Yep, that's right. I'm sick again. I basically will get anything that goes around so when a few of my friends got a virus, I knew it was only a matter of time. Friday evening it happened upon me. I pulled my blanket over to the couch and made myself comfortable. Sleeping on the couch is one of my FAVORITE things. I recently mentioned my love for napping on the couch. But I reserve overnight sleeping on the couch for when I am sick. I turn the tv on and let it keep me company as I doze through the night. I spent all of Saturday and Sunday on my couch. The truth was that I couldnt do anything else. The virus wasn't too bad, I felt feverish but had no temperature. I had the aches and pains of a fever, but not the chills. Really, the worst part of the virus was that it completely wiped me of any energy. Even making it the 5 steps to my kitchen area to refill my tea was exhausting. Monday night I made it to work and though it was beyond tiring, I was able to rest a bit before our leadership training meeting for church Monday night. At the meeting one of my friends told me that I should be drinking coke if I am sick. He was dead serious. The rest of the chileans laughed about it, but it seemed like they didn't really disagree. Now, this is coming from a culture where they literally put coke in their infants' bottles. I am not joking. I tried to explain that the sugar in coke isn't good for you when you are trying to fight off a virus. They jokingly answered that diet coke would solve that problem. But that's not all. I went to work today and was sharing with one of my students that I am sick. He also offered his counsel on what would help. Beer. Yep. He said that I should drink beer with lemon. I asked him how it would possibly help me to drink beer and he answered that it would put me to sleep. Yeah, I'm exhausted as it is, I don't need any help in that deptartment. So I think I'll stick with my tea. At least for now.
I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
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