A Friend In Need ...

A combination of what I think must be lack of sleep, poor dieting habits, and the change in weather (combined with the social effects of cold temperatures such as more people using buses ergo more germs being shared in close proximity for prolonged periods) have recently conspired to take their toll on my body. This afternoon demonstrated to me that having friends and a small network of known places around a city, or on a particular route can be invaluable.

I've not been feeling so well, on-and-off for a couple of days. A couple of weeks ago at the gym I felt quite bad but continued my workout and came away feeling much much better - you know the sweaty, dizzyish start-of-illness phase ... well that workout must have done something (sweated it out?!) because I perked right up. However the weather changed recently, from being just a bit cold to starting to snow. Apparently it's late for this year. Well equally late is my uptake on buying winter clothes; the problem is I was told it would get cold but there were just no SIGNS of it. In fact on Sunday afternoon I looked out of my window around 1500 and observed the builders working away next door, and I thought to myself "wow they must love this weather, they can build later into the year" ... about three hours later, sitting in my room, curtains closed, and I heard Marta on the phone to someone telling them it was snowing. "Snowing?", I thought, "Not when I last looked!" ... But she was right. In those three hours about two or three centimeters of snow had fallen!

Monday I went to school, my layers being a thermal top, tshirt, and jumper. Not even a very thick jumper at that. I was pretty cold. The weather warmed a little in the afternoon, and also it helped that I came home in my gym clothes, mmm tracksuit bottoms, so I didn't feel the FULL effects. Nonetheless I didn't feel 100%, and I couldn't help thinking the weather was to blame. I stayed up late last night, and woke this morning feeling tired and with an aching neck and shoulders (could have been part of my gym workout yesterday but really I was hitting the chest so those parts shouldnt have hurt so much). After a lie in (okay I turned off my alarm instead of putting it on snooze, I'm so lazy) I rushed my waking up, and didnt have enough time for proper breakfast. I made it through my first class, but only just, I was definitely zoning in and out, just about to conk out on the desk, luckily the teacher didnt ask me anything! ... In the break I went to the shop and did something very stupid (but necessary) - I got a can of Red Bull, a bar of white chocolate, and a cake. I thought it was a jam roll but it turned out to just be some kind of sponge roll without the jam (boo, China, do SOMETHING right goddammit!) ... these were devoured over the next two hours (while I had a reading test, only got 66%, so room for improvement think I).

I met with my friends - Anwar and Ava - and together we decided to go shopping for some winter clothes for me. This is related to the title of this post, there's really no substitute for some local knowledge and experience when it comes to things like clothes to protect you from winters where the temperature regularly hits -20C ... I'll cut this a bit short, we went to a dept store, found some jackets I liked, then went to another one just to compare them. The second place was closing down, but it had only recently gone bankrupt so neither of my friends knew it wasn't fully stocked with goods! So back to the first place where I got a jacket (hurray!) ... It's a bit puffy, but very light, filled with down (90%) and feathers (10%), with a couple of pockets and a hood too ... and room for some winter clothes like a jumper underneath. Wearing this, we all headed to Da Bazaar (Da means Big in Chinese, I am not speaking "ghetto" thank you very much), to see if there were thicker trousers and maybe some more jumpers I could buy. We had tea in a Uyghur shop (Anwar's choice), a bowl of soup with some noodley type bits of pasta-esque stuff in it, a tiny bit of beef, and a couple of eggs, nom nom nom. Tasted good anyway! Then we browsed some stores (and I made my mind up, I want some corduroy trousers, when I have time to go search for ones in my size / the right colour). We got to some second hand stores (with some nice looking clothes, I want to go back) where everything was significantly cheaper, but I started to feel (again, and not for the first time today) not quite right. I told Anwar and Ava that I just didnt feel so great and maybe we should call it a day. To be fair it was about 1820, time to be going home really.

Heading for the bus my stomach decided it would play nice for a bit, but once ON the bus (and with a good 20 - 25 minute journey ahead of me) it started to act up. I could feel gurgles and cramps and I knew this was not going to be pretty. After about 15 minutes (yeah I managed to hold my composure that long!) I told them I felt sick (I didnt want to tell them which end it was actually going to come out of) and they asked the guy sitting in front of us - we were standing - if I could have his seat. He obliged. I guess he didnt want me to be "sick" on him. Sadly, within a few seconds of sitting down it became apparent my bowels just were not going to hold. This was going to get messy fast, and I didn't want to be around for it. Kind of a shame that, it being my body and all. I told them I had a brainwave, I would go to the gym (it was right opposite the next bus stop) and just use the toilet there. They were really concerned for me, asked if I needed one of them to go with me, but I think the people at the gym know me well enough by now, so I thanked them but said no, I just need to get there fast.

Getting out the bus, I realised I didnt want / have time to take the underpass (ie "safe" route) across the road, and would instead have to go with the ordinarily riskier method of just crossing the six-lane road topside. The traffic thinned a little (or my eyes have just got good at spotting gaps in the traffic flow) and I made it across in record time. I got to the lift to the gym just in time. In time to see it ASCEND that is. Aaaaaaargh, what the hell was I going to do, about to colour the pavement a new shade of Urumqi brown (the other shades including mud, dirt, and winter grunge). Think calm thoughts. I ran out of the lift waiting area and gulped down fresh air as I tried not to think about the possibility that I may need to drop trow on a street corner. Thoughts of my brother, Mark, and his time in India filled my head. The time he'd had a bug so bad he had literally 5 seconds to jump to the roadside and squat. This was getting ridiculous. The lift was at the 6th floor and not coming down. By the time it reached the ground, I'd been joined by another man, who watched as I implored the lift's occupants to vacate quickly because I was feeling ill. I dont even know if what I said to them made sense, all I knew is there were toilets on floor five and I need them yesterday already. Reaching the fifth floor he had the decency to let me out first, and I rushed to the receptionists. Luckily my English student (Gu Li) was on the desk, at least I know her better than the others. I managed to blurt out "Gu Li I'm just in to use the toilets, I have a really bad stomach ..." before she nodded and watched as I sprinted down the length of the gym to the mens room.

Ah but what a dilemma when I got there. Where to put my coat and bag?! This was a brand new coat, I did NOT want to be leaving it on some crappy (literally) floor! Fate must have been smiling today, as one of the gym instructors (one of the nicer ones in my opinion, not at all hindered by his lack of English) entered the room, obviously about to go himself. He saw my situation and instantly offered to take my coat and bag. My brain overrode my bowels for one brief moment and I was able to ask "but what about paper?!" seeing there was none in the cubicle. "Don't worry, I'll sort it out" ... ahhhhhh thank heavens. Inside the cubicle, memories of the Great Train Ride came flooding back - longterm readers will remember my ordeal with the toilets on the Shanghai-Urumqi express train. Another squat toilet. But really, what other option was there? And you know what, it's REALLY not that bad. It could definitely be worse. If there's one good thing to come of today, it's finding out definitively that I will never be put off in future by using squat toilets. But I will definitely be carrying tissues ON me, it was just good fortune that the gym instructor went through my belongings and found my half full pack which he passed to me under the door. I emerged several minutes later, my quadriceps burning, my stomach still not quite right, and my Britishness returning with disgust for their lack of soap (what I need to carry THAT with me now?)

The point of all this is, you never know when you are going to need / want / appreciate a friend, contact, or just place you are known. Especially when your world is turning brown fast.

[[This happened about an hour ago. Since then I've had to go again (felt ill on the taxi ride home, but luckily my flat has a "normal" WC), and I'm just going to stick to lots of plain food, plain warm fluids, and get some decent rest, hope this passes. Mum, thanks for the smoked salmon, cheddar cheese, and so on which all arrived today, but I don't think I'll be eating them for another couple of days! ^_^

EDIT: all conversations in inverted commas here actually took place in Chinese, but since my audience is mostly made up of non-Chinese speakers I've put everything in English!]]