Crazy things!

Today was a crazy day. The strangest thing happened to me. First, I woke up this morning and had forgotten to set my alarm clock, so Elizabeth and I got a late start. I had a bit of a head ache, but I figured it was probably just from getting up so quickly and that it would pass. I had been with the kids for about an hour – all 5 of the boys are still home and crazy, and Lena was the only worker today. On top of that, we had the electricians come to fix some of the lights in the house, so we had to have the doors open so that they could go in and out of rooms and it made the kids more out of control because they kept running in and out of the rooms, sometimes almost getting out of the door to the apartment.

My headache was getting worse, and I had been on my knees a lot, which probably wasn’t good, the room was hot and I was exhausted from trying to keep the kids all in the same room and entertain them. It was probably a combination of all of those things and all the sudden I knew I was probably going to pass out. I literally was dripping sweat and I started to lose consciousness a little bit. I quickly went to a chair in the corner of the room, hoping that I would not pass out. I think the worker knew something was wrong because she stepped into the room, looked at me and said that my face didn’t look good and I was hot and sweaty. I think it scared me even more because I kept worrying about passing out here – first, I can’t say one word to explain how I’m feeling – especially with Lena who doesn’t speak any English at all. Then, if I did faint or pass out, she would not know what to do and would probably call an ambulance or something and I wouldn’t be able to tell her that I would be okay and that fainting is a regular thing and that I would be fine in a few minutes.

I was so worried and I think I was just caught up in everything and overwhelmed and wasn’t sure what was going on, even though I hadn’t fully passed out, that I started to cry. Then, I was super embarrassed. Meanwhile, my worker is standing in front of me speaking a million miles an hour in Romanian and I have no idea what she is saying and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do – should I just change and leave to get on the bus or should I stay and just see if she has something for me to snack on to hopefully regain some strength? Then, the worker grabbed my arm and lead me into the kids room and propped up a pillow and had me lay there. Thank goodness – I probably would have passed out had I stayed there in the room or had tried to walk by myself to the bus stop. I laid there and she asked me if I needed something to drink. I just wanted water, but I knew they didn’t have the water that I drink and she would probably give me tap water- which I can’t drink. She asked me if I wanted Cola and I told her yes. She brought me a big bottle of pepsi – which if you know me, know that I don’t drink Coke or Pepsi, but it was something and I just needed to drink or eat something.

I felt bad because I couldn’t help her with the kids and I was laying in the other room on the kids’ bed (with my legs hanging out of the blanket and off the bed!) and she was so sweet and kept coming in and checking on me. I was freezing, so she came in and laid some blankets on me. I felt like a complete idiot – on top of that I had cried earlier. It just was a big mess. I still don’t know what happened, it felt like another fainting spell, but I couldn’t tell you.  The only thing I could say to her was “I don’t know” and point to my head because I still had a bad migraine/headache. Next thing I know, she came in and was giving me medicine for my head.

It was time to go, and I felt like after an hour of laying down, I could get up. I still had a crazy bad headache. I folded up my blankets, and I went to go take my drink into the kitchen. She insisted I sit down and wouldn’t let me leave until she fed me lunch. I just wanted to go home and lay down. I had told her that Elizabeth would be waiting for me, so she called the other apartment and told them to have Elizabeth to come to our apartment. I felt bad – I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. So Elizabeth came and we ate lunch. As we were leaving, lily who speaks a little bit of English came in the door for her shift. Lena told her everything that had happened. She asked me what happened and I just told her I felt like I was going to pass out and that my head hurt really bad. After she told Lena, they asked me what I was eating at home. Lena told me that she thought I had anemia and that I needed to be eating my fruits and vegetables. She was so nice and sweet (like I said, she is like my mom here), but I just kept thinking that I needed to go because my head hurt so bad.

Finally, we were able to go. I didn’t feel well on the bus so as soon as we got to the bus stop and got off (usually we have about a 20 minute walk back to our apartment) and Elizabeth was nice enough to just get a taxi back to the apartment. I went into my room and just laid down and slept for a few hours.

My headache is pretty much gone now, and I have just been able to take it easy tonight. I seriously don’t know what was wrong today – it was the strangest thing! On a more positive note, Kala and I have been working like crazy and finished all of our coursework for our “cultural immersion” class. Thank goodness! I’m excited to be able to enjoy the holidays and not have to worry about school. Hopefully I can finish all of my stuff for the other class in a week and half. It’s going to come so quickly!

Sorry I haven't written lately. It's been the same routine, nothing too exciting and I've been busy working on hw. I'll try to be better for my last week and a half.