Crack Would Be Cheaper

We made it.

And already I must say I love this city.  After only 4 hours sleep last night we were up bright and early, well it wasn't bright actually it was very dark, and arrived at Bradley International Airport at a crisp 6:10am.  Our flight left right on time and we changed at Chicago before continuing on to Oakland International just outside of San Francisco city. 

Even in the airport you could tell things were different.  People were smiling at me, for no reson.  I asked Jeremy if I had a huge goober hanging out of my nose and he said that I didn't.  While we were waiting for our luggage  we listened to a bird singing inside the building, it had flown through the automatic doors and was flying around near the ceiling.  People waited patiently for their luggage.  We went to catch the bus to the train station and the driver helpfully told us where we could buy our tickets and get change, as he had no change to give us.  We hadn't even asked him yet!  As I was standing there I heard someone say something about it being a lovely day.  What is wrong with these people! 

Once we made it into the city we lunched at a middle-eastern take-out which reminded me a lot of the many kebab shops on Brunswick street.  There were a lot of asian people about and it really felt like Melbourne.  We followed our map to the vaccination clinic and walked past the city hall, where only a few months ago same-sex couples had lined up to marry during a short utopian period of SF history.  I began to wonder about this gay city, everyone had a smile on their face, maybe gay was catching?  Maybe all the anti-gayers don't hate homosexuality, they just hate all the happiness?

We arrived at the vaccination clinic and spent the next two hours and a half hours discussing the pros and cons of needing a human immuglobin product in a third world country, survival rates of meningitis and possible psychotic effects (not in a good way) of some anti-malarials.  We were very lucky to be advised by a nurse who spent two years in Zambia with the PeaceCorps.  She gave us a lot of great first-hand advice, and further convinced us that we had done the right thing by not choosing to volunteer with PeaceCorps. 

After two and a half hours I began to feel as though I actually was getting sick, just as it was time to lay down and submit to the needle.  I was stuck five times, Jeremy six, and we now are chemical concoctions ready to fight off Tetanus, Diphtheria, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Polio, Tyhoid, Rabies, Meningitis and Yellow Fever.

$1,200 dollars later, and we're still not even done with all of the necessary vaccinations, and I'm still trying to convince myself that it's cheaper than dying out there.  But I can't help feeling that I should have at least got a good time for my $600 worth.  All I got was the feeling that Hell-Boy punched me in each arm thrice before sitting on my head for a while.  Drugs these days, they're not what they used to be. 

For now I'm exhausted.  We had to walk over a mile to Catie and Greg's with our luggage - the nurses were a little afraid we mightn't make it considering the long day we'd had and made us lie down a little before we left the clinic.  Oh, and the real kicker was, after looking at my travel vaccinations booklet and seeing what I have had in the past, they discovered that I actually might have rabies now as I was given the wrong injection after my monkey bite in India in 2001.  Maybe that explains that drooling problem I've been having lately.