“The luxuries of civilization satisfy only those wants which they themselves create.”

~ Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World (1922)

The last week and a half or so has been a little rough. Last Saturday I woke up with a bad headache, had pain in my back and neck and an elevated temperature – tell-tale signs of early stages of Dengue Fever. Fortunately, it didn’t amount to much, I just felt fatigued all weekend and slept a lot. Also on Saturday, while fixing a cup of instant noodles, I accidentally poured boiling water on my hand. My hand turned really red, but didn’t blister. And good Lord does that smart though, my hand was throbbing for the rest of the day.

Then, in a somewhat dazed and weary state of mind, I locked myself out of my bedroom. I can’t go into much detail, but breaking back into my room – particularly under the circumstances at the time – was not pleasant. And all that happened before lunch. Little wonder I decided to sleep the rest of the weekend.

The bummer was that last Sunday happened to be White Sunday, an important holiday in Samoa. It’s a children’s holiday where the kids get to perform songs, dances and skits in church and also get to eat first at mealtime (usually parents eat first, whoever prepared the meal eats second and kids eat last). Then Monday was a public holiday and there was lots of games and food and having fun. I still wasn’t feeling great Sunday and Monday, so I missed out on a lot, but frankly, I’m just relieved that I don’t have Dengue.