medical packet that the reactions that I was having are normal for some people. So the next day I went to my 8am Spanish class and asked my teacher to call the medical office and request the other option of pills for me. Since it was Labor Day though, the Peace Corps office was closed and so we were going to call the next day. After the first half of class, I went home to eat lunch. (I am feeling great btw.) I was in the middle of lunch when I hear my host parents and the host mom of another trainee (the mom at the house where we have Spanish class)telling my parents that I need to go with her b/c I have a phone call from the medical office. However, my parents are arguing with her; telling her that I will come after lunch b/c I am in the middle of it. After awhile I intervened and was like no, no it's ok I will go with her and eat my lunch later after Spanish class. So I get into a taxi and ride over to their house where I have to wait for a phone call back from the Peace Corps Medical Office. At this point I think they must just be calling me back about the phone call my Spanish teacher made earlier. So they eventually call back and ask me how I am feeling and I let them know, Great! But last night I was sick with this,this and this. So then they proceed to tell me that I needed to come to Managua to be quarantined and observed for 5 days. The volunteer that I had shared my room with the first 2 days of training was sick with something, possibly the swine flu (so they have to be careful)!! So of course I started to cry b/c I was scared; I didn’t want to fall behind. And I didn’t want to scare my family which has a daughter who is pregnant. But the host mom there and my teacher said don’t worry, it is normal. They are just taking a precaution. I told my family that I was going to be observed and packed up my stuff. While waiting for my ride, I actually had the best conversation I have had while I have been in Nicaragua with my host mom. All in Spanish, we talked for about 2 hours about her life, problems of the town, marriage, etc. Then my teacher came and the three of us continued the conversation. So, despite the current issue at hand, I was proud of myself for holding such a long conversation in Spanish and understanding 80% of it. Haha. But then my ride came in a Peace Corps truck, wearing a paper mask. Great! I was handed one and my new roommate,not the original sick volunteer, but another trainee who was with me in the old room and therefore was also being quarantined. We rode to the city, went to the medical office, and each were handed preventative medicine, a box of masks, and antibacterial medicine. Also, I will be receiving a different type of Malaria medicine! We were taken to our hotel room and found-out that there were 2 other trainees being quarantined with us. They have also assured us that they will figure out a way to catch us up and so we shouldn’t worry about that. We have to wear paper masks when we leave the room. We get a lot of stares. Luckily, we have been here for four days and none of us have been feeling sick in the least and so they called us to let us know that tonight we can leave. Thank goodness because otherwise I may go a bit STIR CRAZY here!
This is us in our masks. I am the one in the brown and my roommate for the last couple of days is the one in the blue :)
Wait...you're in the brown???
ReplyDeleteHopefully you are getting all of these little mishaps out of the way during your first few weeks of training. They do make for great blog reading though.
I also really like that mom wanted you to wait to go get quarantined until AFTER lunch.
Christine, we have Pizza Hut and swine
ReplyDeleteflu here--come home, and we'll deliver Jimmy John's to your room!!
...kidding...glad you're OK