T. I. A.

american hospitals are like hotels.

just so ya know.

once upon a time, there was a 20 year old american chick who visited ethiopia for an art internship with awaa. while she was there, she was sent to the ebenezer orphanage (last thursday) to paint for them too. she loved the orphanage more than anything else she had experienced in ET as of yet, because a) she could take pictures of the kids, b) the kids helped her paint the classroom mural (so so so fun and so cute! can't wait to show pictures), and c) the kids were amazing. while she was there, they offered her ethiopian food lunch, and because she loves injera so much, she said, "ok awesome!" she had a wonderful lunch, and then they offered her coffee. she loves ethiopian coffee too, she again she said, "why not?!" when they brought her the coffee, it didn't seem as hot as it should have been, but she didn't really think anything of it.

you see.... she thought she was invincible. superwoman. untouchable. the boss.

so at around 4:30, her buddy t came to the orphanage to pick her up. she gave final goodbyes to the kids, and promised to come back asap. three minutes later, her stomach started to hurt. twenty minutes later, it was getting worse. an hour later, she couldn't walk.

t asked her if she wanted to sit down, she said yes. he asked her if she needed to go to the clinic, she said, "oh hells to the no!" but as the minutes passed, she felt worse and worse. then she broke into a cold sweat and turned white as a sheet and said, "um, yeah, dude. take me to the hospital."

the next three hours were kinda a blur for her. she remembers moaning in pain in the back of the taxi, vaguely recalls entering the er and being dumped into a bed. ethiopian doctors asking, "what happened?" and her replying, "it just hurts! i don't know!" then they grabbed her wrist and sedated her oh joy. (i still have a bruise, and that was the most traumatic part of the whole experience.) from 6 till about 8, she couldn't walk. then the painkillers kicked in and they did a whole bunch of tests on her to find out what her deal was. she got: sedated, blood drawn, an IV antibiotic, and a painkiller shot (in the no shot zone... goodbye dignity.) she finally left the hospital at like midnight.

the next morning, she went back to the hospital at 8:30 to see the doctor. she waited 2 hours to see him for 8 minutes, all he did was poke her stomach and write her two prescriptions which she has been taking two times a day since then. she rested all day friday, and by saturday was back on her feet, a little tired but otherwise unscathed.

the end.

epilogue: this story is based on a real life experience by me last week. i missed my wonderful american hospitals a lot;) for everyone who knew what happened from my parents or facebook or a dream you had about me or whatever and prayed, thank you so much. t was with me the whole time, and his friend from church, marut, was there when he was not. he called like, everyone and their brother who lives around here and asked them to pray, which i'm convinced is the reason everything went so smoothly, and the reason why i wasn't scared.

god is sovereign, even in an african hospital. oh, and i know i'm not invincible now;)