Japan_Bound
Friday, November 21, 2003
Woo Hoo! I have survived my first major hurdle in Japan and did not come home crying due to my first cold (come on, admit it - some of you thought I was going to bail). OK, I'll admit it was the worst cold I've ever had, having to teach while your throat is raw can make you contemplate suicide, and 25 is not too old to want your mommy - but I never once thought of quitting. I was considering the risky business of smuggling Nyquil and cough medicine with codeine into the country, but that's about as out of control as my thought patterns got (and we all know what a wild person I am).
I've spent 2 1/2 days relaxing in my apartment and feel muuuchhh better. In fact, I went out today and bought Jesse a stocking and a bunch of stocking stuffers for when he comes. I also burned a bunch of Christmas music today because I'm starting to feel really Christmas-ey. I'm also starting to really miss you guys and to realize that Christmas without you is going to be much harder than I thought. At least I'll have Jesse and we'll always have the memory of having spent Christmas in Japan together. You all know how crazy I get at Christmas but this year I haven't had a chance to go all crazy with decorations and gift-buying. I will buy a few little decorations when Jesse gets here so that the apartment doesn't look too barren. And I have burned a bunch of Christmas movies for us to watch (I'm sure he'd rather do anything than watch White Christmas and Rudolph a-gain, but he will because watching them with me and complaining the whole time is just part of our routine - secretly he loves them and I really believe he wants one of those shiny red and white suits that Bing Crosby wears in White Christmas).
I was telling my mom the other day that I'm really learning now what Christmas is really about; it's the people and the ambience that make it Christmas, not the gifts in shiny packaging. I keep picturing the lights flashing on the tree, my dad still reading "The Night Before Christmas" even though I'm 25 (and I hope he never stops), the smell of turkey permeating the house, the sound of kids outside playing with their new toys, Christmas music playing in the background, and my mom chasing me around the kitchen with the turkey liver on a fork (don't ask, but Vikings eat weird stuff). Ahh, these are the memories I carry in my heart and that light it up when I'm missing you. I love you!!
I've spent 2 1/2 days relaxing in my apartment and feel muuuchhh better. In fact, I went out today and bought Jesse a stocking and a bunch of stocking stuffers for when he comes. I also burned a bunch of Christmas music today because I'm starting to feel really Christmas-ey. I'm also starting to really miss you guys and to realize that Christmas without you is going to be much harder than I thought. At least I'll have Jesse and we'll always have the memory of having spent Christmas in Japan together. You all know how crazy I get at Christmas but this year I haven't had a chance to go all crazy with decorations and gift-buying. I will buy a few little decorations when Jesse gets here so that the apartment doesn't look too barren. And I have burned a bunch of Christmas movies for us to watch (I'm sure he'd rather do anything than watch White Christmas and Rudolph a-gain, but he will because watching them with me and complaining the whole time is just part of our routine - secretly he loves them and I really believe he wants one of those shiny red and white suits that Bing Crosby wears in White Christmas).
I was telling my mom the other day that I'm really learning now what Christmas is really about; it's the people and the ambience that make it Christmas, not the gifts in shiny packaging. I keep picturing the lights flashing on the tree, my dad still reading "The Night Before Christmas" even though I'm 25 (and I hope he never stops), the smell of turkey permeating the house, the sound of kids outside playing with their new toys, Christmas music playing in the background, and my mom chasing me around the kitchen with the turkey liver on a fork (don't ask, but Vikings eat weird stuff). Ahh, these are the memories I carry in my heart and that light it up when I'm missing you. I love you!!
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Hello from Hell everyone. Okay, maybe not Hell, but the closest I've ever been. Rather than getting better, my personal little plague has only continued to get worse. The icing on the cake is that the infection has reached my ears and I can no longer hear, either. What #$@&* good times! Today, after wondering how I was going to force yet 8 more lessons out of my raw, ravaged throat (and seriously pondering suicide instead), the guardian angels watching out for me finally gave me a break. The head honchos at my branch took me aside today and basically told me that they can see how hard I'm trying and that I'm forcing myself to go to work because I'm worried about making a bad impression, but that I'm not going to get any better if I don't take care of myself. The head honcho of all of [insert company name] in Osaka and 100s of its surrounding cities even spoke to me and told me he appreciates my efforts and not to worry because even he went home sick this week. I had lost my voice during the first lesson of the day and everyone was really concerned about me (which was nice in a way and humiliating in another, plus when you're thisclose to tears any sympathy can push you right over the edge!), so they ended up sending me home with some directions on how to get to a near-by clinic that employs an English speaking doctor.
An hour later I actually found the place and enjoyed an hour-long nap while I waited. Once actually in the doctor's exam room I quickly realized that "English-speaking" here can often mean, in reality, "5 English words spoken." Oh well. I can now proudly say that I've been felt up by a Japanese man (sorry to be crass, but I've never had a chest exam like I had today but also didn't care at all due to my being delirious from fever) and that it is not, as suspected, the plague. However, I do have acute bronchitis, an ear infection, a throat infection, and a nasal infection, for which I'll be taking powders and pills until kingdom come. All this really means by our standards is that I feel like absolute crap due to a common cold, will be getting lots of bedrest and plenty of fluids (which I've already been doing), and am hoping to notice some improvement in the next couple of days. Man is it ever hard to feel this bad when you're all so far away. Really makes you feel alone in the world, but I'll survive. Night night!
An hour later I actually found the place and enjoyed an hour-long nap while I waited. Once actually in the doctor's exam room I quickly realized that "English-speaking" here can often mean, in reality, "5 English words spoken." Oh well. I can now proudly say that I've been felt up by a Japanese man (sorry to be crass, but I've never had a chest exam like I had today but also didn't care at all due to my being delirious from fever) and that it is not, as suspected, the plague. However, I do have acute bronchitis, an ear infection, a throat infection, and a nasal infection, for which I'll be taking powders and pills until kingdom come. All this really means by our standards is that I feel like absolute crap due to a common cold, will be getting lots of bedrest and plenty of fluids (which I've already been doing), and am hoping to notice some improvement in the next couple of days. Man is it ever hard to feel this bad when you're all so far away. Really makes you feel alone in the world, but I'll survive. Night night!
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Due to my having suddenly come down with a nasty cold, I did not go to my Japanese lesson this morning. :( Nor will Ali and I be taking a day trip this week. Oh well. On the bright side, I've finally got the internet hooked up in my apartment, and am therefore typing this while in my PJ's. What a luxury! And I'm not fit for public viewing at the moment anyway, so I'm really greatful that I don't have to go anywhere.
Tomorrow my room mate and I are going to go to look at another apartment - there are 100s of apartments for rent here, for which the landlords charge much less than we're paying to [insert company name]. Rather than continue to be ripped off, we've decided to find a place together; she was the only reason I was staying in this apartment in the first place, but since she's willing to come with and we can save a ton of money, it works out well for both of us. It seems like such a pain in the neck to have to pack up and move after having moved in only two months ago, but the prospect of saving $400 or more Canadian per month just by moving alleviates the inconvenience.
The best news of all, though, is the fact that Jesse booked his flight today which means HE'S COMING HERE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!! YAYYYYY!!!!! I am so excited and can barely stand the anticipation. It will be so nice to see him and to not spend Christmas alone. My cousin was supposed to have come to stay with me over Christmas but I haven't heard from her in quite some time, so I think her plans may have changed. Anyway, yayyyy . . . 2 1/2 weeks with Jesse in Japan.
That's about all that's new on my end of things. I'll obviously be updating this more often now that I have the internet here.
Oh @#$^%* - my room mate just came home with her boyfriend again, and I don't like him at all. As mean as this sounds, I'm hoping she'll break up with him soon so I never have to see him again. Grrr...
Tomorrow my room mate and I are going to go to look at another apartment - there are 100s of apartments for rent here, for which the landlords charge much less than we're paying to [insert company name]. Rather than continue to be ripped off, we've decided to find a place together; she was the only reason I was staying in this apartment in the first place, but since she's willing to come with and we can save a ton of money, it works out well for both of us. It seems like such a pain in the neck to have to pack up and move after having moved in only two months ago, but the prospect of saving $400 or more Canadian per month just by moving alleviates the inconvenience.
The best news of all, though, is the fact that Jesse booked his flight today which means HE'S COMING HERE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!! YAYYYYY!!!!! I am so excited and can barely stand the anticipation. It will be so nice to see him and to not spend Christmas alone. My cousin was supposed to have come to stay with me over Christmas but I haven't heard from her in quite some time, so I think her plans may have changed. Anyway, yayyyy . . . 2 1/2 weeks with Jesse in Japan.
That's about all that's new on my end of things. I'll obviously be updating this more often now that I have the internet here.
Oh @#$^%* - my room mate just came home with her boyfriend again, and I don't like him at all. As mean as this sounds, I'm hoping she'll break up with him soon so I never have to see him again. Grrr...
Friday, November 07, 2003
Hello again! Ali and I had a very long day today! We went to a city called Himeji, about 1 hr. and 15 mins. away from Osaka by train. All we did there was check out Himeji Castle, which is absolutely breathtaking. We'd been told that if you only see one castle in Japan, this should be it, so we decided to check it out and are so glad we did. At the park outside the castle we happened upon a kitty that looks just like T, and of course I had to stop and pet him. He was meowing alot and obviously hungry, but looked really healthy and had a really healthy coat. We gave him some food and left some water, which he devoured, and then, just like T, he proceeded to play "pretty kitty" and demand as much attention and affection as we would give. Ali hates cats so I had to oblige the poor little guy (such a hardship!). I'm missing my T so much, and just having animals around in general, that it was the highlight of my day - even better than the castle, but you know me and animals. I eventually had to walk away and not look back, cause he was breaking my heart.
After finishing at the castle, we slept on the train ride back and then shopped around Osaka for a bit. Now we're really exhausted and in some major need of some R&R - back to work tomorrow - blech. I have so much laundry and grocery shopping to catch up on, so this update is sadly lacking in details. I have to get back to my apartment and get everything done before going to bed. I'll be in touch!
After finishing at the castle, we slept on the train ride back and then shopped around Osaka for a bit. Now we're really exhausted and in some major need of some R&R - back to work tomorrow - blech. I have so much laundry and grocery shopping to catch up on, so this update is sadly lacking in details. I have to get back to my apartment and get everything done before going to bed. I'll be in touch!
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Grrr... Arggh... Boo... Happy Hallowe'en everyone! I hope you're all having fun at your various parties and missing me lots (and, of course, eating lots of candy and chocolate in my honour). Feel free, in fact, to go to the cheap "day after Hallowe'en candy" sales and buy me some candy. All the candy (ok, well not all, but enough to turn me off of candy for a while) here is beef or seaweed flavoured. I'm not kidding - they have beef flavoured candies. Blecch. They also put raw egg on almost everything they can get their hands on, and Pizza Hut doesn't have normal pizzas - you can get them with fried fish, fried potatoes, corn, squid ink (the pizza is black - seriously - as they even put the squid ink in the crust), squid, salad, and various other delectable treats. No plain old Hawaiian for me. Poop.
Ali and I are really enjoying our Japanese lessons, and now we are even learning how to read and write it. I'm really excited about all of it. Our teacher is a doll and does so much preparing (she's a volunteer and doesn't get paid for her efforts). She's even giving us tidbits of Japanese culture and history. Here's something I didn't know - the character "shi" is used both for death and for the number four, so it's considered extremely bad luck to give someone four gifts. Good to know!
Our day trip this past Thursday was to a town called Otsu. (pronounced Oat-Sue). We hung around Lake Biwa (a beautiful lake) and, as always, tried to soak in as much nature and fresh air as possible. After having coffee at the lake we went for a trek and found Otsu's temples; beautiful! But then they all are! Later we found an import liquor store that sells, among many other things, a twixer of bacardi rum for $18 CDN. Can you believe it? Now I know how much our liquor would be at home if it weren't for the tax. After hitting the liquor store we went for dinner then drank some bottles of wine at the beach. No one would give us take-out cups so we had to drink straight from the bottles (such a hardship, really). I rode the train home and walked into my apartment feeling slightly intoxicated, then headed straight for bed.
Yesterday I had errands to run - I had to buy my teikei (monthly train pass) and pick up a few things for my apartment. No I did not buy more clothes with my credit card ... ok that was a bit of a lie! I ran into another difficulty due to my being in a foreign country - I spent the last of my cash on the train pass yesterday not worrying about it because I have lots of traveler's cheques and foreign currency that I can exchange. So my plan was to do that today, but I'd forgotten it was Saturday. I spent an hour before work trying to find an ATM that would accept my Canadian bank card and none would. It was totally frustrating! I am not in danger of starving because I have tons of food in my apartment, but it did cause a little bit of panic to know that things aren't as convenient here as they are at home, even though it's the technological capital of the world. Long story short, a friend from work told me about a Citibank that's located around the corner from our office, and it not only allowed me to withdraw from my Canadian account, but gave me a current account balance in Canadian funds (that feature probably costs $2000 Canadian alone, but oh well). All sorted out and I know where to go in a pinch now!
I'll be in touch and I hope you're all missing me as much as I'm missing you! Love ya!
Ali and I are really enjoying our Japanese lessons, and now we are even learning how to read and write it. I'm really excited about all of it. Our teacher is a doll and does so much preparing (she's a volunteer and doesn't get paid for her efforts). She's even giving us tidbits of Japanese culture and history. Here's something I didn't know - the character "shi" is used both for death and for the number four, so it's considered extremely bad luck to give someone four gifts. Good to know!
Our day trip this past Thursday was to a town called Otsu. (pronounced Oat-Sue). We hung around Lake Biwa (a beautiful lake) and, as always, tried to soak in as much nature and fresh air as possible. After having coffee at the lake we went for a trek and found Otsu's temples; beautiful! But then they all are! Later we found an import liquor store that sells, among many other things, a twixer of bacardi rum for $18 CDN. Can you believe it? Now I know how much our liquor would be at home if it weren't for the tax. After hitting the liquor store we went for dinner then drank some bottles of wine at the beach. No one would give us take-out cups so we had to drink straight from the bottles (such a hardship, really). I rode the train home and walked into my apartment feeling slightly intoxicated, then headed straight for bed.
Yesterday I had errands to run - I had to buy my teikei (monthly train pass) and pick up a few things for my apartment. No I did not buy more clothes with my credit card ... ok that was a bit of a lie! I ran into another difficulty due to my being in a foreign country - I spent the last of my cash on the train pass yesterday not worrying about it because I have lots of traveler's cheques and foreign currency that I can exchange. So my plan was to do that today, but I'd forgotten it was Saturday. I spent an hour before work trying to find an ATM that would accept my Canadian bank card and none would. It was totally frustrating! I am not in danger of starving because I have tons of food in my apartment, but it did cause a little bit of panic to know that things aren't as convenient here as they are at home, even though it's the technological capital of the world. Long story short, a friend from work told me about a Citibank that's located around the corner from our office, and it not only allowed me to withdraw from my Canadian account, but gave me a current account balance in Canadian funds (that feature probably costs $2000 Canadian alone, but oh well). All sorted out and I know where to go in a pinch now!
I'll be in touch and I hope you're all missing me as much as I'm missing you! Love ya!
