Birthday, staph infections, and freetown.

Well, I've been in Freetown for a long time and not updated the blog, so here ya go. I'm gonna start at New Years Day til now....

On new years day, I went to a wedding in my neighbors village 4 miles off called Semabu. The tradition in this culture is that you have this big party and march in different women and the man accepts or refuses them and then the last lady that comes in is the fiance and he accepts her and asks the family's permission to marry the woman. Well, this one was interesting because the couple had already been living together and had kids together, but the family didn't agree! I just kinda stood there befuddled cuz i wasn't sure what a couple does if the family doesn't agree to let the woman marry. Anyway, after discussion and negotiation, it was worked out, the world was right again, and everyone ate rice and danced the night away. Well, after the wedding, my friend Alhaji and I headed to Njala to dance in the club because there were no festivities in Mano for New Years. It was tons of fun.

The next couple of weeks were pretty standard "wait on kids to decide to come back to school" so there was a lot of cooking, laying in the hammock, drinking of palm wine, and reading of books happening at my house. On the weekend before my birthday, the girls planned and carried out an impromptu weekend at my house. Jessie, Chrissy, and Dia showed up for a fabulous weekend. The girls got there and we sprung into action cooking american food. The menu included fried chicken(that we killed and breaded partly with jalepeno pringles), mashed cassava, cassava french fries, and yams(thanksgivin style with brown sugar). We absolutely threw down on some food. We all sat in the floor and ate from the same plate with our hands..... so, after this, we sat around for awhile and kept time with some Mano folks before heading to Njala to go dance. We found a friend (Bakar) that had a mini van and we got him to take us to Njala to the club. We went, kinda early, and danced the night away before jumping back into the car to head home. Well.... on the way home, we're all asleep on each other's shoulders when the car rolls to a stop in a small village called Pelewahun because there was music bumping for a waking and people dancing everywhere. Our driver stopped to talk to someone he knew, but probably would have changed his mind if he would have known we were gonna wake from a dead sleep, vacate the car, and storm the place with dancing white folks. So, we successfully drive by dance attacked a small african village. YES.

So after this fabulous weekend, my actual birthday was on Tuesday. I woke up and couldn't straighten my left arm that morning and felt like poopie. So, i called the doc lady, and went home and crawled in bed with a fever. My neighbor came over after I woke up with a big ole hunk of deer meat(complete with skin and fur) and I had to ask how to clean in because i had to steam it to cook with it the next day. So, I was close to a breaking point because i didn't feel good and didn't feel like having the army of kids outside my house laughing at me because I didn't know how to clean the deer meat, so I passed out buckets and made them all go fetch water while my neighbor taught me how to do it. So, i got a lesson in cleaning deer and went back to bed for my birthday. The next day, my lymphnode under my arm was swollen and i started antibiotics, but they didn't help, so when i got up on Wednesday and the swelling and redness had spread, I jumped transport to go to Freetown. once there, meds were swapped and i had the best night of sleep of my life in the air conditioned(sick room) and when i woke up the next morning, off to the hospital I went.

The hospital was actually a private clinic where i had a tv, remote control air conditioner, my own bathroom, and the meals consisted of baked chicken, couscous, steamed veggies, etc. It was really nice. I had to have an IV for about 4 days and didn't leave that one room. I read lots of books, magazines, and watched TV. By the end, I was ready to go home! The last night I was there, some small kids came in screamin bloody murder because they were getting IVs and so I gathered up my toys from my American boxes and went on a delivery mission. It definitely saved my sanity as well as theirs i think. We played with yo yos and clackers and had fun at our toy-filled buttless gown party. It was a hoot. While I was there, the country directors came to visit as well as a couple of other peace corps staff members. That was nice of them. I finally made it out and here I am later in February and the Doc has informed me that it's possible that I will always have some sensitivity in that arm. BOOO..... Staph infections are NOT cool. But I did eat some killer sushi while I was in Freetown and spend way too much money on I'm not sure what.

So after my close run in with insanity because i was in Freetown for almost a week and a half with nothing to do but kick it with the security guards and occasionally cook, i was thankful to head back to my village, where I should have known that EVERYONE knew that I was not well. I felt kind of bad that I had just missed a week and a half of school and then had to turn around and go back in a week or so for the Foreign Services Exam. So the buffer week in between was spent at school which did not go very well because the eastern part of the country has started a teacher's strike and it's slowly trickling across the country. So, the teachers at my school are signing the attendance book and sitting down.

On Wed., the 9th, I headed back to Freetown. I woke up on Thurs to take the Foreign Services exam which went ok I guess, but I have a feeling I might be taking it again later.....So, this turned out to be a group trip and about 15-20 people ended up at the hostel. It was pretty chill for the most part and we spent the weekend on the beach(w jessie logerfo) and walking around town and eatin good food. We also had a mexican food cooking night, I made sweet tea for everyone, and we had different meetings on Girls Conference and syllabus stuff. So, it was a chill weekend, but I'm ready to go home. Sorry this was such a factual update and not full of funny stories, but I have put new pictures on FB which was a big accomplishment. ALSO, *VERY IMPORTANT* We have successfully got the magic jack working at the hostel as well as skype and my computer will be stayin here so volunteers to use it whenever they come since it won't hold a charge anyway. I enjoyed getting to skype with family and friends while I was in Freetown. Hope to talk to you guys soon and thanks for all the encouragement!