The Flu War 2

So today in the midst of the infruenza battle again, the vice principal asked me to smell his hands. I was like uuuhh, but I dutifully smelled them. Afterwards he says, it has alcohol, it will stop infruenza. Apparently he went out and bought hand sanitizer and wanted to show it off. He was super excited about this hand sanitizer, and later on made a big show of using it and offered me some. I wasn't sure if it was maybe a suggestion since I am one of the wounded in battle (I am sick but not with the flu) that's not wearing a mask. Anyhow, I figured out I've been telling people for the past week that I am hemorrhaging when I meant to say I am congested. At first, I thought their surprised double-takes meant that they were just overly concerned for me, but then my friend sat me down and asked me "where?". That's when we finally realized what I meant and what I didn't mean. Oops! Maybe that's why the vice principal was trying to give me hand sanitizer. I am a sick hemorrhaging foreigner WITHOUT a mask! Watch out everyone, Germ must be my middle name.

The Flu War

I am in the middle of a battleground at school; the Japanese have declared war against the flu and they take it VERY SERIOUSLY. Every morning the vice principal makes an announcement of how many students are down with the infruenza and gives advice about staying healthy. The flu (or in Japanese: infruenza) is spreading like wildfire here about 16 now and counting. There is a chart hung up in the teacher's lounge that lists every student that has the flu, and it is updated as soon as the terrible news is received. During every break, the teachers huddle around the stove (yes stove there is no indoor heating here) and talk about infruenza this and infruenza that and if you happen to cough at that moment, watch out. Lots of well-intentioned advice and offers of a mask will come to you unbidden. The entire 7th grade class of about 120 was let off today because too many of them had the infruenza. At lunch today, the teachers regrouped and talked about what their plan of attack was for the next few days of battle (ie what they will do to educate the students, letting 7th graders off for one more day, etc). Everyday people ask each other if they're sick and at even the slightest temperature, students are sent home. Everyone and their mom is wearing masks at my schools... and I feel pressure to wear one too. I just, I don't see how a mask is going to stop me from getting the flu and I just can't wear it. If I pretend I'm in a hospital with a serious disease, maybe I could justify it to myself AT SCHOOL. However, I am valuable because if my ability to speak; if my words are muffled by a mask, where is my value? I speak for a living right now and I don't see how I could be of any value if I am muffled. And there is no way I would wear that thing outside of school, I would feel like I had the bird flu or something...not to mention I would have to take it off to speak.
Anyhow I find this whole thing completely entertaining, albeit totally blown out of proportion and although I refuse to wear a mask, I still hope we win the battle! There are SO MANY other things that could be done to stop them from getting the flu; like maybe getting stoves (at least) or getting in the 21st century *central heating anyone* (yeah right) or maybe even (dare I say it) insulation for the kids, who currently have NO heating. No WONDER they're all getting the flu, how this is a surprise is beyond me. Prevention is over half the battle but right now we're just counting the fallen, putting up a paper shield and hoping for the best. Lack of a comfortable environment is meant to build character though, so we will fight on in our self-made battle! In fact, maybe they shouldn't be allowed to wear coats in class like some schools, so that they build even more character. Ganbarimasu!

Sore Losers

OMG, I feel so awful, because today I made about half the class cry. I was teaching "How are you?" "I'm ___." to third graders today and we played a game. It was going really well, the kids were having fun and screaming as usual ... but I just didn't see the danger coming. Team Two was losing big time, so I said the next one is worth 10 points. Team Two lost again. So I said, the next one is worth 20 points. Team Two lost again. So I said, the next one is worth 50 points. Guess what? Oh horror of horrors, Team Two lost again. So by now, because of what I did, the score was like 100 to 10. Then the bell rang. OH $#%^!!! So Team Two starts bawling their eyes out, and that was the end of my lesson. IT SUCKED SO MUCH!!!! I am never doing that again. Usually they follow me all the way to the teacher's lounge and want more games. But this time, I left with half the class in tears. I feel like the biggest jerk in the world and it sucks.

Random

I think this Eastern medicine I was given really must be Eastern medicine. I was reading what I've written since I've been taking the medicine and I have been extremely pensive and "Eastern thinking" lately. Sorry, I blame it on the medicine. If only it would stop my coughing than I would be happy and unthinking, lol jk.

Dreams

What did you dream when you were in junior high school? I wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice. That dream was eventually usurped by another long ago, but I still remember how powerful it was to hear that I could do anything if I tried hard. Actually, I remember hearing that throughout my schooldays and even now. During discussions with teachers and my adult class I learned that they believe big dreams are not possible. In fact, many people don't tell children that they can do anything. They don't think it's true and they don't want to give children false hopes. One woman said that it's ok for little, little kids to dream big, but older children understand that the have to be born into a certain family in order to be prime minister or company president or a top government official. I think, in America, to some extent, that is also true... but definitely not the same as it is here. I can't imagine telling a child that they can't do something or just expecting them to understand that they shouldn't dream big. This discussion arose because of all the Obama hype over here. Teachers, students and random people in the street are celebrating the American presidency. It's still all over the news here and one teacher said that she even started crying when she heard his speech. They tell me it's amazing that he's president with no money, connections or family fame. They say that in Japan, he would never be prime minister. America has alot of problems, but in the end, many people can and do change their situations, for better or for worse. Maybe you didn't think that was an American trait, but we are definitely optimistic dreamers, which is part of our charm (new ideas, creativity) and part of our problem(job hopping, lack of commitment, etc). It is interesting to hear about it from the complacent Japanese perspective(lifetime 'job marriage', perseverance, etc). If someone told me I couldn't do something, I would try my hardest to do it, just to spite them. Not so here...they seem to swallow their dreams without a hint of indigestion (the nail that sticks out gets hammered down). I guess that makes sense, since the individual isn't important, it's the collective that ultimately matters. Individual desires are superseded from childhood, so why should dreams be any different? If I tried to swallow my dreams, I would end up vomiting them back out. They can't stay inside me; they don't belong there.

Empty

For 5 months my apartment has remained bare, unfilled space, without anything to reflect myself, and I have savored the feeling of emptiness. To me, the void created contrast and served as a backdrop to my inner vision and creativity. I relished the fact that nothing was on the walls and it remained a blank canvass, just waiting for my creation, shimmering in expectancy. I know it sounds strange, but I wanted to hold onto the clean hollow walls, simple in their splendor, before life cluttered them. My mom came and declared it looked like a hospital and immediately wanted to make it 'homey'. Although I eventually agreed, I was extremely against this for some reason. When she insisted on buying a table cloth, I felt a wall of emotion rise up to object. Upon reflection, I realized that infusing personality in it would mean many things. I would have to choose what style I wanted to portray, instead of having limitless possibilities. I would no longer have the blank zen nothingness to escape from frivolity. Most importantly, I would actually have to face the fact that I moved into an apartment in Japan. Now that it's beautifully decorated, I am grateful, and I've received many backhanded compliments, lol; someone even said that it looked like a jail before. When I look around now, I feel my mother's love and pride. But sometimes, I still wish for nothingness. Sometimes, I wish for zen ... I must be crazy.

Eastern Medicine

My mom left from Japan on Monday and it has been a couple of crazy, crazy weeks. First of all, my Mom came (yay) and there were lots of parties for her and in between these parties we went traveling. We went to Beppu and climbed a mountain swarming with monkeys and saw the 8 hells of Beppu, which are active volcanic hot springs that you can only view. We went to Fukuoka for the sole purpose of eating ramen. We went to Nagasaki and saw ground zero where the atomic bomb dropped and saw the only place open to foreigners for hundreds of years in Japan. We traveled to many other places, but unfortuately, for most of her stay, I was sick, feeling like someone hit my face with a baseball bat.
On her last day, I insisted she try a Japanese hot spring (onsen), which are very popular here. This is a place where you bathe in hot mineral water with nothing but a face towel and others of your same gender. First of all, I walked into the men`s part of the onsen on accident, oops, then they shut the door on me. Too late I saw them! My mom was laughing at me so hard that she locked herself in the bathroom for like 10 minutes to laugh (good call since laughing in a place where everyone is naked might cause confusion). Then we soaked in the hot spring, but I didn't like it. I've only been to 2 other onsens and this one was the worst; it wasn't very inviting. Afterwards, I turned white and felt myself gagging to throw up; heat stroke? The ladies around me asked if I was ok. I kept repeating to myelf "Don`t pass out naked." The only thing that stopped me was sheer will power and splashing water on my face. I felt better afterwards, but was really dehydrated.
The day she left I got really sick again and on Thursday my school sent me to a hospital. They thought I had the flu. Turns out I just had a common cold and some stomach virus that starts with an E (not e coli). So now I'm taking 8 different medicines, I don't know what they are, but they have names like Biofermin, EK-29, S-06 and 27. Here in Japan, they treat each symptom separately, and the dosages are weak, so people inevitably end up taking tons of medicine for things like the common cold. My doctor said he believes in Eastern medicine and said that these are Eastern....I don't know about that... Why would they have names like Biofermin, EK-29, S-06 and 27? Shouldn't they be names like feng wa shu or shi shi wao? Maybe he's thinking of a different Eastern country. What the heck country is east of Japan? Oh yeah it's America. So I must be taking good old Western medicine. Ah, the world makes sense again.