We weren't exactly affected by the swine flu in the Spring, but it's hitting us closer and closer to home now. Another international school has 8 cases, and the chinese school that shares the campus with the middle and high school where Scott teaches also has a case. This has led to the unfortunate decision to cancel next week's enrichment week trips for grades 6-12. What a bummer! 22 students were out from that campus today with some sort of sickness. It doesn't mean they have the flu, but any fever must stay home. The students and staff were all excited about their week-long trips. Scott and the seniors were really looking forward to a week long sailing training. And we're all considering how to keep school going if we have to cancel classes. Our poor nurse is extra busy, having to check the students' temperatures when they arrive, then while they eat their lunch. Supposedly a lot of it is political. The certain country where we reside is getting ready to celebrate 60 years since the founding of the ruling party. They don't want any incidents!
Interestingly enough, we had first aid training this weekend, and the doctor, who's a local, told us that they have decide to immunize all those involved in the massive celebration/parade. This means a lot of military and university students. What's interesting is that this doctor said that numerous countries have been working on a vaccine for years, and some countries have it, but it isn't approved for use on humans. But this country makes it and approves it in a short amount of time for immediate use. You've got to wonder if it's really safe or not.....hence why they're trying it out on only a certain group for now. And things are backwards in many other ways. The elderly would be the last to receive the vaccine here. !
In other news, we are still training for our 9k race. And no, I haven't been running 9k in 45 minutes, but I was working up my stamina to running for 45 minutes. I didn't know my distance. I do now though. Scott and I are up to running for 1 hour and we've done about 9k each time. We've still got a month to go!
Not much else is new....we are 1/8 of the way through the school year, Pepper and Baby Spice are still kickin' around, and Matt and Sarah (from Kitchener) were visiting, which was fantastic!
Ta-ta for now!
