Friday, June 20, 2003

*... pitchy and itchy ...*
today we are having a typhoon without the rain (Fates-Be-Willing). But that means that all the sand in the land is blowing in my eyes and my hair and other places I would rather it not go. The entire "playground" of all the schools out here are just packed dirt, so the entire school has been walking around rubbing their eyes and brushing off their shirts. The halls are like wind tunnels and actually kinda fun; I tried to build my own kite out of paper and chopsticks and fly it down the hall... Giggly Ko-Cho tried to help but we couldn't get it to work. I don't mind the wind so much, I'm used to it by now. I just hope it doesn't start to rain. Kristy should be pullin' in here in a few hours (if she didn't get lost!!) and though I am sure we would have fun regardless, I would rather not be cooped up in the apartment. Speaking of which, I think that I either brought bedbugs home with me (Dad, you've made me paranoid about that!!) or I am just a tasty treat in ANY country, b/c i am constantly waking with brand-new bites. BIG bites. And on a related note, I don't feel much better, but am hesitant to waltz back into medical facilities until I know I'm wearing suitable underwear...
4:30 PM

Wednesday, June 18, 2003

*... the angels and the perv ...*
despite my grumblings about the somewhat rude nature of many Japanese people i encounter on a day-to-day basis, i do have to say that of course this is not the case for ALL of them. Take Marika and Ecchan for example. When they saw me yesterday, and saw how bad I looked and that I suspected i had malaria, they threw me in Ecchan's Mini (despite my STRONG protests) and zoomed around Niigata looking for some sort of medical clinic still open (It was 6:15 in the evening, and most places, including the hospitals, were CLOSED!! Remind me not to get ill after 5pm.) Marika got on her keitai and called every single person she knew, and some she didn't to find a place. We got there 5 minutes before it closed, and stormed the (empty) office. 20 minutes later (why that took so long, I don't know) I was led into a little room with a doctor (male) and nurse (female), with Marika and Ecchan in tow. Marika explained to the guy why I was there and the examination commenced. First he wanted me to take off my pants.

WHAT?!

Now I rather like my underwear, but rather DON'T like showing it off to 4 strangers, even if Marika and Ecchan are my friends. Sorry, haven't known them that long... So they left, and I argued with the guy, and eventually ended up doing it, thinking this was the worst of it. Oh no. Of course not. "Lift up your shirt." What? WHY? "To listen." I was wearing a scoop neck shirt, he could have listened that way, but no, the nurse reaches over and pulls my shirt up over my face. So now I am sitting in my chones with some random "doctor" buried in my chest. Words. Failed. Me.
After more poking and prodding, the guy tells me that he can't test me in that clinic, that I will have to go to the hospital. Then he tried to write me a prescription. For what??? I employed the great cultural tool of "DAME." complete with hands X'ed in front of me. Eventually I was released to my friends, who had taken care of the bill in the meantime. (How sweet!!) Though why we had to pay this guy to tell me that he couldn't do the test is beyond me. Back in the Mini, Marika got on the phone to let everyone she had called previously know the outcome. So now half of Niigata thinks I am in the hospital, getting a blood test (which I will, eventually), and some doctor is probably getting his eyeglass prescription checked...
4:50 PM

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

*... me don't feel so good ...*
i think i've got malaria. i'm serious, yo.
4:37 PM

Monday, June 16, 2003

*... when the road gets long ...*
i got home yesterday after a combined 24 hours, 3 planes, 2 trains, and a 5-hour bus ride. Despite the inevitable haggling about my rooming bill (see! I knew that was going to happen! But i was a smart cookie, i printed out the email that showed my reservation and price agreed upon back in May and shoved that in their face! HA!) the first leg of it wasn't too bad, especially in Siem Reap where the entire airport staff (all 12 of them) was really friendly, and the other passengers happen to all be Japanese and delighted that i a) knew Japanese and b) could technically teach them English. I even got offered dinner once we got to Vietnam (land of free food!!) but unfortunately my visa didn't allow me to pursue that... Unfortunately none of the friendly folks were on my flight back to Nippon, and I started to get oriented back to the Japanese Way once boarding the plane, mostly by the chorus of teeth sucking I heard, and also the guy who got really pissed off that he was in MY seat and shot me a nice look-o'-death when I showed him my boarding pass. As said before, i'm not much one for sleeping anywhere other than my own bed, and even then sleep isn't guaranteed, so the red-eye to Osaka wasn't exactly comfortable, but I managed to squeeze in an hour of shut-eye sprawled out on the cool linoleum of Kansai airport, waiting for my next flight to Haneda. I'm gaijin, I'm allowed. The rest of the trip was putting up with the grumblings and shovings and overall rudeness that is all so common amongst the manner of these people, although I did have a little faith restored when the girl at the ticket office was able to pull some strings and change my bus ticket to an hour earlier so i didn't have to wander the streets of Ikebukuro in Tokyo like some nomad, pack on back. Eventually I got back to the familiar cloudy weather of Niigata and the track-lit warm glow of everyone's favorite Internet Banana where the Internet Nazis kicked me off as soon as they possibly could. Ahh, nice to be home...
4:57 PM