End of finals, time to visit the ER

A long, long time ago......

......on a mild December day......

......I finished my last final.

Congrats. You completed something mundane.  Just like everybody else.  Woo......

Yes, I know.  Such an achievement.  But I finished earlier than most people and as such, had a few days to just relax.  Or so I thought. 

Right around this time, I found two red bumps on my leg.  It was DC and it had been super unusually warm out, so I had been walking around to my finals in yoga capris and rolling up the hems of my jeans.  I thought it might be a bug bite, or worst case, the apartment cat had fleas.

I finished my finals on a Thursday; my dad arrived at the apartment on Sunday to load up the car and drive back.  Sunday, I ran to the store because we were outta bandaids and had no Neosporin.  On Monday, we drove home, and my feet were propped on the dashboard so I could scratch my ankles.  The "bites" were getting itchy.

Itch scritch scratch

On Tuesday, my mom said they looked worrisome.  I now had big patch bandaids on both my legs and the bites had turned into a weeping rash.

Gross

On Wednesday, my parents thought I might have a staph infection.  Who knows where I picked that up.  But we called the doctor's and made an appointment.

On Friday, the doctor told me I probably have poison ivy.  Which was complete bullshit, and made no sense because the only thing that I walked through in the previous week was doorways.  As a "just in case", because neither my dad nor I seemed to accept that answer, the doctor bound my legs in gauze pads and ACE bandages and wrote me a prescription that would take care of mild staph.  Keep in mind, staph has a strain called MRSA that is hard to kill (the MR stand for Medically Resistant) and can be super damaging if left untreated.

On Saturday, I rebound my legs several times and ate one meal, courtesy of medication that all but killed my appetite.

On Sunday, we got nervous.  In a week's time, what started out looking like twin bites now had become a really bad rash that was still growing.

On Monday, I went to the ER.

It was 3 days before Christmas, and I spent my afternoon sitting in a chair with my legs wrapped in ACE bandages watching people bleed and puke their guts out nearby.  And lucky me!  I found a book in my purse.

Ummm.....

In retrospect, bad choice to keep in my purse.


By the time I was finally let in, it took mere minutes.  Yes, I had staph.  Weird, the doctor shouldn't've given me that medication, it's not the one they're supposed to prescribe.  And yes, keep bandaging my legs.  Here, take this new prescription  and 

Well, it felt like that

I spent the next two months bandaging my legs.  I had two rounds of the new medication, two medicated creams, and $100 worth of gauze pads.  In total, I saw four doctors and a dermatologist.  I had to drop a scuba diving class.  And all because somehow I picked up a bad skin infection instead of my usual post-finals cold.

I think next time, I'll take that cold.

DC Tourist Bingo

That's right!  The newest game for locals as they travel to and fro across the District.  From my friends and I, we give you........

DC TOURIST BINGO

Yes.  Having lived here for four years now, and probably will be sticking around for another few, you come to realize just how aggravating tourists really are.  And joy of joys, I work in Tourist Central.  They are literally the worst.


They are loud.

They they stop suddenly, or better yet, move at a glacial pace.

They tend to dress alike and roam in packs.

They come wielding selfie sticks.

They are stymied by simple information.

And they escaleft.

*shudder*

So, a group of friends and I got together.  Tourist season is the biggest nuisance, but maybe we could make it bearable?  Thus, DC Tourist Bingo was born.


We compiled a list of stereotypes we've encountered around DC, ranging from the idiots who take pictures with the Washington Monument as their dicks to flag clothing to those who ask "Where's THE Smithsonian?" (newsflash - there are several of those), and we created boards out of them.  You spend the day on or near the Mall and look for the stereotypes on your board, ticking them off as you go.  First one to get bingo wins.


And hopefully by playing, you forgot to be annoyed by having to deal with tourists interrupting your day.

The Surprise Party

Let me recap what happened in the academic year I've been absent for.  And let's start where we left off: October.

It was around Halloween time, which is to say, midterm season.  In between the piles of books, scattered translations, and trailing pieces of yarn, I decided it was a fantastic idea to fly home.  Some things are more important than combing through Russian dictionaries and hoping the phrase you're working on isn't a colloquialism.

Things like throwing a surprise birthday party for your grandmother, per se.

I think she might actually strangle me if I post her age, so suffice it to say, she hit a milestone last year.  Oh, and she doesn't like surprises - for some reason, she has no patience for them.  So obviously her children got it into their heads that a surprise party was the right thing to do.

Seems innocuous enough, right?  WRONG!

In order to pull this off, we needed to get all her children and grandchildren in one place to surprise my grandmother.  This is kinda hard, as we live on two continents.  That means flights to the US, and those are never cheap.  Also, most of us grandchildren were in school or college.  That means moving exams, last minute homework, and letting professors know we'd be skipping classes to fly back.  Oh, and there were time constraints too.  There were only a few times the family flying international could get a flight out.  And my brother and I needed to get back to our respective colleges because it was midterm season and those translations don't write themselves.

Oh, and one more thing.

My grandfather had to find a way to keep this a secret from his wife.  Which is harder than you'd think.  My grandmother is sharp as a tack.

So the family started scheming.  Waaaaaaaaay back in the summer.  The timing was nailed down, flights were booked, and a location was tossed around.  And hard as it was, there was not a peep outta my grandfather.  My grandmother was none the wiser.


We came close to being blown, right at the end of the summer.  My aunt's family was about to head back overseas and she accidentally said to my grandmother that if she forgot anything it'd be ok since they'd be back in October.  Luckily she seemed distracted and asked if her daughter meant December - they frequently return for Christmas.

Crisis averted

Fast forward to October.  Family members start trickling in.  My flight outta DC was on a Friday.  Being the cheeky granddaughter I am, I called my grandmother to say hi as I walked to a free food event on campus.  She was so excited to hear from me and asked about school and whether or not I was coming home for Thanksgiving.  I hung up with her, ate some free pizza, and a couple hours later boarded a plane home.  My brother arrived the same night from his university.


Funnily enough, I wasn't the only one to make a phonecall to my grandmother.  My aunt who lives overseas risked being exposed to call and say hi from the airport.  They even announced her flight while she was on the phone with my grandmother.  She passed it off that she was picking her best friend up from the airport, and hurriedly told my grandfather they were on the way when my grandmother handed the phone off.

Everyone's in state.  Check.

By Saturday, everyone was accounted for.  All children had either driven or flown into the correct state/country.  My aunt's family had successfully avoided my grandmother, as they live two streets over when they are in the US.  And everyone showed up to the restaurant on time looking dapper as hell.  All in all we had my grandmother's sister and brother, her nephew and his girlfriend, all four of her children, two children-in-law, and all seven grandchildren.  We were shown to a long table that was partially screened from the restaurant entrance and started the long process of catching up with each other.  The only thing left was to order drinks and wait for my grandparents to arrive.  And know that she had absolutely no idea what was in store.

When my grandmother entered the restaurant, the first thing she registered was my youngest cousin.  He was sitting at the end of the table visible from the hostess' desk at the entrance.  Makes sense.  He only lives two states away - he and his dad must've driven down for the weekend.  As she got closer, the next thing she registered was my oldest cousins.  Again, makes sense, they live in the same town.


Then she saw me.  I was supposed to be in DC, what was I doing there, wait what's going on here?!  Then she saw the two cousins sitting next to me, who were supposed to be at home overseas, and her expression changed to complete and utter shock.  My grandfather was standing next to her, trying not to laugh.  The mastermind behind the surprise, he was the happiest I've ever seen him.


The rest of the evening was spent enjoying a snatched moment of happy family time.  My grandmother made a point to hug everyone there (and to point out that us middling grandchildren shouldn't be there - how did we fly back in time and just wow).  It was a fantastic night, and even though she doesn't like surprises, my grandmother was so happy to have her entire family back for one evening, just for her.


For the next several months, my grandmother would tell this story.  That she was never one to make a big deal outta her birthday, but her family flew in from the far corners of the world just for her, to celebrate anyway.  She was that proud and happy.  And it's now one of our happiest memories.

Here we are yet again......

This is not the first time I'll say this, and this is not the last time either.


I am really terrible at keeping up a blog.


It was so easy while I was overseas, having shiny new experiences and everything was interesting.  I no longer have awesome adventures in other countries.  Life has become repetitive.  Monotonous, even.  People probably do not even remember I have a blog.  I certainly keep forgetting, and I have it bookmarked dead center on my screen.

Oops

Oh well.


So let's try this again.  I have a new adventure starting - it's called "Caitie Becomes An Adult" or "Help How Do I Do These Things?!"  It is filled with scary things like JOB INTERVIEWS, NETFLIX BINGE-WATCHING, and HOMESTUCK.  Occasionally there are crochet projects and actual adventures thrown in for good measure.  And somewhere in there, there are stories to tell.


Now to find those stories......

Uhhhhh check back a little later? Kthxbye