We have a saying among the volunteers here, "You are not a volunteer until you shit your pants." As of roughly three in the morning this morning, I became a volunteer on account of some wickedly contaminated shashlik I ate yesterday afternoon. I woke up to the common feeling of distension in my stomach and assumed it was just gas. I assumed my on all fours gas management plan for about twenty minutes. While I was in cat-cow, I realized that I was suffering from some serious nausea as well. I went to the outhouse for a dissapointing lack of relief. I tucked myself into bed again and fell asleep for maybe a half an hour. I woke up to the feeling of an uncontrollable stream of diarrhea. I cleaned myself up the best I could and went outside to try to expel more in the toliet, which I managed to do. When I stood up from my further emptying, I had the urge to vomit which I did all over the backyard. I continued in this pattern until about 5AM when I called the doctor. In the meantime, I not only shit my pants but also my bed again. I am officially a volunteer now. I chose not to take antibiotics because the discomfort went away when I woke up this morning with the exception of general body pain from convulsing. Needless to say, I didn't give classes this morning and watched Russian shows and MTV on the couch for most of the morning.
The rift between the Muslim people and the dictatorial Uzbek government have been heating up over the past two days. A border town in the south of Uzbekistan dealt with huge protests and the release of all the prisioners from a jail there. A suicide bomber was shot down outside the Israeli Embassy yesterday as well. There is hightened security in Kyrgyzstan as a result of this development in the region. I haven't noticed any changes around the north lake; it's really just an Uzbek problem I would think at this point.
I have one week of classes left. I am heading to my former village to visit my first family next Friday before I head to Bishkek. I am extremely tired and have to head home to clean my room. A field nurse from Washington D.C. is coming out with our doctors to see how volunteers live in Kyrgyzstan tomorrow afternoon. I can only hope that someone else has had the pleasure of shitting the bed. Love. -MJ
