11-05 - lazy Saturday I'm supposed to meet Lanto this morning -- he'll pick me up at 11:30 or so, but first, I'll join Honorine on a shopping trip. Up at 6 am, breakfast at 7, and at 8 Pat joins Honorine (and therefore me) heading out to the market. I get about four blocks, and have to say my apologies and return to the compound. The urgency of diarrhea is getting to be a problem. I can't go anywhere for any amount of time. When Pat and Honorine return, Pat has two suggestions, both of which I jump at. First, she offers to call Lanto and cancel for today, and second, she says she knows a doctor not too far away. I had been planning to talk with Dr. Olivier about this problem, but that would be Monday, and enough is enough. Pat and I walk most of the way to SALFA, but take a right turn off course two thirds of the way there. We visit with a woman Pat has known since school. In school, when Pat lived in a dormitory, she asked if anyone was there from Madagascar. She was told, yes, there was one woman. Going up to introduce herself, Pat found a room full of Indonesians, chatting away while making dinner, with one woman sitting quietly. Pat walked up and greeted her in Malagasy. Bebe burst into tears. It was the language of home, far away from home. The were fast friends from then on. Dr. Bebe is very thorough. Any pain? What have you been eating? Fever? Cramps? She even pokes me a bit. She takes it slowly, and ultimately says that it would be a bad idea to take antibiotics (I am very pleased about that) and to take this -- she produces six packets (two days worth) of a stool firmer -- I assume it's fiber, but high-tech. The stuff tastes, or at least smells, a little like ovaltine. Dr. Bebe won't accept my money, but I'll come by in Wednesday at 4:30 to look at her Macintosh. I goof off the rest of the day until dinner, when Lanto comes by to check on me. We talk for an hour about the network situation at SALFA, sitting at Honorine's table, until I realize that Honorine is essentially hiding in the kitchen while we do this. She's so polite, and deferential -- I feel awful. We scurry out quickly, so she can go to bed. I play a computer game and stay up late. A bad habit, but it's a few hours of rest from being a foreigner in a strange land.