Sick but Still Going

Sunday around 4pm after a good Skype session, a girl finds herself hoping her voice didn't sound too husky and manly as she appears to have a bit of a head cold, her roommate says she is going to head to Carls Jr. for a little bite to eat and just sit for a bit and get out of the house. The girl contemplates, thinking maybe she should just head to bed, but it is only 4pm. A little outting could do some good before calling it a night. She decided to finish sending some e-mails before heading out to hitch a ride with her roommate.

Together, they stand along the road with their thumbs out and within a few minutes, a pickup slowly goes by, backs up, and asks where they are going. The girls hop in the back of the truck with the slight cool breeze, and are kindly dropped off by Carls Jr as they bid the kind family farewell. The girl with the head cold isn't feeling particularly hungry, so decides to order only a side of tortilla chips ($1) and a small refillable drink ($2). She considers grabbing some soda, as she almost feels bloated or something, but decides for some raspberry tea as she really doesn't drink much soda anymore. Three iced cups of raspberry tea and she finds herself with goosebumps on her arms and a bit uncomfortable. Yes, she did just chug three glasses of cold liquid, and there is some A/C on in here, but seriously?

She decides to go fill her cup with coffee this time. Yep, a refillable "soft drink" container now has some hot coffee in it. Don't see that every day, but it works. The coffee helps warm her back up, but after her roommate finishes eating they both head back out for home. Step outside the door and immediately warmed by the island air. Within seconds of having the thumbs out, a vehicle pulls over and offers the girls a ride home. Fantastic! The girl finishes some things on her computer, takes a full dose of NyQuil and falls asleep with hopes of feeling better in the morning.

The alarm clock sounds at 5:10am, and the girl rolls over considering dozing back off. She only has a 35 minute core and balance workout for the day. Hits the snooze, and then decides at 5:30 she could feel better if she just gets up and gets her little workout in. Sure, her muscles were a little tired as she went, but sweating out some of the impurities of her sickness made her feel better for the time being. Showers, drinks a cup of instnat coffee, and is out the door for school where Mrs. Teofilo picked the girls up. Already her stomach feels a bit clogged as her nose runs. Not necessarily any better than when she fell asleep.

Decides on her way to school that she will probably just show a video to class, horrible teacher and all, but not sure if she will have the energy for much else. Shows up at school and asks the principal first thing if her field trip is still possible for Friday. She knows it is super complicated and hard to schedule these things here. Scheduling is not the specialty on island. Although she sent her proposal in two weeks ago, does not appear all administration had given her much thought, despite her attempts to ask every few days or so. "We'll try to get you a bus." Try.... Also, finds out she has to make her own consent form. For some reason she assumed there was some template she would just make copies of. Scurries down to her classroom, types that up, and has herself wondering if this is all worth her effort. One reason she hadn't tried dealing with it before. Sounded complicated, a lot of work, and may not even work out. She is also trying to set up a few for next week (all requested at the same time) to split up her large class sizes.

Being who she is, she decides she will still do everything she can from her end to try to make it happen. She explains to each class during the day how she is not feeling her greatest, so decided on a little health and fitness video for them - which is still scientific and beneficial. She also explains how she talked with the office and what the reality of their field trip situation is. Show up Tuesday to get a copy of the consent form, which will be due Wednesday. If she doesn't have it in her hands on Tuesday, you cannot go if the class actually goes. We likely won't know for sure until the day before or morning of. She is doing everything she can, she explained. She also told the students that if the official field trips fall through, she will offer to meet anyone who is voluntarily interested to at a trail on a Saturday or possibly Memorial Day and take them out herself. Voluntary basis, of course.

Also, 10 minutes before the first bell rings her Dept. Head stops by informing her one of the other science teachers is gone, so she will have to watch over that class during her prep. Of course, today. ha Fairly miserable sitting in her classes throughout the morning and had that awful dry weird tongue feeling all morning. Found herself finishing two of her three water bottles already for the day with classes yet to go, and she hadn't even been talking that much. haha Goes and buys a bottle of water before 4th period, finishes that one during that class. During her lunch, grabs a can of Nestea, which again she finishes quickly. Leaving one bottle for her last two.

Decides she really doesn't feel too hungry, but wants to eat a little something healthy. She asks one of the boys to bring her back a piece of fruit if there is any fruit. She could have went up there herself, but didn't want to be given a whole tray of food she wouldn't eat. Her student comes back with three bananas in hand, his friend has two for her, and a few minutes later another student offered her two bananas.

Felt like a monkey eating three banans for lunch and nothing else, with four for later. haha Thank you, students. Feeling a little perkier after loading up on a little sugar from the canned tea and the banans for lunch. More energy for her last regular class, who still handled her impromptu video lesson, well. Finally, the substitute class came in, and she simply showed a video for them. Remember, subbing basically means babysitting, and that's all the more the superiors expect here.

Packs up her stuff after the final bell, signs out, and begins her walk home. Tried walking slower than she usually does to prevent excessive sweating. Already feeling weird, but her efforts were for naught. Sweat rolling off the tip of her nose. Seriously? Is it that hot out, or perhaps it's partly due to her funky sickness. Head down most of the way trudging along, probably looking like a sad case. haha Made it home, ate a little cucumber as she was a bit hungry and needed some energy to head to the laundromat. Monday is her usual laundry day, and didn't really know what her Tuesday would bring so figured she might as well do it.

Made the 5-minute walk over there, threw the laundry in the wash, and popped in at the Bookworm Internet Cafe to see if Cindy happened to have any chai tea. Cindy did not, but she said she had mango green tea. The girl decided to give that a try. Green tea is really good for you. Decided to get it iced, sine she felt a bit warm, but could have sat in the A/C for a bit. She also decided to enjoy a little homemade oatmeal craisin cookie. "Just one, please," she said. Cindy replied, "man you have good self control." haha Enjoyed her little $1.40 splurge. So much cheaper than she imagined, as she was prepared to pay $3 for a chai tea. Good deal, and it hit the spot.

Sat back over in the laundromat as the washer ran, some weird show was on the Sy Fy channel, but she didn't bring her book since her head was a bit foggy with the whole head cold. A local girl chatted her up a bit as she waited, and then not too long after the wash was complete. Threw the pillow case (make-shift laundry bag) over her shoulder and headed for home. Walking along the road on the side she always does as she is aware of a house across the street near a little walking bridge that has some dogs that have barked before, and is strolling along minding her own business when she hears barking getting closer. Turns around to find the stinking dogs had bolted across the street after her. "Seriously, dogs, what is wrong with you?", she wonders as her heart beat picks up a bit. Shouts "Halu" and swings her laundry bag at them as they back off, and a pickup slams to a halt on the street. Back on her merry way she went. Last time she got that close was a few months ago when she kicked one in the face. Some of these dogs simply are vicious and come at a person for no apparent reason. Thankful she noticed them before they were actually up on her. Fun, as always ;-)

Hung up the laundry and decided she was just going to start a movie and fall asleep as soon as possible. Rest up and try to get this head and chest cold out of her system as soon as possible. Noticed that NyQuil can be taken every 6 hours, so she went ahead and took some at 5:30pm, laid around for a while, decided to eat a few more of her bananas for a little dinner, but then felt bloated beyond belief, laid there a while uncomfortably belching from time to time, but finally fell asleep maybe around 7pm. Had set an alarm to wake back up at 11:30pm for a second dose of NyQuil. Woke up a few other times throughout the night to cough a bit, feel sweat on her brow, and hear the pouring rain out her window. Alarm sounds at 5am and finds that her ear feels a bit plugged. Odd feeling she hasn't had in a while. Great. haha

Knew she could have gotten up and done her little recovery week workout, but decided after sleeping 9+ hours, one more sorta dozing off wouldn't hurt. She figured she would have enough energy later and probably skip Zumba to do the little workout before showering and laying down for the night again. Headed out to catch a ride to school with her 5 bottles of water ready to go in her backpack. No thumb and one of the Tafuna teachers actually picked the girls up. Last time he picked them up, he gave them flack for looking like Californians with their thumbs out.

Made it to school and made her decisions on lesson for the day, asking the students to take some charge on the execution. Ate some wheat biscuits and bananas for breakfast. Handed out the consent forms, once again explaining the current situation with the field trips and how she is doing everything she can. She also explained how she probably would have just stayed home today and slept had it not been for needing to try to get these field trips worked out. Although no matter how hard she tries they may not work with the school. Not letting it bog her spirits though. She will do all she can, and go to Plan B of a voluntary field trip if the official ones don't work out.

The girl ended up showing some documentaries to her last two classes as I she was losing energy. Had the students write a little essay about it, and most paid attention the whole time. Perhaps they were pitied into paying attention as their sick teacher came to school just for them, in strong efforts to get a field trip lined up. Thankful for their good behavior, though. The girl even learned some things while watching the documentaries. Learned a few things about jungle environments and the shallow seas.

The girl made a pit-stop in the office restroom, where she noticed some nice dark circles under her eyes. Thankfully not pale along with it (had seemed a bit pale the night before). Oye, looks like someone had punched her in the face. haha She started walking home, constantly thinking please someone just pick me up, and if not she shall make a pit stop at the grocery store for some more soy milk. She is really enjoying the one she currently has and knows there is only one more in the fridge. Not going to last the rest of the year. Luck be have it, though, her landlord sees her across the streets and waves her over. So grateful, as her head falls back into the seat thinking bout her dark circles. She got herself to do a little workout, though. Nothing intense. Just a little work for the muscles and to sweat out some impurities. She is committed, and it felt good before a relaxing evening.

Definitely does not feel the best time to be sick, although when is it ever a good time to be sick? haha Oh well, persevering through and will hopefully be improving throughout the week. Not going to let stress or anything else get to her. Stick with her healthy eating and lifestyle and remain happy no matter what :-) She is only 6 weeks away from completing her time in American Samoa. Crazy. Maybe Samoa is trying to tell her it is tired of her presence and thinks she needs a random jungle disease. haha Kidding.

Speaking of only being 6 weeks away from a transition, a friend posted a link to this article. Really great read. Although I have been working 40-hour weeks down here, I can definitely see myself hitting home with some of the other ideas it has discussed. My mind wanders to what it will be like returning to the hustle and bustle of American consumerism in mere weeks. Thank you, Krystal, for sharing this with me.

http://www.raptitude.com/2010/07/your-lifestyle-has-already-been-designed/

Hope you all enjoyed this little story style post. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me as I'm sick. I just found myself thinking in this mindset and thought it would be cool to try writing it that way and see what you thought. My head may feel a bit foggy but I'm persevering, taking care of myself, and still doing what I can. :-) Hope your week is off to a good start. We shall see where mine goes from here.

Final note: It is U.S. National Park Week this week. Also, it is National Volunteer Week. Two things I love :-) Have a good one.