#10 Oh you are sick today? You must have Malaria

Every time and anytime someone says they are sick they follow that up with “its malaria”. So you must be thinking… But isn’t malaria a life threatening disease and not a cause for a sore throat or a headache. How did you just walk over an hour to school when you should not be able to rise from a bed?… Yup, that’s what I was thinking too every time I had a student ask to leave class with the malaria excuse. Yes I know Malaria is something I should not be joking about, but it gets kind of ridiculous here when a headache or upset stomach is considered malaria. Malaria maybe is the word for “sick” or “ill”. Maybe “estou com malaria” or “tenho malaria” = “I am sick”. It does work out nicely though to have in your back pocket when you do not feel well and don’t want to go to school or just lay down alone. “I have malaria, I need to rest” goes a long way and people back off and let you be.