Benefits and Risks

The centres that we work with follow a national curriculum of weekly topics with the children. (The topics themselves are not inappropriate, but the idea that 3 year old children learn in weekly chunks according to a set schedule strikes me as bizarre, to say the least. But that's an aside.)
At the beginning of the project I asked my coordinator to translate the summary topic webs for each topic so we could have an idea what they were studying and help them find more appropriate ways of exploring the ideas and concepts involved. A recurring theme throughout the topics seems to be "Benefits and risks" - e.g. benefits of fruit and vegetables - they are very good for you and have lots of vitamins; risks of fruit and vegetables - if you eat too many you'll end up spending too much time in the toilet!
When it came to translating the topic about the seasons, each season had its particular benefits - hot season: you can dry your clothes quickly; rainy season: you can grow crops etc., but when it came to risks it didn't seem to matter which season it was, the main risk was that you might get ill.
When I lived in Italy, I fought long and hard against the idea that illness was caused by changes in the weather. But here I am finding myself surrounded by the same ideas, and I am slowly beginning to cave in. So it was that when I started getting a sore throat at the weekend I mused "Ah, that's probably because it's rainy season. It'll be the fluctuation between rain and sunshine." (Though thinking about it, that can't be right, or in the UK everyone would be permanently ill!)
I spent the entire weekend waiting for the sore throat to materialise into a full-blown cold, but it didn't. Neither did it get any better, and by this morning I was in considerable pain with it. Peering into the back of my throat with a torch I discovered that my tonsils were very swollen and a peculiar shade of pinky-yellow.
I reluctantly threw on my poncho and set off on my motorbike in the rain to the hospital. They went through the usual routine of weighing, taking blood pressure and temperature. (The scales announced that I am now a mere 49.1kg, clothed. Anyone wishing to lose weight, I can recommend the following approach:

1. Go to live in a country where you don't get on with the food - too spicy and meat-based for a delicate-stomached pescatarian such as myself
2. Discover you have IBS and cut out a whole load more things from your diet in a desperate bid to identify the trigger foods
3. Settle on a completely bland, innocuous and utterly boring but relatively "safe" diet, and take in all your trousers for the nth time.

Here endeth the digression)

The doctor spoke fairly good English. He asked about my symptoms - how long had I had the sore throat? Did I have a runny nose? No. Any congestion? No. Any cough? No. Just this horribly painful sore throat. He then peered in with torch and lolly-stick and announced what I had suspected, that I had tonsillitis. I came away with a week's supply of antibiotics plus two different medicines for relief of cough and congestion, despite the absence of any such symptoms. They do like to prescribe generously here!
I have spent a quiet day at home and will probably do the same tomorrow, just to knock it on the head. I don't want to go spreading germs to the little kiddies, even though they probably gave it to me in the first place! Benefits and risks of working with young children....