Got a cold and cough like me? Try Chinese Herbal Cough Medicine

For over a week now I've been fighting the cold and cough that's been going around . . . and tonight I finally broke down and decided at 2am to try the Chinese herbal cough medicine Julianne took when she was sick a while ago . . . in case you missed it the first time, here's her video.

Now I really have to wonder what Julianne was thinking when she tries to reassure me by saying, "Just swallow . . . an' bear it!" . . . yeah, reassuring words . . . not!

To add to my apprehensiveness I also juxtaposed Julianne's video with this girl on youtube taking Buckley's . . .

It's not a good idea to psych yourself out before you take medicine by remembering the contorting faces of two people taking cough medicine!

My cough is bad enough that I decided to power through the stuff in spite of the very evident misgivings you'll see flash across my face. I mean, seriously, if you look at the facial contortions Julianne made when she took the stuff wouldn't you be apprehensive too?

Julianne says, "Nice biiiig swallow, baby." My face does this,

Then we have a slight miscommunication about how much I'm supposed to take--I'd seen her take just the plastic cap before . . . she tells me to take two and my face does this--

Here's the video of me taking a shot of the stuff . . . (I'm too tired to search for them right now but I think my facial expressions kick Roboseyo's expression pics in the butt!!)

I think it kind of tastes like "Makgeolli, also known as takju, is a traditional alcoholic beverage native to Korea. It is made from rice (referred to in English as "Korean rice wine") which gives it a milky, off-white color, and sweetness. It is made by fermenting a mixture of boiled rice and water, and is about 6.5–7% alcohol by volume. It was originally quite popular among farmers, earning it the name nongju (농주 / 農酒), which means "farmer liquor". Dongdongju (동동주) is a drink very similar to makgeolli, and both are commonly imbibed alongside Korean "pancakes" called pajeon (파전) or bindaetteok (빈대떡)." (from wikipedia.com)

Anyways . . . to compound my misery I've also been staying up late at night because I can't lie down--I cough too much--and I'm still up right now at 3am blogging because my body clock is also whacked.

Julianne has to go into her school tomorrow and also on Tuesday and Wednesday for the ridiculous 3 days that mark the end of the 'winter vacation' and beginning of the Korean 'spring break' period which is just before the new school year which begins in March . . . this is when schools do a lot of the graduation ceremonies and a few other odds and ends so there will likely be no classes for her to teach, and she'll just sit at her desk. If she does get told to go to a classroom full of students there will be no teaching--the students know it, the Korean teachers know it, and veteran foreign teachers know it . . . luckily Julianne works with Korean coteachers who actually communicate with her what is going on as often as possible so she knows that she should just bring a game or DVD to the class and let the kids do whatever they feel like . . . the 'real' classes don't begin until March.

Well, I should try and get some sleep . . . I'm still coughing a little--so much for the magic of Chinese herbal cough medicine. I hope it keeps the cough down enough that I can get some sleep . . .

J