School, Skin, and Mexican Food

I have three more weeks left of classes and the pressure is certainly building. Naturally the pressure of working on assignments has made me more lethargic. Over the weekend I couldn't get myself to work on anything. I have my major assignments coming up quick and I can only hope that I will get them all done and get a decent grade. In order to keep my scholarship I have to get 75% on average for the semester, but I just learned you will get a larger scholarship if you get 85% or more. Of course I will do the best I can, but now there's more pressure to do really well and 85% is really high for Australia grading systems.

Another concern lately has been about my skin. I've suffered from acne for a long time. Normally my face acne isn't that bad, but I make it look worse because of my habit of picking at it. Severe skin-picking is even considered a disorder called dermatillomania, although I'm not sure I qualify. I'm a perfectionist and little bumps or pimples on my face are great targets. I also do it subconsciously and most often when I am stressed or in deep thought. Add all of my previous acne problems with my birth control implant (see picture of Implanon to the right) and suddenly I have severe acne that never disappears! A while ago in Eugene, OR I saw a dermatologist who told me to get the implant taken out for my acne problem. At the time I decided to try managing my acne because I was not ready to take out a free implant that lasts for 3 years and switch to a pill. Since I have been in Australia my acne has continued to get worse and I have finally come to the conclusion that the implant has GOT to come out. 

My first plan of action was to get my healthcare card, which I had forgotten to do when I first arrived. This led to a very frustrating experience. I went to the Overseas Healthcare (OSHC) desk on campus who told me I don't show having any coverage and sent me to the Higher Degree Research Office (HDRO). After about 20 minutes there they sent me back to OSHC with proof of my payment for OSHC as well as the University documentation of my coverage. Unfortunately the woman at the OSHC (I should add I've talked to this woman before and she is very cold) said that the papers don't give her anything and that HDRO needs to fix it by talking to Avikash who makes sure the money goes to OSHC. I asked to speak the first time I spoke to her since I knew he was the one to solve this problem, but she told me she couldn't just have any student go and talk to him. Luckily the second time she seemed sorry for me and tried to call him, but he was gone. Frustrated with this whole scenario, I went back to HDRO to tell them about what happened and my advisor there said Avikash was on leave and she will work to try to get it sorted out and get back to me. The whole thing was ridiculous, and who knows when I'll get it sorted out. In the end I called the medical services and they told me I can bring in the proof of my OSHC (the papers I received) and that should be enough. I now have an appointment with the doctor on Thursday and I am hoping all will go well and I can get my implant out!

Over the weekend I finally came to terms with the fact that my face looks terrible due to acne. On Saturday the ward had a Mexican Fiesta Activity as a late Cinco de Mayo. I had agreed to help out and arrived early to help with decorating and food prep. I caked on makeup to hide my blemishes and kept my hair down to hide the worst spots, but when I started helping in the kitchen I had to pull my hair back. I was in the kitchen for most of the activity helping serve the chicken or pork for the tostadas/tortillas as well as refilling sauces and whatnot so hiding my face was not an option and I soon become more occupied with what I was doing than how I looked. 

The activity was a total success. We had so many people and too much food. The Riveros family did all the cooking and Daniel Riveros used to be a manager at the Los Hermanos restaurant in Provo, Utah so you can be sure the food was good. My favorite was the fried ice cream and I hope I will be able to recreate it some day. Daniel says you mix Kellog's Corn Flakes, coconut, chocolate chips, and honey as the batter for the frozen ice cream balls (click here for the closest recipe I could find). It took hours to clean everything up and I didn't get home until late that night, but I wasn't really complaining. 

Sunday I decided to keep my hair up since by then most people had already seen my acne scarred face. Ironically the first talk was by one of the counselors and he was talking about how he lost his two front teeth and was really distressed about it (luckily he was already married). As he prayed to God about his teeth he felt that the Lord told him not to worry about his body and to focus on his wife and his family. Not long after he met a dental student that led him to an orthodontist that fixed his teeth. I felt this talk was for me and the Lord wanted me to know that He would help my body to heal. Nothing miraculous has happened, but since then I have a doctor's appointment to hopefully resolve some of my concerns, and I have become less frustrated about it.