The Party That Nearly Killed Us

Two Thursdays ago we invited Drew's class over for an American meal. So that's 25 guests. Here we go: Rachel + 3 small children + backpack + all the food + toaster oven + two gas burners. Can she pull it off? 

Apparently yes, but it took four days of prep work and four days of cleaning.

And sadly, Drew became very, very ill the day after.

Le Menu:

BBQ baked chicken legs & wings

mashed potatoes with gravy

fresh steamed seasoned mixed vegetables

fresh fruit salad

pumpkin raisin muffins

apple crisp with ice cream

 

There are two other Americans in Drew's class. One guy pitched in by bartending on our back porch, which is the laundry drying room. Everybody loved it!

And here I digress. It's nice enjoying the companionship of peers. 

The statistics prof came -- he's the fellow looking at the camera.

Most of the guests left pretty early, like 8:30pm. But then we sat around talking with the bartender and the other American guy. They left. An enormous mess stayed. Our house was pretty trashed, but Drew and I needed to get to bed so we let the mess alone. The next morning Drew woke up vomiting. This is when the cook (me) starts panicking that maybe she food poisoned the entire class and the professor and their kids? Everyone is going to be texting each other:

you get sick too?  

must have been the chicken wings 

yeah, drew's wife poisoned us 

dear students, class is cancelled because everyone is seriously ill 

i hate american food

Thankfully, Drew was the only one who got sick. But poor Drew! He doesn't have food poisoning but rather some kind of vicious flu that swiped all his energy, gave him cold sweats, a fever, swollen eyes, crazy dreams, loss of appetite, general inability to function whatsoever for about three days. He's still not entirely recovered more than a week later.

With our efficient cleaning man out of commission, the task 'restore home to livable state' was placed squarely on my shoulders. I didn't get through the mountain of dishes until three days later! Maybe we'll do paper ware next time.

We're concerned about Drew, now twelve days later and still very fatigued. He's discouraged about getting behind on class work and living all messed up and groggy. 

This afternoon he went into the clinic; bloodwork revealed an abnormality related to 淋巴细胞 -- something about lymphocytes, says the dictionary. We don't really understand obscure medical terms in Chinese. But we do know that the physician recommended for him to be admitted to the hospital, so he's now alone on his way to a superior medical center to understand the problem and be treated. 

sick:

生病

shēng bìng