The Story of You Pt.2: Sickness

The Story of You, Part 2.

Jay K.

Ep.11 Sickness

It’s been more than two weeks since I uploaded the last episode, “One World One Dream”. As you can tell from the title of this episode, I’ve been sick. I am somewhat still sick, but much better than before. I believe that it is almost inevitable that you get sick when your surrounding is completely changed: everything’s changed such as the food you eat, the air you breathe, the water you drink and so on. I got sick when I first went to the U.S. I don’t remember the exact time period, but I remember it was fatal. I was really sick.

This time too. I was really sick over the couple weeks. It was first flu that almost killed me, and I got an ear infection after. I even couldn’t go to sleep because of the pain from my left ear. The next morning, I ran to the hospital. Because I was too sick to bother with Chinese, I had to go to American hospital which was very expensive. I never had ear infection in my life, and having here in China.

[OC is mad]

The sickness does not only make your body weak, but also your mind. Especially, when you are sick abroad, that is surely the worst. It makes you miss home more than ever. It is the worst because you know that there is no one who will take care of you. You are on your own. No worries. I am certainly getting better. When I get over with this sickness I will never get sick again. Hopefully, yes.

The original title of this episode was “Orange Chicken”. I had to change it because I stopped writing that episode because I got sick. Now, I need to start it over again.

To make the long story short, I adopted a cat here, and had to give it away in the end. I named her Orange Chicken. She was so small, so white and so cute. She couldn’t hear anything because she was a deaf cat. I never had a pet in my life, so she was my first. Taking care of a kitty is harder than I thought. She was only two months old. She easily got scared of me. When she got scared, she ran into underneath of my roommate’s bed. She slept all day and woke me up at night. She liked to play on my keyboard and watch my laptop screen. I had to clean after her; otherwise she got mad and cried. So many memories of her! I don’t want to recall all because that just makes me sad.

[the market near my dorm, I often go here for icecream]

[The symbol of Beijing Normal University, the Bell]

I bought an electronic bike around the same time I got OC. As I wasn’t used to live with a kitty, I also wasn’t used to ride a new bike. I practiced a bit every night, and got better and better at it. By the time I got better at riding my new bike, OC wasn’t with me anymore. I wasn’t allowed to keep a pet in the apartment. I had to give her away.

I didn’t know anyone in Beijing who can take care of her. I was really stressed and upset. I wasn’t upset because I had to give her away. I was upset because I couldn’t manage my own business meaning that things were out of my control. I had to go back the pet store where I got her, and asked them to take her back. The pet store said that they didn’t have any room for her. I felt awful that moment. What should I do with her then?

But, luckily, one tall Chinese guy and his mom walked into the store at that precise moment. They liked her and were willing to take her. I don’t know how to express that feeling, but only can say thank God!

[the main library and office building of BNU, it is huge. It shows the typical grand style of Chinese modern architecture]

Now, she is gone. I still miss her. I only spent a week with her. It was shorter than I expected, But, hey you know “Hui Zhe Ding Li” (会者定离). Those who meet must part. That is even true for a cat. I just hope that she lives a better life with her new family. I really hope that.

After she was gone, I got sick. I don’t know whether she gave me the sickness. I think so. I don’t believe that she gave me the actual virus that made me sick. It is the sadness and emptiness made me sick. There were also other things made me sick. I am just sad that the feeling of the fatal sickness and the memory of OC will be linked together in my head. The memory of OC will fade away as the pain of my left ear slowly goes away.

This is it for this episode. I know it is a bit short considering that I didn’t write for a while. I don’t want to write every detail of my daily life here. That’s just boring. In the next episode, I will write about my trip to Inner-Mongolia.