they kept getting more itchy, and i kept getting more, but i just figured that's africa and i unfortunately taste yummy. this weekend at the riad and in ifrane people kept noticing and commenting on my arms, and i just said i must've walked through a cluster or something.
this morning right before class started, sarah said she had a few small dots on her arm, too, but she usually doesn't react at all to mosquito bites so we thought that was weird. our classmate nicki said they looked like mite bites, and our teacher told us to go to the doctor. we told the ALIF people, called the doctor, and went there at 11.
Leila Tazi, the doctor, was super nice. she looked at sarah and said she should be fine and gave her a cream to help the itching. then she looked at my arms, back, and stomach and said it was bad, i'm infected, and gave me a prescription for steroids and then some other medication that i have to take for a month. she also called our homestay father to tell him for us in Arabic, and surprisingly, he responded horribly. mohammed started getting mad, telling her his house was fine and this is our fault, and that i went to Ifrane and brought the bugs into his house. she tried to tell him no, that i have had the bites for almost a week, and that Sarah got 4 bites last night and didn't even go to Ifrane. he didn't want to hear it.
back at ALIF, we talked to the person in charge of the homestays, and he informed us that and he informed us that it is ALIF policy that if students get bedbugs, we have to change families. he called the family, told them, got the same angry response from our father, and then set us up with a new family. apparently this family has been working with ALIF for 7 years and people say they're great, so maybe everything will be ok. they live near the same neighborhood in the Medina, but apparently they have a western toilet, which is fantastic.
at noon, we had to walk home because taxi's were sparse, and the homestay guy at ALIF came with us to help. we got there, he argued again with the family, and i did my best to say there's no way i got bitten this weekend because i had them last thursday, and everyone at the party on friday kept commenting on my bitten up arms. we also tried to say that we would like to stay, that we weren't mad and we love their family, but that it's our school's policy. i'm not sure how much got across, even though the ALIF guy (Torik, i think?) was talking to them in arabic. it was a matter of pride for them, and they refuse to admit that there could be anything wrong with their house or that there are bugs in it, even though i've had to kill 4 cockroaches in the past week.
we got our stuff, said our awkward goodbyes, and dragged our luggage back to the Ville Nouvelle. we have to wash all of our clothes with hot water before 6, when our new family is coming here to pick us up. i am sweaty. i just spent 3 hours walking to, quickly packing, and lugging suitcases through a dusty town in 100 degree weather. i'm itchy, and the steroids are making my stomach upset, especially because i haven't had a chance to eat anything yet.
on the plus side, i'm not contagious, which means it's not the Lice fiasco of 4th grade, we're going to stay with a family who has hosted a lot of other students and is apparently awesome and understanding, i'm going to get my clothes washed and dried, and i'm going to have an actual toilet. i need a drink, a hug, and a shower, but the hotel bars don't open til 6, and it's too hot to hug, so i'm going to go to my teacher's house to shower. things are looking up now, but today has not been fun. i guess it's good that i'm still having a great time here, even if i'm a walking chew toy.
2 comments:
my reaction to this post
"she's in africa???"
also, at least your first family didn't have to throw their rainbow cat patterned pillow out. i blame you.
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