This morning I woke up feeling a little crummy. I've been fighting a cold for about a week now, but so far it had only meant that I was spending a little too much time bonding with my tissue box. I got through the morning feeling great and made monkey bread with my kids. (Which they loved and were extremely excited about.) Then lunch came. I sat down with the other elementary teachers to eat lunch and noticed that each sentence came out a little lower and it was a little harder to get out. Within 5-10 minutes I had completely lost my voice. I had a frog in my throat. I sounded like a man. No matter how you put it, talking had now become hard and slightly painful.
My dear friend and co-teacher, Karen, saved me and took me class for the rest of the day so I could rest my voice. She is wonderful. But, I don't know why, but when I lose my voice I suddenly feel like I have SO much to say. As the day continued I continually felt myself clamping my lips shut so I wouldn't talk. Why is it that when I can't talk is when I am most desperate to do it? And there is the added bonus that I find the whole process of losing one's voice very entertaining. It's the only time I sound like a man (thank God) and I almost want to burst out laughing every time I utter a word because I sound so ridiculous.
Today was also an interesting revelation on how China has changed me. In America when I lost my voice I would reach for cough drops or a large mug of peppermint tea. After having lived in China for several years, when I lost my voice I didn't think for one moment about the cough drops or mint tea in my desk. I immediately went and filled up a mug with hot water. Nothing else. Just hot water. (In China hot water is the cure for anything and everything.) It wasn't until after drinking hot water for two hours straight that I remembered my mint tea.
So here's to remembered mint tea, hot water, no voice, and sending lots of emails/writing blog posts to get all my words out. :)
My dear friend and co-teacher, Karen, saved me and took me class for the rest of the day so I could rest my voice. She is wonderful. But, I don't know why, but when I lose my voice I suddenly feel like I have SO much to say. As the day continued I continually felt myself clamping my lips shut so I wouldn't talk. Why is it that when I can't talk is when I am most desperate to do it? And there is the added bonus that I find the whole process of losing one's voice very entertaining. It's the only time I sound like a man (thank God) and I almost want to burst out laughing every time I utter a word because I sound so ridiculous.
Today was also an interesting revelation on how China has changed me. In America when I lost my voice I would reach for cough drops or a large mug of peppermint tea. After having lived in China for several years, when I lost my voice I didn't think for one moment about the cough drops or mint tea in my desk. I immediately went and filled up a mug with hot water. Nothing else. Just hot water. (In China hot water is the cure for anything and everything.) It wasn't until after drinking hot water for two hours straight that I remembered my mint tea.
So here's to remembered mint tea, hot water, no voice, and sending lots of emails/writing blog posts to get all my words out. :)
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