18 Til 30 - Sickly But Alive

Well, this beginning of the month has seen me more sick than I've been in the past year.  I'm trying to figure out what my body is trying to tell me.

Am I too old to be having so many late nights in a row?  Is my throat in so much pain because I've been holding in my true opinions?  Why am I able to sleep so many hours in a row now when I used to be able to live off so little?

It is certainly time that I start to really listen to what my body needs.

But, in the meantime, I still managed to look relatively cute even though I feel like death.

Death's Cute Little Cousin

Week of Sick of Work

Though I was sick and probably should have been resting all week, I ended up working as a sub for a day program.

Because it is mainly an after school program, the usual group leaders weren't available for the morning hours.  So, I was called in to sub for a group of 1st Graders.  For the most part, there are supposed to be at least 2 people who are leading a group, and the groups are separated by age and grade going up to middle school.

Let me tell you.  I only worked 4 days for 4 hours a day, and I'm pretty over it all.  Mainly, I got pretty tired of waking up early to get into a packed subway with people shoving and pushing to get to work.

Here's some highlights from my work week.

Schedule
Working with the kids was really what you would expect with kids.  I mean, they're going to be rambunctious especially considering that they are on vacation and have a full day of playing.

But, being that I was a sub, and a sub with a cold, there was a lot of redirection that the kids needed.  By the end of the week, my poor throat felt like some creature had clawed around it.  To add to that, I was by myself for most of the morning on Friday, with a group of 13 kids.

I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have been by myself.  But I get that tons of places are often understaffed.

To top it all off, the usual group leader told me right before I ended my week that she had realized that no one had told the subs that she had planned a week of activities.  Yes, there was a schedule, like Group 2 would be in the gym at a certain time.  But for the most part, the other sub and I would just have to make up some activities.

Older
By the time my shift was ending, the kids had already eaten lunch and were settled in to watch a movie.  Being kids, they don't necessarily know much about quality movies.  But I do think that adults have a role to play in guiding the type of entertainment they watch.

Well, they opted for the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" on Tuesday and the "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel" on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, I joked with the other sub that I've done pretty well with avoiding these movies.  She didn't seem to get the joke because she said the first one was pretty funny and she hadn't seen the second one yet.

I kind of had to take a mental step back.  I said that I was really more used to the classic kids movies, especially "The Chipmunk Adventure."

If you haven't seen it...you really should :)

She then said, "Oh...I've never heard of that.  I've only seen the first movie."


*internal gasp*

Wow.  I realized she probably had never even seen the t.v. cartoons!  I was definitely of a different generation than her!  But I would rather be old because at least I know the awesomeness of "The Chipmunk Adventure."

Things Heard From the Mouths of Kids
In the gym, I heard this almost ever 5 minutes:  "Teacher!  Play with me!"

One little chubby kid was often the one who would get his toy taken from him by another kid.  He probably gets bullied quite a bit, and yet I have the feeling that he also got what he wanted from the adults in his life.  Well, this kid had the audacity to look me in the eyes, with a big smile on his face as we prepared to go to the auditorium for the movie, and say, "Hi Fat Teacher."

As I'm playing catch or tennis with this one particularly behaviorally disobedient kid who's great one-on-one, and another student is trying to get my attention, he says, "I'm waiting!!!"  What??  You know that's something he hears a lot from an adult.

This tiny skinny girl would approach me all throughout gym, moaning about how hungry she was.  Seriously, though, she was ALWAYS hungry.

Glorified Babysitter?
Honestly, while I feel like the after school and day programs and the community centers are a god-send, I do feel like it is just a way to ensure that the kids are engaged in some activity outside of hanging on the streets. 

But they get to provide a place for the kids to do their homework or other activities that would build up their academic education.  They also get to work a lot on their social skills.

I kind of felt like I struggled a bit though.  Kind of like I was more of a glorified babysitter than anything else.

I don't really mean to sound like I'm better than anyone.  In fact, if that week has taught me anything, I don't hold a candle to the folks who do that job full-time.

I don't hold a candle to teachers, to child care workers, to after school staff, to day care staff.

As a social worker, I had the absolute luxury of being able to close my door.

So, thank goodness this is just a part-time position.  I'm going to keep looking for my office with a door.

Simple Pleasures Sundays - Soup

Well, it's really been an interesting week of me forcing myself to keep going even though I've been sickly and sounding like death.

I want to post about my experiences at the day program with the little 1st graders, because I have some serious gems and moments of insanity to share.

But this post is about all the soups I've had this week.  Though, I probably could have had more soup.

On Tuesday and Friday, I got to feast on some delicious phở action.  Have you had phở?  It's Vietnamese brothy noodley deliciousness. 

I usually get the chicken soup, and I love throwing in the basil leaves, bean sprouts, and squeeze of lime.

When the boyfriend and I go out for phở, we sometimes argue about who gets the bigger lime wedge - because we both love limes.  Then we realize that we could just ask for more lime wedges.

It's also recommended to squeeze in a generous amount of Sriracha and hoisin sauce.  I like my sauces to change the color of my broth.  But then it gets nice and spicy - so much so that it help drain my sinuses and I have to get gross and blow my nose at the table.

So frakin' good.

On Thursday night, the boyfriend concocted this delicious soup made with chicken broth, potatoes, and kielbasa.  Seriously, if there's any reason to keep this guy around, it's because he can cook and he can cook well and creatively.  Thank goodness for years of being a bachelor.

Then just tonight, we spent time with some good friends and some new folks sharing in some hot pot action.

Hot pot for 9

I know hot pot isn't exactly soup, but there is the broth that is the important component of the meal.

We had tons of veggies, fish, shrimp, beef, pork, and chicken.  Our friend's dad made some delicious dipping sauces, and at the end we got to soak up some more of the broth with some glass noodles.  There was enough on the table that our friend and his dad will have left overs for at least another couple of meals.

It was delicious, and we are properly stuffed.

There's just something wonderful about the warm brothy goodness of soup that I think is wonderful no matter what season it is.

Though, there's something about having soup in the winter and especially when suffering from an illness that makes it the most pleasurable.

Mermaid with a Cold and Nightmares

Well, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.  But this mermaid got sick!

I know I didn't protect myself from a the windy coldness last Saturday, and I made myself extremely vulnerable by sleeping late.

I have a stuffy head, running nose, and soon-to-be sore throat.  But, I've also had the opportunity to work at this after school program during this February vacation week.  I'm not too worried about giving my cold to any of the kids, because they really probably have better immune systems than I do.

But at night time, I've been getting extremely warm.  So warm that I feel like my brain does a lot of spinning around.

The first night, I thought a lot about how my body was exuding all this heat because I let too much coldness in.  I'm pretty sure I started blabbering to the boyfriend in my sleepiness.

And last night, I had two nightmares, which I haven't had in a long time.

The first nightmare involved me hiding under some church pews or a table of some sort.  While other people were pretending that there was nothing to hide from, I saw this demon-looking creature fly around above the heads of the seated folks.  Suddenly, it spotted me.  It's cold eyes stared at me.  Then, it swooped down at me.  I woke up.

The second nightmare started off with me out shopping.  I was in a store, when a bell or an alarm started ringing.  All the women were directed to another section of the store, almost like it was standard procedure.  They asked us to sit down and put our heads in our laps.  The room got dark, and this fog entered the room.  I remembered that the place was haunted by a little girl, and I assumed that this was some ritual for the little girl to choose someone.  Choose someone for what, I have no idea.  I could feel the little girl ghost approach me.  I then felt the eerie chill of her little fingers walking down my spine.  I woke up.

I felt this fear grip me when I awoke.  I suddenly started thinking about whether being sick makes one really attune to the spirit world, and perhaps I became clairvoyant in my illness.  My back was facing the bedroom door, and I was certain that the little girl ghost was there.  I had to really change my thinking around just to convince myself that it was okay to move just to reach out to touch the boyfriend.

It was frightening, but in the light of day I know how silly it sounds.

I am definitely planning on taking some Theraflu tonight before heading to bed!

Torrential

For those of your not in New England, consider yourselves lucky.  It's been raining for 3 days straight here in Boston.  Tons of places are flooded throughout Massachusetts.

To add to this weather, my immune system decided this would be an appropriate time for me to get sick.  I'm talking sinus grossness, throat soreness, body aches, chills and heating up, and lack of appetite.  I guess if I could be sick at any other point, this rainy weekend and Monday would be a good one.

But, to make matters more interesting, we seem to have sprung a leak.  Well..multiple leaks.  Granted it's not as bad as some of the flooding that others are experiences in their homes, but it's still pretty lame.  Three out of four rooms have leaks.  The one room that doesn't have leaking had leaking about 2 years ago, and our land lady had reconstruction on our building to fix all that leaking.  But, our land lady and the company she hired clearly didn't consider 3-days worth of rain and high winds.

So, here are some pics I snapped from our leakage.

Our poor plants have been getting some extra watering.

The boyfriend found a crisper drawer and trash can in the basement.

Rain water dripping down our craptastic blinds into our buckets.

Raining in our bathroom windowsill.

Yuck...our kitchen window needs some cleaning...how embarrassing...

Rain and wind hitting our windows.