Day 52 and 53 - Sleepless in Granada

Well, that's not what I expected. It all started with dinner the day before yesterday evening. Just thinking about that pasta sauce makes me feel nauseous again. Totally oversalted and somehow sour. Hunger and politeness were probably the reason why I dutifully finished the plate. During the night, I spit it out and got a fever at the same time. Meanwhile, the host family had organized a pre-Christmas disco. Around 3:30 in the morning, I couldn't take it anymore and went downstairs to see if the music was coming from the neighbor's. Because there's nothing you can do about it. Everyone can do whatever they want in their own house. Outside the front door, the two male family members (the father of the two grandchildren had shown up) were sitting, with a cell phone and a speaker cube between them, overpowering the music. That's supposed to make sense. But it wasn't a problem. Night 1 without sleep.

Christmas Eve and over 38 degrees fever. Headache. Great. I spent the whole day in bed. Eating was out of the question. I had enough time for extensive internet research and self-diagnosis to rule out that it's dengue fever or chikungunya fever. Downstairs, cooking and sizzling was going on. But it wasn't until around 10 p.m. that the party really started. Have you ever tried to fall asleep next to a disco speaker box? That's about what it's like. Christmas Eve is celebrated with fireworks, basically the whole evening. The 15-minute highlight at midnight was the least of my worries. At some point, I asked to lower the volume of the music a little bit. "Lower" is relative. Night 2 without sleep.

Today I felt much better. It would have been a shame if I couldn't have attended the Christmas party at the project. They had already set up big things in the morning: three bouncy castles. Music blasting. Popcorn and cotton candy machines. The pizza was already on its way, calculated for about 300 people. Each child had received two tickets: one for pizza and one for popcorn OR cotton candy. I was supposed to ensure the smooth operation at the popcorn machine. The possible excuses to get multiple portions quickly spread: stolen, lost, forgotten at home, Keeley said... Some things are the same everywhere in the world.

Gusty wind, felt like 28 degrees, slightly cloudy.