Larium Dreams -- Part II

It is a blessing that the larium dreams were not as crazy this week, but I will say that I am a little disappointed because they are entertaining to everyone. This post is somewhat delayed because of set backs with Internet connections and time changes and adjusting to my new home for the next two months. By the way, I am working on getting pictures loaded, and it is taking much longer because of slow connection speeds.

Without any more delay, here is the Larium induced dream that I had on Sunday night in Nelspruit, South Africa. I will keep it short and simple. For all of you that don't know I don't really care much for Oprah. She drives me crazy, and I don't enjoy watching her. I had a dream that I made a major sacrifice and married Oprah, so that I could have access to her money. Our relationship was all for the babies at the babyhouse in Mozambique. She sponsored the house and paid for all the diapers, food, and other supplies for the house. It was nice, but I had to put up with her philanthropic, publicity-seeking ways.

Our weekend has begun, and Pieter, Rika, and their three boys left for their monthly getaway to South Africa. They left early Thursday morning, and left Ashley, Molly, Gloria, Luis, and I her to take care of 10 children. The house has calmed down since the Texas team left yesterday, and the children are getting back into their routine. We had a group from Brazil stop by the house today, and they wanted see the babyhouse. It has been neat to meet people from all over the world while here in Mozambique.

Larium Dreams -- Part I

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that I had figured out my malaria preventative medication. The doctor decided that I should take Larium. At the time, I thought it sounded great because it is to be taken only once a week, and it is not an every day pill that you have to remember to take. When I got home from the pharmacy, I was looking through the 4-5-page book of information about the medicine.
Although it is a great medicine because of it's effectiveness, and dosage schedule, I realized that it had many serious possible side effects. A few of them are: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, dizziness, vertigo, sleep disorders, ringing in the ears, headache, muscle cramps, abnormal dreams, emotional instability, insomnia, panic attacks, hallucinations, anxiety, depression, paranoid reactions, convulsions, visual impairment, numbness, rashes, itching, and possible suicide. After reading this list of possible problems, I decided that I should be a bit worried about taking the medicine.
The medicine also requires the user to start taking the pills one week before departure, and yesterday was the one-week mark before I leave for Africa. I put taking the pill off all day. I didn't feel like it would be a good idea to take the pill in the morning, and then have a hallucination in front of my 5th graders on their last day of school. To be honest, I was nervous about the whole ordeal.
I put the medicine off all day long, and forced myself to take it at about 12:30 am, just before I went to bed. My initial response after taking the pill and sitting on the couch, just waiting for it to make me "hulk" out, which it didn't, was a bit of a disappointment.
I felt a bit let down until I went to sleep ... I am here to announce that Quest for a Hippo, will hopefully be having a 14 part series, entitled Larium Dreams. I had a ridiculously "abnormal dream" last night, and I would like to believe that it was caused by my new habit (Larium). I hope to be able to post every Saturday morning with a new "drug induced" dream.

Part I of XIV

As most dreams are a bit foggy after waking up, I will share what I remember and hopefully it will be entertaining for everyone reading.

I found myself in some sort of abandon zoo or maybe it was an old feed lot, but it was quite hilly, and had many rocks and boulders in the area. I remember climbing to the top of one of these mountainous hills, and looking down below and noticed cages that were old and beat up. They had thick metal bars, which were rusted and dirty. The next thing I remember was seeing a big metal storage container sitting in front of one of the cages that was overgrown with vines.
A guy, that looked like he may be a worker from a circus, came out and opened the storage container right in front of the cage. The big doors of the storage container opened with a low rumbling squeak. I noticed that the tattooed worker, with his sun-aged skin had a long rod in his hand. He was using the rod to get something out of the dark shadows of the cage.
As I sat watching his unskilled ways of maneuvering about the outside of the cage, poking and prodding at whatever was lurking in the shadows, I remember thinking that either this old dilapidated zoo is finally closing, or that the circus is leaving town. I was disappointed that the circus was leaving, but relieved that the zoo was closing because I knew that this was not a suitable home for animals.
As the worker struggled from side to side of the semi-truck sized storage container, I caught a glimpse of what he was trying to herd into the large metal box. I also noticed that he had a large gap between the storage container and the door of the old cage. A gap that this animal could easily fit through. As he struggled to get the animal to move, I heard snarling, and saw pacing by the animal, with it's deep orange and black stripes. I don't ever remember thinking this is a "no good" situation, I was just enjoying watching this guy attempt to do his job.
As the guy stopped to catch his breath from the struggle and labor of his work, the large tiger realized that he could escape. The tiger started bounding up the rocky hill that I was perched at the top of, and I decided that I better start to run. The thought of being mauled by a large feline didn't seem all that attractive to me.
The rest of my eventful sleep included running for my life, from a larger than life tiger. I ran and climbed trees, dove through and slammed cage doors, all in an attempt to flee from this evil beast.
There is a point, during sleep, in which you realize that you are dreaming, and you have to decide whether or not you want to wake up (at least this is how it works for me). I know that I realized that this was a dream, far before I actually opened my eyes to escape from the tiger. For some reason I was entertained by the chase, and stayed in the moment a bit longer than necessary. It is interesting how the brain works, and I really wonder what part of my mind stored and created this sleep adventure.

Thanks to Larium for the eventful evening of sleep.
Stay tuned for more dream world adventures in part II of Larium Dreams.

Graduate School Almost Finished for the Semester

Tonight I attended my last class for the semester (I still have one final paper to write this weekend). For those of you that don't know, I have been working on earning my Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL). This degree has been preparing me to work more effectively with students who are learning English and from a different culture. The program at UMKC hasn't been the most impressive, but it will give me the ability to graduate with a degree of expertise in the field.

This may also may be a little nugget of new information, but part of the reason for my upcoming trip, is because I want to check out Africa as a place that I may want to move for a more long term stay. I want to teach overseas and hopefully make a difference in social justice. It is all very much up in the air, but I definitely don't want to close any doors prematurely.

As my school year is coming to a close, and the trip continues to approach, I have been keeping busy with many things. Typing many papers for my six hours of graduate credit has been dominating my life, I got more shots yesterday at the health clinic, and I also visited the doctor for my Malaria medicine. I decided to take Larium, which has a very likely side affect of hallucinations, vivid dreams, and possible night terrors. Never a dull moment ... At least I won't get malaria, and it may give me really interesting things to write about. Stay tuned for Larium induced dream stories and possible hallucinations.

I have sent off for my visa into Mozambique, and am waiting patiently that it will show up in a timely manner. Say a little prayer, because without my passport, I'm not going anywhere.