Sick Day

He's still doing this? He's still writing his blog? We thought he gave up. We have all stopped reading it. He spent two whole weeks just slowly posting blogs every other day about two days in Nanjing.

I've been sick. I've been sad. I've been feeling sorry for myself. And I went on vacation. That's all done now. It's time to try to catch up to real time.

I woke up on Wednesday September 25th feeling terrible. Everything had caught up with me. I felt terrible. I tried to sleep in, but it didn't really work. The hammers were banging and the sun was too bright. I played some video games, did some laundry, watched the between two ferns movie, watched a little comedians in cars getting coffee, felt bad for myself.

I also haven't told you this yet because I was going to keep it a surprise, but I have signed up to take scuba diving classes in Bali and I have been taking the online pre course so I can knock off the classroom day once I get there. I've been learning to blow air out my nose and to monitor how long I'm allowed to dive for. Always have a buddy and come up immediately, shit like that. I'm pretty sure we will go over everything again when I get to Scuba school anyway, I'm going for speed over long term memory.

At 3:45 (school starts at 4:00,) Josie messages me and asks me to bring my passport today. I say yes, because I'm at home, but this already pisses me the hell off. What if I wasn't home? I should be able to have a life of my own. Maybe Josie just forgot and I should be more understanding, but I'm sick and tired of feeling like an afterthought. I don't like being pushed around. But I do bring my passport.

In the office, Peter is flirting with a girl I don't recognize. He offers her some of his pizza, I have never seen Peter offer anyone food. Is this his girlfriend and I don't recognize her because I only saw her for a moment at the mall? Or is Peter in love with this other woman, giving her slices of pizza and pieces of moon cake on the side? I like to believe the later, both because it is more scandalous and makes me seem less racist (I do fear this blog has exposed I am slightly racist. I never realized I was, but that must just have been my white privilege.)

At work Josie asks me to give her my passport so she can take it to the Visa office. I give it to her, but remind her that I need it back by Sunday because I'm going to Bali. Josie acts surprised. "You are going to Bali this Sunday? I didn't know that." "Yes, fucking Josie, I'm going to Bali this fucking Sunday. That's why we had the whole fucking argument about me taking that Monday and Sunday off next week. We've talked about this a hundred fucking times how could you already fucking forget." I didn't say it like that but that was how I thought it in my head.

Then I had to another stupid class. My lesson plan today is slide, seesaw, swing, jungle gym. One by in this class, Ken, is only four years old and starts trying whenever his mom tries to leave the room so his mom often sits in the back of the class. Today, we had Ken sit right in front of the door and had his mother sit right behind him. After about ten minutes of class when Ken has settled down and is having fun, his mother opens the door and tries to sneak out of the room. Cherry, a five year old sitting next to Ken, notices and whispers in Ken's ear that his mom is trying to leave again, which sets Ken off again. His mother has to stay for the rest of the class.

When I get back to the office, I start to ask Josie some questions to try to make my life easier. I mention to Josie that the light keeps waking me up in the morning and I ask where I can find some blackout curtains. Josie grabs her laptop and orders some blackout curtains for me, which should be hear for me. I mention to Josie that I am feeling sick and ask where I can get some cold medicine, preferably something that will help me sleep. Josie runs downstairs to the nearby pharmacy and buys me this Chinese powder tea which is apparently the only cold medication in the country. I ask about the Hairy Crab festival, and Josie runs into the bathroom and pulls out two live crabs in a plastic bag and says I can take them home with me. Josie is being so kind today! Maybe I was giving her a hard time. Maybe I'm quick to judge. I'll try to be better.

Crabs, everyone's favorite gift

A few moments later, Josie gives me a hard time for drinking cold water instead of hot water while I'm sick. Get off my back Josie.

I have one last class with the lesson plan eye, eyebrow, ear, arm, leg, shoulder, foot and head. I keep asking the kids to raise their hands, but they have no idea what I am talking about. I have to say arm. They teach them foot but they don't teach them hand, this school makes no sense. In this glass, three little girls keep lifting there shirts up like 5 year olds gone wild. I'm so sick of asking little naked Chinese kids to but there clothes back on. I don't know if I'm cut out for this kind of work, and I'm stuck here for 11 more months.

Pot Crabs

I don't want to eat crab tonight because I'm sick and want to go to bed, so I fill a pot with water, drop the crabs inside, and put them in the fridge. I had read online that if the crabs die before you cook them, they release toxic fluids throughout the meat. I have to keep them alive until tomorrow morning. I know the crabs live in a cold lake, so the fridge seems like the best place for them. I am terrified of these guys. Even though they are tied up, whenever they move there legs I start to freak out a little bit. I always have to keep them at arms distance. I wanted to go to a crab restaurant, not cook crabs.

Fridge Crabs

After blogging a bit online, I look at some more how to keep a crab alive websites to make sure I don't kill them, and one says to never keep crabs stored in water because they will drown. I rush to the fridge and dump the water out. Both crabs begin to foam at the mouth, copious amounts of bubbles pop up for about 4 minutes. But eventually the bubbles die down. I pick up each of the crabs and poke them a little bit. They continue to, very slowly, kick there legs a little bit. These crabs are dying, but they aren't quite dead yet. I can relate to that. I put them back in the pot and drop them off in the fridge for tomorrow. They can die in the morning.