Classifying BABIEZ

Hey y’all. How have you been? You watched the election? Of course you did. Irrespective of your political affiliation, did the results surprise any of you? I’ll just let you in on a couple things from this end. Every one of the nurses exploded with joy when they heard, which is funny, considering that if they knew what he stood for; all the progressive things like gay rights and having government not regulate abortion, they would probably not have supported him. One of our med students, who I won’t name, actually cried when he/she heard the news. I didn’t really react, I was sure Obama was gonna win. Here’s another interesting tidbit. Kenya declared a national holiday when Barack won. They also started clearing the road to Obama’s grandma’s house, in anticipation of a visit by him. I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s extremely likely (right now I’m stuck on 50-50) that Barack will pay a visit so someone (I think) he’s never seen before.

Anyway, lets shift the focus back onto a far bigger and more important issue, ME!

Note. It wasn’t the get together with the girls that was ‘a pain,’ it was only having 5 hours of sleep.

Let’s see let’s see. Tuesday night the azungus (Me Lelsie and Joy (Male) ) went to Maky’s to watch the election. We got to see the typical finishing speeches, including McCain’s pathetic, “The Mac is back!” I’m sorry but no one that old should try to refer to himself as ‘The Mac.’ We got kicked out around 11-ish, and we then went home and collapsed (Eleven is really late for us). We found out who won the election while driving to clinic. And Wednesday was a pretty typical day, except that I went back to the compound instead of going to Namandanje. Yaaaay! I got to enter LOTS of data. More on that later. So I got home and what do I do? Drive under the overhang that covers the cars. Which is unusual, considering my usual spot is more off to the side, but anyway…there was a chair on the top of the truck…and just so you know…chair legs VS net thing…net thing wins. After faceplanting the wheel in frustration, I pulled it off the car. I spent the next two hours trying to get in touch with Leslie, who had told me that I HAD to call her. I eventually did, turned out she left her phone in the car for a while. And lastly I went to Maky’s again, to get some nice ambiance while entering data, only to find that ambiance ruined by three grown women with spirits of pre-teen school girls ruining it by talking way too loud, way too much, way too fast, about way too little.

So that’s Wednesday…wonderful wasn’t it? Lesse, isn’t much to say about Thursday. I finished the pile of three hundred or so cards I’ve been working on for the last week…only to be depressed by the fact that the next pile of cards is just as big. BLEH. Victor and I picked up a car that just got finished in the shop…and shifted all the stuff out of the Land Rover (The usual stool study truck) into the newly fixed one. Then he drove the Rover to the shop. Yaaay. Oh, but things get interesting late at night. Now there had been TORRENTIAL downpours all day Thursday…a sign the hungry season is upon us…and when it rains the little bugs I mentioned crawl out of everywhere, and apparently they come out in proportion to how much it rains…so when it was dark outside and the lights were on we heard this smacking sound against our window…and it was a whole swarm of them smacking against our light outside, and some were hitting the window. Some found their way inside too…freaks…I don’t understand how these bugs survive…they basically emerge after a rain, exhaust themselves, and die after they have thoroughly exhausted themselves. Seriously, the ground underneath the lights looks like a battlefield with all the dying bugs or whatever you call pavement covered with dying bugs…(Personally I think it’s a joy!) One good thing though, any bugs that enter the house eventually exhaust themselves, and then the lizards (which I don’t mind) eat them! Woohoo! I don’t even have to clean up the bodies! Fan-freaking-tastic! So the war to keep our houses free from these pests has begun…I only hope I may take many of the bastards out in the process.

Quick note. The Net has been screwy since the torrential rains on Thursday. One thing I don't get. How is all the net out EXCEPT Google? WTF!?! Someone needs to explain how that works...

Moving on. Friday. Uhm…normal day? Not many kids…no defaulters…But I do have one question for you, my somewhat loyal viewership. Does it make me a bad person if I get my kicks off making kids cry? Let me give the context. Over the almost two months I’ve been here I have created five categories for kids I see at clinics. One: young kids, four to nine years of age. Pal around with them. Noogies go over well. Two: boring babies who give no reaction to anything you do. Ignore them. Three: Very, Very sick babies. Be very gentle, and pity them. Isn’t much else you can do, babies that are really malnourished have no energy to do anything. Four: FUN BABIES!!! Babies that are bright eyed, will play with you, smile, and actually have fun with an azungu! Wonderful, and play the hell out of them. It took me a while to realize that one of the pairs at today’s site were a type four, and I had loads of fun after I figured that out…but I digress…Type 5:…Crying babies. Babies that cry a lot, especially the ones that cry whenever I look at them. I’m talking I look: WAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAAH! I look away:...Silence…Antagonize these babies! Don’t do anything that is really mean, but look at them a lot, make faces, noises…anything to make them cry again! I guess it kinda annoys me that they just start crying whenever I look, so I’m trying to cure them of it…kinda a trial by fire…plus it kinda makes me laugh when they cry for no real reason…Does that make me a bad person?

TTYL

---He who is preparing for the battle tonight…it rained…