Athlete Nation

My students are outside, running hurdles right now. This school takes sports meet very seriously. I don't think anyone is exempt from having to run.
It was also entertaining to watch the dancers rehearse. Even if they were spared from running--that is, if, and they probably aren't--there is the need to dance something. I saw a large number of grown men in a big long line doing the bunny hop, in all seriousness. Yet another thing to love about this country.
What else has been going on lately? Lots. I've done a lot of teaching. I got really sick last week, I had a deathly painful headache yesterday. I've had some great weeks and some really great weekends with work and serving my students and spending time with my team.

That's interesting. Forgot how to spell my name

In all fairness, I have been very ill lately, on top of living here where my name doesn't really have the meaning it used to.
My ID card has my Chinese name on it. So does my metro card. The only time I actually see my English name written down is in the notes I get from my teammates and in the daily routine of signing in to verify that I taught each class. That last one is probably what got me.
It's all in Chinese, but I'm used to seeing the tiny grid. There's a box for my employee number, there's a spot for my name, for the name of the class I teach and finally, for my signature.

So the student leader fills out the little form and just has to tell me to sign my signature. I'm always a little disoriented by trying to read the thing. I automatically look to the line where she wrote my name to make sure I sign on the right line. Sometimes the student has written in characters and sometimes the student has written my actual name. Well, it's pretty frequently mispelled. Normally I just take that amusing fact and get on with the signature and the rest of my day.
Yesterday was the only weird day.
Once again, in my defense, I have been very sick, sick to the point of not being able to think with out pain, not being able to touch the world outside my head, not really being present with other people. Too sick to hear everything. Dazed, stupefied sick.

So for a second I forgot how to spell my name. My room mate had written a get-well soon post-it note for me and it was on my door. After the initial reaction of being touched that she was so sweet and thoughtful, I stared for a bit at my name and wondered why it was misspelled.
I looked at all its extra vowels and tried to correct them in my head.
I was so sick the letters really did float as I saw them. They wavered, really, like they were on the surface of water as ripple passed through.
And then I came to my senses. No, it was spelled right. That really was my name. I just forgot it for a second. It's probably happened before. But this time I grasped at the symbolism and linked it to the drama I wanted to express at the moment.
In my head I shouted,
I am sick! I am turning into a nutty poet and I forgot my name!
Drama! Let me feel something big. The big deal is I forgot my name. Now how do I feel.
And think of a meaningful truism I can write down to quote.