*CoughHACKSplutter*

And so, dear journal, I have contracted an illness. How can you catch a cold when it's 40 degrees plus outside??? A silly question I always asked myself as a kid, and still use with the twisted logic of knowing a ridiculous name. There's nothing cold about a cold at all. Puzzled by my conundrum, I asked my mother, and she gave me a quick look over and sighed.

I hadn't caught a cold. I had snagged some weird virus that was affecting nearly everyone, as the newspapers so nicely pointed out. Groaning, I slapped a cold cloth onto my head and flopped onto the couch, my lungs feeling crushed with every breath I took.

Salmon oil, thyme tea, Bisolvon and propolis tablets are still fueling me as I write this. Madness brought on by an elevator disease, which in the evening and early morning makes it impossible to breathe or relax, and leaves you tired and worn out during the afternoon and day when it releases it's grip on you. But only slightly, ever so enough to make you angry.

I didn't give up, forced vitamin C rich food down, tried my best to sleep, wasted a hefty amount of tissues and sulked over days of lost swim time at the beach. But the illness is weakening, I'm finally winning! I still sniffle and cough and can't breathe, but now I feel a lot better.

Strange how something like being sick even feels different in a foreign country. Maybe factors like the climate and diet have a lot to do with how you recuperate from disease, or how you contract one. You're a lot more likely to get food poisoning due to high temperatures and food possibly going bad than get something like pnuemonia or frostbite in Montenegro.

Waking up and sleeping at odd times is also a part of this cycle, but as a few moments ago I was wide awake, I feel sleepy once more and will drag myself back to bed and try to get some shut eye. The next few days will be hectic, but I know, there are many in the world who have it worse than I do, and so I am thankful for what I do have.