Crazy Dreams, Courtesy of Malaria Medicine

Lusaka is sort of in a malarial zone, depending on who you ask. The CDC just blankets all of Zambia with being there, while others tell me that because of Lusaka's elevation (over 4,000 feet), I'm not really at risk. Well, with the conflicting information, and just to be safe, I am taking malaria medicine while I'm here. There are three main types--expensive and with a shortage, common but with sun and diet restrictions, and weekly but with the chance of hallucinations and vivid dreams. I'm on the third of these: mefloquine. Thankfully I'm avoiding the hallucinations, but my dreams are definitely more vivid than usual, and I usually have very vivid dreams.

I have given bits and pieces of this post to people in chats and the like, but here is all of it: my crazy dream. The other night (I don't exactly remember when), I dreamed I was out with a bunch of people just having a good time; I believe it was some sort of barbeque. You know, I was with all my buddies, including some heads of state and dead people. Of particular note at this gathering was Zambian President Michael Sata, who I'm pretty sure was invited just to hear what he'd say next. In case you're not up on your Zambian gossip, Sata says some pretty funny and outlandish things. For instance, in response to people asking for a new "people-driven" constitution, Sata asked a group of reporters, "Was our current constitution written by animals?" So yeah, he was there.



Zuma Dancing in Traditional Zulu Clothes

With Sata, my friends, and me, was Kim Jong-Il--who insisted on slow-crashing his car into other people's cars--and South African President Jacob Zuma. Zuma was in his traditional Zulu clothing dancing on Kim Jong-Il's car. I know it sounds weird, but it totally made sense in my dream. There were other world leaders there too, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel (although the Kate McKinnon version from SNL). I can't explain why, but Enrique Iglesias was providing our entertainment.

I'm trying to find what lessons I should take from my dream, but the only one that comes to mind is that I probably need a life. :) I shouldn't be dreaming of world leaders--past and present--although the more I think about it, the more I realize that all these people together at a barbeque would probably be very entertaining. So take from it what you want, but this mefloquine-inspired dream at least was fun.

BABY ELEPHANTS!

In an effort to explore more, today I went to the Lilayi Elephant Orphanage, which takes orphaned elephants and rehabilitates them and watches over them before releasing them back into the wild. The elephants were absolutely precious, and it's amazing that the organization runs solely on donations, although if you go there and see the elephants (they're viewable for 1.5 hours each day during "feeding") it's hard not to want to give a donation. And everyone that was there when I was there gave more than the recommended amount, which was amazing.

The video below is amazing for so many reasons. First, I love Ellen DeGeneres. Second, I love Taylor Swift. Third, the two of them get along so well and you can't help but love the way Ellen talks with Taylor and the way Taylor responds. So even though Taylor has been on Ellen many, many times, this may be one of my favorite interviews. But then again, they're all good. So who knows.