Day off

I almost never take a day off, especially since these days we have to make up all classes we miss. Apparently teachers are supposed to be invincible, and also are not covered by labour laws which require employers to allow a certain number of sick days a year.

But tomorrow I am taking a day off, at the only place I can without having to make up classes. (They politely 'urge' us to make them up at that place but do not insist, as they do everywhere else.) This is because today in my second class I lost my voice. In the first class I rapidly discovered that I could not call the roll without banging on the desk first to get the students' attention – yelling was out of the question as my voice just wasn't working – and in the second my voice . . . went. When I tried to speak my throat seized up and tears started streaming down my face. After I recovered from that (with the help of a throat lozenge) I could speak again, but with even less volume than before.

I don't know what this is, but it is not a normal cold. Nor is it the 'flu. I do not have a cough and my temperature is normal, although halfway through that second class I started feeling a bit dizzy and hot. (I think it was the heating system, which is up by the ceiling and blows directly down on my head.) My sinuses are full of gunk and my throat hurts. That's it. Oh, and I feel like rubbish.

I was supposed to get over this. I had a long weekend in which to recover, and I spent it resting, overdosing on chicken soup, and sleeping. Last night I went to bed at around nine in order to be really refreshed for today, and slept straight through to nine this morning. That was a bit surprising. Good thing I only had afternoon classes! I felt pretty good before I started work.

That must be it. I have developed an allergy to work.