23 in Mali

Today has been my first birthday out of country! The big 2-3. It actually sounds young to my ears. Age is just not really pertinent here, and removed from all of my peer groups from college, I just forget how many years I’ve been around. But it’s good to be young.

In a way, it just feels like another day, as birthdays are wont to do even in the US, but I opened some presents my parents sent this morning then Phil and Ashley and I made banana pancakes and punch. Unfortunately, my stomach has been plagued by some sort of microbe for the last week, which diminishes my desire for eating good things, but it’s all right. I’m self-medicating some Cipro, and since that isn’t working real well, I might self-medicate some giardia medication next. Fun fun.

Yesterday was spent just sitting around feeling gross, mainly. I wanted to get a lot of work done on the grammar, but I just didn’t have much in the way of concentration. I thought a lot about possessive constructions, though, in between playing spider solitaire, curling up in a ball, and reading the Consolation of Philosophy.

Anyhow, hopefully my stomach will clear up and I can get focused again.