Mud, rashes, and English

This past week has been an interesting one from my perspective.

I finally settled back down into my normal work in my normal office and slept in my own bed. Unfortunately, it seems that my own bed is causing me some sort of allergic reaction. It started with itchy arms. Then my legs and body joined in. Finally, I woke up yesterday morning and the right side of my mouth was puffy (fun fact for you, I almost always sleep facing my left). I wasn't too concerned until the lips started puffing up. Today it was the same problem. We are pretty sure it is a reaction to something in our house because many people who have stayed at our place recently have gotten itchy. The most recent suspicion is that maybe some sort of chemical in our roof or ceiling is floating down in dust and slowly builds up over time. All I know is that if it gets any worse, this guy will be refusing to stay in my own home because puffy lips is a really freaky feeling.

I've also been editing a project proposal. This has led me to an insight. When you don't grow up with English as a first language, the simple words are sometimes the hardest to understand the complexities of. For instance, how do decide whether to use "in" or "on"? For example, we would say that you use pesticides on vegetables but also say that you use pesticides in vegetable cultivation. It is a little thing but it applies to a lot of different words and different situations. I've also noticed that filler words like "the" and "a" are difficult as well. Just an observation.

Finally, it rained a bunch here the past couple of days. That means that our dirt road has turned into a mud one. This is especially true near our house where it is very difficult to keep my bicycle upright in several inches of mud. So far I have managed to navigate it successfully but keep posted, if I do fall I'm sure I'll have a nice muddy picture of me to share!