When I woke up this morning, I knew something wasn't quite right. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it, but I just felt...uncomfortable. Two hours later I was doubled over in pain with my head in the toilet. I know what you're thinking, and no, I didn't drink the water. And no, I hadn't been eating tacos off the street. It was a feeling all too familiar; I had a kidney stone. I asked Jade to go through my drawer and get my pain pills I brought from home because I literally could not get up from the bathroom floor. I finally just couldn't take the pain anymore and asked Jade to call the school doctor. Then, almost as quickly as it had come, the pain was gone. Apparently the stone had found a comfortable resting place and had quit mauling the inside of my kidney. The doctor came anyway and gave me a prescription for the pain. I took the meds and happily ridded my body of the tiny little stone a few hours later. It actually wasn't too costly, which was really nice. It cost me less than 40 dollars for a house visit from the doctor and the generic pain pills costs less than a dollar. But still, what a way to spend my precious Saturday!
Besides the episode today, this week has been pretty good. It's been crazy busy, but good. I taught everyday but Wednesday this week, and taught twice on Friday. Yesterday I was at school from 8 am to 830 pm. It was one LOOOONG day. When I got home, Mike and Jade were waiting on me to go the movies, or the cinema as Frank calls it. We waited a few minutes on Frank, then the 4 of us caught a cab to the VIP movies. Yes, that's right, they have VIP movies here. You don't sit in a uncomfortable, regular chair. You get your own lazyboy! They also have a waitress to come and serve you Sushi or whatever it is that you want. You get all that for only 100 pesos, less than 10 dollars. It cost about that much to go to the movies in the states, and you definitely don't have your own servant included. We've heard so much about the VIP's since we've gotten here and couldn't wait to experience the luxury first hand. A 120 Peso taxi ride later, we arrived at the cinema only to find out that all the shows were sold out. Apparently everyone in this city wants to feel like a VIP. We walked around some until we came across a really cool Sushi place and had dinner. The four of us laughed and had a blast enjoying one another's company. We told Frank story after story about school. about how Gary calls Jade and I The Daughters of the Confederacy, which Mike has shortened to DOC's. And how Gary told a story that made one of our classmates throw up. Literally. She jumped up in the middle of class and ran to the bathroom. Poor girl..But it was hilarious! ha Mike then told us about when he was in a band and lived the rock and roll life for about 5 years. They toured all across the US and Europe. He said he made a very modest living but, hey that's pretty awesome. They had a record deal,an agent and even made it on MTV2 once for an interview. Pretty cool. Frank told us all about his world wide travels as we all just passed our plates around. Everyone ordered a different type of sushi roll so we all could share. We really had nice time.
It's amazing that I've only known my new friends a little more than three weeks. I feel like we've hung out more times than I can count and with some, I feel strangely emotionally comfortable. Maybe it's just being in a foreign land together, we are all sharing an experience that outsiders just can't understand. No matter how different we all are, we're united by a common love for adventure, a hunger for travel, a lust for new places, a need for novel experiences, an appreciation for alternate cultures, and a thirst for a different walk of life. By wandering the globe, we're sculpting our originalities and nurturing our curious spirits. Whatever the reason for the connections, I'm very thankful for the new friendships that I've formed here. I just finished video chatting with my family in Baton Rouge, and my Aunt Dede asked me who was the most interesting person I'd met so far. I had to stop and think for a second because I've met so many amazing people with so many different backgrounds. It's really been a life changing experience already, and I've still got 6 more months to go. I can only imagine what else God has in store for me here!
Besides the episode today, this week has been pretty good. It's been crazy busy, but good. I taught everyday but Wednesday this week, and taught twice on Friday. Yesterday I was at school from 8 am to 830 pm. It was one LOOOONG day. When I got home, Mike and Jade were waiting on me to go the movies, or the cinema as Frank calls it. We waited a few minutes on Frank, then the 4 of us caught a cab to the VIP movies. Yes, that's right, they have VIP movies here. You don't sit in a uncomfortable, regular chair. You get your own lazyboy! They also have a waitress to come and serve you Sushi or whatever it is that you want. You get all that for only 100 pesos, less than 10 dollars. It cost about that much to go to the movies in the states, and you definitely don't have your own servant included. We've heard so much about the VIP's since we've gotten here and couldn't wait to experience the luxury first hand. A 120 Peso taxi ride later, we arrived at the cinema only to find out that all the shows were sold out. Apparently everyone in this city wants to feel like a VIP. We walked around some until we came across a really cool Sushi place and had dinner. The four of us laughed and had a blast enjoying one another's company. We told Frank story after story about school. about how Gary calls Jade and I The Daughters of the Confederacy, which Mike has shortened to DOC's. And how Gary told a story that made one of our classmates throw up. Literally. She jumped up in the middle of class and ran to the bathroom. Poor girl..But it was hilarious! ha Mike then told us about when he was in a band and lived the rock and roll life for about 5 years. They toured all across the US and Europe. He said he made a very modest living but, hey that's pretty awesome. They had a record deal,an agent and even made it on MTV2 once for an interview. Pretty cool. Frank told us all about his world wide travels as we all just passed our plates around. Everyone ordered a different type of sushi roll so we all could share. We really had nice time.
It's amazing that I've only known my new friends a little more than three weeks. I feel like we've hung out more times than I can count and with some, I feel strangely emotionally comfortable. Maybe it's just being in a foreign land together, we are all sharing an experience that outsiders just can't understand. No matter how different we all are, we're united by a common love for adventure, a hunger for travel, a lust for new places, a need for novel experiences, an appreciation for alternate cultures, and a thirst for a different walk of life. By wandering the globe, we're sculpting our originalities and nurturing our curious spirits. Whatever the reason for the connections, I'm very thankful for the new friendships that I've formed here. I just finished video chatting with my family in Baton Rouge, and my Aunt Dede asked me who was the most interesting person I'd met so far. I had to stop and think for a second because I've met so many amazing people with so many different backgrounds. It's really been a life changing experience already, and I've still got 6 more months to go. I can only imagine what else God has in store for me here!
After I had fully recovered from my stone incident, Frank took us out on the town. We went to a cool Cuban place where you could sign all over the walls.
They had a live Cuban band playing right in the middle of the restaurant.
Look, a sign written in English!
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