The ever unfriendly little flu bug has been slowly creeping around campus and attacking all the foreign teachers. It began last week and sure enough made its way to me yesterday. I began to feel nauseous yesterday morning in class and told my students I had to teach sitting down. After class I went home and that's when it hit hard! Major chills and aches all over. Then the fever set in and I felt like death had cast its shadow over me. I kept counting down the hours until it was morning in the U.S. because all I wanted was to talk to my mom. I rarely ever get sick, but when I do I become the biggest baby. A mixture of talking with her and taking some traditional Chinese medicine made me feel a little better until about 8 pm. Then it hit all over again and I forced myself to go to sleep in the hopes that sleeping would put me out of my misery. That seemed to do the trick because when I woke up this morning, I was experiencing no symptoms and was well enough to teach again. The silver lining in the sickness was the comfort I got from all the other teachers around me. Most of them have been sick in the last week, so they were all too willing to do anything to help. One of them even bought me a card and stuck it on my door. It is so wonderful how we have all become so close and like a little family just in 2 short months. I am very thankful for the care and support we all are able to offer one another.
On a lighter note, I spent Sunday touring the botanical gardens near campus. One of the Chinese teachers here has been observing my classroom in hopes of improving his Chinese. Last week he invited me along with one other foreign teacher (Marg) to visit the gardens with him and his family. The gardens were so beautiful and afterwards we ate dinner in a private dining room. All the food was organic and had been grown there in the gardens. When I told him how much I loved the food, he ordered some for me to bring back to the apartment and cook throughout the week.
I was unable to visit the orphanage on Friday because of a little mix-up. We went downtown and couldn't find the building. Don thinks they moved offices and forgot to tell him. He rescheduled the meeting for this Friday afternoon, so please continue to pray with me about this opportunity and the possibilities it could hold.
Prayer Requests
**Language study- I find myself getting frustrated often with the language, which definitely affects my attitude towards learning. I also don't study nearly as much as I should outside of class. Pray for an attitude adjustment for me so that I might find the language exciting and be more productive in my studies.
**Cultural sensitivity- There are so many cultural things to get used to here and I so often allow myself to revert to my American mindset and become close-minded about many things. Pray for understanding on my part and a willingness to adjust my actions so they don't offend those around me.
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