Illness away, pretty horses and BM's
Being sick is difficult even in the comfort of your own country and home. My instant reaction is denial and continuing life as normal. I make the same demands on my body and am frustrated when it doesn't respond as I expect it to. So happened here in Costa Rica.
Monday came and as I struggled to get out of bed I gave into my body's desire for a calm morning and instead of putting on my running shoes, I rolled out my yoga mat. Sometimes it's tough in the morning so I thought nothing of it. Then, as the day went on, I began sneezing violently. The number of 'bless you's' thrown in my direction was embarrassing. Yet, as lunch ended, I found myself running around and playing a little volleyball. When I retreated to the library to study I blamed my tiredness on the dense reading and went to the cafeteria for coffee and cake. Then, when I moved to the computer lab, I cursed the fans as my sneezing picked up again. I wandered outside to join the Ramadan festivities in a sweater and wrapped in a wool scarf as I wondered at the cool breeze that had picked up in tropical Costa Rica.
It was wonderful to be included in this celebration at school. Muslim students talked about Ramadan in their home towns and families. We learned that Muslims pray five times per day and it has to do with the cycle of the sun. During Ramadan, they fast during the daylight hours and begin at 4:00 a.m. It is 11 days long. We shared in their breaking of the fast and had a delicious multicultural meal together with students and the cook staff contributing to the pot luck. Here, I continued to deny my illness and made plans for an early morning horseback ride before I caught the 8 pm bus home.
Tuesday morning I awoke at 5:30 and headed out of the house by 6:00. After a cab ride to El Rodeo, the community where the university is located, I met my friend Morgane and we began our 20 minute uphill hike to the stables! The stables belong to an expat and they are private. We happened to meet Victoria on a previous hike. She hails from Michigan. The horses awaited us all saddled up. My horse was named apache and is much smaller than to what I am accustomed. We mounted up and Victoria took us on a splendid ride where we saw more farms, streams, and the community of El Rodeo. The horses knew the route and were on autopilot. In some places they would gallop, each racing the other along muddy roads, and then just as suddenly as they started up, they would slow to a walk again. I loved every second of it! As we galloped and raced I couldn't stop my laughter from bubbling up. I still enjoy riding fast.
Back at school I deteriorated. Sicker and sicker I fell until when after seminar, I went to the doctor who promptly wrote me a prescription. One student commented, "Don't got the doctor! They will just load you up with pills!" But I was desperate to be able to complete my reading and be a part of life at school. When I arrived home, this is the best part, my host mom sprung into action upon hearing about my illness. She promptly fed me freshly made chicken broth, had me drinking straight lime juice, and did pressure point therapy. Her diagnosis? Something I ate that did not sit well with me. This is how illnesses are explained away. It didn't matter that other students had the same illness, I ate something bad. With that, she told me that as soon as I took a poop I'd feel better and sent me to bed with some juice! Then, she checked on me several times to see if I'd gone to the bathroom. This morning she required a report. Her concern as she asked me about pooping and telling me I had to, was comedic. It's difficult to do such a thing when under so much pressure.
Being ill does strange things to one's psyche. I had thoughts of not having friends, no one liking me at school, being lonely, and not being smart enough. It sucked. Today in school I mentioned that some of our lectures left me wanting more explanations and soon so many other students heard this conversation that we decided to have a study group that I am now on my way to! Lessons: You are never alone & a good bowel movement makes you feel better.
Monday came and as I struggled to get out of bed I gave into my body's desire for a calm morning and instead of putting on my running shoes, I rolled out my yoga mat. Sometimes it's tough in the morning so I thought nothing of it. Then, as the day went on, I began sneezing violently. The number of 'bless you's' thrown in my direction was embarrassing. Yet, as lunch ended, I found myself running around and playing a little volleyball. When I retreated to the library to study I blamed my tiredness on the dense reading and went to the cafeteria for coffee and cake. Then, when I moved to the computer lab, I cursed the fans as my sneezing picked up again. I wandered outside to join the Ramadan festivities in a sweater and wrapped in a wool scarf as I wondered at the cool breeze that had picked up in tropical Costa Rica.
It was wonderful to be included in this celebration at school. Muslim students talked about Ramadan in their home towns and families. We learned that Muslims pray five times per day and it has to do with the cycle of the sun. During Ramadan, they fast during the daylight hours and begin at 4:00 a.m. It is 11 days long. We shared in their breaking of the fast and had a delicious multicultural meal together with students and the cook staff contributing to the pot luck. Here, I continued to deny my illness and made plans for an early morning horseback ride before I caught the 8 pm bus home.
Tuesday morning I awoke at 5:30 and headed out of the house by 6:00. After a cab ride to El Rodeo, the community where the university is located, I met my friend Morgane and we began our 20 minute uphill hike to the stables! The stables belong to an expat and they are private. We happened to meet Victoria on a previous hike. She hails from Michigan. The horses awaited us all saddled up. My horse was named apache and is much smaller than to what I am accustomed. We mounted up and Victoria took us on a splendid ride where we saw more farms, streams, and the community of El Rodeo. The horses knew the route and were on autopilot. In some places they would gallop, each racing the other along muddy roads, and then just as suddenly as they started up, they would slow to a walk again. I loved every second of it! As we galloped and raced I couldn't stop my laughter from bubbling up. I still enjoy riding fast.
Back at school I deteriorated. Sicker and sicker I fell until when after seminar, I went to the doctor who promptly wrote me a prescription. One student commented, "Don't got the doctor! They will just load you up with pills!" But I was desperate to be able to complete my reading and be a part of life at school. When I arrived home, this is the best part, my host mom sprung into action upon hearing about my illness. She promptly fed me freshly made chicken broth, had me drinking straight lime juice, and did pressure point therapy. Her diagnosis? Something I ate that did not sit well with me. This is how illnesses are explained away. It didn't matter that other students had the same illness, I ate something bad. With that, she told me that as soon as I took a poop I'd feel better and sent me to bed with some juice! Then, she checked on me several times to see if I'd gone to the bathroom. This morning she required a report. Her concern as she asked me about pooping and telling me I had to, was comedic. It's difficult to do such a thing when under so much pressure.
Being ill does strange things to one's psyche. I had thoughts of not having friends, no one liking me at school, being lonely, and not being smart enough. It sucked. Today in school I mentioned that some of our lectures left me wanting more explanations and soon so many other students heard this conversation that we decided to have a study group that I am now on my way to! Lessons: You are never alone & a good bowel movement makes you feel better.
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| Morgane with Pokey |
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