The Curious Case of the Upset Stomach

You know you've been in Kazakhstan too long when you start thinking that maybe these home remedies really do work...

I wasn't feeling very good today. I've had a headache on and off all day, and have been feeling a little sick to my stomach. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling this way and was trying to decide if I would be able to make it downstairs if I needed to throw up (don't worry, that was never necessary. I have a stomach of steel). Anyway I got up and went to school today thinking it would go away after ibuprofen, pepto, lots of water and a cup of tea. Well, if didn't. By the end of the school day I was feeling pretty miserable.

When I got home, my babooshka asked if she could heat up lunch for me. I told her it wasn't necessary because I had eaten at school. She asked what I ate. I told her it was a roll with cabbage in it, and a cup of tea. She of course said that it wasn't enough and she would prepare something for me. But I told her I wasn't feeling well and wanted to go lie down, and that I didn't think eating anymore was a good idea. And this is where I made a mistake...or so I thought...

One day, my team teacher came over and Babooshka offered her some food. She declined saying that she wasn't feeling well and couldn't eat. So, Babs made her take a spoonful of dry tea and keep it in her mouth - no swallowing - and Ludmila told me after words that it was an old home ready that probably didn't work, and tastes really icky besides.

...so guess what I had to do? That's right. A spoonful of dry tea, in my mouth, for "a long time." I didn't know exactly what "a long time" meant, but I had wanted to go to the post office at 3:00, which would give me half an hour to rest my poor body, and keep that tea in my mouth. So I gave it a try. 10 minutes later, I spit it out. I had to try to sieve my saliva through my teeth so that I wouldn't swallow the little bits of tea. And anyway, I wanted to lie down and I couldn't do that with my mouth so full. So I spit it out, took more ibuprofen for my headache, then layed down and after 20 minutes I went downstairs to the kitchen and pretended like I was spitting it out just then. After a nice thorough teeth-brushing, I left for the post office against my babooshka's command that I stay home at least until the color comes back into my face. But I had to go pay for my internet! It's the first of the month and I didn't want to go another day without it! So I went. I was only gone about 15 minutes anyway.

I was still feeling not-so-great when I left, but by the time I got to the post office I was feeling significantly better. I even managed to walk home at a quick pace (not like when I walked home from school, which took me 21 minutes with the shortcut, when it usually takes me about 15 minutes without the shortcut). So my question - Could it have been the tea??? Like I said, I had taken ibuprofen in the morning with no helpful results. Maybe it just worked this time around? I think the caffeine in the tea might have been helpful for the headache at least. But the ibuprofen wouldn't have helped with the stomach ache, so how do you explain that!? I don't know. I just don't know...