This'll Make You Feel Better!

     This past week my throat's been feeling pretty sore and slightly swollen.  I'm sure it's from all the yelling and screaming I do at my Treehouse 1 kids (age 5/6) to stop hitting each other in the face.  Before work one day I go to the 7-11 with Anthony and am debating on what I should get to drink.  Orange juice, tea, just water?  Anthony recommends this tea, it's not very sweetened he says.  I decide to try it.  I twist off the top just outside the convenience store and report that it tastes like I'm drinking a flower.  There is a picture of a white flower on the bottle, accompanied by a bunch of Chinese characters.  So who knows, really.  I step into the branch where I'm meeting my ride, and see that Anthony has the same bottle sitting on his desk.  

"Ohhh," I say to him, "you just wanted me to get this because you're drinking it!"

He laughs and slightly agrees,  "I figured I'd tell you to pick something I've tried, rather than take a poopshoot guess."

                 The 2 on the left is what I was drinking. 

I continue sipping it, and soon my ride arrives.  One of the Chinese Teachers I work with let's me drive with her to the branch that we work at.  While we're in the car, I ask her about the beverage.  

"Helen, what kind of tea is this?"  I ask, flashing her my bottle. 

"Uhmm, green tea." She says

"So why is there a flower on it? Is there flowers in the tea?"

"Mmmh, maybe."  Slight pause,  "It is a drink for weight loss."

.....

I laugh and say "Oh, perfect. Hopefully it makes me skinny."  With sarcasm I hope she catches.

I keep on with the drink once I get to my branch. Although I'm slightly subconscious that the other Chinese Teachers will think I'm on some sort of hoax diet if they see me drinking the tea.  Once my first class starts I bring the bottle into my class and take a sip of it during an activity.  One of the kids up front starts laughing and definitely points at my drink.  I just KNOW he does!  Then of course he starts speaking Chinese and all the other kids, okay maybe only like 2 others, were looking at me.  The smirk on his face is ridiculous. His name is "Mars." He's judging me for sure.  

Now I know only to bring water into my classroom, and to try strange drinks at caution. 

Who knows what the hell I could be ingesting over here.