Everything is Funny.

Today is funny.

I finally went to the doctor because I spent the night barfing (again). Yesterday I was feeling 'slightly' better and decided my soul needed friends more than my body needed bedtime, so I went to Thursday trivia night. When I was there I realize I hadn't eaten all day and was famished. So I made the not-so-wise choice to order the pizza/beer combo. I have NEVER ordered this before. I can't eat pizza because I am border line lactose intolerant thanks to almost 2 years in Chin.a and I have sworn off beer because well....it's beer.

I think it was the 3 tylenol I took before going that made me make this horrible decision. I wanted barley and bread, I wanted something that would fill me up - American style.

Needless to say, after a piece of pizza and a Tsingtao, things weren't so hott. When I got home and 2 hours of puking later I was calling myself a dumb-dumb in Chin.ese.

So today I went in search of a doctor. Because the doctors at my school scare me, I opted to bypass that step and go to a pharmacy instead. Medication is distributed differently here. Doctors make money from the pills they give, so it is usually better to just see a pharmacy, because prescriptions are not needed (for anything). I looked up the word "antibiotics" and "sore throat" and headed down the street.

On a side note, today is an amazingly gorgeous day. You would never know 4 days ago it was 25 degrees and snowing. I even wore a dress and it is the first time my legs have been exposed to air (except america/malaysia/singapore/thailand) in a long time. wonderful.

Anyways, I walked into the pharmacy and this is how the conversation went (translated):

Me: "I have a lot of pain here" - pointing to throat, "Yesterday my skin was very hot," (forgot to look up "fever" haha), "I have pain."

Worker girl: gives me a crazy look.

Me: (pointing to throat, then to the medications behind her), "This is very big and pain, what these things can help me?"

Worker girl: Oh. This. (hands me a box).

Me: "Can I look?"

Worker girl: "yes."

I opened the box and found yellow pills. I bought them for the whopping price of approximately $3 usd and left the store. The people were silent which is weird because usually store workers are friendly and at least try to talk to me. These people were like in shock. So now I have these pills in a box I can't read. I don't know how many to take a day, how long to take them for, if I should take it with food. They are packaged in two's so I am taking 2 at a time and have decided on morning and evening as a safe bet. hahaha.

Let's hope these things work and that I'm not allergic! hahaha....

After I made my purchase I went to the vegetable market because I am totally out of food and want to make veggie soup. I love going there because it is so fun. I love to watch the eels and turtles swim around in their bins. I bought an onion, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, and dragon's eye fruit. It is soo goood. I even saw celery there for the first time. I have to take my camera there one day to show you. After the market I stopped for some dumplings on the way home.

A few school girls were also enjoying some dumps and were obviously freaking out over my presence. So I said hello. Immediately one of them said to me, "Canada and Britain, which is a better country?" I was like, "whaaaaat?" I said, "both are good countries." It's always better to be diplomatic and I honestly have no opinion...um, Amer.ica? The questions I am asked on a daily basis crack me up. Yesterday I was asked, "What is the difference between Chi.na and Amer.ica?" My exact answer was, "everything." And that was sufficient for the asker. Thank goodness. haha.

I now am back home, opting to rest rather than head out to the West Lake or do something else to optimize this rare day with (a tiny bit, nothing like florida) sunshine. The windows are open and my Yankee Candle is burning (appropriately named "be thankful").

Just another day in wonderful, whacked out, hilarious Hang.zhou.

Tonight is another dinner with CBOTW and then tomorrow I am turning in the last of my paperwork for the possible PhD program next year....crossing fingers and whispering pryrs!

walk slow. xoxo.