until 7:00pm where our hosts came and picked us all up. The funny thing was that Luka came to pick up Eli but then disappeared nowhere to be found and then Paul came to pick me up and then disappeared nowhere to be found. Paul mentioned something about going to the shop to pick up tomatoes, but I don’t know. I decided to just hang around and dance to some music while I waited. He ended up never coming back to get me so I made the decision to just walk back home and meet him there. I was accompanied by a local guy named Luka (different from Eli’s host) and when I got back to the house I could smell some good food! I kind of had a feeling that Paul would be back there so I brought the router to make up for the fact I didn’t get there earlier. It turns out I missed out on all of the cooking which makes me sad; I wanted to learn how to do something out here! At least we have WiFi to listen to good music and dance!

I found Paul cooking with his friend John. Paul ensured that I would learn how to cook tomorrow and that I didn’t miss anything important. He was cooking rice at the moment. I noticed that Paul somehow got together a whole kitchen full of food and things. There were small shelves full of vegetables and seasonings, a small propane tank with special attachments for cooking, pots, plates, cups, cooking utensils, and a large bag of flour and rice along with several large bottles of oil. A lot to get when just this morning there was nothing inside of that room. 

We listened to music, danced, and I ate an orange. After the orange, I checked my shoes that had been washed a couple of days ago and they were finally dry and began lacing them up. Paul loved to say that I was “zipping” up my “new” shoes to show off to all of my friends tomorrow. 

The food was ready and to my horror, the main dish was the tiny fish that I’m confident started this whole sickness I’ve been dealing with all day. I didn’t want to be rude as I knew Paul spent a lot of time preparing such a great meal, but I didn’t want to feel worse than I already did. I told him that I was allergic to the fish and Paul was very sorry that he didn’t make something different for me. I felt bad that I didn’t eat the meal, but it meant more for him and his friend at least! I try my best to not be picky out here and so far I’ve only had one or two things I don’t enjoy! Nevertheless, I ate rice which felt simple and wholesome for my belly. 

It was also fun to dance around as his friend John didn’t speak a lick of English so the only way we could communicate without the help of Paul was dancing; the universal language of the world! We danced around for a while before Paul was the one to go to bed first! This is a rare occurrence, but I figured it had to do with the fact that he’s still trying to feel better from his illness. 

It was early when I got back to my room and seeing that I had electricity and WiFi, I could video call my family on WhatsApp! It was nice to talk about all of the adventures I’ve had and answer lots of questions. I hope I can call them again in another week or two. I think it’s good to talk but I like being isolated out here in a way not getting homesick from talking if that makes sense.

(photo screenshot from mom!)

Afterwards, I just blogged and settled in for a good night’s rest. At this point I was finally feeling a bit better. For once, it was completely silent in the house and I hoped that I wouldn’t be woken up in the middle of the night to let anyone in!