Well I had my first day of being sick in Samoa and yes it was because of something I ate but not how you are thinking. On Tuesday the rain that would not end just kept on going and for some reason it was my sugar day in the village. On Tuesday I had a coke, a freezy pop and two packs of sugar nut type food – yeah. Halloween came a few days late for me. Now I ate all these things based on the assumption that I was not going to eat dinner that night because of the rain. Boy was I wrong because an hour later I was served my big Samoan dinner. On Wednesday I paid for my sugar fest with a massive stomach ache. It felt like my stomach was about to explode – not a good feeling at all. Now at first I thought I had a stomach virus but quickly remembered all the sugar I had the previous day. I suffered through the day with the ache in my stomach (popping in antacids from our PC medkits) throughout the day. By the time we got done with school at 5pm – I was not getting any better. I went home and went straight to moe (sleep) for a little power nap but woke up in time for evening lotu (prayer) with Sione and Isaia. We read through, Psalm 28 and as soon as lotu was done I fell over in pain because it was getting painful to sit Samoan style. Luckily, my family figured out by the way I was lying down that my stomach was not doing good (Tiga lo'u manava = Pain in my stomach). Without me asking, my aunt (Perilua – that's her name, not the Samoan name for aunt) called the trainers at the school to bring me some medicine. That just showed me how much my family cared about me – that they went into action without my prompting them. I was both surprised and elated when I saw Setu drive up in the PC van with the medical kits. After getting some antacid and pepto pills, I remembered what I should eat when you have a stomach ache and promptly asked my family for some crackers. After eating, I went to sleep (which my family completely understood) and felt better when I woke up today. So this entry just highlights that while the village stay may not be the most private or healthy experience – we are well taken care of by both the PC and our host families. I am the fourth trainee to get sick here but in every case the families here have taken good care of us. Even though this experience was painful for a day, it made me a lot more comfortable with my family because I know they know what to do if I become sick or injured. That's a comforting thought.
On a side note, I found out that my uncle – Tusi – was an old classmate of my trainer, Setu. They both went to Avele College together in Apia. This is definitely a small island world. Setu told me that Tusi is one of the toughest guys he knows and that's saying something since a lot of Samoans are pretty tough. That was also a comforting thought. ;)
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