Am I sick or just lazy?
The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps.

I usually get sick about once a year. In 2007 I used up my sickness before I even came to Romania on a cold I got in New York while visiting for new year's. After that the worst health I experienced in Romanian was two separate days of flu-like symptoms and painfully swollen lymph nodes. Not bad for moving to another country.

It makes sense that sickness would immediately follow my four-week intense vacation. Too many days of waking up at 6am and going to bed after midnight. Getting caught in the rain and snow with no garlic soup to boost the immune system. My body was quite sore and stiff from carrying all that baggage around until I treated myself with yoga and then had to repair the total soreness caused by yoga with a massage.

Right now I have a sore throat. I've had it since Monday and none of my usual natural rememdies are helping it go away. I'm drinking fluids, water, tea and now "magic potion" since I spent the money on fresh ginger. I have doctor reccommended throat drops. The gargaling salt water isn't helping at all.

I can't bare the thought of eating anything cold so all my nice firm tomatoes I bought for greek salad have gone soft in the refrigerator. I also can't muster the energy to cook anything hot like mashed potatoes so it's been bananna and peanutter sandwhiches. (thank goodness mom brought me a 4 pound jar of peanut butter!)

It's more than just a sore throat. I can't tell if I have a fever becasue somewhere in this apartment I lost my thermometer. Sometimes I feel hot and cold at the same time. Wednesday I felt energy returning, but Thursday I slept on the couch for part of the afternoon.

Yesterday I called my French friends who volunteer in Deva just to tell them I'm back in town and maybe we'll to to a movie sometime, only to find out they were having a party Friday night. I knew I should go. One of the reasons I called them was because I've been hanging out alone in my apartment with my cat all week. But they live an hour's walk away. I called them back and said no, thanks. I'm too sick to go out tonight. After all, I didn't go to my office Friday because my throat hurt so bad in the morning I really shouldn't go to a party and walk home alone after dark. Plus it looked like it was going to rain.

But I will get out the apartment and see a movie today. It looks like it's going to be a nice day - so maybe I'll get a coffee and sit outside and write a letter or two. My throat is feeling a little better, so maybe I just needed one more night to knit on the couch and be lonely in my apartment.

But then again I slept for 12 hours so maybe I really am sick.