"You Come To My House And You Will Be Better"

I've been sick again (this time tonsilitis, which I am prone too) and my illness has been causing a few cultural snafus.  Just like the local belief that a stomachache apparently needs to be treated with food, a sore throat (and other respirtory illnesses) need to be treated with a journey out of the city and into the country.
So, when news hit the hospital that I was sick, a "rash" of invitations came rushing in, each to a villiage more distant then the last.  Although it's rude to refuse an invitation to another's home in this culture, I tend to put my foot down when I am not feeling well and just want to rest.  Unfortunatly, the invitations do not appear to be voluntary, and I have taken to hiding in my room to avoid them.  The first one I thought that I would be able to perry with an excuse, but the lady said that if I came to her house I would be better.  I laughed at her joke, then realized that she was serious.  At that time I had a slight fever and I was an hour from the end of my shift and an hour from bed.  Unlike milky food which can be hidden in the trash, I have had a harder time trying to convince people that I just don't want to travel or meet a ton of people when I have a fever.

For me, it seems unreasonable to make any type of demands on someone that doesn't feel well, and I am trying not to feel frustrated that people will not just accept my "no thank you, I don't feel well, perhaps another time" and drop it.  I am trying to imagine my own reaction if I found out that someone was continuing to smoke during a nasty chest infection-- I would not take a "no thank you" to my advice to stop smoking if I really cared about the person, no matter how polite.  I think that people here feel the same way about getting me some fresh air.  But, after working for eight hours, I really just want to rest and spending another four hours trying to stumble through a conversation with my weak Arabic is just not an option. 

I have been transferred to the NICU, where I have been for the last few days.  The plus sides is that I don't have to try to talk to scared parents that don't understand my English.  The con side is is that I am working with men who don't really know how to react to a woman like me, but I think that we will all learn.  People of opposite genders are not friends here, unless they are also family.