All Hail the Human Pincushion!

      I don't like shots. I know not many people do, but I sort of have a reputation in my family. I was never strapped down, but shots used to be my greatest fear in the world and I was not the easiest patient. Eventually I came up with some methods (like not looking or talking to someone else while they were doing the shots) that improved matters, and then becoming a blood donor helped a bunch. Still... I was not excited when I was informed that I needed four shots for this trip. Last time I needed shots was for my undergrad, and during that lovely experience I reacted to one vaccine and had a fever around 104 F which the info sheet said happened in only 0.1% of people. Yay for being special. :p It wasn't pleasant and I was not looking forward to a repeat of that. 

      All told though, it wasn't too bad. The nurse was quite friendly and nice and made the experience as pleasant as it could be. The only real problem is that I was forced to make a decision. Specifically, I had to decide whether I wanted the typhoid or pneumonia shot in my right arm. Both are known for causing soreness and discomfort. More people have reactions to the pneumonia shot than to the typhoid one, but when they do react to typhoid, it's more extreme than the pain from the pneumonia shot. Apparently I learned nothing from my previous experience of having more severe and rare reactions than other people and decided to take my chances. I had pneumonia in the left arm and typhoid in the right, hoping I wouldn't react to either. I didn't react to pneumonia, but I certainly reacted to typhoid. Oh well. It's not too bad any more, and as long as I don't have to reach anything high or move my arms a lot for the rest of today and tomorrow, I'll be fine. At the very least I get to practice being ambidextrous.

     On an unrelated note, I decided it would be a good idea to start learning some basic Swahili phrases, though most Kenyans speak English. I found a site with some good starting words and phrases, but I found their idea of "useful" phrases pretty entertaining, especially the second to last one (see below). 

T-Minus 2 1/2 days until I leave!