waaaaambulance

This week has been full of ups and downs – literally. I started off the week still feeling pretty terrible, but a bedtime of 7pm and naps during lunch have healed me! Monday was a very rainy day (perfect for napping), so as I was walking back to my room for lunch I slipped and fell on the concrete, bashed my knee, ripped my jeans, the whole 9 – not out of the ordinary for my-graceful-self. Since I have experience in treating my own wounds, I doctored myself, took my nap, and went back to work. I casually mentioned that I ate it to my construction manager when we were walking out of work that evening, and after a good laugh he told me that I had to go to the clinic, report my injury, and get first aid on my knee – you’re joking right?? Apparently, ANY and ALL injuries that occur during our work hours 6am – 6pm must be recorded/documented. It’s basically a CYA in the event that the wound gets infected and you die. So after arguing for a good 15 minutes and hearing horror stories of amputation from small flesh wounds, I gave in and became our first project first-aid case – not the most honorable statistic. Thanks Mom and Dad for my freakishly long limbs and big feet that I often have trouble controlling ;)

Speaking of being super coordinated, somehow I got talked into playing squash earlier this week. Squash is pretty popular on camp since we have so many people from the UK and South Africa. A few folks have asked me to play, but I just explained that I had zero desire to get in a box and have balls flying at my face – thinking that squash was essentially the same thing as racquetball. My boss cornered me, promised that squash is nothing like racquetball, and got the rest of the team to peer pressure me into playing – clearly everything is PC around here. Turns out I’m completely terrible (as expected) but it’s actually a lot of fun! It also turns out that people like playing with partners who really suck (confidence builder) so I'm in high demand. I’m even considering buying a racquet to bring back my next trip – maybe even playing during my time off!

Unfortunately, my New Year’s celebration was a bust. I still wasn’t feeling 100%, so I was in bed by 9:30pm. I did make a cheers to myself with pineapple juice at 7AM to ring in 2014 Texas time. Throughout the week, I heard stories from all of folks who stayed up to celebrate Malongo-style and I decided that regardless how I felt, a 9:30pm bedtime was completely unacceptable for my 26-year old self. My New Year’s Resolution: never again will I miss a midnight New Year’s celebration. On a serious note, I guess I should put my 2014 resolutions in writing:

1. Run at least 1 half-marathon
2. Visit at least 3 countries (Africa doesn’t count)

Every year for as long as I can remember, I have made totally unachievable resolutions (or at least that’s what I tell myself at year-end when I realize that I’ve failed miserably), so this year I went with modest goals – that also benefit me in some way, obviously…

8 days down, 23 to go! xoxo

So we had a little rain...road crossing turned fishing pond

Let me tell you about my beeeest friend