Two days before we were scheduled to leave the Ivory Coast, my sister Kristen fell ill and was diagnosed as having a parasite (two, actually).

To her credit, she was a good sport about the whole thing, considering the immense pain she was feeling. As an example, the day of our departure, she helped me brainstorm some euphemistic (and hopefully funny) ways of describing leaving Africa with a couple of bugs in her stomach. Below is what we came up with:

It took a lot out of me
I gained some life-long friends
It pains me to leave
I feel like a battle rages inside, I’m torn apart, I will never be the same
It has a lasting impact I feel deep down inside of me
I’ve eaten up all the opportunities
I’ve bonded with friends big and small
My leaving is hard to stomach
I took it all in
I was profoundly infected by my surroundings
I’m bugged that I have to leave