Jen Lee's week 23 (21 – 27 jul 2010)

hey folks,

sorry to gross u all out with a picture of sandfly bites on my hand - they are part of my life, warts and all :)

They were a mystery to me at first because I didn't realise that sand flies, also called midges, are not only found along the beach - they can be in the forest as well.

I think I first got them while bushwalking in blue mountains - and I also got some more when I went to the beach...I went to the health clinic on Monday and the nurse told me that the midges URINATE on people's skin and that causes the irritation.

so i was itching all over (sometimes I would wake up scratching and have trouble gg back to sleep) because some flies made me their pit stop?!?? That's so gross, it's almost funny.

But in fact, the nurse was wrong. I did some googling and found a government public health brochure that countered the myth that midges pee on us - actually, like mosquitoes, they squirt their saliva as an anti-clotting agent before sucking our blood.

I really don't know if I would rather be peed on or spit on by 1-mm flies, but anyways, in future I will be a bit more careful - insect repellent will have to come on if i'm going to any nature area with pockets of standing water.

The nurse prescribed me some oral anti-histamines to be taken once a day because they are triple-strength. She said it would be good to ease the itching as my scratching could cause skin infection and lead to more problems. I was totally happy with that, but then about 6 hours after taking the medicine, I had the strangest giddy sensations.

I couldn't type on my handphone and walk in a straight line at the same time. When I read the information leaflet with the medicine, I realised that dizziness is listed as a possible side effect.

So now I've decided to only take the medicine a few hours before I sleep and hopefully i can sleep off the dizziness - that's what I am doing tonight, I hope my experiment works out because the bites will take a couple weeks to stop itching so I really do have to take the medicine.

Would appreciate your prayers on this :)

Other things that happened in past week:

1. I saw three whales (2 adult and 1 baby humpback) when I went whalewatching last wed :) but the sea was very rough so we only saw them spouting and coming up for air, no acrobatic acts. in fact, the waves were so bad that I threw up, which I have never done before. I did see a huge rainbow sometime during the trip so that was nice :)

Yesterday, yahoo news had a segment on an amazing whalewatching trip where the whale came right up to a boat that had stopped near it.it even touched the boat with its long flippers and did breaching etc. and this was the same company that I had gone out with... :( oh well, hopefully i will get to see whales when I go diving :) Which i might go next weekend, yay!

2. On Friday i was supposed to travel back to brisbane from Sydney on a train - but I missed my train by 2 minutes!! I had given myself 30mins to get to the station, 10 mins waiting for free shuttle (frequency was published as every 10 mins), 10 mins travel time, 10 mins spare. Well, the free shuttle didn't come and I waited too long before buying a $2 ticket to get to the station. Funny thing was that my luggage, which i had checked in that morning, was on the train! Thank God, i was able to get on a train the next morning with only a $5.50 rebooking fee and I got reunited with my luggage eventually :)
I got the cheapest accommodation near the train station, I wasn't going to risk missing the train again the next morning - it cost me $33. i learnt my lesson, in future, don't wait too long for free buses :) as my mum put it, don't be penny wise and pound foolish :)

3. School has started this week but I only have to attend classes on Thursdays for most weeks, except for when my 2 intensive courses are on. For those, i would go to school 4 days a week for 3 weeks straight and that would be it. my schedule is so free because I only have one "normal" course, the 4th course I'm taking is a self-directed one where all materials are provided online. I need lots of discipline to do my readings and plan out my assignments so that I don't pull all-nighters when doing them. Pls pray for me on this :)

4. Finally, this is orientation week and i am helping out to talk to new students and invite them to join Campus Christian Movement. I thank God for favour with quite a few students who gave us their contact. Please pray that we can continue to be in touch as the semester goes on :) Tomorrow is going to be Market Day where all the clubs and societies will have booths for the new students to check out. So I'm going to bed now to have enough energy for it :)

Good night!

:) jen lee