Ticks

For a few days, I went up to Orange County, VA with a friend. He gave me a tour of his town (which didn't take very long) and one of the sites we drove by was a haunted house. A family had died there in the 50s and no one had lived there since. The place was overgrown and the house was not visible from the road. My friend merely pointed it out and drove on. But there's something about a haunted house that entices me. I didn't forget about it and the last day I was there, I begged him to take me to see it.
We began to pick our way through the brush that had grown over the drive. We were still in sight of the road and not yet in sight of the house when he began to perform a crazy dance on the path in front of me.
"Ticks!" he shouted, stomping them off his feet and swatting at them.
I took a deep breath and tried not to get irritable. Seriously? I thought. They're just bugs. I'm the city girl. I should be freaking out about bugs, not the country boy who grew up here. But he refused to go on and promised we would another time, when we both had pants and shoes on instead of shorts and flip-flops. We got back to the road (although, I admit, I did snap once or twice for him to get going when he stopped in front of me to wipe at more ticks. (but seriously, if you stop in the brush, more will get on you as you remove the others. Wait till you get to the road!))
When we were on the road, and he had become content that he was clear of ticks, I asked him, "Do I have any on me?"
He said, and I quote, "you're good."
He lied to me.
After this, I went back to his house, packed my car and drove home, taking about 4 hours total. I arrived home at about 11pm and, tired from the drive, promptly changed into some pajamas. This is when I found the first four ticks on my legs. I came to realize why my friend flipped out about the ticks. These were not just bugs. They were bugs that wanted to bury their heads in my flesh and suck my blood until they became gargantuous and then depart, obese on my life blood! I scrambled to remove the bloody little parasites and was relieved when I threw the four in the toilet to meet a watery grave. Relieved until I began to search the rest of my body. 5 more ticks joined their friends in the Whirlpool of Doom and finally I was satisfied that I was tick free. (I did, however, have that creepy crawly feeling for the rest of the night.)
The next morning, I was pleased to recall that that far from lovely incident was in the past and today was a new day. I got in my car. Evidently, during the three hour drive, a number of ticks had crawled off me in my car in a (successful) attempt to evade the Whirlpool of Doom and a (successful) attempt to crawl on my at a later point and dine on my blood.
13 ticks total.
Two lessons from this:
1. It is completely reasonable to freak out when ticks are discovered on self
2. After adrenaline rush from freaking out about ticks on self, friends become blind and fail to see the dozen+ ticks scurrying across your legs.

Two Months!

I am two months away from being on a plane headed to Papua New Guinea. That's an exciting thought. I'm still $2000ish short of what I need. But I'm sure that God has that taken care of. Thank you all for your support. I'm excited to go on this adventure and thrilled to ave an opportunity to help with the translation process.

Oasis at MACU

Right now, I'm sitting in the balcony in the chapel of Mid-Atlantic Christian University, listening to awesome worship and waiting to hear an excellent speaker. I'm so glad that I got an opportunity to serve and hang out on campus with the students. It's been a really fantastic weekend for me.
But there are a lot of high school students on campus enjoying time hanging out with one another and the services hosted by MACU. It would be awesome to see some of their faces here next year and in the years that follow. Pray that they hear God this weekend.

Pass it forward

Meet with Forefront today. I'm really stoked about some things we talked about and hope to see some things get fleshed out soon. I'm hoping that a couple of these ideas will help me with finding some amazing people who'd like to partner with me in this mission that I've found myself to be a part of.
I went to Barnes and Noble and finished reading a book I started yesterday. (I've come to discover that it's cheaper to buy Starbucks and read at Barnes and Noble than it is to buy the books it takes to satisfy my habit). It was about this girl who killed herself but sent cassette tapes to all of those who in one way or another contributed to her decision to kill herself. They're actions were seemingly small but snowballed rapidly.
I started thinking about how a snide comment and other little deeds can hurt alot more than we ever knew. And as these thoughts of how mighty small things can hurt, a man taking my parking ticket said, "I'm not trying to flirt, but you look very pretty." And then I started to think of how such things worked in a positive way to. A small positive thing like a compliment can have great repercussions.

Rain

Today I was woken by a mighty clap of thunder at 5 am.
I thought, "oh dear, I have to drive to Elizabeth City in great rain today."
Before I left, I was sure to check my email to make sure school had not been canceled due to the torrential downpour. It had not.
Driving down I was pleased to discover that, while steady, the rain was not hard, impeding visibility.
However, upon arriving just a turn away from campus, I discovered the final road on my normal route to be flooded. Not losing heart, I turned to take the next parallel road. Only to find that too flooded, and the next, and the next. I decided that this was quite ridiculous and turned to take a more main road, which we all know are less susceptible to flooding. Dear Elizabeth St, however, had been blocked off by the police due to high water levels. And the officer suggested I try Road St, the street I had just been on. When I returned to "risk it", I was lucky to find a larger vehicle fording the road and followed quickly in its wake.
I did not enjoy discovering that Mid-Atlantic Christian University had become an island. Nor did I enjoy driving down those roads at the end of the day, for all indications that it had once been a river were gone. And while that made driving easier, it was a little frustrating to see that what had caused me so much grief was now, after so short a period, gone without a trace.
Good times
Good times

I gave my first injection!

Today, in Primary Health Care, I learned how to do a Physical exam, dental care, put on gloves in a sterile fashion, give injections, and do a catheterization. My partner was an experienced nurse, taking the class to learn about how to handle medical situations in the non-western world. She was really great and gave me extra pointers on how to do the injections. We practiced on one another with saline. She said I did really well. So for the first time, I gave an injection, but not just one, 3! 3 different kinds!
Tomorrow, I get to sleep in. But Monday, we get to engage in more fun!

I've completed the Certificate Program!!!

Today was my last class of Language and Society. When I went to GIAL in July, I had then intention of taking the Certificate Program over the course of a year. However, I found that pace to be too slow for my taste and swtiched to the half year route. Unforturnately, I didn't make the switch in time to pick up the Language and Society course. So I just took it and am done with my undergrad work at GIAL. The next time I come to GIAL will be to start my master's work.
Tomorrow I will begin my Primary Health Care class. Three days of intense study concerning how to deal with medical sitations when in the jungle. I'm excited to start, although not to wake up before 7.