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Guess what? I finally found out why I've been feeling so craptastic (like my new word invention? lol) since shortly after I arrived here. I have giardia. It's an intestinal infection you get from the water. The internet says it's a parasite, but whatever it is, it's definitely not so pleasant. (FYI: I'll keep the description G rated.) That explains my close relationship with the bathroom every few weeks. Pastor Ahlers, Mrs. Ahlers and Emily thought my symptoms sounded like giardia so they encouraged me to go see the doctor because Pastor had it once when they lived in Indonesia, Emily had it once when she lived in Indonesia, and Pastor got it again when they first moved here.

Monday afternoon Emily and I rode our bikes over to the ABC Clinic. That's where a lot of foreigners go and it's where Emily went last year and where the Ahlers have gone since they've lived here. So we go in and it looks like a small town doctor's office from a movie set in WWII. The staff, which consisted of a receptionist, about 2 nurses and I think 3 doctors, spoke English so that was helpful. I filled out a form and the nurse took me into a room for the basics: describe your symptoms, take blood pressure, pulse, check height and weight, etc. My weight dropped two more kilos (about 4 pounds) in a week. That brings my total weight loss since I got here to close to 15 pounds. But now I know why--I've been sicker than I thought!

When the doctor came in he asked me some questions and talked about giardia. He was British and had been here for about a year and a half so he said he'd seen plenty of cases of this because it's so common in places like this. He was saying that giardia builds up in your system for a while and you can feel pretty normal, or you can feel nauseous or gurgley. That was me--the nauseous and gurgley part. Once the infection builds up you feel these horrid stabbing abdominal pains and you "feel like you're dying." They come and go suddenly and then those stop and you suddenly are spending a lot of time in the bathroom because the virus expels itself so it can build up again. I said "Yes! That's exactly how I've been feeling!" It totally explained my bathroom business every few weeks and why I still feel yucky in between. He asked me a few more questions, checked to make sure it wasn't my appendix or something else, and then said yes, it sounded like classic giardia. So he gave me a prescription for pills that I have to take after each meal for about 6-7 days until whenever the 20 pills run out. So far they're just making me feel a little nauseous, but the side effects can get pretty nasty--trust me! I read the information on the little paper inside the box of pills.

The doctor also said that it might not go away for good because in places like this it's so prevalent that you can get it again. He did say though that if this happens, the cycle wouldn't be so frequent and I can get more pills to knock it out again. Hopefully this first round of pills will keep it away for good! It's kind of funny to me that I got it from water, especially since I don't drink the water here or use it to brush my teeth. I just use it for every day things like showering, washing dishes, laundry, and washing my face at night. Except once, I did accidentally rinse my toothbrush with it. Oops! And I do use ice cubes for bottled water when I'm at a restaurant sometimes. And, now that I think about it, the coffee drinks at bar kafes are probably made with tap water. Dang! Well, at least I can be more careful about the water in some ways. No more ice cubes anywhere, and I've been using hand sanitizer from the states (the kind that doesn't need water) instead of washing my hands in the sink. Emily was smart enough to bring some back with her. Whew! Lucky for me! :) So say your prayers that this goes away and stays away once and for all.

That is the biggest news around here lately, but those of you who really know me may beg to differ after you hear what I'm about to say. Are you ready for it? I got up at 5:30am yesterday. On purpose. No lie. I'm so serious! I have witnesses so you better not doubt me! lol :) Remember how pastor was going to take us to Elbasan so we could have a sunset drive through the mountains but then it rained? Well, we couldn't go this past Sunday either because I was too sick. And he sold his car and has to give it to the new owner on Thursday so we were running out of time. Sunset was out of the question because Emily and I teach in the late afternoons and evenings, so we settled on a sunrise drive through the mountains. Hence, I woke up at the crack of dawn yesterday.

We got to Pastor's house around 6am and left shortly after that. It really was a beautiful drive. The sun was just peaking up over the mountains and there was a low fog surrounding some peaks and hiding in a few valleys. It was quite lovely. However, the narrow super curvy roads did not allow for many opportunities to pull over and take pictures. The roads were full of switch backs and were right along the edge. There weren't many guard rails either. And when there were, they seemed to serve more of a decorative purpose than a protective purpose. There were some spots where you could see down the steep slopes on both edges of the road. Every time I see roads like that I'm just amazed at the engineering. Who thinks of putting roads there? And how do you know it will work? And how to you get the machinery up there to build them? And how do you fix them? Wow. I'm so impressed!

There were a lot of grave markers along the side of that mountain road. I'm not surprised though! With the way people drive here (and I've mentioned that before),and they way we witnessed people driving on that road yesterday, I can just imagine cars careening off the road and tumbling down the steep slopes. Sad, but not unlikely.

Those of you who are Harry Potter fans may recall when it is said that Voldemort was last known to be hiding out in the Albanian mountains. (Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that was said in the first book.) Well I think J.K. Rowling has been here because there would be plenty of places to hide in these mountains. They're not the highest mountains ever, but there are plenty of bunkers and ammunition caves left from the communist times along with high rocky crags, olive groves and plenty of steep slopes with difficult accessibility. I felt like we were searching for Voldemort. Haha! Just call me Hermione Granger! lol :)

We also saw other left-overs from communism besides the bunkers and ammunition caves. These are very common to see here, especially the bunkers. There is kind of a joke, I've even heard some Albanians mention it, about Albania being the Land of the Bunker instead of the Land of the Eagle (which is what the Albanian translation is for the name of their country). Anyway, there were mosaics along the side of the road in some spots, which, according to Pastor and my travel guide book, were quite popular during communist times. They were painted over now though. People did that after communism fell. I've also heard that these mosaics can also be found in other post-communist Balkan countries. We also saw one of the most interesting and confusing statues I have ever seen. It was giant hand that was holding a gun in its fist. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this great curiosity because by the time the "Wait....what?" feeling had past and I actually thought about photographing it, the opportunity had passed and we couldn't really turn around. That was not the most comforting image. Actually, it was slightly disturbing but very amusing at the same time. Mostly it was one of those moments where you're stunned and you can't help but think, "Did I really just see that?"

So the drive to Elbasan was beautiful and interesting. We got back at around 10:30 and I took a nap, ate lunch, and taught classes. After the early morning, the day continued as usual. To work backwards, Monday, as I mentioned, was my visit to Dr. Joe and then teaching. Sunday was uneventful and rather nasty because I was sick. Saturday was fun because we had church, helped the Ahlers with their last garage sale and then had Mexican Night with some friends. :)

Mexican Night was a blast. It was at Lori's apartment which is basically right behind ours. So it was Lori, Tim, Helen, Tim's friend Mark, Lejda, Aida, Emily, and me. The food and fun were both incredible. We had a massive amount of food on the table and we had more laughs than that apartment could handle for one night. Then we watched Sweet Home Alabama and called it a night. But we also decided to plan another get together--maybe a poker night! Guess I better brush up on my Texas Hold 'Em skills! (David, I'll take any and all advice you have to offer. Haha!) ;)

Friday was our first Activity Night at church. We had about 20 people there, mostly girls between ages 8-17. Mariglen was the only boy there and one mom, Fatmira, who comes to one of the beginner classes with her youngest daughter Albiona, brought Albiona and her two older daughters who are in one of my classes. She said they came as a family activity. Awww! :) They seem like such a cute family! I really hope they start coming to more things and get interested in the church aspect of things too. The girls are all very sweet (so is the mom), very studious, and the mom keeps track of them and has taught them manners. Say your prayers that Emily and I do a good job of talking to them and that the Holy Spirit works in their hearts!

We started about 15 minutes late but it was ok because everyone was just chatting. I started things off by having everyone introduce themselves and say something about themselves. We want these activities to cultivate frienships and not all of the people there were in the same English classes. And some kids brought friends. Yay! That's exactly what we wanted. But I'm getting off track....We started with that and then I said, "Now let's see how well you were listening." It made a good transition into explaining our activity. We played Personality Bingo.

If you don't know this game, it's just like Bingo except that instead of having numbers in each square, a personality trait or characteristic is listed instead such as "has green eyes," or "is wearing pink," or "can play the piano." You go around and ask people if they fit that trait and if so, they sign your sheet in that box. However, players cannot sign their own sheet and a person may not sign more than two boxes on any single sheet.

I had them pair up so that at least one partner knew English well enough to understand all the listed traits. We played until each pair got Bingo. As they got Bingo, they handed them in to me and I kept them in the order I received them. Once I had all the sheets, we went through them and the pair that was the first to hand in a Bingo that followed all the rules was the winner. Fatmira and her oldest daughter, Aurora, won! I was so happy because everyone else was happy for them! :) Then we went through all of the characteristics to see if someone in the room matched each one. They did so it was a really fun night. I had a blast and I didn't even play the game! lol :) I hope people come again this week. I'm thinking of doing a movie night because the movies here are the English version from the states but they have Albanian subtitles. That's how they show them in the theaters here too. We don't have a TV at the church, but we have a computer with an extra big screen and I'm pretty sure that with the way the room is arranged that a group that size wouldn't have problems seeing the screen.

To be honest, I have to tell you that I'm disappointed in myself for not posting sooner. Saturday I was busy and Sunday I was sick. But also, Saturday night we had rain and wind which blew down the internet wires outside our building. No one in our neighborhood had internet on Sunday. And since it was a weekend, they didn't come and fix it until Monday. Then I've just been so tired and so at a loss for energy that I just didn't even attempt writing this until last night. Then after I had it all typed out and proofed and everything, the internet went stupid and wouldn't let me save it so I lost the whole thing. So this is really the second attempt at posting these stories. Oh, man!

Anyway, the rest of the week will include more teaching, another Activity Night, and a going away dinner for the Ahlers at Agron and Vitori's house on Friday. Should be fun! Anyway, I have to prepare for my classes later today and I really have nothing else to share. Hopefully next time you hear from me, I'll be a healthier version of me. ;)