Last night, Eric had a temperature of 104. Mark, on his way across the lawn to get medicine from Dr. Snyder, passed out twice and woke up in the grass with no idea how long he'd been there (as the uber alert night watchman snored beside the house). Josie sweated off her chills and fever and woke up better, Lauren had stomach problems and dizziness, Emily still has a rolicking cough that sounds hilarious when she laughs, and Richa has been sick since we've been here. Even Jordan had a stuffy nose and headache one day. So far, only Hannah and I have retired victorious from the field...I call us the pillars of health in a cesspool of disease. Of course, my stomach has been feeling funny, but I choose to ignore this. I can't imagine getting sick at this point in the trip. Please, God...please? Those of us who are still well have been huddling in one room, trying not to breathe. The island felt a lot healthier. I didn't have a pair of shoes on my feet for days. It was glorious.
The diving was incredible. I've seen turtles, dolphins, eels, sea urchins (WAAAY too up close and personal), and myriads of fishies. Emily sings to the fish-- "Hey little fishies, swimming in the sea, hey little fishies swim away from me, hey little fishies swimming everywhere, hey little fishy-you're-getting-too-close-to-my-feet-go-swim-over-there!" Of course, all of this is through her snorkel. We got really good at Snorkelspeak, too. The conversation most over heard is "Look at that over there!" "Where?" "There! Right there!" "WHERE?" "RIGHT THERE, RIGHT THERE!" Makes me laugh, which isn't conducive to keeping the seawater out of my lungs and in the ocean where it's supposed to be. Oh, but when I told them where the sea snake was (right underneath them), then it got across loud and clear. That was funny.
No sun...it rained a lot of our diving days. So I nixed all sunscreen and ended up with a nice brown hue, at least on the half of me that wasn't facing downwards. Hopefully our free day in Bali is sunnylichious.
The people here...I don't know what to make of them. For the most part, they are open and seeped in a friendliness that must be in the air here, because I haven't seen a single frown. I love the ones at the market. We showed up there and they started yelling with excitement when they saw Mark, who at 6'9" is the tallest. But the people in the malls are what I would consider rude. They stare and there are constant catcalls of "Meese! meese! I love you! meese America!" I will never again wish to be the center of attention--I hated it. Every second. I'm good at being anonymous when I choose to be, but here, it's impossible and I hadn't realized just how much I rely on blending when I want to. At one point it got really bad and I just wanted to snarl back at them. I miss my boys. Oh, sure, standing up for yourself isn't that hard, but when you have a herd of tall male types to do it for you, it's so much easier. Shoot, they don't even have to say a word.
I guess that's enough for now...I'm tired. It's sabbath afternoon here, and I just want to hold off this stomach thing for a while longer. I think I'm winning. Yup. Definitely winning.
I miss home. S'beautiful here, but the colt is growing up and Alex is graduating and the baby chicks are trying to fly...the well is getting dug tomorrow and the footers for the new house are getting poured on Monday. Things are doing, and I want to be there. I want to be there.
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