Lin Bing’s cub taking a nap in a tree

This is Ari and you know what sucks? Being sick. In China. On St Patties Day.

Two days before this wonderful holiday that celebrates half of my heritage with copious amounts of beer, the color green, and whimsical little leprechauns, I came down with something.

A cold? A flu?

Not entirely sure, but what started as a tickle in my throat and a mild headache at work soon turned into  something sounding like a bullfrog chorus and a pounding in my head. That first night I awoke several times in a sweat. It was the first time I hadn’t used my heater in a week, and instead had the fan on. And yet…drenched.

The aftermath of my sickness

I stayed home that day, spending 99% of my day in bed, asleep. The next morning I woke up feeling even worse. Which happened to be St. Patrick’s Day. My head made it hard to think, my cough jumbled my brain matter further, and my room had become a breeding ground oasis for bacteria.

The den of disease.

The room of runny noses.

The cave of coughs.

The lair of despair.

And I was the beast that lay within, consumed by a sad desire for the progresso chicken noodle soup I couldn’t have.

I yearned for my mommy, some soft tissue, and halls cough drops to eat like candy. Alas these things weren’t here. I missed the pandas too.

But I knew that the other girls had big plans for the day, so I figured I better nap all day so that I could awake for the festivities.

Sure enough, come afternoon the door bursts open with the sound of cheer. Everyone was back from work, libations were aplenty, Nate brought me cough syrup, and we all had matching green socks and green PDXWildlife shirts. Jenn set me up with some Gatorade she brought from the states, hydration of sick champions. It was time to celebrate.

Our St. Pattie’s day feast

We started off with an entertaining game of kings cup. After a while of everyone getting rambunctious and me getting Gatorade hydrated, we decided to teach Nate the classic game of beer pong (which, no, does not involve paddles!). I refilled my bottle with a new drank (orange EmergenC this time), we gathered our supplies, and made our way down to the ping pong table in the alley.

This was the first time I’d been outside in days. I enjoyed watching the shenanigans. The Dixie cups and water substitutes for the normal red solo cups and beer (those ping pong balls were rolling in all sorts of alley pollution) paired with the fact that we attracted all sorts of attention made for a fun time. Several old Chinese gents took their chances at tossing a couple balls. They were certainly intrigued.

After a game that lasted far too long, we moseyed over to dinner. This would be my first real meal of the day out of hibernation mode. We went to hot wait staff and ordered way too much food. All delicious. The others were having a grand old time as I sipped on tea.

Alas, soon I was falling asleep at the table. Everyone else was ready to continue the celebration, and heck it’s St patties day why not?!

My sick body had had enough for one day, so we parted ways and I dragged myself back to the apartment…and went on to dream of pandas. (From what I heard the others had fun! But that’s their story to tell).

Winning.

Ge Ge’s cub (I think?) playing at the kindergarten

-Ari