Thursday I woke up with a sore throat. I didn't think too much of it, but my mild cold continued for 4 days. Yesterday during lunch I had no appetite. Let me tell you, this is not a common occurrence. After lunch I went to my room and started to cry for no reason. Again, not something I do on a regular basis. I accidentally fell asleep and woke up two hours later with my entire body sore and feeling like I definitely had a solid fever going. My host family called our doctor neighbor and he made a house call. He told me I have the flu and prescribed some medicine, but somehow also gave me the ok to go to school and participate in gym class.
Thankfully my host mom vetoed that idea and today I am home from school resting. What's not so fun is that I tend to miss home a whole lot more when I'm sick. Also in Ecuador apparently it's a thing to drink hot lemonade if you aren't feeling well. It tastes better than it sounds.
I always crave Bread Co. when I'm sick, but this will have to do.
For the second part of this post I'm just going to start with a haiku that illustrates how I feel about the shower situation here:
Electricity.
Hey, let's mix it with water!
While we're naked.
Back in the old US of A, we have hot water tanks. Not the case here. Sinks actually don't seem to have hot water at all. So the way you get a hot shower is through an electric shower head. These things freak me out. I am deathly afraid of electricity entering my body. Also, they just don't quite live up to the the water pressure of an American shower. And after doing some research on these things online, it turns out there is a lot that can go wrong with them. They are sometimes referred to as "widow makers." Cool.
Please note the wires.
Saturday Night I was just minding my business, taking a shower before bed. And then as I'm finishing up my shower, there is a sudden flash of blue light. Naturally I got out of the shower. And what did I see when I looked at those wires? Just a casual little fire.
The scene of the crime.
The first thing I did was blow on it. That made the fire bigger. Nice going, Grace. I put some water on it and sizzled out. Apparently some guy from Quito is coming at some point to fix the shower. Good news is I was totally unharmed. Bad news is I will probably fear showering for a long time.
Other exciting news is that now I have taken an over-a-month break from my college application, I get to back to work on that! Wow, so excited! College apps don't really seem to be a big deal here.
People like to say that I'm having the time of my life, and I'm not going to disagree with that. But part of the point of an exchange year is it's not like a trip where it's fun and busy all the time. You experience real life. There are good days, bad days, sick days, and days where your shower catches on fire.
After all that is said, I want to clarify that my chief concern remains: will my cat remember me when I return home?
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