Sick Days in Poland

Well, it seems to be the time of the year to get sick. At least I think that is what everyone thinks, apparently including my own body. This is my story about my first sick days in Poland.

I started feeling bad on last Saturday night, so I decided to go to bed early. I woke up the next morning with a sore throat and feeling sort of bad. I lounged around most of the day, and just braved English Worship. I woke up feeling even worse on Monday morning, but because Sarah was out of town, I decided I needed to brave school, even though I didn't have much of a voice. Teaching my classes (and those of Sarah's that I was covering for) was fine, but I did end up canceling my community conversation classes. I was back in my bed by 3pm.

Waking up on Tuesday was nearly impossible, and I realized that I was not going to be able to teach. All I wanted was my bed. I nervously called our assistant director (because our director is sick too!), Ola, and asked her if it was okay if I stayed home. She said of course and told me to rest and just work on feeling better. This conversation was at 7am.

At 8:15am, I heard my doorbell, and it was Ola come to check on me. She was nervous for me because Sarah was out of town visiting her sister and she wanted to check to see what she could do for me. The first thing she asked was why I didn't have socks on! This apparently is a major taboo! Needless to say I have had socks on my feet constantly for the past 48 hours, except for when I have been in the shower. She also brought me juice that her mother makes to put in tea to help with my fever, and then she went to the store to buy me medicine. It was so very kind and really helped me to feel well taken care of.

Wednesday was Poland's Independence Day, so everything in Poland was closed. My school, the stores, and my nose. It rained ALL day, so I felt that I missed nothing by staying in bed. One of my missionary friends, Terri, was kind enough to hop over the Czech Republic to pick me up some chicken and kept me company. I also decided to stay home today too. I am only to teach one class on Thursdays anyhow, so I decided it would be better to have one more day in bed.

This was a good decision because I woke up feeling crappy again. I decided it was finally time to give in and go to the doctor. I called one of the English teachers and spoke with her about it. She told me she would call her friend who is a doctor and then get back to me by the evening. Within an hour and a half, she called back and told me a student was coming to take me to a doctor in ten minutes. I quickly got my life together and then met the student downstairs. His father is a doctor with an office less than two blocks from my flat. Perfect! We walked right in, and I met with his father in his office. He spoke enough English for us to make do. He wrote me a script for three different medicines, and then sent me on my way. Filling the script was quick and easy, and truth be told the medicines really helped me to feel better.

On Friday I headed back to school, which thoroughly confused EVERYONE, students and the administration alike. Only 3 students out of 12 showed up to my first class, and it took a lot of convincing to assure the assistant director that I was healthy enough to be back in the classroom. Apparently, Poles take the whole week off when they are sick. After the chaos that was Friday, I will take the whole week off next time I am sick! But the good news is that I am feeling better now. The weekend was restful and has gotten me ready to go back to work. So back at it tomorrow!

Blessings,
Colleen