No school!

Hi, folks.

Thanks so much for your thoughts!! Yesterday I felt like death and was really down. My team took really good care of me, though, which I'm very thankful for. My teammates went out and bought me apples and a sweet potato, which I managed to eat. They also let me watch movies in their room and made sure I was comfortable with blankets and tea and the heater.

I went to bed at about 9:15, feeling so weak I could barely stand up. My head was burning up with a fever, and my whole body ached like I had been hit by a car. I took some flu medicine and slept for 11 hours straight. When I woke up this morning, I felt about 90 percent better! My fever and aches are gone. I just still feel weak.

Life in China doesn't really stop or slow down for you if you are ill. I was still going to have to teach somehow today, but there was a miracle. Sports meet, which had been cancelled over the weekend because of rain, was rescheduled for today! That means all classes are postponed for all the students to participate. I didn't have to attend it, because I'm sick and the school didn't enter me in any random races to compete. Only Jonathan and Aaron on our team have to compete. The school entered them in a few track races or something. We'll have to make up all the classes in the evenings sometime soon, but right now I'm so thankful I can rest and recover.

I know I didn't write a whole lot about our experience in Zhengzhou. We visited a team there, which is with the program our organization wants us to transition into next year if we want. I'm seriously considering that program, although I'm not making any decisions yet.

On yet another note, I have booked my travel to Thailand in January for our organization's annual conference. A couple of my teammates and I will be flying from Nanchang to Kunming, China to Chiang Mai, Thailand on Thai Air. We're leaving January 22nd and returning February 5th. Before that, we can travel around China if we want, since the Spring Festival holiday begins sometime in early January. My team and I will probably travel south to a beautiful city, Xiamen, because everyone seems to have friends there. A couple other people want to travel to Hong Kong or Korea. I don't think I'll travel a whole lot, because there's not enough money for that. I'm also going to Thailand early, because dentist and doctor appointments are really cheap and pretty high-quality.

Okay, time to get my granola that is baking in my tiny toaster oven. I love you all! I hope you have a blessed day!

(A few pictures from Zhengzhou: downtown; our team plus the Zhengzhou team; a man who had his baby balance on his hand- he wasn't holding on to her; train; a fancy bowling alley we went to).