Colds in China

Well I haven't posted anything in awhile but it's definitely not for lack of interesting things to say.  Time just seems to get away from me the closer I get to the end of the semester.  But this week I caught a nasty cold as many other people around me have.  It's interesting to see how my Chinese friends handle it when they notice I'm stuffed up.  Here, when someone is sick, you show them you care by telling them what to do (as is the case in many other situations).  These are some of the suggestions I've gotten--wear more clothes, don't drink fruit juice-just eat fruit, don't exercise--just stay home and rest, and drink warm water but not hot water.  Even the vegetable lady I usually go to at the market suggested that I buy ginger, garlic, and onion root to make a soup.  In a way it's really sweet that all these people care enough about me to tell me how I can feel better.  I really enjoyed the help I got from a good friend whose mother is a doctor. She told her Mom my symptoms and her Mom told her which medicine to buy for me.  It turned out to be five different kinds of pills, only one of which I knew-vitamin B6.  The others I was at a loss to know what they were really doing as they were all in Chinese.  She put each dose in a little piece of paper folded up into a nice pouch so I could take one pouch at a time.  It was really sweet, I must say, but it didn't do much to help me.  By the end of the week I finally decided to call an American doctor in town and get some advice from him.  His advice?  Sniff or squeeze salt water up your nose.  It's called irrigation.  Yes!   Just what I wanted to do!  But actually, it turned out to be the best advice.  I tried it and my nose started clearing up that day!