Still sick

A year ago I never would have imagined that I would be spending the next Christmas in a hospital in China. That's right - I've now been sick for 13 days and haven't been able to properly digest regular food. Thankfully we have a four-day weekend for Christmas, so I've been able to rest and relax and catch up on sleep.

The past couple of weeks have been eventful. After taking Tuesday and Wednesday off school, I dragged myself to class on Thursday and Friday, even though it took all my energy to climb the four flights of stairs to my office. I slept through my prep blocks and went to bed as soon as I got home after school. Saturday was our surprise party for Anita. Anjali and I went into KaiFaQu early that morning to buy presents for Justin and Anita on Robson street with Mike. We managed to find a shirt for Justin, but couldn't see anything for Anita. We popped by Watsons to pick up a santa hat and I grabbed some warm tights at Trustmart. It was sooo cold that day that I was still freezing even with three layers on. We headed into Dalian to meet up with Justin and get lunch. I've never spent so much time wandering around Dalian as we did that day. We walked down to Russian street and then jumped into a cab to grab lunch at the Olive Garden. People have been raving about the restaurant, but I thought the spaghetti was just okay. It was just nice to get inside and warm up. After lunch, we still had almost five hours to kill to keep Justin entertained and in Dalian until the surprise party. We walked back downtown and shopped for Anita's present in the underground shopping areas. We found some earrings and grabbed a scarf in the Korean market. By that point it was still only 4 pm and we still had two-and-a-half hours to kill. Justin was suggesting going back to KaiFaQu, so we were getting worried about being able to keep him in Dalian. We were also worried because we were so close to the Qing Gui and knew that other teachers would be arriving soon. We jumped into a taxi to go to a Starbucks and decide what to do next. While we were in the taxi, we saw Peter and Kevin with the birthday cake, but luckily Justin didn't notice. We actually bumped into Anita at Starbucks serindipidously and we all walked over to Brooklyn Bar together. After a whole day of preparations, it was great to see that the surprise was a success! We had about twenty teachers come out to celebrate and we managed to get everyone to sign their birthday cards the week before. The burgers at Brooklyn Bar were incredible and we had the whole third floor of the restaurant to ourselves. Afterwards we went out dancing at a little bar and taxied it all the way back to Jinshitan. Here's a picture of Anita, myself, Anjali and Justin at Brooklyn Bar: On Sunday I woke up exhausted, but took the early qing gui to Dalian for church where we met up with Edgar for the Christmas service. We stayed for the free lunch after church and then did a little shopping at Metro. They're putting up an IKEA right beside Metro and it should be open before February - I'm so excited. I'll be able to get my candles again :) On Sunday evening I wasn't feeling very well, but I still got up for school on Monday. It snowed a little bit on Monday so flag ceremony was cancelled. We usually all meet on the basketball court in front of the school to sing the Chinese, Canadian, and Maple Leaf School anthems. It was just way too cold on Monday, so I was able to rest a bit during the break instead. After school we had a Christmas potluck at our place. We had a lot of great food and I made my broccoli and cheese sauce again, as well as an apple pie, but I mostly ate vegetables. We sang carols together afterwards and it really started to feel like Christmas. Here's Angali, Elaine, me, Anita, Timio, and Yiming enjoying dessert:On Tuesday, I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed, but I still went to school. I cancelled my tutorial after school so that I could come home and go to bed. On Wednesday, Kevin and I mixed up our girls and boys classes to do some Christmas math problems together. I handed out candy canes to my kids and got a lot of cards and chocolates from students. On Wednesday night, Anita, Elaine, Rody and I went to Dalian to sing Christmas carols in Zhongshan square. We went out to our favourite JiaoZi restaurant for dinner took a cab back to Jinshitan. Anita and I were supposed to leave for Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning, on Thursday (Christmas) morning, but I was sooo sick on Tuesday night that I spent the night in the bathroom. I woke up and told Anita that I was so sorry, but I'd have to cancel our trip. Suiki and Anjali came over for a pancake and crepe breakfast and prayed for me. I started feeling better right away and even sat with them for breakfast. I was all packed and ready to go to Shenyang, so I changed my mind and decided to just try to do the trip (I really don't know what I was thinking!) On the way downtown to buy our tickets I realized that it would be foolish for me to try to do a big trip and come back to another week of teaching without any time to recuperate. So instead of going to the train station, Anita and I went to the hospital. The Dalian University hospital was just gorgeous. We got to stay in the VIP lounge where they had a large flat-screen tv and comfy couches. I got to take a blood test, urine sample, and ultrasound. Because I was a VIP, I got to skip the line-ups for the tests and get my results analyzed right away. They didn't find any abnormalities in my tests, which is good, and the doctor gave me about twenty packs of pills to take. I've been taking them regularly and they seem to help a little bit, but I still haven't been able to digest anything except soup and rice. If I'm still sick on Monday I'll go the doctor again. I've been losing a bunch of weight and I just want to be eat regularly again (especially since we have our weekly girl's night potluck on Monday).

After the hospital, we got our hair cut and met up with Edgar for dinner. Anita and I went to the spa in Dalian after dinner. It was an incredible experience! For a 37 yuan (6 dollar) entrance fee, you get access to all the hot tubs, saunas, and spas. You also get a free late night and breakfast buffet. There's also a room full of huge lazy-boys where you can spend the night. We took the elevator up to the second (girls) floor where we got a locker for our clothes. We stripped down completely naked and put on the paper underpants the staff gave us. We rinsed off in the amazing endless-hot-water showers and then jumped into the hot tubs. I thought it would be awkward to be completely naked, but I got used to it pretty quickly. It was pretty quiet there, since it was a weeknight and there were only about ten other people on our floor. We enjoyed the saunas and then splurged on the services they had to offer. First of all, we got a full body rub-down with an exfoiliating glove. It hurt a bit, but it was good to get rid of the rolls and rolls of dead skin. I was seriously pink afterwards :) Then we got to lie down on a heated pad and they covered us with this saran-wrap stuff to keep us warm and we got an exfoiliating full-body massage. They also gave us a moisturizing face mask. I wish I had photos - the place was simply gorgeous, but understandably, we weren't allowed to take pictures. After we got cleaned up, we went upstairs for the free food (even though I only drank tea and ate rice). We went onto another floor for the lazy-boys, but the only spots that were left were in the smoking room. Each chair had its own tv and there were a ton of masseuses offering to give us massages. The girls were all dressed in shiny little dresses and looked like they were offering a different sort of massage, if you know what I mean. We tried to sleep in that room, but it was pretty noisy and got a little smoky, so we slept on some couches in the lounge instead. I managed to get a spot in the non-smoking room and had a decent night's sleep. In the morning, we enjoyed the hot tubs and saunas again and took advantage of the free breakfast. We got a free entrance ticket for next time because we spent more than 200 yuan. New Year's holiday, here we come!
On the way back home we picked up some paint so we can redo our apartment next weekend. I hope I have my energy back by then. Today I just stayed at home and rested all day, which has done my body good. Best of all, I surfed the net and found a flight home for $640 (directly from Seoul to Vancouver on expedia.com). So for the long break, I'm going to spend a long weekend in Haerbin to see the ice sculptures and then go to Seoul to visit with Joanne. I'll fly to Vancouver from there and spend a good three weeks with the family. Ever since I got sick, I've been a bit homesick and I'm really looking forward to seeing friends and family again.