By day eleven I mean day eleven if you only count weekdays since we have been here. Classes as usual. All seems calm there.

One major annoyance today. I got a call from Lewis's family. He had vomited once Sunday night and again on Monday morning. He also had a fever early in the day, which decreased toward day's end. This of course increased the family's fear of the event of his losing the use of his legs, although he is walking again today. The mother insisted that the smartest move was to take him to the doctor or the hospital, although of course she doesn't really trust doctors or hospitals locally and couldn't suggest a reliable one, and she is really afraid of being held responsible for his illness.

There are some amusing side issues. Lewis was capable of doing homework that day, but they refused to let him, insisting that he remain in a prone position. They also refused to let him drink water, because water makes you sick. (The personnel at the US Embassy here notes that the water always tests fine in Bishkek, better than the water in Moscow and Petersburg.) Lewis could drink tea if they made it, but not green tea from the bottle, because that stuff is just made from a Chinese powder.

Part of the reason the family was so afraid was that their daughter ended up in in the hospital for a month and a half last year due to food poisoning from a vegetable. And also from fruits. And also from something she ate from the street. And Lewis admitted to eating watermelon on Saturday, which everyone knows is something you can't do this time of year, only in October, because this time of year the watermelons sit in the sun and go bad.

Myself, I first accompanied student groups to Russia starting in 1987, which means I have almost thirty years experience with this, if you care to count it that way. I've seen a lot of traveller's illnes and some serious food poisoning. In my thirty years I've seen three cases where a doctor's intervention seemed sensible. One of them in fact did not need it. The current situation does not particularly resemble the serious ones.

Russian and Kyrgyz medical opinions are essentially superstitions, but there is not a chance in hell that one is going to change them in a short conversation. And they were afraid of being held accountable for his illness. So I agreed to take him to my apartment for the evening. He climbed the stairs to the apartment without aid. He did the homework he had missed for the day. He had a bit of a headache, and he asked me to grab some ibuprofen for him, which I did. His stomach was slightly nauseated, so I asked the pharmacist what should be given to a twenty-year old guy who had nausea and had had a bit of vomiting. She suggested domperidone. I brought that home, told Lewis that the pharmacist had recommended this, gave the standard caveats that I am not a doctor and cannot advise that he take it, bla-bla-bla.

Frankly, Lewis seems mostly fine. He himself feels no need for a doctor. And so our day came to an end.