Under the weather

I’ve spent about 22 of the past 24 hours unconscious (with a brief stint in town before which I captured this photo from my bedroom window) and I’m about to spend at least the next 12 hours out cold. In summary, I haven’t been feeling so well lately. And it’s hard to get sick when you don’t speak the native language. I actually survived seven months in Italy without this problem, but I haven’t even made it a whole week here. It’s really too bad. I just keep on telling Paulina that, roughly translated, I don’t feel well, all of me feels bad, and I want to sleep. I’ve skipped a few meals, but I’ve been keeping hydrated and living off of my Dayquil/Nyquil (which is about to run out). (By the way, the white and green house is Paulina and Cristian’s whereas the all white one next door is where I’m living.)

Normally, fifty degrees Fahrenheit doesn’t sound so bad. Normally, it isn’t! But when it drops to just above freezing at night and no one in your village has heating, it does get quite chilly, I assure you. I am afraid my fingers and toes may have stabilized at around room temperature... Illapel room temperature. (Though you must admit, the rooms are quite pretty.) At the moment I am wearing three pairs of socks, three pairs of pants, six shirts (including 1 sweater, 1 jacket, and 1 sweatshirt), a sweatshirt hood, an ear-warming band, and the largest, most ridiculous, knitted, lined hat with a giant pom-pom on top. I am lying under five blankets and have a laptop on top of me for its additional warmth. Furthermore, all my hydration has come from near-boiling beverages. On the up-side, during the hour or two I was awake, I learned how to work the water heater and took a hot shower. It was wonderful!

So I may be an Em-sicle, but it’s fun, too! I am definitely learning to be grateful for all I have in the US. In fact, I am quite embarrassed by how much more I own, how much more of the world I’ve seen and experienced, and how much grander my dreams are than anyone else’s in this town. Also, being sick means I need to drink hot drinks and I have just discovered coronado, described as cebada tostada: it’s just like the caffè d’orzo I used to love in Italy! So there are lots of plusses to getting sick. Furthermore, I am bonding with my giant new bed and soon I may get to expand my vocabulary when I have to go to town to acquire more medicine. I don’t even know what they sell here. Hooray for cultural exploration!