Post-Carnaval

Since Carnaval, I haven't been able to get back to my normal sleep cycle. During the five days of the world's best party, I stayed out all night and never went to bed earlier than 7am. Last Wednesday night was a school night, and I eventually got to sleep at 6am- when I was supposed to get up.  I managed an hour of sleep, then had 10 minutes to leave for school. Friday, the teachers didn't show up for some reason and I got to sleep in. I went out on the weekend, keeping to my Carnaval sleep schedule. Then Sunday night, yesterday, was another school night. This time, I didn't get a minute of sleep. I went to bed at 11pm, laid awake for 7 hours, checked the time, saw it was 6am and got up for school. I was completely useless today. Hugely sleep-deprived and eating little to no fruit and vegetables, I've also developed a cold. This is probably my sixth cold in Brazil, a country with an annual average temperature of almost 30C. Surprisingly, I didn't sleep at school, as is discouraged but allowed. I came home from school ate lunch, then left for Portuguese classes. It was pointless. I couldn't pay attention and my language skills were terrible. When I went to say goodbye, I said good morning. I couldn't even try. After that, I went downtown to pick up gym supplements and go to the pharmacy. The gym stuff wasn't in yet and I was told to come back in an hour. I then went to the pharmacy and picked up some vitamins for the cold and a melatonin sleep aid. I went back to the house for a bit, and then went back downtown for the gym supplements. I haggled with the store owner and managed to get them for R$60 less than I bought them for previously (mainly because it had taken them a while to get them in). I was walking home and massive fatigue set in. I was wearing flip flops and not really looking where I was going when I hit my toe against a part of the sidewalk that was slightly raised. It didn't hurt really and I kept walking, laughing about how shitty the day was going. After walking half a block I looked at the toe and saw that I had chipped some skin off and it was bleeding. I was right near my last host family's house and I stopped to visit them. My last host dad, Edmilson is a doctor and took a look at the foot. He gave me the standard advice on preventing infection, then told me I shouldn't play soccer for about 10 days, probably over-reacting though. I went back home, and now realized I had forgotten my key. I rang the doorbell and no one was home. I asked a neighbour, an old lady who was sweeping the sidewalk in front of her home, if I could use her phone to call my host parents since I had forgotten my key. She couldn't grasp the idea of why I wanted to use her phone and thought I was asking for directions to the house I was in front of. I gave up and said I could walk down to the gas station my host parents own and borrow one of their keys. I started the trek and I saw an old man struggling to move a heavy plastic container. He had flipped his cane upside down and was using its handle to push it an inch at a time. I offered some help. I carried it over to his car and lifted it into the trunk. It turns out he was the old lady's husband and she told me to ask him if I could use his phone. He one-upped me and said he could take me to the gas station. Karma paid off there i guess. With no problems, he drove me to the gas station, I got a key and he drove me back to the house. That's been my day so far. Now, I'm watching TV, trying to stay awake so I can sleep tonight. After this day, it shouldn't be a problem.

Here are some pictures of my hands and newly injured foot. Edmilson took a look at the hands and said I will have black patches on them for 3-4 months. I said that my 1/8 of blackness would start to show in Brazil. Again, couldn't have predicted it would be lime-related.