Malaria. Again.

The grand finale of our trip to London was that I got to spend six days in the hospital with a nasty bout of malaria. This was my second time to have it in three months, and this time was way worse!

Obviously, I did not get malaria in England. Malaria symptoms usually start showing 1-3 weeks after infection, so I must have gotten it just before we left South Sudan. The last time I had it I was tired and had a headache for about a week before the "real" symptoms kicked in, but this time all of that was masked by a cold/jet lag and so once I got sick, I got sick fast.

Because my fever was so high and I was so "out of it" at the doctor's office, they decided to admit me to one of the hospitals here in Nairobi, thinking that I would only be there for 24 hours, long enough to do a round of IV anti-malarial treatment.

Long story short, it was a bad case of the worst strain of malaria you can have (with a side of respiratory problems), and I wasn't in good enough shape to go home until six days later. Alyssa and Emily are the best friends ever and took turns sleeping at the hospital every night and even bought me flowers for when I came home. I'm feeling much better now, just tired and a little out of breath when I talk. The hospital pharmacy sent me home with a whole cocktail of pills to take every day (8 just at breakfast!). I am so thankful for all the people who prayed for me while I was in the hospital, and who continue to pray for me as I get back to feeling 100%. Your support and love means more than you will ever know!

Minster Lovell and St. Paul's Cathedral

It's hard to top seeing the queen of England, but we managed to have a pretty great last few days! We spent one day in the Cotswolds, looking around the old little English villages of Bibury and Minster Lovell.

 Slightly different scenery from South Sudan, ha!

 My aunt Janet is the best! Everyone should have one.

 Old churches...

 ...with old cemeteries...

 ...and old manor houses (Minster Lovell) that are now in ruins.

This one's for you, Brown family!

Then we went to Blenheim Palace, which is the home of the Duke of Marlborough aka Mr. Fancy Pants with the humongous house.

Fun fact: Winston Churchill was born here. 

We also spent a day in London, complete with a personal tour of the Houses of Parliament and St. Paul's Cathedral. 

 Lamb shawarma for lunch...delish.

Her Majesty

Monday was one of those "wait, did that just happen?" times when we accidentally had the coolest thing happen on our tour de England.

That's right. We saw Queen Elizabeth.

Our original destination was Windsor Castle so we drove to Eaton and were walking through the town when we saw this:

There was obviously some kind of statue unveiling and a considerable amount of security so we asked around and someone told us the queen was coming to unveil the statue in honor of her Diamond Jubilee. We decided to delay our tour and stick around for the ceremony, which was supposedly an hour or so later.

 A girls' choir from a local school showed up to sing a song. And sure enough, an hour later, the queen was there!

 60 spheres in honor of her 60 years on the throne.
The local newspaper wrote an article about the ceremony.

 After she greeted all the dignitaries she came right in front of where we were standing to take flowers from a little boy.

 The tour of Windsor Castle was a tiny bit anticlimactic after that, but still really cool!

England

Alyssa and I are halfway through our version of London 2012 and so far it's been just what the doctor ordered. I am getting to spend time with my family in a place that's fairly familiar and so far it has been so wonderful!

 Got to see this handsome man.

 Love my grandparents!

Got some cousin time with Ella and Cara 

After a weekend at a friend's holiday house we stopped for lunch on the way home. 

England is quite a bit colder than South Sudan, which is totally fine with me!