Poison Fish

Things are going well on Futuna. School is winding down for the year. On Saturday we had a staff picnic on the beach. We used a large net to catch a bunch of fish. Well I grabbed one to throw it in a canoe but it's tail cut my hand. I didn't think much of it until my hand started throbbing. Then I swam to shore. My hand hurt extremely bad. It was bleeding a little bit so some kid chewed up a sweet coconut and spit on it "to stop the bleeding." Then my ears started ringing and everything got blurry so someone helped me to lie down. After that I was just in excruciating pain for the next few hours as they put various custom leaf medicines on my hand. At night I went home and went to sleep. The next morning the pain had subsided but my hand had swollen like a balloon and I could not move it. It was my right hand which made eating with a spoon rather difficult because I could not hold anything. But now, Wednesday, my hand has returned to normal and I am able to use it again for all those important activities (like typing).

Also this week I caught a nasty cold which is not fun at all. I am spending my days lying on the concrete floor because it is the coolest place in the hot weather. My nose is running and tissues do not exist here.

Also I finally received mail from the U.S.! You can send directly to Futuna if you want. I think you could write Alyssa, Futuna, Vanuatu, South Pacific it'd get here, but to be safe you can write:

Alyssa Thiel- Peace Corps
Ishia School
Futuna
Vanuatu, South Pacific