Sick

I woke up feeling like crap, my cold is getting pretty bad. I’m dizzy, headachey, runny nosed and have the chills. My cold has moved down into my bronchial tubes and every time I cough, I get dizzy from the force and my chest burns from whatever is down there. What sucks is it was a busy day, and I couldn’t take time to rest.

At the Wetlands Center, I volunteered to round up high school students on the park trail, since some seemed to be missing and it was almost lunch time. I found a few, who I sent back, but I felt the need to cover the entire trail in case some were still further along. It was high tide in the mangroves, which is a week long period in a monthly cycle, unlike the sea which is diurnal. I saw huge centipedes swimming along, the largest about ¾ inch wide and about a foot long in bright colors. There were a few species of small fish, and a couple jelly fish along the way. It was a nice walk but I’ve mentioned how hot it gets here. Imagine temperature in the 90’s with constant 100% humidity. When I made my way almost around the loop, I really had to shit, so I jogged the rest of the way. With the end almost in sight, where the loop closed back in, the trail was flooded. I should have braved it and got my shoes a little wet but instead I imagined little parasites crawling in between my toes and into my body. So I started running back the other way around. Eventually I couldn’t bare it any more and took a squat in the very habitat I was there to protect. So after 3.5km in the sun and heat I made my way back to base to rest in the cool AC, oh it felt good, my sweat drenched face and shirt dried fast.

We went to the Shell Malaysia headquarters that afternoon to thank them for their sponsorship and to hear their marketing speech. They were our major sponsor and generously paid for almost the entire program themselves. Being an environmental project, many students had tough questions but we all stayed polite and appreciative of their support. No one, not even I, fell asleep during their presentation. If Shell wants to green wash, I am happy to sell them the paint.

We went straight from Shell to dinner and by this time I was feeling worse than ever. We ate at Little Italy, an expensive, poor service, mediocre quality, pasta restaurant that charges tax, a 10% service charge and when the bill came around, 60 cents for each water. Since I’ve been in Malaysia, I haven’t seen any of those charges added to a bill. Tipping does not exist in Malaysia, at all, no where. I have occasionally left a tip for really great service, but they don’t know what to do with it. And here’s the crazy thing, service is so much better than in the states.

To cap off the night, it was my turn to play Spotlight On. The way this game works is one person sits in a chair and everyone else forms a semi-circle around him. For the next twenty minutes you are asked a barrage of personal questions and you have to answer honestly. Everyone pretends to dread their turn coming up, but it’s actually a lot of fun, the time flies by so fast. I felt that because we were in positions of authority and somewhat removed from the group that they generally lobbed us softball questions. Everyone has to play once, and it happens every night throughout the length of the project.