La Nina esta enferma

Was it the plantains from the night before? The water I drank two days ago? The apple I forgot to wash? The pink malaria pills I'm taking with the huge list of nasty side effects? Malaria? Cholera? Dysentery? The list of possibilities is endless I'm sure. All that I know for sure is that my body finally caught on to the fact that I'm not in New Hampshire anymore. Yesterday was spent in bed, in the bathroom, tracking my symptoms in the various health literature we have here in la casa ("Lonely Planet Guide to Health in Central America", "Where There is No Doctor") and consulting with my roommates. Needless to say it was not one of my finer days. It's fortunate, however, that it seems to have been only a 24 hour thing.

Tomorrow and Friday I'm substituting for two different teachers at Santa Clara. It's kind of weird to think of how different the standards are here. I'm 20 years-old with no prior teaching experience and I'm going to take on the power and responsibility of a classroom teacher for 2 whole classes and 2 whole days? It's also interesting to me that at the Nazareth school, which is such a wonderful establishment - a school for special needs children whom would otherwise stay at home every day - the teachers and administrators somehow seem so grateful to have me here. My biggest insecurity coming here was the fact that I haven't even finished college yet, and that maybe I wouldn't be able to contribute as much as I'd like to. But to be a teacher here usually only means you have a high school degree, and I heard the administrator tell the Nazareth teachers that I was studying in a University and so I would be able to help them with ideas to improve. Also I spoke with Padre Donahue - the priest in charge of the Universidad, Santa Clara, and Nazareth schools - tonight at our weekly dinner/meeting, and he told me about a woman he met who was severely abused by her husband when she was pregnant, and now has a child with serious speech problems. He told this woman that he knew someone who could help and told her to stop by my house. Now of course I am more than happy to try to help this child however I can, but it's just crazy to think of how far my very small amount of knowledge and experience is able to go here.