Caught a Japanese cold ('cause the ones in Australia weren't exciting enough)

Monday I was feeling a little iffy, but got through the day ok.

Tuesday, I got myself a face mask, like the Japanese are fond of wearing to prevent the spread of germs, and went to school. The face masks are horrible. They add to your misery by being hot and stuffy and making it hard to breathe. In my case, it also had a way of funneling hot air behind my glasses so they fogged up. I finished my 4 lessons, (mostly without the face-mask on, as it killed my ability to demonstrate pronunciation), did up some basic lesson plans for the next lesson, found someone to show it to, and then the vice-principal let me go home. I navigated the bike trip back, and went to bed.

This morning I woke up with what felt like a giant weight of phlegm on my throat. I can talk, I hadn't exactly lost my voice, and my throat wasn't sore, but I could feel a definite comfortable volume limit that, while sufficient to hold standard conversation, was not up to pretending to be super energetic to an excitable class of primary school students. It is also very croaky. I called Dave to tell him I wasn't up to school. He asked me to call the school. Surprisingly, the phone conversation was easy, I was quickly understood, and it was sorted.

I read a bit, slept a lot, and am now feeling significantly improved, and should be up to work again tomorrow.