Chinese word of the day: Toutong-means-headache

Blog 15

Chinese word of the day: Toutong-means-headache

British phrase of the day: Swag-means-that sucks/horrible

The night was a bit rough for me. I couldn’t breathe through my nose, so I breathed through my mouth, then my throat would get dry and I would have to drink tea which hurt to swallow because my throat is dry. When I finally got a few hours of solid sleep I woke up around 5 in the morning. I felt a little better actually. My headache was gone, fever gone, I felt like I had a bit more energy, but when I stood up I was still really dizzy and weak. I didn’t want to walk down 48 stairs, down a cold hill, with morning fog wetting my face every step. I’m sure that wouldn’t be helping me get better. 


I was hungry. So I got my water thermos which usually has tea in to drink at night or when I go to practice. This time I filled with water, and about a 1/4^th  of the way up with my oatmeal. Then I added hot water from my big thermos with hot water that I get from downstairs.  I usually refill this thermos about 4 times a day…that’s about 384 stairs up and down which gets really annoying…. Back to my breakfast…when I added the water I waited for it to thicken a bit and when it finally did it was too thick to pour or shake out of my cup and into my mouth. I even tried using my fingers but it was too far down to reach….crap! But after a couple minutes of trying and thinking I might have to pass on breakfast, my roommate came in the room and brought me a loaf of bread and a couple eggs to eat.

While I was in bed resting I watched a couple episodes of ‘Family guy’. Made me laugh a bit so hopefully that was good medicine for me. Watched an episode of ‘The Mentalist’. And then my dad sent me the Audio Book of The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. I was addicted to the Percy Jackson books by the same author, so I hoped this book was just as good. Luckily it is a great book and I’m only on chapter 11! I hope to finish it by tomorrow morning.

Since I started feeling a bit sick again I wanted to go to the town clinic to get some antibiotics so I can get back to training. When I went to go ask one of the translators for a taxi and to go into town she suggested seeing Master Chu, he runs the medic room here. Master Chu also runs the acupuncture and massage class at night. I told him, well, I told the translator who told him, my throat was swollen, nose congested, head hurts, and dizzy. He asked me if I get the chills I said yes. So he gave me some pills and told me to take two pills three times a day. I hope it works. I took it twice today I will take it again right before I go to bed.

After seeing Master Chu,  I went to lunch at the dining hall and they had Ginger tea out. They say it helps your immune system. I know it helps if you’re nauseous. It did seem to help my throat so I washed out my water container and filled it about half way with the ginger tea. Also, while I was at lunch I “accidentally” took two Chinese spoons instead of one. I put the other spoon in my pocket for tomorrow’s breakfast. 

I rested for a little while longer then went to dinner. Everyone was so loud it didn’t help my headache at all. One of the guys at my table said the sickness  I have is the “KunyuShu Taint”. They told me all the students gets the ”KunyuShu Taint”. After dinner I left a d headed upstairs to my room to relax finally after hearing all the yelling and laughing. The Chinese people who work here in the office and the store really like to YELL to each other a lot ven when they are just 2 feet away from each other! I don’t know if they like giving us foreigners headaches, or if they are arguing with one another all the time, or just mad at each other and trying to give the other person a headache first by yelling in their ear! Some of the other guys also noticed they are a bit loud.


Hopefully I don’t miss a WHOLE week of training.

-Scott