Sooooo it might come to a surprise to you that i'm accident-prone. Ha. Or I guess you might just say that stuff like that happens to me quite often. I chose to play the role of the victim. Anyways, tonight we were supposed to have our bags packed and out in the trailer by 11 pm. We are leaving at 4:15 in the morning to go on a 2.5 hour drive to Christchurch, then flight to Auckland, 5-7 hour layover, then like 5 hours to Samoa. Fun!! So I just had to pack my shampoo, conditioner and soap and then bring out my backpack. It was 10:45 pm and I wanted to take a shower tonight so I needed my toiletries, so I decided to take a shower in the remaining time, pack it, double check everything, and make it out by 11. Obviously, I had to rush. So I was in the shower and decided to shave my legs, but I was in a hurry so I was doing it SUPER fast with a new razor. Well, I accidentally cut myself. It wasn't just a usual razor nick, though. I was going vertically and I guess applied too much pressure, scraped about two and a half inches of skin off my bottom leg, as if peeling a carrot. It made a scratching sound, which immediately caught my attention, and sent me screaming once the water hit it. Blood started filling the bottom of the shower but I continued to shower on. When I felt a strange feeling from my razor I looked and found the lengthy piece of fresh skin, which was about as thick as a slice of ginger you'd get at a sushi restaurant. I saved the skin. Still, the shower filled with blood and I got a little concerned because this didn't look like any kind of cut I've gotten from shaving before. I realized I had to do something about it, so I started yelling my roommates' names but they were out of the room. The girl next door, Juliette, was in bed, and said for me to go in there and show her. But I was stuck in the shower because of the blood. Finally one of my roomies Sarah walked by and I yelled for help. When she saw my ankle she started screaming [a lot of the blood in the shower had gone down the drain by this time]. All the girls from around the house ran in and then went and got their cameras and started taking pics. I posed for the pics with my piece of skin hahaha. Unfortunately it wasn't as gnarly looking when the cameras got there as it was previously. Anyways, we couldn't figure out what to do with the blood, my friend Kat tried rinsing it off with the shower head but I started screaming on the top of my lungs...it hurt SO bad! My friends had to help dress me, apply pressure to it, and then one of the leaders came with gauze since no bandaid was big enough. We applied pressure for several minutes then cleaned it and wiped away the blood, which was difficult because it kept coming. She had me apply white antibiotic ointment, but immediately upon doing that the blood started flowing and just made a mess of a thick paint-like pinkish substance that was uncontrollable, so we just wiped it off, applied gauze and taped it off. Sucks this happened right before Samoa cuz now I have to watch it really closely while I'm there. Whatever, i've had worse in Cambodia. But now my whole left foot has like numbing pain hahahah. Annoying. IT HURTS! There will SO be pictures up once I get them from my friends.
Anyways, today was my last day of the first segment of Sustainable Community Development. The class was incredibly interesting and challenging, and our professor Mick Duncan was so fascinating. His teaching style is less structurally academic, but instead is more tangible, with lots of stories and discussion. I got a lot more out of this class because of this way of learning, and because I was challenged to think critically and out of the box on many issues that most people sweep under the rug. I can't wait for the second week of it in November. Very interesting, edifying, challenging, and intriguing. GREAT class. Amazing.
Well, I 'wake up' for samoa in less than 3 hours, so I better get to bed so I can atleast have some sleep before I go. It will be a long time of travel, considering how close it is to here. We leave at 4:15 am and get there at 9:45 pm. Yay. It's going to be an AMAZING time of living in a traditional setting. I am more excited than I can express. I don't think I'll have internet there so I prob won't be able to post anything till like October 4th ish. Soooooooooo catch you then!!! Cheers.
