Quarantine

Nope, not a Rabies scare, however I think we have had a higher number of cases recently than we'd like to. And no, it's not to stop the spread of head lice that's been shared around here either. This quarantine is of the Swine Flu variety.

After two years of living here I still have no real access to news. As Angie tells me, we're the only ones in the country who live without television, the antenna's broken on our car radio, and if the newspaper writes on a third grade reading level, then third grade is over my head. So, I wait patiently for someone to call me when the university's cancelled for a strike or the kids are out of class for a parade, both of which have happened in the past 7 days.

But, from my inerrant sources, namely Facebook and word of mouth, I can tell you all the facts. There have been ~200 cases of H1N1 reported. The Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center closed last week for 3.5 days and the week before all the kids wore face masks to school. Another private school was reportedly closed for like 2 weeks. One of my students missed Bible study today because she was getting IV fluids. Ten Talita Cumi went straight from school to the doctor yesterday with suspected cases. Now there are 5 staff at the veterinary university with confirmed Gripe A (H1N1).

What does this mean for us... Well, basically it means that even though Angie woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and I prayed the whole way to school that hers would be the only school in the city that wasn't respecting the quarantine, God did not see fit to give us that needed separation. Instead He has decided that what we need is an intensive ten, count 'em 10, days joined at the hip. Yep, all the schools in the city are closed until the 10th of October. The university's up and running, except for the veterinary campus because of the five sick professors, but as far as I know our class schedules returns to normal on Monday.

I guess this is a good trial run for the quickly approaching summer break, where I'll have to learn how to occupy her 24 hours/day while juggling work and ministry. I'm not sure what she'll do for ten days, maybe I'll give her a new knitting project or maybe she'll perfect her surgical skills. But a few things are certain; she'll take lots of silly pictures like those seen here of our wait at the dentist today, she'll improve her English by leaps and bounds, and she'll probably grow out of some more clothes as she's been getting very good at recently.

She's getting big, and she's growing into quite a mature little señorita. It's pretty adorable.

(I take no responsibility for the accuracy of any of the data in this post.)