Africa proves the invincible vincible...

I’m the girl who is never sick, isn’t allergic to anything, never has broken a bone…pretty much the girl that doctors love doing physicals on because they can check no on every box. Africa found the loop hole. DON’T WORRY, I’M OKAY! So, on Sunday I got home from my trip to Durban and noticed two large bumps on my arm that I assumed were mosquito bites because I usually get a little swollen. On Monday, I woke up and my whole arm was swollen. Halfway through the day I decided to start popping the Benadryl, to no avail.  That night, my arm was two times its normal size and believe it or not, my size 9 (man sized) Aggie ring would no longer fit.  I also started getting a rash on my stomach.  Wednesday, I woke up to find a giant arm, rash covered body, and swollen eyelids. Let me tell you, I was looking gooood. With the help of the Peace Corps, we decided it was time for me to make the trip to the hospital.  The swelling has finally gone down, after many days of looking like a scary monster, and I am good to go. Leave it to Africa to find something I’m allergic to. Too bad I have no idea what it is…dundundunnn.

Fish bowl

I now know what it feels like to be a goldfish.  I went for a long walk on Sunday and ventured to areas I hadn’t yet visited.  As I walked down the road, people peeked their heads out of doors on the surrounding hills to stare at me in curiosity. What was this white person doing walking down the road?  The people who knew me would call out, “Hellooooo, Nobuuuhleeee!” [Nobuhle is my given Zulu name] Those who didn’t know me would call out, “Hellooooo, Umlunguuuuu!” [Umlungu=White person]. I would look up into the hills, not seeing who yelled at me but waving back anyways.  I can confidently say that I was the goldfish and I had hundreds of eyes staring at me through the tank.  I guess I can just be thankful that there is no way to tap on the metaphorical glass, scaring me with the loud thump thump thump…poor goldfish.