15 November 2005

one part tea, three parts ракия. repeat.

My senior thesis advisor was a big Medical Anthropologist. He has devoted his life into studying the way cultures react to illnesses. If you ever get a chance to read any medical anthropology work you should, it is fascinating to see how differently groups of people can react to the same set of diseases. These last couple of days have showed me a little insight into the way Bulgarians react when their crazy little American gets a cold.
First I’ll explain what I had in American terms. I had a cold. I figured I got sick from either my students or Friday night when I went to the Disco. I had a huge headache, the chills, sore throat, a whole lotta mucous, I lost my appetite, an awful hacking cough and was very tired. I could feel the cold beginning on Friday night, I didn’t eat anything on Saturday, felt worse Saturday night and then Sunday morning, the cold broke and I thought I was going to die. On Monday, I was feeling better but called into work because I needed more sleep and a day without students. I took a couple Ibuprofen, some tea with honey and lemon juice, and some decongestants. I didn’t check my temperature because I figured, “what difference would it make? I would treat it exactly the same way.” My plan of attack was to just wait it out. I thought it would pass. And it did. I did not call a doctor.
Now for the Bulgarian response. It seems that my friends believe that colds come from cold temperatures. Colds can come from changing temperatures or simply from being cold and wet. Neighbors asked me when I was underdressed, and some thought it was from my long, cold walks to school. Another neighbor said it was from Friday night when I went to visit her and only wore a t-shirt. Another neighbor said that I should keep all my doors within my apartment open so that the whole place will be one temperature and I won’t have to go from a hot living room to a cold kitchen. This could get me sick. One of my 24 year old neighbors, however, saw me looking half dead and laughed, saying, “имаш ново гадже, нали? (Well, you got a new girlfriend, don’t you?).” At the time, I was not in the mood for joking. But now I realize that his comment may suggest another concept of the cause of illness: having a new girlfriend, and kissing her, can give you an illness. Maybe he and his generation are thinking of colds in a different way. Of course, I don’t have a new girlfriend, but that was part of the joke too. Now that I think of it, he’s a pretty mean guy.
Treatments for colds vary greatly. Most often it is something social. As an American, I am accustomed to being left alone when I am sick. I figure all I need is some rest, relaxation and peace. Not here. I think I was more active this weekend than any other time. I went over two neighbors, had coffee with a Bulgarian colleague in a café, and had four guests over to my place. Guests brought sweets, hot milk mixtures, two dinners (on the same night), and tea with cognac and honey (twice). Though I didn’t feel like it, we talked and talked and talked until I felt like I was going to pass out.
Tea with honey, lemon and cognac or brandy was an often repeated remedy. So was a kind of compress to put on your throat. It involves homemade brandy, crushed olives, scarves, boiled and applied to the throat. One person who told me this, even though she was suggesting it, didn’t know exactly why it worked. Sounds very much like Western Culture: we always suggest some medicine but do we really know how aspirin works? Another suggestion was one I had never heard of: fill up a bucket with very very hot water and a handful of salt. Then you stick your feet in it and wait till you get very chilly. I don’t understand this one but I think I missed something in the translation…
Here, people take a more cautious approach to sickness. It is a much bigger deal. If you are sick, you are always treated like you are dying. You must see the doctor, you must go to the hospital. You must go home and rest. Take plenty of medicine. Take plenty of time off from work. I was hesitant about taking Monday off, but everyone was expecting me to take Tuesday, or even Wednesday off too. My first period class didn’t show up today because they were sure I would not come in.
So I got sick and now I am better. Who has a better explanation and treatment? I don’t know. But I do know that I was underdressed Friday at my neighbors place and on Friday I was freezing after taking a very cold shower. And maybe I should have taken today off because I still have a nasty cough, and I nearly feel asleep in the teachers room between classes. And maybe that tea with brandy really did work…

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

p.s. i am glad you didnt die (or have bird flu). that would have been wayyyy lame. i too am always getting offered rakiya in some form whenever i so much as cough a little bit. a rakiya massage? no thank you.

Maegen said...

While you can't contract a virus from being in the cold, you can devlop a cough, and a cough can turn into an infection. This I know, because I cough. Going in from the FREEZING (I do mean that literally) into the warm classrooms at my school... my nose starts running immediately and I start hacking everything that has set into my lungs since I cleared out everything the hot shower loosened up. Gross?

Funny thing, our Physics teacher recommended the hot salt water foot bath for my cough. She also recommended warm red wine with pepper, or was it salt... I don't remember, either way it sounded gross.

cinnamon girl said...

Over here if you take monday off as a sickie, people just nod and wink sagely and say 'No worries!' Then they start offering you hangover cures.
Eh eh. I'm so funny.

Nah seriously, hope you feel better soon Andy.

Anonymous said...

I am not a "rakiya" fan, but the rakiya massage works...indeed!

Anonymous said...

HEHEHE! Glad to know you are going through the same thing I am! Just imagine Auntie Siham around when you have a cold...seeing as how my cold hasn't taken its full course after a week and a half, she is insisting its because I sat outside in the cold (not cold by NH standards) with just a sweatshirt on. The Jordanians at work are treating me like I'm on my death bed, and the Americans at work could care less! =)

Anonymous said...

andy, i'm jealous of your social life. the last bulgarian i had in my apartment was my counterpart when i moved in. why do i even bother cleaning?

it's snowing here, now, too. but it won't stick. it's just not that cold. yet.

--liz

Taiki33 said...

My grandmother was from germany, and her idea of a medicine cabinet was a collection of different types of alchahol. Depending on your symptoms you got a different shot mixed in with your tea. I spent most of my teen years desperatly searching for sick people and trying to convince them to cough on me.