Well, it’s Halloween once again. It’s shocking how fast time goes by sometimes.
This year, we had the typical fun- carving watermelons (pumpkins in the right shape are tough to find), making masks, eating candy, telling scary stories, and all that.
I dressed up as someone in the American military. That was the scariest thing I could think of! Ha.

Some of the students really went crazy with the costumes. It was a lot of fun. We stood around and talked about scary story, some from films, some from books, and some that were (supposedly) true. It was one of the best English Corners we’ve had in a long time, if you ask me.

In other news, this past weekend I was in Longzhou. On Saturday Kate came down as well and we attended the famous “Delicious Food Street” at Kyle’s school. It was crazy! The place was packed, but there certainly was good food all over the place.
Mmmm… I always enjoy my visits to Longzhou, but this one was particularly good.

So my mother sent a package full of wedding planning stuff and things to make a Thanksgiving dinner. Obviously, it’s a bit hard to find any kind of wedding magazines or books in English over here. I bought one in Chinese, but it’s not particularly helpful. It’s nice to have a load of stuff, but I really wish there was a bookstore near by to find more. I think that’s something I’m already getting excited about for when I get home- bookstores! I’ve still got something like 9 months left though, so maybe I shouldn’t get too excited.

She also sent a box of Little Debbie’s Oatmeal Cream Pies….for Kyle. If you know me, you know how much it is killing me not to eat them. Seriously. I love those things. They’re not the least bit healthy, I know. Somehow, things like that are so much more exciting when you can’t seem to get them, or even see them, on a regular basis. It’s not like home where I can see them at the store and choose whether or not to buy them. They’re just not here to buy.
Kate and I were discussing these Oatmeal Cream Pies though. One major reason why I shouldn’t eat them (other than the fact that they’re supposed to be for Kyle, not me) is that I should probably, since I’m planning on having a wedding next summer, try to lose some weight. However, Kate pointed out that if I eat the whole box all in one go, my body can’t possibly handle all of that sugar/fat/etc, so it can’t have a lasting affect on my weight. It’ll probably make me sick and just pass through me anyway.
So I was considering that….seems like a good idea.

Speaking of trying to lose weight in China….
It seems rather difficult given the amount of fried food that I eat. Most of our food options here are fried, so that’s what I’m stuck with. If I cook for myself, it would probably end up being fried as well. There’s not a whole lot I can bake. Well, once I get some more ingredients, perhaps, but for now, I’m stuck with fried food.
Well, the other week I was talking with Jane about dieting things in China. I was really looking for something like SlimFast or a similar deal. She took me to the drug store near campus. The woman pulled out two bottles and claimed that these are the best two and you don’t gain the weight back too quickly. One she described as a meal supplement that will help me loose weight over several weeks. She said it’s not bad for your body. I took a look at the bottle and found a label in English: Colon Clean.
So I decided not to go for that. I asked about the second one and she said that it’s not very good for your body. She said that it does some bad things to your health. Yikes.
So much for finding something like SlimFast, I guess!

So I haven’t written for a while, but I swear I have excuses!
For one, I was sick for a while there.

The enteritis came back. I’ve been sick quite a bit in China, which is terribly frustrating.
What I think happened, though, for one, is that I got some kind of bacteria in my small intestine. Since it was never treated properly, every time I ate, I would feel terrible, or at least nearly every time I ate. It was not fun, let me tell you.
Finally, in the summer, I got terribly sick and ended up spending a day at the hospital getting blood tests, ultrasounds, and an IV for several hours. Never fun, but particulary not so when you can’t understand what’s going on.
I was given some medicine and then told to eat basically only bland food for the next several months. If anyone can tell me how on earth to do that in south China without having a diet of only rice (and therefore nothing of any nutritional value), that would be great because I couldn’t pull it off.
So I felt better for a while, but then it started coming back. A little bit and first, and then slowly worse and worse….
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore! Any food or drink that went into my system was going straight through. How I managed not to loose a single pound, I’m not quite sure.

I was trying to go to the clinic or the hospital, but it just so happened that when I had free time, they were closed for the day or for lunch. Kate then brought over some meds that her doctor in the UK has prescribed to her, just in case she needed them. I called my doctor and home and it turns out that that was just what I needed!
So I went to a Chinese medicine shop, armed with the scientific name, and I managed to get myself enough pills for the recommended minimum of seven days.

I started taking it in the morning, and by the evening, I had developed a swollen, sore throat. What a coincidence, I thought!
My throat kept getting worse and worse. It hurt to swallow my own saliva, and breathing to go up the stairs was a killer! (For those of you who don’t know, I live on the 8th floor of a building with no elevator)
I continued to take the medicine, thinking I was getting a terrible cold. Finally, by the seventh day, I finished. Within 24 hours of finishing, my sore, swollen throat was gone and completely back to normal.
I have to say that I am wondering if that was some kind of allergic reaction. I don’t really know enough about health to say for sure.

Also, lately Kyle has been visiting quite a bit and I’ve been going there quite a bit and that uses up free time pretty fast. At the beginning of the month, we also had our National Day holiday where we traveled for a week. Fantastic! (except for the fact that I was sick that whole time) Kate, Kyle, and I went to Guangzhou and Macao! Had a great time. I’ve posted photos on Flickr if you’re interested.

Well, I have to head out of here and get to class in five minutes, so I should probably go and finish getting ready. Before I do that, though, just a couple more notes.

A funny story- I was walking back into my campus last week, and I happened to see a student get on his bike, start biking down the road in the campus, then bike straight into the shrubbery that boarders the road! I was a bit worried…was he okay? Was his bike broken?
He got off the crashed bike, reached into his bag, pulled out his glasses, put them on, got on the bike and headed back down the street.
Students really do hate to wear glasses. It’s a bit amusing sometimes.

The other story, I was telling some students in the library yesterday about the importance of keeping up with the news. I went online to CNN.com to see what it said about China. Right away, we found this article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/23/pip.china.pollution/index.html
It’s about a “cancer village” in south China where the river is so polluted it’s giving lots of people cancer, specifically in one village. However, the government is claiming the river is safe.
Two of the students I was talking to got shocked looks on their faces as we read it.
“That river goes through our hometowns!” One of them finally cried out.

I guess they really should keep up with the news more than they do.
They had no idea.

I really love teaching British Literature.
Sometimes I think that I could probably teach this kind of thing for the rest of my life and be fairly content.
(I generally do not feel this way at all about spoken English classes)

I enjoy most of my students in all of my classes, but topics in my lit class are just infinitely more interesting to me, so I’m much happier after finishing one of those lessons that any other.

Granted, I have only taught them for a month now….8 lessons, so things could change, but so far, I’m loving it.