Sick in Sunshine

Ah, sitting here in the living room in my camping chair with a cup of hot green tea... enjoying the beautiful sunshine and warmth, with a box of tissues at the ready. Yes...I am sick, but so far haven't been swined yet. Probably just a cold, but then again, who knows when it comes to me and my illnesses...

It has been such a long time since I last blogged about the recent happenings, and I realized that I needed an entirely new focus. No more "goodbye" in the title most certainly, and I needed to find a way to rediscover my own writing. Not only that, but to be more transparent about the goings-on in my life... not that I haven't been transparent, in fact you all have read about the various embarrassing and crazy experiences I have had the past year and few months. This brings me to the tentative title for now, "Untethered." This word kept coming back to mind, so I figured, why not. Should I feel held back with my words? To some extent I suppose, don't need to let everything just flap out and around openly like underwear on a clothesline... but just to find some new step in my written thoughts.

So, on to other things!

I have had many things to write about in the past couple months but just haven't brought myself to write about them yet. Most recently, David and I went on a fun weekend trip to the Izu peninsula of Shizuoka, where we did archery in the crater of a volcano for an hour. Spent some time walking around the perimeter of the crater, taking pictures, admiring the view, dodging between the many Japanese visitors... After that we headed to our hotel in a city called Kawazu, akin to a small beach/hills town. After walking to our hotel, I became a bit wary by the warehouse look of it from the outside; however, once we went closer, there were lots of beautiful shrubbery and plants and inside was very quaint, and more western than Japanese. Of course, being a small town, it shuts down early and we didn't really find much in the way of dinner, but enjoyed the onsen at the hotel.

The next morning, we caught a bus and went to Nanadaru (Seven Waterfalls) that I went to last fall with a friend of mine. We enjoyed the short hike (except for all the stairs) and the outdoor, co-ed (bathing suits required) onsen. It was such a beautiful, warm, sunny day and we enjoyed it. All in all, it was a fun, relaxing trip, and we spent the holiday Monday relaxing at home before school started again.

Work is going well for the most part. It's nice to have some idea of what I'm doing as opposed to last year. I don't feel like I'm constantly floundering around and wondering what's going on (although that still happens on a regular basis). We had a meeting for an upcoming seminar among ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) and someone asked what we do when the teachers suddenly all disappear from the room and we are left alone. Of course, some us laughed and mumbled we just sit there and pretend we have no idea so we don't have to do anything. I made a comment about learning to read the board and notes they write, as well as the calendar, so I know what is going on, in case it is something important. I was a bit shocked to find that most people (aside those that can read and know Japanese well) don't really try to read things. Or the fact that I seem to be one of the few ALTs in the prefecture who knows you can request redelivery of packages online... (saves the calling and dealing with the whole Japanese thing plus formalities which take forever to figure out and understand). I told David about these things, and he suggested that most people don't try to figure things out as much as I do. "But why???" I asked, finding this idea completely ridiculous. David shrugs, "they don't mind asking for help, they don't care, or it isn't that important to them."

This got me thinking about how I have been since arriving in Japan. I have learned to read things rather quickly, so I don't have to ask people for help all the time or rely on others as much. Granted, I still have to, more often than I'd like, but the fact that I have been forced to rely on others has in turn forced me to learn to read kanji very quickly. Or learn the Japanese I need to communicate in daily events. Such as getting a haircut. I'm still learning that one, since I know simple things like "I want a haircut" and how to say length, bangs, layers, etc... but as I remembered today, getting a haircut, there is still much I have yet to learn. The man cutting my hair last weekend commented "your hair so soft!" and other things about what he wanted to do with my hair that I had no idea what he was saying. He did hand motions and said "just this? is this ok?" and of course I still wasn't sure what he said before that so I sit stupidly saying "uhhhhh" trying to figure out what I should say before going to my default "yes" in Japanese. Which seems to be my most common phrase. Other than thank you.

I also somehow navigated picking up a prescription for allergy medicine too... they asked me something about where I live or am living, but it was probably more formal than I'm used to and wasn't sure what to say. Eventually they just took my alien card and wrote my address down. Yes, I could have done that, if only I knew that's what they wanted. Surprisingly, out of everything they said, I understood the directions the guy told me for how to work my nasal spray (that I've used in the States). I think they were surprised I looked liked I understood.

While we are on the Japanese topic, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Japan is obsessed with face masks. People wear them ALL the time it seems. Especially during this swine flu outbreak, or allergy season, everywhere you go people have got masks on. Obviously, in the U.S. masks aren't exactly popular, so even if I have a cold I don't wear a mask. However, when I went to the doctor last night (to make sure I didn't have the swine) they made me wear a mask after confirming my fever. So I'm sitting there trying not to get dizzy as I'm breathing my own air. David shows up after running to the grocery store, since I was a complete invalid, and laughed as soon as he saw me with my stylish mask. I honestly don't know how people here can wear masks all day, especially those that work in the medical industry, but even my coworkers are all wearing masks since some students have come down with H1N1. Just one of those things I suppose.

Oh, but please don't worry, my fever went down last night after our yummy homemade salmon chowder dinner. David and I have come up with a theory that my body seems to pull itself together when he's around, like he has some kind of healing effect on me. It's untested at this stage, merely derived from past observations. Ironically, I seem to feel ten times worse when I go to school.

Well anyway, for now I'm enjoying sick days at home. Unfortunately, not sure if I will still be able to have a Halloween party with my third year students tomorrow, and probably shouldn't make them cookies like I wanted to, so I don't go to class next week and suddenly mark half of the class absent....

This comes to an end now, but I am going to try and update more often. It's part of my resolve to become a more disciplined writer. (Then these posts won't always be so long either... )