Friday, August 26, 2011

Mid-Service Exams: Surprise!

I have finished half of my Peace Corps service in Benin.  Yaaaay!  At the one year mark, every PCV has to do a mid-service physical exam -- blood work, samples of all kinds, a head-to-toe going-over, that sort of thing.  

Discovered:  I am in great health!  With one minor exception.  I have amoebas (amoebiasis)!  That's right, my friends, my first tropical parasites, all living in a big happy family in my digestive system.  I imagine them all having parties down in there, drinking cocktails and dancing to amoeba-esque music, perhaps with a Hawaiian luau theme... 

Mai tais and hula!

Anyway, so there were no symptoms, and I have no idea how I got them (I'd guess water from peoples' houses when I visit them).  Cheers to PC Med for making us come in for all of this stuff -- kind of a hassle, but worth it.  And hey, I've got a cool story for when I get back, right? :)

2 comments:

Rajko said...

Hello Lissa!

You have a very nice blog, and it is really cool to be able to read it. The stuff you do as a PCV is amazing, hope you are having a great time!

My name is Rajko and I am from Montenegro, small country in southeastern Europe. I was wondering if it's possible for you to help me with my project. I am trying to collect postcards from every country in the world, and I still miss Benin in my collection. So far, I've managed to collect postcards from almost 200 countries, and having postcard sent from Benin would make my day, and I would be forever grateful to you! Of course, I can send you back anything you would like to receive from my country, just let me know what. I also have my postcard blog, where I show my collection day by day, you are very welcome to visit it: http://mnepostcards.blogspot.com/

Thanks a lot for your help in advance! Here is my email: rajkogolovic@gmail.com

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,
Rajko

Anonymous said...

Lissa,
I'll be COSing Dec. 2 with PC here in Cameroon. Afterwards I'll be making my way west towards Senegal passing through Benin. I'm trying to make contact with PCVs along the way to crash with, etc., so I'd love to here from you! My name is Nick Valera, my email is nickvalera@gmail.com.
Thanks