June 21 2007

Last night, before dinner, Erin and I were talking in the living room for a long time and I started feeling really sick. She had been sick the night before but was better again, but I think we might have had the same thing. I went and laid down (they had been stuffing me with food all day anyways so I was too full to eat dinner anyways). Then I threw up. A lot. I filled half the bucket. It was gross. For the rest of the night, I puked and dry heaved until there was absolutely nothing left. I tried to take some medicine, but I threw that up too. When everyone else woke up I was in the living room still clutching the red plastic bucket I had spent so much time with.

We were supposed to leave really early to catch the bus to Nairobi. There was already a car en route to come pick us up and take us to the bus station, so they gave me an ultimatum-stay and get better, then return to Uganda, or go to Nairobi. I was so sick I could barely movie, but there was no way in hell I was going to miss going to Mombassa and seeing the Indian Ocean. When the car came they led me (practically carried me) to the car. We got to the taxi station and had to wait for it to fill up (which took about two hours) the whole time I sat there concentrating on not throwing up and shielding myself from the relentless street vendors. I was sitting in the front seat with the driver and this nun got in and sat next to me. She was really old and really fat. She spoke broken English, but enough to keep asking me to give her money the entire trip. She knew I was sick and so she prayed over me and sprayed me with holy water. I was completely out of it or else I would have probably been more amused or annoyed (the money thing got really old really quick-especially when she kept waking me up to ask for it). It was a 6 hour severely bumpy taxi ride. By the end of it I felt somewhat better.

When we got into the city we sat on a curb and waited for Festus to find his friend Margaret who we were going to stay with. After we met up with her we walked to the taxi park and got a ride to the neighborhood “suburbs” if you will of Nairobi. I take it back about the Pastor’s house, Margaret’s house hands down is the nicest house I’ve seen in Africa. It had an indoor kitchen (with a stove AND a fridge), a living room (with a working T.V.), a downstairs indoor bathroom (with a western style toilet), running water, 3 bedrooms, and another upstairs bathroom!! I was amazed. Needless to say we spent the rest of the evening basking in the glory of the television. Watching all sorts of b-rated tv shows and movies (including the Bachelor, the X Files Movie, dubbed Spanish soap operas, and a horrible Hallmark channel original movie). It was wonderful.