Already a third of the trip has passed. Unbelievable how fast the time flies!

Something that I wasn’t expecting is getting sick. I get sick really rarely so it doesn’t usually strike me as a possibility. But I guess when traveling, the body is exposed to all sorts of new germs. I got a cold sore bump, sore throat, and got bitten by something, probably a spider. The cold sore was just annoying. The cold seemed pretty bad at a time, but looking back at it, it wasn’t. My throat hurt whenever swallowing. I noticed it on Wednesday evening. Shorena fed me tea and some medicine. I slept in on Thursday, then around noon got up to go to pharmacy and to get some food (I was hungry! That’s good, that means its not gonna last long!). It felt like the longest walk ever as my back was hurting as well (but in fact it was only 15 minutes).

I thought, great! Now is the opportunity to practice the mindfulness meditation exercise described in the book Search Inside Yourself. (This is me finding a bright side in everything)! One of the chapters describes how to deal with distress. One of the steps is to know when you are not in pain. This was an useful reminder for me. I didn’t feel pain all the time, only when swallowing. Another step is to not feel bad about feeling bad. I could have had thoughts about how it is stupid to be sick while having the most awesome trip ever, but I didn’t. I rationalized that getting sick is probably because I’m exposed to more germs (and probably I should really start using hand sanitizer), and probably it was a stupid move on Monday after salsa dancing and being all sweaty to go outside on the street and wait for bus in the cold.

At pharmacy they gave me some lozenges with ibuprofen and honey and lemon. They were super effective! I felt better around 15 minutes after. Yeey for modern medicine! I slept for the rest of the day till about 4pm and then I felt much better. Then I was able to read and write. I stayed in that night and the next day I was back in business 🙂

Shorena asked me what has been the worst thing so far on the trip. I said getting sore throat. She had seen me sick and said that it wasn’t that bad. She was right.

Otherwise I feel super lucky to have so many friends and acquaintances all over the place in Europe. It is great reconnecting with them. I’m happy and inspired. Quite often I just walk on the street and I have a huge grin on my face. People probably think I’m weird, but isn’t it also sad that being super happy is considered weird?

Next I’m in Berlin till Friday, then Warsaw for Bachaturo salsa festival till Monday. Then don’t know yet, but definitely by Aug 29th I will in Latvia.