The Sunny Side of Rabies

I heart rabies. Let me tell you why.

The story doesn't start out with rainbows and butterflies, but will gradually lead to showers and cheese with every letter.

On Sunday night, I was leaving my home to go to my site mate Dwan's ger. A handful of volunteers had come in to perform a concert for our community and raise money for our schools. We were all going to snuggle together in Dwan's small 4 wall ger. We'd rather be crammed together than apart I guess. Awwww! haha. We have to get English-speaking social interaction when we can! It wasn't all the way dark yet, though it hasn't been getting to that point until about 9:30 or so lately. This made me feel more comfortable as I began the 40 minute walk to Dwan's. As I was walking down a street I walk down almost everyday of my life, a scary big black dog lunged out at me from the opposite side of the street and dug his teeth into my arm. He bit it and then started growling at me. I hadn't even had time to be scared of the dog or not be scared of the dog in the first place! He really just lunged out of nowhere! I raised the water bottle in my hand as though I was going to hit it but still couldn't do it because I'm silly I guess. After, I grabbed a rock in case it would be necessary, though the dog had already run off. I grabbed my arm in pain and disbelief. After all those proud boasts I made to Mongolians about not being scared of dogs, here I was with an arm throbbing with pain.

I was relatively close to my home, though I didn't want to go home because I knew my haasha family would give me an "I told you so" and never let me leave my ger again. I have learned how to say babysitter in Mongolian just so that I can say "Handaa (my counterpart) is not my babysitter". ha. My family and school is endearingly overprotective of me, and at times it can be a bit trying. I have already received messages from both students and teachers who are concerned about me. One student asked, "You ok? Handaa said you damaged." lol. Love them! I also was hesitant to tell them because I really didn't want to make them even more scared of dogs than they already were.

Anyway, I made my way to Dwan's, though was unable to see what exactly the dog had done to my arm since I had a sweater on. Since I didn't see any blood, I thought that maybe the pain I was feeling was somehow being exaggerated by the experience itself. I wanted to cry because it hurt so bad, though after a few minutes of tears wanting to bubble to the surface, a smile spread across my face. I knew that maybe I'd be able to go to the capital city for a bit. Once I had joined my fellow pcv's at Dwan's ger, I was able to look at my bite and it turns out I had got a sizeable puncture wound and it was bleeding more than I thought. My friends urged me to call our doctor and the next day I was off to UB.Now, I know that getting rabies is no bueno. BUT in order to make sure I don't get rabies, I have had to come to the big city to get the proper shots. For the past couple of days I have been enjoying showers and cheese. My arm hurts a little still, but I am numbing the pain with showers and cheese. Sometimes, I just can't believe how optimistic I can be lately. I get bit by a scary dog and somehow end up happy. I get stranded in the middle of nowhere for hours and end up happy. I can't imagine how I'll feel when I'm in my own home with my family and friends with showers and cheese(of the goat persuasion) and mexican food and swimming pools. I might just explode.