Christmas time is here...early

Do you ever have weeks where the monotony of life feels like it is slowly tearing you apart. Like your four limbs are on a stretching machine being turned one tiny crank at a time. That's how this week was feeling. I wake up every day at the same time and shower, dress, wash up,eat breakfast and read, lock the door, get in my car, drive the same route, open my classroom, go to the office, get my room ready, answer questions, teach, answer more questions, get ready for the next day, go home, eat, grade, stay up too late, wash up, sleep, repeat!

It gets a little depressing despite how great my life is. I usually solve this by traveling, but I can't do that yet. Sometimes reading a new exciting book helps, but right now I'm addicted to the Ender's Shadow series and I have to read until I finish which means that I've been reading about the same characters for weeks.

But then I had my Saturday. I spent much of the day trying to do the tasks I needed to do without breathing much of the smoke-filled air. But at 4:30 I was at my school ready to take the Helping Hands club kids to the Long Beach Symphony. A group of nine kids volunteered to help pass out information about the symphony's Holiday Celebration concert. Another teacher and I drove the kids to the Terrace theater where they wore reindeer antlers and scarves and passed out fliers and candy canes to the people coming to the concert. As a reward, my kids got to stay for the symphony for free.

My kids did such a great job. The shy ones followed people like stalkers until they were noticed and then quietly handed them the information and the candy. My more bold ones improved upon my scripted spiel and had quite a fan club because of it. "Welcome to the Long Beach Symphony. Would you like some information about the Holiday Celebration? If you have any questions, please see the people at the table over there. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the performance." Seriously, no one could help but smile at an adorable, tiny, Filipino girl in a Santa hat.

I stood watch at the stairs, I was also wearing antlers, but not passing out information. People came up to me as if I were one of the adorable helpers and made all sorts of comments. The most disturbing was a man who grabbed onto one of the antlers and then proceeded to have a conversation with me. He kept lapping around the lobby and winking at me...that was weird.

Another woman walked by and commented about how cute the kids were. I noticed that she had a Germanic accent so I quickly said (before I could lose my courage) "Sind Sie Deutsch?" and she quickly responded, "Ja, Ich bin Deutsch. Sprechen Sie Deutsch?" We then continued a conversation in German and I was practically floating from excitement. I didn't do too bad.

After first intermission I saw her again, "Guten Abend, Ilse!" I called to her. "Guten Nach, Brenda," she replied. Then she said, in German, "You are not more than sixteen?" I thought I must have misunderstood so I told her as much. "Are you 18?" She asked in German. I smiled and responded, "Ich bin neun und swanzig!" I won't translate, but she was shocked. I told her that I was in fact the teacher of these students and not one of the students. She laughed and said that she had to use the proper form "Sie" instead of the informal "du" because I was old enough. I laughed and said she could call me whatever she wanted. We continued talking in Germ-lish about her experiences as a school child in Nazi Germany and later as a trained nurse in England.

As if talking to Ilse wasn't enough to make me feel total joy, and seeing my kids rock wasn't enough added bonus, people kept asking me for directions. Now, you may not know, but my favorite thing in life is to answer questions. Seriously, I love to answer any questions, even if I don't know the answer and have to make one up. So to have patrons and volunteers ask, "Where is the balcony?" or "Where is the nearest restroom?" or "When does the pre-concert lecture begin?" I pointed and directed as if I was there for that reason and I smiled like a fool.

My favorite moment of personal shame came when I was privileged to meet the composer of one of the works played that evening. She was an elegantly dressed Mexican woman who was so eloquent in her pre-performance discussion about her piece. I wanted to tell her how excited I was to hear her 'prayer set to music' so I approached her in the lobby and told her as much. She politely thanked me and shook my hand. It was only after she walked away that I realized I was still wearing my antlers...only me...

So the monotony of life was broken, if just for a day, and I am encouraged enough to begin this week again. If I feel myself slipping into the humdrum, I'll just imagine talking with Ilse or I'll pull out those antlers and go for a walk...maybe someone will ask me a question!

Why malaria is a bad thing for a hypochondriac to get.

I'm sure that I'm going to die of some horrible disease some day. I joke about this fear (that is greatly fed by my mother), but it really is there. Most people have a strange ache and think, "What did I do yesterday that would make me ache like this?" I have a strange ache and think, "Oh, man, I'm sure I have Leukemia!" I brush it aside casually as a stupid overreaction, but inside I'm still sure that I have Leukemia.

So yesterday, on the way to school, I started to feel dizzy. Not just light headed, but world is spinning a bit kind of dizzy. I had eaten my normal breakfast, slept about 6 hours, so the normal reasons for dizziness weren't there. When I got to school, I didn't feel right. I felt nauseous and dizzy and tired. I went to the school office to do my morning routine when one of my coworkers asked about how I was doing. When I explained my dizziness, he said, "Ah, it's just the malaria." and I panicked. Did my malaria come back? How would I get it checked since the last test took too long to get back to me.

This was how I felt the day I was diagnosed with malaria: just a bit off, a little dizzy, a little nauseous. Maybe I do have it again! I decided that I should keep my blood sugar up and hydrate myself, so I grabbed a big stick Popsicle from the freezer and continued on to my class (any excuse for ice cream - in fact I think that's why I'm a hypochondriac. Who can deny a sick person ice cream?!).

By the end of the day, I felt just fine. I worked late and came home as normal. I'm sure I was just dizzy from low blood sugar. It wouldn't be the first time. I just think it's funny that my hypochondria now has even more ammunition...I just better not tell my mother because she'll just make me think that I really could be sick. Trust me, I'm not. I slept just fine last night for over 8 hours and I ate a full breakfast today. I certainly couldn't have done that when I had malaria. Trust me, I'm fine.