Sorry about my lack of bloggyness but I'm still feeling kind of blah. I made it safely home to Moscow where I am now a part of a family of sick people, coughing and moaning and just generally lying around feeling miserable. I didn't get them sick, they were like this when I got here. Except maybe my mom, she was ok when I arrived and now she is tired and achey like the rest of us. So that is why I never blogged any more about my brief Hong Kong adventure and why I have failed to supply any info about my doings here in Moscow. Because I don't think anyone wants to read blogs written by a cranky snifflehead any more than I want to write them.

After an incredibly disappointing and yucky week, I have finally made it to Hong Kong. For one night. My flight leaves at 9am tomorrow, I got here, to my hostel, at 9pm. I'm tired. And cranky. But I'm safe. And I'm going to go see the temple if it kills me!!!

I had planned to be off on my adventure backpacking across China (...on trains. Its still backpacking if you don't do any actual hiking, right? I mean, I was gonna pack all my stuff in a backpack.) by now. I had my train ticket to Shanghai, my hostel bookings and my giant backpack all ready to be packed. Then I got sick.  Having a fever is one way to lose all interest in train journeys and sight seeing.

 I was pretty sure I had a fever Saturday night because my feet were ice cold but my head felt so hot I thought the fluid in my eyeballs might start boiling. It might have too, that would explain my eyes feeling so sore. I rested up on Sunday and thought I would still be ok to travel on Monday until Sunday night when I found myself feeling even worse.

 So on Monday, instead of taking the train to Shanghai I went to see a doctor. This in itself was an adventure as it was not at all like my experiences in America and England.

In the small room where we first entered from the street there was a pharmacy counter facing us. I sank down on to the wooden bench against the left wall while Helen, who was acting as my translator, talked to the people behind the counter. A doctor came out and sat down at the desk that was against the other wall and I was motioned to the low wooden stool next to the desk. He handed me a thermometer and motioned me to put it in my armpit. Then, through Helen, he asked me about my symptoms and then listened to my chest with his stethoscope. 

Through all of this I removed no clothing, only unzipped my coat, and we were frequently interrupted by other patients who came in behind me and asked the doctor questions. He examined one woman's throat and wrote her a prescription.

At last he motioned for me to remove the thermometer from its place in my armpit underneath my layers of clothes. I handed it to him and after examining it he spoke to Helen for a bit before beginning to write on a prescription pad. Helen told me I had a fever of 37.8°C which surprised me as I thought the fever had gone. I wonder how high it had been the night before when I knew I had it. 

We walked about 3 feet to the counter with the prescription and I paid 81 yuan (a little less than 12 USD) and was supplied with the appropriate medications. Helen wrote the instructions on the boxes in English for me. The first was capsules that I am to take 3 times a day, 2 capsules a dose, then packets I was to dissolve in water and drink 3 times a day and then 2 bottles of a liquid I was to drink 1 bottle a day but in 3 servings. The last medication was administered intravenously. I was amazed when Helen explained this to me. Apparently this is a very common way to administer drugs in China as Helen seemed a little surprised that I had never had an IV drip before. 

I was ushered into a back room past beds full of people all hooked up to drips to an empty bed where I gratefully took off my shoes and coat and snuggled down under the comforter. I haven't said anything about my state of mind through all of this but let me assure you I was feeling completely miserable and wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed and cry. (well, ok, that and to be magically transported to Moscow where Mommy and Daddy could take care of me and I could see a doctor who actually spoke English.) I didn't get my second wish but my first wish being granted I was able to freely release my tears and soon felt much calmer. Helen mistook my tears for fear of the needle and told me "Don't be nervous." She had told me that it would take only an hour but I think it actually took over 2 hours although I wasn't paying close attention to the time.

So I lay there with the drip in my hand and waited. The man in the bed to me left was soon finished and was soon replaced with a man who quickly fell asleep and snored. The old woman on my right kept burping intermittently.  Helen sat on a bench at the foot of the beds and read a newspaper. At one point she went out to get lunch and brought me back a bao'zi (a roll of bread stuffed with meat and vegetables) which I was grateful for. She had to leave before the bottle dangling above me had fully drained so Alice came to relieve her of my care. Alice sat on the bed that had been by then vacated by the burping grandma and talked to me. She promised to get me a refund for my train ticket (Helen had only managed to exchange it for a ticket for Wednesday but I had lost any desire to see Shanghai at all this week).

I finally got back home to the comfort of my own bed and the cuddles of my cat. My flight to Moscow is on Saturday and leaves from Hong Kong. I intend to forget the train and fly to Hong Kong, perhaps on Thursday. In the meantime I am resting and feeling significantly better. My cat is a faithful if sometimes restless companion and Alice calls to check up on me and has even come to bring me food.

(The Q makes a 'ch' sort of sound. Think "Ching-dow")

Monday was my first day off in 2 weeks so I was very grateful for it. I went to Qingdao to meet with Brother Blake, a member of the bishopric for the Qingdao branch, to get a temple recommend in preparation for my pilgrimage. Qingdao is a seaside town and I was excited to me near the ocean again. I find the landlocked situations of both Provo and Zibo rather stifling. Qingdao is very clean and modern in comparison with Zibo and is the site where the sailing events took place for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The buildings put there for the Olympics are long since empty and close up but there remains a strong sense of pride about the place.





It was a relatively warm day (I got so warm I actually took off one of my coats!) with a wonderful fresh wind coming off the ocean. The public square by the Olympic pier held several kite flyers.





There I am on the pier by the torch.



Here I am with David and Cherrie Blake who kindly were my hosts for the day.



I just don't like to eat things that are slimy and/or have visible tentacles, I don't care if you put them on a stick and fry them. 

Here's a picture of me with my Sunday class on what I thought was the last day of term for us (Jan 10th). I later found out I was expected to teach one more week so this past Sunday  (the 17th) we just played games and watched a movie. Several students escaped before I managed to get the picture, there are 19 in total.

Sorry I haven't been very bloggy lately. I've been feeling kinda run down. It feels like this term is never going to end!

The Chinese equivilient  to Christmas (as the most important holiday) is, of course, Chinese New Year which is Feb 14th this year. So "Chiristmas break" is in January/February instead of December/January.

 I'm counting down the days until the break begins. Or at least I'm trying to. It seems like every time I talk to Alice (my handler. Sometimes I refer to her as my "supervisor" because it makes me feel more like a competent adult and less like the helpless and blundering overgrown child I sometimes feel like) the dates for my break are different. First it was going to be 2 weeks beginning during the second week of February. Then she told me I would be done with classes on January 20th. Then it became the 25th. Then today she said, sorry, it's the 28th.

Anyway, when I do eventually break free I'm taking off on a whirlwind adventure! Well, first I'll spend a day or two recuperating and getting my apartment to a less slovenly state (for some strange reason whenever I begin to feel tired or discouraged I lose the ability to do laundry or to hang up clothes. Washing dishes is also a challenge). Then I'm takin' a train to Jinan (about 2 1/2 hrs) where I'll spend an afternoon seeing whatever there is to see in Jinan and then spend the night on a train to Shanghai (about 10 hrs). I haven't decided on how long I'll spend there, a day or two perhaps, before taking another train (18 1/2 hrs) to my main goal of the trip which is Hong Kong! Specifically this building:



That's the Hong Kong China temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There I hope to be able to worship and to receive a little more of God's light in my life, a life that's been feeling a little dim and grey lately.

And then, as if all that weren't refreshing enough, I'm taking off to Moscow to see Mommy and Daddy and Meecie! And maybe even see Rob too if they let me stay away from work long enough.