Be Thankful

From a poem, author unknown:

Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Happy Thanksgiving To Me

Wow, it's been three weeks since I last posted?!?! I was feeling kind of down after the election - I thought it was from being homesick and tired of Nairobi and working at the museum. I'm sure those all played a part, but then I started having the symptoms that I remember all too well from being sick with a parasite last summer. After a week of that (along with a lot of denial) I gave in and started taking a 'just in case' supply of medication that I had. The medication, obviously, works by killing the parasite. This means there are all sorts of unpleasant side-effects to the human as well. So I went through all that and finished the medication on Monday. I have not been feeling any better so I finally decided to see a doctor today but for various reasons that went nowhere. And my symptoms are consistent with the parasite I had last summer but the medication I took does not seem to have worked. So this afternoon I went to the 'chemist' (pharmacist) and got another drug. It's a single-dose treatment, where you take 4 pills at once, and can be pretty sick for the next 24 hours because the drug is so strong. I was reading the accompanying info and it spoke about 'toxicity levels', which is really not something you want to read about when it comes to medicine you're about to take. I spent most of the day at home and am about to take a bath and give myself plenty of time to sleep tonight so that hopefully I will feel better when I wake up tomorrow.

I am envious of all the good food that people in the US will be eating (and enjoying) today. After the chemist I went to the market and made myself a Thanksgiving-inspired dinner:

From The Onion

Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/black_man_given_nations

also....

Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nation_finally_shitty_enough_to

and....

Bush: 'Can I Stop Being President Now?'

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bush_can_i_stop_being_president

Today is a good day to be an American abroad

It's been a long time since I've been able to say that.

Kenya is engulfed in Obama-mania, as I heard someone refer to it. The president declared today a national holiday so the museum was closed and we had the day off. On the streets, amidst all the Swahili spoken around me I can constantly pick out the word 'Obama'.

And living in DC just got a whole lot more exciting too!!!

Good Night

I'm going to bed early because I'm getting together with some Americans at 6am tomorrow for a breakfast election party. We're hoping that we'll wake up to a new president...

Only in Africa, Part II

That's a monkey* on my balcony.


And there are the remains of it's snack.

The bananas aren't from my kitchen, but, needless to say from now on I'm going to be a lot more careful about leaving my balcony door open.

*http://www.kenyabeasts.org.uk/four.htm
Scroll down to 'Sykes Monkey'

Only in Africa

Yesterday I was walking by one of the busiest, nastiest roundabouts you can imagine and in between the cars there was a guy on a bike with crates piled up about eight feet high over the rear rack.