laughter is the best medicine

As you may know, I've spent a good portion (or all) of the last week being really sick. While it's always unfortunate to be sick, especially in another country, I luckily have a few good stories from it all.

Last Monday, I had to get some blood work done. If you know me well, you know that doctors and I don't have the most pleasant past. So, needless to say, I hate blood tests, shots, and anything else that has to do with being poked and prodded.
When I go for a blood test, it's my rule of thumb to let the nurse know of my fears and common habits. So here I am in Malaysia, trying to explain to the nurse that I usually faint-- except "faint" is not in her English vocabulary. I begin to act it out, much to the amusement of the other men in the lab. She understands, and tells me not to be nervous. But I am nervous, especially when I have to sit by myself in silence giving blood. So of course, I feel faint afterward. As I sit with my head in my hands, the men chuckle in the room. Atleast I learned a new vocabulary word that day...
To make matters even better, she remembered me when I came back three days later.

On another evening, I experienced the kindness of two friends and students from Myanmar. They were in town, and wanted to know if there was anything particular I wanted to eat. Ahh, how thoughtful! Another idiosyncrasy from the sick-- if I'm hungry, I usually want to eat something unhealthy. Could I ask for what I really wanted to eat? Kelsey assured me that it was okay to ask, and that they were going to bring me food anyway, so it might as well be something I would enjoy. So embarrassingly I asked for what I really wanted to eat. And, a half hour later, I was enjoying my greasy food in the company of friends. They insisted that we had to take care of each other, we were the international students. We were each other's family. So greasy food, stories from home, and prayers later, I was well taken care of.

Finally comes a story of misunderstanding, a common occurrence in my daily life here. Since I was sick, I stayed home last week and had to miss out on the STS faculty and student retreat. I was greatly disappointed I was missing this community builder, but knew my body would prefer the sleep. Most notably, I had been excited about the prospect of the fishing competition at the retreat. I sent a text to a student with a common English greeting-- a "have fun without me" message. I wrote, "you'll have to catch a fish for me!"
Well, I'm not sure what I was expecting. But on Friday afternoon, I had two live fish in my apartment to eat.
Luckily, Kelsey knew how to fillet a fish, and we fried up a feast. Yet again, I ended up eating my words!

I'm happy to report that I'm back to work, and after a round of antibiotics, I should be as good as new. Just in time for a short vacation with friends to Kuala Lumpur (see added point on map, in West Malaysia) on Wednesday!