ill

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Yesterday I was sick - properly ill and feeling sorry for myself. Personally, I blame the KFC. Have been mostly eating Chinese food since I got here, then have KFC and start throwing up about 8 hours later. Tarik looked after me really well though - I was surprised, impressed and grateful. He even gave me his pillow last night so I could try and sleep sitting up!

Today, in spite of misgivings, we ate Swallows Nests. These are a delicacy in China and I wouldn't have had it so soon after being ill expect that one of Tarik's students had invited us and it would have looked bad not to go. My mum told me about Swallows Nest when she came back last time and I was kind of dreading it. It is a health soup/jelly thing that apparently is very good for your lungs and skin. So far so good. It is, however, made from Swallow's saliva. That's right. The saliva that the birds use to build their nests is harvested and served up as a warm jelly. My mind totally gets in the way of me trying new food but I tried really hard to ignore the images of a mother bird feeding her young that was in my head and just concentrate on eating, and actually it wasn't so bad. It was served warm with fruit in it and, if it would make me look as young as the lady in the shop does, I would definitely keep using it. Although the fact and it is 60GBP for a 2-4 week supply is slightly off putting so I'll probably just stick to Oil of Ulay.

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