A Little Stomach Bug

It was that chicken, I think. That delicious, barbequed chicken that little hole-in-the-wall at the night market was selling for only 10,000 kip. That tempting delicious aroma that, in retrospect, I wish I had fought more readily against. Oh man, but it just tasted SO good.

Yeah, well today I’m kicking myself a little bit--a literal kick to the stomach, if you will. Last night I lay in bed with a nauseated stomach, cursing myself for yet again allowing myself be thrown off balance by a chicken. 

At this point, I think I ought to explain. You see, I have a history with farm birds--particularly chickens. When I was in the Dominican Republic summer back after my 9th grade year in high school, I  went to market just like most people do in the Dominican Republic every day. My hosts had said “Find chicken!” and given me some cash.

Of course, I was a naïve freshmen; I assumed that even third-world countries would have frozen chickens ready to be weighed and bought per pound…Chyea, no. Once I finally found the poultry section of market, I found that--oh dear--all the chickens were recently butchered and skinned, ready for my purchase. Bravely, however, I approached the nearest chicken shop and innocently asked: “Puedo tener un pollo?”

The woman behind the counter smiled at me, and before I knew it she was headed out back for a bit, while meanwhile I heard loud “bok boks” and other chicken-created noises coming from her direction. She came back with a live chicken writhing in her hand. “Este?” she asked. “Oh, I mean, that looks like a nice chicken…,” I responded. And before I had time to finish my sentence with “….but I’d prefer an already dead one,“ she laid the chicken down on a block of wood behind the counter, picked up a nearby axe-like instrument, and chopped off the chicken’s head. Dios mio.


SO, as you might have guessed, this little stomach bug I’ve picked up here is oddly disgruntling. And uncomfortable. Plus, to top things off, I’ve also just discovered that my computer has a few bugs of it’s own…No, like, real ants or something. They’ve made themselves at home under my keyboard and come up to say “sabaidee” (“hello” in Laos--I’m assuming they’re Laos ants) and walk along my lit up computer screen whenever it‘s on. How delightful.