We're in it for the punch and cookies

We met up with some friends after church today to go catch some grub outside of the city. The offer seemed innocent enough, "Hey guys, maybe you can join us for lunch today and travel around a bit." There was one little detail that had to be taken care of before we left though - our friends wanted to give blood for the church blood drive. We were cool with that though, as we wouldn't be donating because of our vaccinations before we came to the country. But when we got to the donation station (how rhymie!) we found out that we were clear to donate in spite of our vaccinations.

The Rub: Do we look like stingy gringos and not fork out our arms, or do we bite the cultural bullet and step up to the plate?

We chose the latter. After filling our bags for a little bit, Megan looks over at me and says, "Is it normal for your hand to fall asleep doing this?" I told her she was probably squeezing her fist too hard, but that didn't seem to help. Megan felt like she was going to pass out, so she got the nurses attention who disconnected her blood bag right before it was full. She spent the next half hour trying to keep herself from passing out while I fanned her with a church bulletin staring into her white-as-a-sheet face. She looked as close to a corpse as I ever want to see her! (don't worry mom and dad, she was conscious the whole time)... :)

Anyway, we got an extra bag of cookies and more punch out of the whole ordeal, and we managed to have a great day after that. Megan just hopes they don't throw out her blood!