Pre-Rainy Season Rain!

Wonderful.  Power went out... must be the thunderstorm outside... just as I was getting ready to take a picture of my McGyver-esque rigging of my brand new mosquito net!  I actually have had it up since last week, but I've been so out of it lately that I haven't had a chance to blog about anything that's happened. 
And.. it's back!  Actually power has been really wonky since I returned from Atlanta... seems like they're having trouble getting the generators to come on after the power goes out. 
Here is my mosquito net, in all its infinite glory:

I feel like I'm a princess of sorts... except not really.

So... my friend put the hooks up too high, but it turned out ok, since this leaves me a walkway to get to my toiletries.  I think I did pretty well for the limited resources that I had... yes, I do say so myself. :)

Anyhoo... with rainy season approaching and just the general bugginess of Africa, I have been eaten alive by mosquitoes and other nasty crawly flying things... lighting isn't so good from this photo, but you can tell the number of bites just on my feet... those red bumpy things.  It doesn't help that I have absolutely zero willpower... so I just scratch them raw.  Hydrocortisone has helped, but when you have to wear shoes to work... yeah.  Even my rainbow's straps are placed so strategically that they pretty much hit every single bite and irritate them even more. 

I think I can count at least SEVEN bites on my feet. :( 

 How did I get this, might you ask?  Well, I decided to venture out, literally, and went to a beer garden with Jess and the Marines... thankfully I wore a long-sleeved cardigan and long pants... but I wore flipflops, so yes- feet were fair game for the mozzies. 

This week has been all sorts of ups and downs:

• I have officially realized that my mefloquine causes MAJOR insomnia, so I was getting absolutely little to no sleep the first few days after I took my dose last Saturday.  Got some good chat time in with family while I was up in the middle of the night, and internet traffic was light, so skype calls weren't dropping as often as they usually do during peak hours.  Actually had to take a sick day at work, since I was feeling so nauseous from lack of sleep...
• I have since started taking Unisom nightly to get some shuteye, but I don't know how long full effectiveness will hold until I start getting used to it... in any case... not much sleep for me. -_-
• CDC Director Dr. Tom Friedan came to visit our office and we had an "All-Hands" staff meeting to hear what he said... unfortunately it was ALL on polio-- so all the work and boatloads of money going into PEPFAR (HIVAIDS) was not mentioned at all.  O_o  Not that his visit really had anything to do with me, but I at least I can say I met him.  And can I just add that he is so much... erm... "smaller" than I imagined him to be.  For whatever reason, I thought he would be taller...?
• Finally, after much cajoling and email pestering, I was able to get one of my projects--shelved due to funding issues--back on track, and now I will be attending a conference related to this project in Uganda at the end of the month!  Yay for sponsored travel!  At least I will get to see East Africa before the fellowship is over.  Stopping in Addis too to see the Ethiopia fellows!  
• On a more depressing note, there was a botched rescue attempt in Northern Nigeria and two foreigners died in the crossfire... an Italian and British national.  I think they were kidnapped by Boko Haram.  Security is always an issue here... we'll see how long the relative peace lasts until something giant blows up here.  Maybe literally... ?