Herbal Blech!

What encouragement I have received in the past couple days since the last I wrote here!!! I suppose I was asking for it. But honestly, it was much needed. The night that I wrote my last entry I decided that despite my feelings Yet Will I Praise Him. And I had a good time of abandoning all my senses and "foolishly" throwing myself into worship of the One who is to be feared. What a journey he is taking me on. Will he answer my cry for more of Him? I hope so. But even in this barren time where it seems He is distant and silent, I choose to worship Him for who I know in my heart He is.

I've got a cold. Strange that I should have one now cuz its so hot and humid during the day. I can tell that the weather is changing, though. And many of my students have the sniffles as well. It's also in part to the fact that I have to speak so loudly in class for all my 16 classes of 60 students each. I'm beginning to loose my voice. And wake up every day with sore throat. I always drink lots of tea and take lots of vitamin C. I want to kill it now before it gets worse. One Chinese teacher suggested I try a Chinese herbal tea that is made especially for colds. So I tried it tonight. Holy buckets it was awful! More bitter than the bitterest coffee if you can imagine! I tried to drink as much as I could, but it was going to make me throw up. So down the drain it went. So much for Chinese medicine. I found cough drops, they call them "golden throat." But if any one wants to send me anything I would love some of those vitamin C drops about now!

Today I fell deeper in love with my students! They just bless my heart to no end! I did have my difficult class 24 today. Every time I go in there I hold my breath praying for a miracle. Today did not go as well as last week, but they are definitely becoming more comfortable with me. I can tell, because fewer of them are sleeping in class and are actually beginning to open their mouths.

I'm excited about this Saturday. I've been talking to some of the Chinese teachers and got them to play volley ball with me! At first I thought of just hanging out and bumping the ball back and forth, but now the word's getting around and it's evolved to a big event!

Brenda and I found a Chinese teacher to help us with our Chinese. Her name is Xiong Tao. She's actually a physics teacher here, but speaks English very well and wants to improve, so we will have a language exchange.

I bought another plant! This one is very small and cute. My tree is losing its leaves!! I'm so sad! I fear it is because it does not get enough sunlight. I live in a 6th floor basement! That's what Brenda and I call it, cuz we're on the 6th floor, but it feels like a dungeon! It's a cozy dungeon, though. I never open my curtains because my windows are right by the way the students walk and I don't want them looking in all day. So no sunlight! I guess I will have to take my plant for walks or something!

The mosquitos here are weird. Why can't they just bite me in n normal places like American mosquitos? Instead they have to bite me on the bottom of both my big toes! Unreal. I bet that herbal tea in my system should get rid of them!