The worst week ever!

The last week here in Fastiv has been the most difficult I think I have ever had. Last Tuesday was the first really beautiful day of spring. Finally after spending three weeks in country and seeing the same gray sky, the sun broke through and started shining. I went home after language class and had a bowl of Rosolnik - pickle soup. Afterwards I went on a walk through my hood to take some pictures of the local houses and cats I started feeling really weak through my legs. I thought nothing of it as I have walked a lot that day. I came home and went to bed because I didn't feel all that well. Around 10 oclock that night I woke up and ran to the bathroom and started what would be 7 hours of throwing up and the worst runs I have ever had. (sorry about the graphic account, but it's all part of the peace corps experience)

Elektrychka

I called the PC Medical Officer in Kiev and drank a lot of rehydration salts. There wasn't much they could do for me because they thought it was simple food poisoning. The following day I felt a lot better but after being up all night long in the bathroom, where the toilet seat has no padding, but instead is comprised of broken spikes of plastic biting you in the ass, I was in no shape to do anything. To make a long story shorter, I have Girardia. It's a bacterial infection that is spread in places with poor santitaion. I may wash my hands everytime I use the bathroom, but my host family does not. Not only that, but we don't have a sink in the kitchen, so although they say that all the food I eat is fresh, it's not washed like it should be. I felt really horrible, my host parents absolutely freaked-out when I got sick. They thought it was the end of the world, not so much because I was sick, as they thought they were going to be in trouble for poisoning me. Thankfully, yesterday I finally got the ok from Peace Corps to go to the local apteka (pharmacy) and purchase some sort of drugs. My LCF (language facilittor) Olena came with me and later translated that the drugs I was told me purchase were for sexually transmitted diseases... I made sure not to let my host mom see the packaging, she's scary enough without her thinking that I have some sort of STD.

A little about my host mom... since this incident she has become scarier than usual. SHe's a really large woman and has no volume control over her voice. It's actually pretty funny. It gets a lot worse when she drinks... which is not uncommon. In the last week she has become overly paranoid about me getting sick and is blaming it all on me. ALthough it is at times amusing, mostly it's just really annoying. This is the moment that I wish my language skills weren't as good as they are, because I wish I didn't understand what she was saying to me. I'm tired of being told that American's are weak and that we don't know how to eat. I think all the fried pig fat and vodka may have begun to rot her brain.

On the 10th my group from Fastiv is going to Kiev and our permanent sites for 10 days... I can't wait to get away for a little bit... I didn't think that living in a host family would be this difficult. At least they don't know how to operate my cd player or my computer, I think that would make it much more difficult to deal with.