I guess I'm worse at keeping my blog updated than I thought I would be. I guess that I am finding that instead of this being a huge adventure, it's more like...well, life. All of the new exciting things have become regular for me, so I forget that it is actually something worth sharing to those who are not experiencing it! So here are a few things that have happened recently...
I went to the store to buy food coloring. I studied the chinese before I went. It was "shi yong se su". I was so excited when I got to the store and still remembered how to say it. I looked all over and couldn't find it, so I confidently went up to someone and asked, "you mei you shi yong se su?" (do you have food coloring?). They responded with "HUH?!" That's nothing too uncommon, as I am learning mandarin and they speak Cantonese as their first language. So naturally they responded in Cantonese. Not knowing the language except for a few basics, I only heard the word "sik" which means color. And I recognized it as being a question. So I said "hong sik" meaning red. They repeated it, walked around in circles for a couple seconds (actually quite literally) and then said "mo-a" which means "don't have". I'm not exactly sure what they were thinking, or what exactly they were asking me after I asked if they had it, but I was informed later that even though it's available, a lot of young people don't actually know what food coloring is. So I now pride myself with knowing a Chinese word that not all Chinese people know. YEAH! (imagine me putting up my fingers in a 'v' for victory!) Long story short (well, it's still long, but you know...), I had someone else buy it for me. So we got red food coloring, and it made wonderful candy cane cookies!
I went to a Christmas program at the Concordia School for Special Education. It was great. They had such a great time watching each other perform, and the joy on their faces was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had to duck out early, though, to meet my friend for lunch. I had to go to a different island, and you never know how long the busses will take, and if they'll have enough room for you to be in it! So it's important to allow lots of time, especially when going to another island!
My term is over. I have a 2 week break from teaching, which isn't a 2 week holiday--it's 2 weeks to focus hard core on relationship building. I will hope to spend time with students and friends, and encourage them to join us for our Christmas festivities on Saturday and Sunday!
Being sick here is not the same as being sick at home. It's not that the sickness is different, but the way you can deal with it is different. I live alone here, so it is just different learning to take care of myself when I am sick. I had a little bit of help--I had a special delivery of medicine, soda crackers, and some pocari sweat (some sports drink similar to gatorade, i guess). I was feeling pretty bad, though, for a couple of days. my fever was over 102, and I was just wanting to sleep and lay down the whole day. I think I am better now. My fever has stayed below 100 all day, so that's definitely an improvement, but I've still had my dizzy and/or cold spurts today. I really am sick of being in my living room, though. I am sick of watching TV and sick of being on the computer. So hopefully I'll feel better by tomorrow to spend time with friends as planned! It was not the weekend I was planning, but hopefully it (my sickness) will be gone tomorrow!
