Masked

It's that time of year! When people start to look scary because they wear masks on their face. I know what you're thinking. "But Mike, Halloween was LAST month!" Yes, it was you sillygooses. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the protective white mouth/nose masks that so many people love to wear here!

Lately, everyone has been figuratively throwing their hands in the air running around screaming "FLU FLU FLU FLU FLU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" This is done by people quietly handing out these white masks to all the teachers and students. Some teachers got a head start by starting to wear this masks weeks ago. Now I'd say a good 90% of the teachers in the office are wearing the masks now.

I wasn't too into the whole mask thing. Not because it was unfashionable, I'm not. It's just that it seemed weird to me. I sometimes wondered if it helps or makes it worse. If you aren't sick, but are exposed to the virus, your mask seems like it would become a concentrated swamp of viruses on your face that you would constantly be breathing in.

If you're already sick, it makes sense. If you sneezed with the mask on it wouldn't go nearly as far as it would if you didn't have it on. Though, if you touched any part of face with your bare hand and then touched something else, you'd still be spreading it.

The mask seems like a nice idea but, of course, is full of holes. In my brilliant mind, I'm convinced it's a bit of a scam. The fact that there are 17 people, in the 1st year students alone, with flu at my school and 14 of them are the H1N1 virus says, to me, that masks don't work. These students are sporting masks all the time!

Also, it sounds like the H1N1 virus isn't as bad as people seem to make it. It's only bad for old people or babies... but the normal flu is too.

Schools here are divided into years, then groups. So there's First Year Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and so on. So the students are always in classes with people in their group. It'd be like if you had all the classes your homeroom classmates have. Anyway, if 4 people or more get the flu, that group is required to stay home from school until the sick students are better. If it gets too out of control, the whole school is cancelled.

People are really freaked.

I was given a pack of masks, though no one really made a point to say "you MUST wear these." Just a calm and friendly, "becareful of the flu, wear these if you want to." I went about 4 or 5 days without wearing any masks in schools. Teachers were giving me looks when I thought to myself "I should really wear these masks."

About another week went by and I hadn't worn my masks. Then one teacher said "Why aren't you wearing your masks?" "I dunno." I said. "You will get sick without them." I wanted to say "You'll get sick with them too..." but this makes things too complicated so I just said "Oh, really?" "Yes, you should wear them." "Ok, I'll put one on... later... after my class." I don't know why I didn't want to wear it. I knew I probably should I just really couldn't bring myself to wear it. Part of me just wants to get the flu just to get it over with. If I get it now then I won't have to deal with it later. I'm not TRYING to get it. I still wash my hands like crazy, but I'm not one of these people who gargles every 15 minutes, wears a mask, and eats my lunch far away from other people.

I was in the copy room when one of the teachers came in, wearing a mask. He goes "So... worried about the flu?" "Yeah, are you?" "Yes, of course, I'm wearing my mask." "Ah, yeah. Do any teachers have the flu?" "Hmmm... actually, no, none!" "That's good." "...yet...everyone should be careful... and wear a mask."

So... I reached in my pocket. Pulled out my mask... and put it on. He nodded with a "that'll do little pig, that'll do." In his mind, he had just won the battle. The contaminated Assistant Language Teacher was now masked and safe. As soon as he left, I took it off again. It just feels weird to be breathing on your own face.

The one other thing that I have to bring up that really bugs me about this flu epidemic is the gargling. I'm sure it helps if you gargle with warm salt water twice a day, like "they" say. I'm not sure, though, that gargling with cold water and spitting it into the sink is a good idea. First, there's no salt. Second, they're spitting into the sink where everyone cleans their cups and washes their hands. When I see people gargling and spitting cold water in there and it splashes everywhere I just imagine that the sink becomes a huge Cancun-spring-break-night-club party for viruses. They're all wet and hanging out together. They're being pushes onto cups and countertops into peoples cups and stuff. Gross. It hurts to watch people use that sink. It's right next to the computers and I know that it sprays everywhere. It's like, people forget that when you flush a toilet that the dirty water sprays out of it a little bit. You're supposed to, if there is one, close the lid so there's less spray-age. This is happening with the sink. I come to use these computers and their covered in all the teachers' sick viruses and...


...I'm putting on my mask.