18 November 2009, Wednesday, 13:45

Being Sick has this amazing ability to take any and all desire to do work and throw it out the window. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t pause while I’m hanging out in my bed for a few days sleeping. It keeps going on, papers are still due, time still passes and on Sunday, I will have exactly four weeks until I leave. Strange, very strange. On the one hand, it will be so nice to be home and I have so much to look forward to about getting back. On that same hand, there will be lots of things that irritate me about Martinique which I will no longer worry about it. In some cases, like the heat, I will be dealing with the exact opposite. Illinois in December- everyone’s favorite. But on the other hand, there are things I like here. The laid back attitude is great when I accept it and never feel pressed to get anything done. The heat is great when I’m not walking to school at noon and sweating like crazy. It’s fun to be able to go to the beach on the weekends with a bunch of French families and do crazy things like body boarding and kayaking (okay- maybe it’s not that crazy) and African Dance and eat delicious fresh fruit all the time and baguettes. There’s always that moment of “oh man, I’m leaving here?” and I don’t have that reassuring “oh, you’ll be back in the fall/spring” response. It’s more like, “yes, you are leaving. How do you feel about that?” And I can’t really answer myself. I feel sick and hungry. I feel whatever it is that I am feeling in moments of time and trying not to get too caught up in my head because it’s so easy to get lost there. And then the bus passes me.

So, remember how I got to present at a meeting of international students? Turns out a lot of people either saw me on the television, heard me on the radio or both. And they all keep telling me. And then I get embarrassed.
I don’t even know what I’ve done for the past week. Other than lay around in bed all weekend… except for Saturday night! A short film in which Joby played the main character screened in Fort de France so we all went together. It was well done and a super interesting depiction of a father-son relationship in which the father is a béké and the son, Constant, is illegitimate, (mixed blood), and is never acknowledged by him. (Shoot- I still need to explain Béké!) We never meet the father in the film but Joby played the Constant who, on his deathbed, hears the priest mention the name of his father, asks if he (father) mentioned him (son) and when the answer is no, he jumps out of his deathbed and refuses to die before his father. Joby played the role excellently and as well as being a sort of serious story about race relations and the culture in Martinique, it was also a comedy and included a really great, hilarious fart. Can’t go wrong with farting in a movie.
Afterwards, Joby and Kristen went home after dropping Youma, a friend of hers and I off to see a performance of Bélé, the traditional dance of Martinique which I am learning. It was really awesome. It was less of a “performance” and more of a public show- the “stage” was open to those who knew the dances and a variety of singers and drummers (le tambour) played. Like I said, it was super rad. Afterwards, Joby picked us up and we went to get crêpes since they hadn’t eaten yet. Being the sucker I am and refusing to listen to my sick stomach, I got a crêpe with nutella and banana. It was sooooooo good.

19:45
I have a nutella problem. It’s just way too delicious. I find this strange because I would never but nutella in the states. It has at least 2 ingredients I definitely don’t consume including whey powder and vanillin, plus skimmed milk powder. But I think what takes the cake on the ingredients list is the order. 1. Sugar 2. Vegetable oil 3. Hazelnuts (13%)! Hah! That’s so wrong. And so delicious.
Today sees the victorious completion of my birthday jar of peanut butter. I successfully milked it for an entire month and now I have a jar of organic almond butter for the next month. Life is great when you have parents who spoil you (minimally).
Yesterday, I visited the doctor. It was alright, minus waiting for an hour and a half. She was actually really nice and prescribed me homeopathic remedies for being sick. Furthermore, she prescribed them to Youma so that it would be free thanks to French social security. I need to figure out how to get reimbursed for the money I paid upfront to see her, but even there, she cut me a deal. Youma said she costs 60 Euros- she only asked me for 30 and saw me without an appointment. Waiting for an hour and a half isn’t so bad when you look at it that way. Hopefully I’ll get better soon or else I have to switch from homeopathic remedies to conventional. But seriously, how awesome is it that 1. She knew what to prescribe, 2. She was down with it and 3. Homeopathy is covered under French social security.

Sure, the post office might be closed for two hours in the middle of the day, but the French have some things right.