Sick!

One of my friends wrote me a letter several months ago asking what I miss from home when I'm sick over here in Thailand. This week I can answer that question very easily!

Last week, Robert and I spent three days helping at our school district's English camp for gifted high school students, which took place at a nearby national park. As English camps go, it was a pretty good one, but as usual we didn't get enough sleep and came down with illnesses immediately following.

The first thing I miss is COOL AIR. When you are sick -- headache, fever, sore throat -- there are few things more unpleasant than lying in bed sweating even while the fan is blowing on you. It keeps you from getting that sleep you need to recover! It also keeps you from wanting to drink the hot tea that might be so helpful for your throat.

The second thing I miss is HEALTHY CONVENIENCE FOOD. At home, when sick, I could easily open a can of soup and heat it up on the stove. Here, I can choose between more intensive cooking (the healthier choice) and local take-out (the faster choice). But again, when you're hit by fever, neither of those choices is particularly appealing.

The third thing I miss is TV, or movies anyway. Yes, we can watch movies on our DVD -- and we did, a bit, on Saturday and Monday -- but setting up the computer and speakers and all the cords is more labor intensive than just walking into the living room and pushing a few buttons like I might have at home. We don't have a real TV here -- and we don't want one -- but once in a while it might be a nice break.

The last thing I miss is PERSONAL SPACE. Back in training, our Peace Corps doctor said to us, "Thai people are very into being sick." This is true. As soon as our neighbors-co-teachers-supervisors-anyone else knows that we're sick, they'll start pelting us with questions: Have you been to the doctor? Did you take medicine? Are you drinking warm water? If the answer to any of those is "no," it will produce an additional flood of questions: Why haven't you been to the doctor? Should I call the hospital for you? Do you need a shot? Why haven't you taken _XXX_ medicine yet?

The questions are all very well and good, and they show a genuine interest on the part of our Thai neighbors in their desire to attend to our health, but sometimes I want to say that what I really need is a night in a quiet, rooster- and karaoke-free, cold building with no one to ask me any questions!