Well, the day came and went && myself and the Chev bike to Ouaga on the 27th of Fevrier!! We left approximately at 6:00 (we were shooting for 5, get up at 4:30, but took longer to get going)... took a couple of breaks (much needed - and directed, thank you, by Chev), drank (btwn the two of us) 4.5 L of water and ORS and bike for 5 hours. That equals us conquering 75 km on our bikes. It was great and surprisingly, my body wasn't as upset with me as I was assuming. :] Next time (yes, there will be a next time) I want to go faster and see how fast my legs can take me. We averaged 15km per hour and I would like to average 17km - 19km per hour. Tough. But do-able. I will say because we biked we were probably the laziest human beings on the planet this past 2-3 days. All we wanted to do was sit around and drink water and sit some more. Maybe kill a few brain cells while searching on Facebook... but mostly sit.
I ended up getting sick this trip to Ouaga. No fun. I believe it's our 2nd day in the city and we're still being ultra lazy but decide to go out to Fespaco and enjoy a movie! We order in from Hamburger House and I get courageous and order a sunny burger (cheeseburger with an egg) YUM... almost like Red Robin, but not even close. And I got a chocolate milkshake too. Double Yum. and as I'm eating and skyping with my one true love Ashley - I think to myself (what a wonderful life/world... check lyrics?) this doesn't taste so good. This may be a mistake on the part of my taste-buds, or my body is trying to warn me... well, I didn't listen. We all finish dinner and head out to the road to find a cab to take downtown - but this time my belly is yelling at me. Oh no. We get to Fespaco and buy a ticket for "The Last Flight of the Flamingo" and to our surprise it has ENGLISH subtitles! Yippee! Unfortunately, the severed penises, soft core porn and Portuguese didn't hold my attention and I fell asleep on numerous occasions. Oops. We leave centreville and successfully pack in 8 volunteers in one four door cab... 2 in front, 6 in back (four down on the seat and two on top of the pile). Yeah, we're pros, please, don't try this at home.
The whole time I feel like I'm gonna puke... well, long story short: I had 8 bands march out of my mouth at around midnight and on to 4:30am. I got so dehydrated (I thought I was gonna faint or pass out) I had to cling to the toilet to keep myself up. I ended up calling for one of the other volunteers in the house to come and help me, or bring me a glass of water and a thermometer because I felt like I was on fire. The PCMO came and got me and gave me the most painful shot in my left arm to stop vomiting. Ow. It still is sore. And I didn't get to bed until after 6:00am... I woke up at 8:00. :[
The rest of my time in Ouaga was uneventful. Talked with Ash some more, my mom and Adam. All is well back home from what I can tell. I know Ashley is bound for great things! Stupid Teach for America doesn't know what they passed up.
I came back to Sap on the 17:00 KGB bus on the 2nd (yesterday) and stayed the night there because of the following reasons:
- It was way too dark to bike and I don't have good night vision as it is
- Today was marché day in Sap
- Check mail
- Delicious flame roasted chicken!
- I have a complet in the works
- My ear needs piercing ASAP
Let's elaborate on that last bullet point, shall we? There are three ethnic groups in Sourou: Mossi, Grounssi and Peuhl. Well, the Peuhl women have lots of piercings and even more jewelry. One of their piercings is the upper cartilage of the ear - they string beaded earrings in that piercing. It's gorgeous! I've wanted that since seeing it the first time. But one dilemma: no piercing. Other dilemma: no one to pierce it. Last dilemma: it's dirty in this country and I'm scared of infection.
Well - I finally asked someone about dilemma #1, and yes, there is a woman who can thread the earring into my ear, but no piercer. Ah, but what about the CSPS staff? Uh HUH! I go and ask the midwife and she tells me she is too scared but there is someone in Sap who can do it. √ Next question: will it be sanitary? Why yes - I can take care of that if anything and I'll be sure to wash it. No prob.
Okay - So I go to Sap one day (last wk) and talk with a nurse... she's too scared. Ugh. She does say there's a Madame Ouedrougou who can do it and says I should come back in March. Okay - so today rolls around and I check out the maternity: ask for the Madame and am sent out on a mission to find my own needle and plastic thread (to act as my first earring). Check. Go back and she sanitized everything (yes, I watched) and the nurse who was too afraid to do it herself comes in to watch. I'm a little nervous now. Damn. I tell the nurse and she laughs and I tell her to come and hold my hand. She does and tells me du courage! du courage! So nice and then the needle goes through. OW! And worst part... where the nurse tied the plastic thread onto the needle it gets stuck and she has to YANK it through. OOOOWWWW. And then it's over. I feel a wee bit nauseous but am overall good. She prescribes me an antibiotic and an anti-inflamitory. Yay. That costs 2,300CFA: that's about 5 bucks for 10 days of anti-inflamitory and 5 days antibiotic. Nice.
It still throbs with pain, but that's expected. I'll be washing it 3 x's a day and maybe after 10 - 15 days I can remove the plastic and put in a metal earring and let that heal and then I'll have a woman thread the Peuhl earring through my ear. Yay. I'm excited.
Welp - time for bed. My body is still exhausted from biking and vomiting so much. Sleep.
Sleep is good, eh?
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