So, as you can probably already guess what this blog entry is about I feel like I should paint you a picture of what happened this weekend where I was infected by this ugly bacterium. This week had been wonderful for me in my classes and I was excited for a relaxing weekend with just some good ‘ol hanging out with friends. Little did I know that a little friend would come to visit me Saturday morning; yes that friend was pink eye. You always know when you have pink eye b/c when you wake up in the morning ready to tackle the day, no matter how much strength you have you can’t pry your eyelids apart. Sorry for the detailed picture, but I just want to make sure you are staying with meJ I decide to get up and wash my out and continue on with my day. That afternoon I realize that I should go get some medicine for my eye from the local farmacia (pharmacy);which let me remind you that I don’t have my Spanish down pat so this conversation was going to be rough, but you do what you got to do! I get out to go to the pharmacy and it’s closed!! Who closes on a Saturday?? Well, something you should know about this culture is that between 12-2pm everyday all business (except restaurants) shut down for lunch and siesta (nap). Of course I showed up at 1230, thus why they were closed. I was frustrated for a moment b/c as Americans we have a HUGE convenience problem and if we don’t get something right away, it feels like we don’t know what to do b/c we might have to WAIT for something! I quickly realized this about myself and thought I would go back later that afternoon.
Leah and I go back that afternoon to the pharmacy down the street from us where one of our high school students works. I realized I might need someone who speaks English, thus why I went to this pharmacy. I show up and show them my eye, which at this point was really back to normal size and just a little red. The boy, who let me tell you is 16, comes back with Visine. Really VISINE!! That is clearly not what I needed, so I try to start telling him about “pink eye” and he says they don’t call it that here and doesn’t understand what I am saying. So, I take the Visine just for laughs and it was 98 pesos. I give him a 100 and he comes back with my receipt and 2 Halls cough drops. He says he doesn’t have any change so he uses the cough drops as my change. Leah and I bust out laughing b/c we have just shown up for pink eye medicine and yet we received Visine and cough drops!!! Then Leah needs some more bug spray, but they were out so she asks where else she could get and they say “Oh, no you must buy it from us!” So, she asks if they were getting anymore in and he says “ I will go get you some right now”. She goes back and forth with him about how she doesn’t need it right now and she will just check back later, but he insisted on getting her some right then. He walks across to his house, gets on his moto and drives across town to find some for her and then delivers it to our house!! Now, if that’s not customer service then I don’t know what isJ I feel like a lot of the culture is like this. They are very welcoming and will go out of their way to do anything for you, even tracking down bug spray if that is what you need.
Needless to say, Sunday morning I woke up once again with crusty eyes and I called Sara (mentor teacher) and asked how do I go back to this pharmacy where 16 yr old boys are prescribing medicines and tell them I need something stronger. She suggested I stay home from church and she will get me what I need. She also said that I will probably miss my 1st day of school on Monday. This frustrates me b/c if you know anything about pink eye, you feel just fine and your eye doesn’t even hurt. Therefore you sit in a quarantined room all day while you really wish you could be something other than sitting around doing nothing!!