17 September 2007

Little Things

The little things, little things / They always hang around / The little things, little things / They try to break me down / The little things, little things / They just won't go away / The little things, little things / Made me who I am today
-Good Charlotte


Sometimes, you just think that the world is conspiring against you... so many slightly-bad-but-not-too-bad things happen all at once that it's almost comical, and you just have to laugh and think, "Oh yeah, world? What else ya got?"

Here is a list of small but frustrating things that happened lately, in the span of just five days:

Oh, but first, here is the scale of frustration:
* slightly upset/frustrated/annoyed
** pretty upset/frustrated/annoyed
*** extremely upset/frustrated/annoyed

Day 1:
My counterpart and I were going to have a possibly important meeting in town.
*My counterpart's 20-year-old niece died in a motorcycle accident.
Needless to say, we didn't have our meeting.
*No one sat with me at lunch that day.
There was a hospital staff meeting that afternoon.
**The staff meeting was 4 lengthy hours long.
***It was really bad for many reasons I can't post here.
***REALLY bad.
***On top of its other badness: at the meeting, it was announced that working with HIV-positive community groups is no longer a priority, and everyone is supposed to focus on other things.
(Working with HIV-positive groups is what my counterpart and I DO.)
I was supposed to go work at my friend's house the next day;
I decided I should stay and talk to my counterpart about the staff meeting instead since he missed it.

Day 2:
My counterpart came back the next day-
He had scheduled to go meet with a community group that day.
***The hospital wasn't going to let us go, because "community groups are not a priority" any more.
Very late in the afternoon, the community group called.
They said: WHERE ARE YOU? We're here waiting...
So then we got to go.
***(And they were all there waiting...at least 50 of them. If they hadn't been able to find a phone to use, we would have been forced to stand them up.)
*We left very late to meet with them, so we didn't get home until very late in the evening.
***I had a yeast infection.
I was going to get up early and still go to my friend's house the next day.

Day 3:
*I overslept.
*I couldn't concentrate on what I needed to pack.
*My backpack zipper got stuck.
I locked up my house and walked out the door,
*And then realized I hadn't brushed my teeth.
*(Which also means I almost forgot my toothbrush.)
I stopped in town to check my post office box:
*My sister's package that was supposed to get here a while ago still didn't come.
*I had to wait an extra long time for the taxi to fill.
*I read a Newsweek article while waiting and felt very disconnected and mystified by Western culture. (Do you know what "Second Life" is? CRAZY.)
***On the ride to my friend's, I started getting very nauseous.
I stopped in a town near my friend's and went to an internet cafe.
**The internet was INCREDIBLY slow.
**It was also really expensive.
***I saw pictures of my hotter-than-ever ex-boyfriend having fun with another girl.
*(Ok, so that one was my own fault, for using up my internet time on facebook.)
*I got in a very very full car to my friend's house.
On the way it was really windy so my eyes watered
*This caused my sunscreen to run into my eyes and burn, a lot.
*I couldn't wipe my eyes because I was sitting squished in the same seat as the car driver and couldn't really move.
***I was still feeling very nauseous.
I finally got to my friend's house.
***I had diarrhea.
I sat on my friend's couch and cried about work, Uganda, and life.
When we sat down on the floor to eat dinner that night, my friend sat in a basin of water that I had left out.
(Well, that was more hilarious than frustrating- to her too!)
***I tossed and turned all night.

Day 4:
My friend was being amazing and tried to fix me pancakes the next morning.
She got to the last ingredient- flour-
*She dumped it in to the other ingredients...and found a bazillion little bugs in it.
*All ingredients wasted, and no pancakes.
***I had more diarrhea.
***And more nausea.
*I had really really wanted to work at my friend's site, but was feeling too icky. (I read instead.)
Later, we tried to make a cd of pictures for me on her laptop-
*The battery died while the cd was burning.

Day 5:
I came home the next day-
I was supposed to go to a wedding ceremony in the village that afternoon.
It poured rain for an hour.
*The rain stopped, but the road was too muddy- I couldn't go.
I was still feeling gross anyway.
I took a shower.
*When I got out I discovered I had run out of clean underwear except for thongs.
(And, underwear must be hung indoors to dry, so it takes a few days.)
*I was really bored.
I wanted to talk to my brother, so I texted my parents, asking him to call
*My parents called- my brother wasn't with them.
I was very happy to talk to my parents, but the reception was terrible-
**We didn't get to have a conversation. And...
*Then I discovered my ceiling had leaked.
In the very place that they "fixed" it after the cat fell through.

So, those were my five days. Nothing awful, but lots of little tiny frustrations that all seemed to happen at once- so much so that I just have to laugh about it and shrug my shoulders and say...
You don't scare me, Uganda, BRING IT ON.

7 Comments:

At 17 September, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Jessica!!

You hang in there! Things like this always seem to happen but seem really bad especially when you're not feeling well. They will get better. We love you and miss you!

Mark & Sonja

p.s. You're going to have another niece in January. :) Hope to talk to you soon.

 
At 18 September, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Correction: Sorry, we meant cousin. See what not feeling good can lead to...becoming and aunt before your time. :) We just wanted to let you know that it is a Girl. Have a good day!!

Love,

Mark & Sonja

 
At 19 September, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

We so enjoy reading your stories, Jess. I hate to think that you are not enjoying every minute that you are there but that wouldn't be very realistic, would it? You will, however, have some great memories that will last a lifetime and more....you will tell your kids the stories and they will tell their kids and so forth and so forth. We're very proud of you.....love from Uncle Eddie and Aunt margie

 
At 21 September, 2007, Blogger mmm said...

You are so tough! I am proud of you for not letting life get you down. no experience is bad experience i think, as long as you choose to learn from them (and there's always something to learn!) and choose to walk away wiser than you came in. And it is bad that I was laughing my face off through most of the post?

 
At 25 September, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Honey, now, you had a really bad week! Hope all bodily functions are back in order. Have there been budget cuts or something? Why is the HIV/AIDs work not a priority anymore? I know the problem isn't solved so what gives? Don't worry about "hotter than ever guy", God has the perfect person planned for one as special as you and frankly it sounds like to me he just didn't make the cut! Nice try though. We wish him all the best. We who know you best know what he is going to miss out on and apparently he just has poor judgement right now. He is young, he may grow out of it. I have no idea what "second life" is. Is it life after menapause cause if it is I want my first one back, you can have that second one. Wish I could be there to make you pancakes. Love you and my prayers are with you sweet lady. I will ask for an amazing week just so you know you are loved and don't lose heart.
P.S. By the way, you had a few hot pics of yourself romping on the beach, okay, it was with your sister but still, hot pics on the beach are hot pics!

 
At 29 September, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

jess! wow i didn't really read this until now ( i skimmed before) and i am so proud of you! i actually feel like when you share these things with us i can picture you there more easily. because of course there are so many things that are so different, and hearing about the problems you are having makes me feel like i can just see what a day to day life is like for you better. does that even make any sense? anyway, i hope that you feel better and that things start looking up! i miss you a ton and i can't wait to talk to you!

p.s. you brought THONGS to uganda???? hahaha. love you!

 
At 02 October, 2007, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have had that very same week. I think it's in the PC air. Hang in there. It doesn't stay bad forever, right?? That's what I'm telling myself at least. Today I went to my MST appointments and had plenty of problems to boot. Tomorrow through Weds are the lovely stool samples. I'm hoping that I have some weird parasite so maybe they'll send me home for a couple weeks.

 

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