BAD NEW YEAR'S FOR THE CSONKAS

Last year I have been to Uganda twice, first time in January and again in December. We used to go there at the beginning of January but this winter I couldn’t go so late because of school. Peter wanted to go for longer so he left already at the end of november. I came two weeks later. I was looking forward to go there and paddle waves but the main reason was Peter! I just couldn’t stay home without him.

He came to pick me up at the airport so I wasn’t afraid to travel alone to Uganda. I was very tired from the travel and spent my first day resting in the shade. And finally the next day paddling. The levels were quite low so Club wave was running almost all the time. Actually nothing has changed much from my last visit. We spent our days with paddling, eating and resting. Sometimes Peter and I played badminton or water volleyball with some friends. To chill out we usually went to Jinja for some good meals. And once we visited the local gym what was a very funny experience.

Christmas in Uganda was pretty relaxed with a bunch of good friends. We still had a week left before we had to head home again but suddendly I felt pretty weak. First I thought I am just exhausted from all the paddling but then it got worse. The next day we packed our stuff and went to Kampala to the hospital. I got pretty high fever and showed all symptons of malaria so I got afraid that I catched it and started to take pills. After a checkup the doctor told me that I would have some kind of parasite but no malaria. I felt quite bad and ate a lot of pills but didn't feel better for a while. After two days in a hotel in Kampala without leaving my bed I started to feel a little better. So we headed back home. I was still not sure that I would make the flight but at the end it worked out well. Peter was very worried about my whole situation but took great care of me all the time!

Back home I felt better but Peter started become sick so we ended up staying home on New Year's Eve. Close to midnight Peter got high fever and so we switched roles and I took care of him. But ten minutes to midnight he felt so bad that I had to call the ambulance. They took him to the hospital and I stayed home alone. Definitely not the best way to end up the last year and start a new one! From now it just can get better!

But that was not the end. The next Tuesday I went to visit Peter at the hospital. He still had high fever but the doctors couldn't find anything that would proof malaria. It was quite obvious that he has it so after a while he started on his own to take pills against it. And at the end they found out that he has it... a really bad one too! On Wednesday I went back to the hospital but not to visit Peter but to stay there too. I got high fever again! Oh that was a hard time... at least we shared a room together. Fortunately we both got better and on Friday we were able to leave the hospital. It took us a few more days to get better and we finally felt like doing something else than sleeping. Now we are almost back on track and are looking forward to train again.

Now I can say I had malaria in Uganda too. Peter had his here and on top of it we both had some crazy flu! I guess this was our last trip to Uganda for a couple of years. Don't know yet where we are going to next winter but I just don't want to experience this sicknesses again...

Now we need to get in shape again but I will try to rest more than I did it last year.

However, Happy New Year! ;-)

Cheers, Nina