The Peace Corps and My Health

So the Peace Corps is very good at some things, and I'm sure they're very bad at others.  One thing they're GREAT at is giving shots and making people like me take a whole lot of pills.  In the three weeks or so that I have been in country I have been given at least eight shots for all sorts of diseases and viruses.  One of the shots I received the other day was for tetra-somethingorother.  Or maybe it was tera-gonnakill youquickifyougetthisfromsomerandommosquito.  All I know is that it had a crazy long name and seemed really painful.  I desperately want to avoid getting it, so I let them jab away at me.

I am usually fine with shots, but we get so many of them here I have begun to get super nervous. 
Notice my grimace of pain.

Here I am in a country where every Thursday I get a bunch of shots and a whole handful of pills that I either need to take once a week, or take immediately after a really odd disease flares up and I am suddenly overcome by a rapidly advancing illness.  My hat is off to the Peace Corps Medical staff because they deal with wimpy volunteers and trainees like myself on a regular basis and never cease to stop answering our silly questions, which we base on unfounded fears. 

At the end of the day, I probably feel healthier than I have in years and I really don't worry too much about what kind of illnesses I may possibly develop, because the Peace Corps' Medical Staff will have my back.  They do a pretty darn good job with a lot of really nasty sicknesses.  About the only thing I am really afraid of here in Zambia is a bout of Mr. D. (diahrrea) as they call it.  That one could knock me out for a few days easily, and unfortunately there is no shot or pill for that.  So bring on the tera-gonnamakeyoublindfast and the mono-bloodinfectionwithnocureonceyougetbitten.  I think I'm ready... I at least have enough puncture marks in my left shoulder to prove I have had the vaccinations.