Sick and Personal Day

Well, today I stayed home from school sick for the first time ever. Yesterday, I woke up at about 4:15 in the morning with the immediate urge to use the bathroom. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my morning in that bathroom until I caught the 6:10 bus to school. After taking numerous medications to stop the constant need to use the bathroom (if you know me, you know that it is taking all my strength to not give you more details about these bathroom experiences. Here in Guatemala, we call it @$$ water if that gives you enough of a visual) I was able to put on a happy face and teach. Wednesdays are the days that my students only go to Spanish for one 30 minute period so I needed to stay composed more than most days. Luckily, we recently studied the digestive system so my students were very understanding when I told them I would need to go to the bathroom throughout the day (to which they replied, "You have diarrhea!"). Unfortunately, the diarrhea led to fever and the fever led to vomiting and by 8pm last night I wanted nothing more than to just lie down and die (drama queen!).

Luckily for me I have an incredibly body-conscious mother and a super compassionate roommate. My mom kept me informed throughout the day of what to eat and what not to eat, what medicines to take, and how much fluids I needed to consume. Aubrey made me tea, filled my water bottle, made some noodles, and rubbed my back while I cried on the bathroom floor. I slept the fever off today but the water butt hasn't stopped. Normally, I wouldn't be too concerned except for the fact that I am supposed to be running a half marathon on Sunday. I guess all I can do at this point is try to get better and see how I feel come race time.

What have I concluded from this bodily discomfort?
     1. Its okay to miss school sometimes. Risking getting sicker or, even worse, getting the kids sick, is no way to grow as a teacher. Luckily my boss was incredibly supportive and my coworkers helped with my kids all day while I rested at home.
     2. Guatemala, though beautiful and full of amazing people, has gotten me sick more in the last year than in the last 10 years of my life. The contaminated water, the polluted air, the poorly handled food-- my body just can't adjust. I heard recently that for every year you live in Guatemala (or a country similar in cleanliness (or lack there of)), you lose two years off your life expectancy. Hopefully the experiences I have here will make those four years at the end of my life unimportant.
     3. Though loneliness can creep up on me at the most random of times while living abroad, its really lucky I work at Inter. The people there are just so legit. My boss offered to teach my class so I could lay down in he nurses office yesterday, Leslie printed out my students' homework and language arts activity this morning, many friends texted me from school to see how I was feeling, and Aubrey played mother to me for two days now. Plus, the sweet, "I hope that you feel better, Mees Ana!" comments from my kids actually did make me feel better.

Hopefully I can get a full night's rest and be back to normal in the morning. I think I am going to the race which is in Cobán, Guatemala (about a 4 hour drive) no matter what and just decide the morning of if I feel like I can run the whole 21K without creating a trail of butt bile while I run (sorry, I really tried to keep it clean this entry). I'll keep you all updated and hope in the meantime you stay healthy and happy.