the blue sky makes it all okay

I'm sorry for my long absence of blogs over the past several days...I literally came down with some sort of Tahitian flu and was bed ridden for two days...still experiencing the symptoms today :( but anyways, last time i wrote was about last friday. soo saturdayyyyyyyyyy was supposed to be a big day on many accounts.  My group was putting our lab experiment together and the staff at the Gump station challenged our A-team (I was included :) ) to a volleyball match and then they were giving us a traditional tahitian feast sans luau.  

the morning was spent collecting our algae that was dyed in the field (at the church), putting 4cm of homogenized (mixed) sediment into 60 containers, filling the containers of sediment with 500mL of enriched or ambient seawater, recording the dry weight of the algae and putting it in the appropriate container.  This took all morning and part of the early afternoon.  I had an hour before the fated volleyball match was supposed to begin.  Basically the A-team was selected based on if you played volleyball in high school. i played freshman year...but apparently that was more than 18 other of my peers lol. i went to shower and get prepped for the game but suddenly became stricken by aches and fatigue. needless to say, i slept through the volleyball game. when i woke up, i found my boys sitting on our bench at the waters edge on the beach, drinking hinano and talking. I joined but nausea and a blaring headache overcame me.  when i was about to retire to my bed, it was time for the ceremony for the feast and the explanation of the foods. i  stood there listening with a smile to the best of my ability until i thought i was gonna pass out so i sat down. bed was next. i would not leave my room for two days.

sunday and monday were spent pretty much the same...curled in a ball clutching my stomach with incremental dashes to the bathroom. i literally did not eat for like 48 hours except for like a couple pieces of french bread that i forced down. i got some reading of the firm done. but sleep was my main hobby.

yesterday i started feeling better in the morning and i was starving. so i overate at breakfast and was running to the bathroom again.  but i decided i still felt well enough to function and i desperately needed to leave the sweathouse that is my room.  so i went with my group and problem solved the final decisions of our last experiment all morning. in the afternoon, we set out to put 40 more dye bags in the field. i managed to get through this task unscathed. at around 4pm, I was notified that a group of 10 of us  were headed to the Hilton for dinner/happy hour to celebrate Michelle's 21st Birthday.  So I managed to finish my work plus my group mate's second task before she finished her first by 5pm...i sprinted out of the water, washed my gear off, put it away, and around the house to get ready in 10min.  I'm still wondering how I managed to work so quickly without falling over of exhaustion and nausea but i did! i got ready in time and we were off to the hilton. everyone was practically drunk already, trying to fulfill the much fabled 21 shots on your 21st birthday.  i was sober and in control haha.  the dog here, chicken dog, likes to follow people on excursions as some sort of protective instinct. one day on our way to the church, she actually jumped in the water after me/on me.  well she followed us all the way to the hilton (30min walk) and even came inside and sat by our table! it was kind of embarrasing but she wouldnt leave!!! anyways, at dinner i got a chicken ceasar salad...im not a huge ceasar fan but this glimpse of american food was amazing. and the chicken!!!!! yes im a vegetarian but when u havent seen protein or tofu in weeks, you gotta make sacrifices to stay healthy. the chicken was sooo good. i devoured it. ate all of it. way past my stomach capacity at this point but i knew i needed it. there was this huge ordeal with the check...lets just say tahitian culture doesnt know what splitting the check in half (for the two sides of the table) and everyone thought their food/drinks were 50% off haha. chicken dog managed to get in a lil  tussle with another stray and Jackie knocked a glass off the table in an effort to get out of the way...this is about the time when our grubby gump - ness kicked in a we definitely stuck out amongst the quiet, pleasant honeymooners: breaking glass, griping over the expensive meal, obnoxious drunks....ay yi yi. i just wanted to get back and do something productive. as the only member of the group who brought a flashlight, i lead the way with chicken dog by my side.  as everyone bustled into the house, i headed for the lab to get my computer. i soon found out that the other more conservative group of students would be watching transformers in the classroom via the projector. so up i went...i worked on my field notebook and watched shia lebeouf and megan fox befriend robots. i kinda liked the movie actually.  i good action movie for me :) when i went inside after the movie, everyone was blacked out, drawing on each other, eating things, trying to drink more. not pretty. i dont think i will ever understand that mentality. for my 21st i would rather go to dinner with a close group of friends and my parents, order a drink or two, then go to a club and dance or something and get drunk there but no puking and no blacking out. 

this morning i felt uber nauseous so i grabbed a handful of cornflakes and decided to walk to the store (the rest of my group was still asleep).  i wanted to try to find some oatmeal possibly and apples! its about a 30min walk to the store/Pao Pao.  I took the camera, thinking I would get some cool artsy shots only to find out the battery was dead. oh well. i hiked on. i got to the store and came out with applesauce and two apples haha.  after about 3 min of walking back, an elderly grandpa figure pulled over and pointed at me and then towards gump. i looked him over, frail, european, and looked like my gpa...so i got in the car. he didnt say a word. probably only spoke french or something like that. when we were rounding the corner towards gump, he pointed at the station and i confirmed. as i climbed out i said "merci beaucoup" and i got that nice elderly smile with a eye-twinkle in response.  thank goodness for the kindness of strangers...i was beginning to feel extremely nauseous again.  after i got back, natalie and casey had just woken up and we set back out to the church to clean our cages followed by lunch. immediately after lunch i became extremely ill again and was locked up in the classroom bathroom for like an hour. they went on to the afternoon tasks without me.  i tried to sleep the sickness off but its still lingering. i got to skype with my parents and i finally got their package of protein bars and mambas this afternoon (after two and a half weeks)!! that was a definite highlight. i miss them mucho. now off to the lab to prep for our day tomorrow.

love you all!