It's a miracle!!!

Well, the drinking of (and in copious amounts) alcohol seems to have worked!! I am feeling much better, not quite 100%, but I would say about 85% better! If alcohol really does 'cure' malaria, then I hope I get it more often ; )!!! Any excuse to have a couple of drinks (too many) and play table tennis all weekend is alright by me! However, I seemingly got quite lucky, as my case was very mild and clearly my super strong immune system kicked in and helped me out, as two of my assistants are out sick with the more serious cases of malaria, and one is even in the hospital..i told him to try drinking, but he is a good muslim and doesn't drink, and now he is in the hospital and I am at work?! But, hopefully he will recover soon. Apart from that it was a relaxing weekend. It is the long rains season, so it basically rains from the early afternoon until the night, and by rain I mean pouring rains and thunder showers! You may or may not have read in the papers or seen on the news that most of west africa is suffering from major flooding. We are lucky here in Abuja as it is a relatively high city, however, places in the north and south are really suffering...therefore there is major disease (malaria, yellow fever, TB, among other diseases) and malnutrition as crops are being destroyed. But, Nigeria is better off than most other countries all around us, but we still have 2 months of the long rains to go, so not sure we will continue to be so 'lucky'.

Nothing too exciting to report on this week...although my friend Catherine and I finally chose our holiday destination for the first week of October....we are going to Iceland!!! Yes, Iceland! It is supposed to be beautiful and neither of us have been, so we figured why not. I look forwarding to getting away for a week and not having to do any work, but I know that the next month leading up to this will be a bit rough, as I will be first in Botswana and then Brazzaville, Congo again, so will have lots of work to do...but at least I have something to look forward to!

Also, i just realized that today is officially my 2 months since I arrived in Africa, and it has definitely gone by in a bit of a whirl...which I think is a good thing!

hope you are all having fun wherever you are!

baci, andrea