Happy Birthday to Me (aka: Intake, Surgery and the Hospital Experience)

I was admitted to the Toyota Kosei Byouin on December 21^st, 2011, my birthday. (note: the world is due to end next year on my birthday...can I catch a break?). My surgery was scheduled for the next day, but in Japan they admit you a day early in order to monitor you, give you laxatives and enemas and generally get you familiar with the hospital experience.

When I was first told I'd have to go to the hospital a day early, I was less than thrilled. At home, you go to the hospital right before your surgery, and the doctor just has to trust you don't want to aspirate on the table and thus will stop eating and drinking at the appropriate time. (stopped food after dinner, roughly 7pm, and stopped drinks after 10pm) But there were some solid benefits to the early admittance though. First, you get a feel for what being in the hospital experience is going to be like before the mental and physical stress of surgery. You take your first shower in the hospital, so you know the layout of the shower room (and anticipating severe pain, I plotted where and how to put my bath products in order to keep from bending more than necessary, which was emotionally comforting but ultimately unnecessary.) Also, while being given laxatives and an enema is no thrill, (especially the enema) it was very good that they cleared out my entire bowel before surgery as it made the recovery easier.

Lastly, you get to chat with your surgeon about the surgery and concerns. In my case, I had to tell Dr. Hariyama that I wanted laparotomy (open surgery). Her eyes widened a bit in surprise when I said this and she blurted out, “are you sure?” which considering how hell bent in laparoscopy I'd been makes perfect sense. I said I was sure. She asked if I had any concerns about the surgery and I said I had a few questions about the recovery:

Vash: When can I start running again?

Dr. Hariyama: Running?! Maybe three weeks?

Vash: When can I start cycling again?

Dr. Hariyama: Cycling? Well, about three weeks.

Vash: When can I start drinking again.

Dr. Hariyama: As soon as you're released, but only a little. (chotto).

She rattled off the last with the absolute confidence of someone who has answered the same question many times, which gives you an idea of the cultural importance of drinking here, if you hadn't known already.

You have to bring a good deal more stuff to a Japanese hospital than to an American one. You bring your own PJ's because after the first day or so you get no gowns. (this was perfectly fine with me). You need one shirt that opens in the front for the day after surgery but after that t-shirts and sweats are fine. I also brought my own silverware (unnecessary), towels, tissues, period supplies (you get some bleeding after the surgery, but in my case it was barely spotting), underwear, etc. Also, as my hospital had internet, and so I was able to bring my computer, my own LAN cable to connect to the internet (WIFI is not common here), TV shows and movies (that I hardly watched, but it was great to have), and of course all of my various electronics chargers. I brought a multi-socket surge protector in case there weren't enough outlets. I was very glad I did this.

Another very important thing to bring to the hospital that I can't stress enough is earplugs. In a Japanese hospital, you are sharing a room with up to three other people at a time. Everyone is very polite, but that many people in a small space is just noisy! My first night in the hospital, before my surgery, one of my roommates who had had surgery previously was in pain and kept rolling over and groaning and calling for the nurse. Frankly, as I was anticipating surgery the next day, this was less than reassuring. Even though I'd taken the precautionary step to pull an all-nighter on the night of the 20^th (Karaoke with Helen), I'm sure that I probably wouldn't have slept well on the 21^st if I hadn't had the earplugs. They also came in handy after I woke up, and I slept most nights with them in.

One more very VERY important thing to bring is your own Bran Flakes and fruit. Also, your own fruit juices and Rooibos (no caffeine tea). The hospital diet is not very high in fiber, one of my few (but serious) complaints about the experience. They are however really cool with you eating your own food, and I recommend you bring some. Later, I'll go into a lot more detail about this, but the short story is drink water (not the green tea) and eat lots of fiber. You're going to need to bring that on your own. I didn't get this until a few days into my stay, and I suffered for it.

The morning of my surgery, I was woken up at 7am. I took a shower first. Then they told me I had to repack all of my stuff back into my suitcase. I had no idea that they were going to do this, and I'd spent the previous day setting up my room exactly the way I wanted it for the next 10 days so I found this to be highly frustrating. The nurse helped me repack (which was sweet) and then it was the waiting game.

They put an IV in me later that morning, and started me on IV fluids. I had a couple of hours before the surgery, so I called all of my relatives and a few friends (Steph) in the States using the Skype application on my iPhone. Sachiko-sensei arrived at 11:30am. My surgery was scheduled for 1pm. I chatted with Sachiko-sensei for a bit, and basically just waited around. I wasn't super nervous about the surgery, more in a state of numb calm. Most of my fear came from making the decision, but once I knew what I was doing, I accepted what was going to happen and had minimal fear. I don't even think they gave me an anti-anxiety, though I'd probably have taken it as a precaution if it had been offered. I'm glad it wasn't.

They came to get me for my surgery at 12:55pm. (When they say you're having surgery in Japan at 1pm, that's what they mean, exactly) I walked to the Operating Room (OR) with my IV. Sachiko-sensei stayed with me until I passed through the doors of the OR. Honestly, the OR experience was even a bit of fun! I had been introduced to one of my OR nurses the day before. I met the second one, also named Yuko, in the O.R. “Doburo (double) Yuko,” they both proclaimed cheerfully, and we all laughed. At this point, most everyone spoke exclusively Japanese, but it wasn't complicated Japanese, and the whole staff really tried their best to use what English they had to help me do what I needed to do. I also had a very good idea of the routine and what was going to happen from my and Sachiko-sensei's discussion with the anesthesiologist two weeks prior, so I wasn't confused at all.

I walked into the operating room itself and climbed up a small staircase to my operating table. Until now, my experience with operating tables had basically come from working at the veterinarian and watching episodes of House. This was completely different from either of these things. The table itself was heated and padded. There were a TON of people running around doing various things. Also, above the table was one of those very bright lamps that looks like a huge five leafed clover from an alien abduction film, you know, the kind they use at the dentist. The bright light was off, and I assume not turned on until the surgery started.

Once I was on the table, it was time to insert my epidural. An epidural is a thin tube inserted into the spine into which anesthetic is given. The anesthetic numbs your entire abdominal area, though I'm not precisely sure how this works as my epidural was in for two days and I felt my stomach at that time with no problem. I just didn't feel pain. Epidurals are incredibly safe, though in very rare instances you can get clots which can lead to severe pain and paralysis of the lower body. If you have severe pain while getting an epidural, it's essential to let someone know immediately so they can clear your clots so you don't have paralysis. At least that's what the anesthesiologist told me.

I was totally terrified about being awake for for my epidural, but it turned out to not be that bad. You have to lay on your side and bring your knees up to your chest and stay VERY VERY still for them to insert the epidural. Once I had done this, my anesthesiologist and the other staff got into a rapid-fire discussion in Japanese about how to relay a certain instruction to me in English. This happens so much in my life (and often even if I say I understand the conversation that is happening in Japanese, the discussion soldiers on without me until an English word is achieved) that I found myself instantly amused. Eventually, someone in the room who did speak excellent English (one of the techs/nurses, don't know) told me to hold my legs (which I knew) and stay still. The anesthesiologist followed up immediately with a triumphant “relax!” which had me instantly laughing because I couldn't think of a less relaxing situation at that point.

My laughter set everyone else in the OR off as well, and everyone was laughing along with me. The irony of the situation actually did make me relax, so when they inserted the tube I was very still and reasonably calm. The tube went in with a weird tickly, funny feeling. I did have a mild blossom of pain in my lower back, which I immediately told the anesthesiologist about, but it went away immediately and I think was just him moving the tube in my spine. Once the was in and taped down, I didn't feel a thing. They had me lay on my back (a bit nerve-wracking), put a mask over my face and told me to breathe deeply.

I did this for a bit, and then lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in the HCU. We don't have HCU in the States but it seemed like an equivalent to ICU, except exclusively for post surgery. The anesthesiologist had told me that when I woke they would remove the intubation tube from my throat but thankfully the tube had been removed before I reached conscious awareness. When I woke, everyone asked if I was okay (daijoubu) and I realized that I was literally shaking with cold. Sachiko-sensei was with me at this point. She asked how I was, and with chattering teeth I managed to say “samui” (cold). I was really out of it, and though I know Sachiko-sensei speaks fluent English, I had it in my mind that if I needed something done I had best use Japanese so I did. She said (in English) that she had the same problem when she came out of surgery and asked the nurses for an extra blanket. When I was under two blankets, I was immediately warmer. They put an oxygen mask over my face, asked me if I was in pain (not at all) and then Sachiko-sensei said a prayer over me and she had to go to call my mom and let her know I was okay.

I said I was fine and thanked her for helping me. It was about 4:30 pm in the afternoon at that point. I'd been told that I was going to be in HCU until 11am the next morning. This seemed like an interminable time for me before I went into surgery but I'd been told I'd be too out of it to really notice the passage of time. This was both true and untrue. I drifted in and out of consciousness for a while. Because I didn't have my glasses on, I had no idea how to tell what time of day it was or how much time was passing. The nurses came and went, and I sort of watched their blurry forms as they bustled back and forth, checking vitals on the four other patients that I could see in the room from my hospital bed.

After a bit of waking and sleeping, one of the nurses came by to ask if I was hot. I said no, but then as soon as she left, I realized I was baking. I called her back when she passed again (I had the nurse call button in my left hand but didn't want to use it for some reason.) She took one of my blankets. She asked if I wanted to have the second blanket taken and replaced with a thinner blanket. I was suddenly afraid that if I lost all of my blankets, I'd start shivering again, so I said I was fine, but as soon as she left, I realized I was still incredibly hot. Also, the oxygen mask over my mouth seemed to be smothering me, so I tried to adjust it. I broke the tie on the mask trying to do this, and I wanted to jump out of the bed and leave but I was afraid I'd break my stitches so I stayed put. I hit the nurse call button and when the nurse came I asked her to take the blanket and also explained I'd broken the O2 mask. She said that it was fine and that I'd gotten a bit “okoteiru” (angry) and I just said thank you (all in Japanese). Later, I also asked for a pillow (I hadn't been given one, though the bed adjusted) and the nurse gave me a very nice soba filled pillow. This made a world of difference for my back and shoulder pain.

After that, I drifted. Occasionally a nurse would come by and check my vitals and ask if I was in pain. I wasn't. In fact, I felt so fine (aside from fatigue and general vacuousness) that I wasn't even sure I'd had surgery until one of the nurses stopped in to check my incision the next morning. Whenever a nurse popped over, I'd ask the nurse what time it was (no glasses meant the world was mostly a blur). Time moved both quickly and very, very slowly. I wasn't nearly as bored as I thought I'd be, but I also really wanted to leave this room. Eventually, 7:45am came. I knew this because the nurse came over with a sippy cup full of water and said that I could drink it at 8am. I asked what time it was and she said 7:45. I asked if she could let me know when it was eight and she point to the clock behind her on the wall. This was a white, circular blur to me, but now that I knew it was there, I could squint at it and roughly make out the time.

At 8am, I drank the water, mostly for the entertainment value. At 10am, they said that I could walk. I was very excited about this, both because I wanted to get out of the bed and because I really wanted my glasses back. It turns out my glasses were on the table next to my bed, in a box, but I couldn't see them so that didn't matter. The nurse put my glasses on my face and then magically, I could see! We dialed the bed up so that my back was more upright and lowered my legs. Then I had to scoot to the side of the bed and put my legs to the floor. I was pretty worried about if this would harm my incision, but I followed the nurse's instructions and felt fine. I put my feet on the floor and with the nurse's assistance and encouragement, I was upright. We walked about 12 feet or so to the bathroom, turned around and walked back. I had no problem with walking and was in no pain. When I sat back down though, I felt a bit cold, sweaty and dizzy. The nurse assured me this was normal and that she was impressed with me for walking so well and with such energy. I sat back down, laying by head against the back of the bed, drank a bit of water and the dizziness quickly passed.

When 11am came around, I was ready to return to my room. The woman in the bed next to me was returned to her room, but I had to wait an extra 15 minutes which seemed like a very long time to me. They put me in a wheelchair, piled my stuff on my lap and then we wheeled out to the elevator and back to my room. Sitting in the wheelchair made me dizzy again, but this subsided. My suitcase was waiting for me in my room. I'd put my iPhone in the outside pocket, so I asked the nurse to hand me my iPhone and charger. I felt really good. No pain and pretty energetic. I immediately updated Facebook, texted my best friend Steph through Skype that I was alive (I'd asked my mom to do this when she heard from Sachiko-sensei but I knew she'd have gotten that call from Sachiko at 2-3am USA time and would probably forget), and then got out of the bed and walked to the cell phone area to use Skype to call my mom.

In the hospital, because you share a room with 1-3 people (mine was a 4 person room but I only ever had one roommate), it's a rule that you have to leave the room to make calls on your cell phone. You can text and use the internet all you want in your room, but calls are done in what looks like a pleasant conference room across the hall with a vending machine. I had no problem with the walking. At this point, my dizziness had subsided and I was perfectly happy to do this walking and as much other walking as feasible in order to help improve my recovery.

Now for a bit of a digression about the importance of walking post surgery:

In preparation for my surgery, I had scoured the internet for any and all information on how to best recover from abdominal surgery. This included message boards, forums, blogs, medical websites, and sundry. From everything I'd read on having abdominal surgery, including a really detailed set of forum messages at Runnersworld.com, the most important thing you can do for your recovery is to walk as much as possible. Exercise is key to getting your body back in action. One woman who was a marathon runner had spoken of doing about an hour a day of walking in the hospital, as well as getting up and down stairs in 2-3 days after surgery, and basically trying to be as active as possible (within reason). As a result, her recovery was very fast, she had minimal pain, and was quickly able to return to her life's activities. (though it did take her a bit over a month I think to return to running). She was very good about listening to her body and what it told her to do, but she also didn't let fear of having had surgery prevent her from doing what she was capable of doing.

I tried to model myself both on her as well as others who had had successful recoveries. I wanted to be careful, but I also wanted to be as active as possible. Things like being encouraged (required) to leave my hospital room in order to make cell phone calls helped contribute to this process. As the days passed, I began walking the hallways as I talked on my cell phone to relatives and friends, so that I was exercising while I talked. Considering I was making an average of an hour or more of phone calls daily, this really helped me get low key exercise as I talked. And if I got tired, I would just sit for a bit on one of the benches in the halls before starting again.

Another thing which I did while in the hospital which I think helped speed up my recovery was to find an empty room (it was a room for washing hair but nobody ever used it) and sing for about a half hour 1-2x/day. I did this starting from the second day after my surgery. (Dec. 24^th) I was a bit worried that someone would kick me out or complain about my singing, but nobody did, thankfully. I'd take my iPhone into the room with me, put it on speaker (low sound) and sing along to the music. It was like my own personal Karaoke booth! I'd also bounce along to the music or occasionally pace, which kept me in motion. Apparently deep breathing is very helpful to your recovery (and singing requires deep breathing). I missed this in my pre-hospital reading, and the singing was more for my sanity than because I thought it would be beneficial to my recovery, but I noticed that after 15 minutes to a half hour of singing that I felt better, happier, and that if I'd been in pain (mostly gas pain) this pain was gone. The pain relief lasted for at least an hour. I highly recommend adding singing to your post surgery recovery as a result of this. It's also fun!

Digression finished.

I called my mom and had the difficult task of letting her know that I'd chosen to have full abdominal surgery. Luckily, I was in such good shape that my mom knew I was okay just from hearing my voice. We talked for about an hour, where I told her how well cared for I was at the hospital and how everyone had been so ridiculously nice to me. I wasn't in any pain, mainly due to the epidural which they left in my back for two days from my surgery. I had to wear the medication bottle on a bottle hanging from my neck. I felt a bit uncomfortable about this, mainly worried that something with the swinging or movement might mess with my back, but this was a totally unfounded worry. I'm not sure how the epidural administered the painkiller, but it worked. I also had IV painkillers which they kept giving me for about 6 hours after they removed my epidural.

I also called my best friend and talked for another half hour. Then I went back to my room, dug through my suitcase for my netbook laptop computer (I should have waited for the nurse for doing this but I felt fine), surge protector, hard drive, and LAN cable. I set my computer, internet and hard drive. After getting all of this together, I was a bit tired, so I put on The Little Mermaid and went to sleep. When I woke, I walked down to the cafeteria to get something to drink (I suppose I could have called a nurse but I felt fine and I wanted to walk) and to do some drawing (I had promised many of my friends to draw them holiday themed kittens while I was in the hospital so I carried my art supplies with me). When I got to the cafeteria, Sachiko-sensei was already there! Turns out she'd popped in to visit, seen me sleeping, and went to the cafeteria to wait me out. We chatted for a bit. I told her how grateful I was for her help and how good I felt. She seemed surprised that I was as genki as I was (I was a bit surprised too actually) and we talked for a bit more before she went on her way.

I went back to my room for dinner and started rewatching 3^rd Season of Buffy. In the evening, my friend Issei visited me and gave me an awesome present! I went to bed around 10pm.

The next day was Christmas Eve and I was expecting a lot of visitors. Before I went into the hospital, I made an event on Facebook letting people know what hospital I was in, how to get there, and when visiting hours were. Expecting to feel really awful on the 23^rd, I told people to visit me from the 24^th. I was also able to update all of my friends through Facebook through the week about how I was doing and post pictures of people who had visited me.

Here is the link to the event if you want to try doing something similar:

https://www.facebook.com/events/297018893671856/

Note: The above event ended in December, but in order to make it public for this blog I had to change the end time.

Another thing I did to make the experience more fun was to make a paper Christmas Tree and bring lots of art supplies and materials to allow each of my visitors to make their own ornament for my tree. I took a photo on my iPhone of Dr. Hariyama and drew her as the angel on the top of my tree. I gave her this drawing as a Thank You card when I was released from the hospital.

I drew this on the 21^st (day before my surgery) and was really proud of how well the drawing came out, and the nurses were really impressed too. My nurse said I had gotten Dr. Hariyama exactly right and asked me if she could bring in other nurses to look at my drawing as they were really curious. So for a bit I had a stream of random nurses coming to look at my tree, which was really fun!

My guests also really REALLY got into decorating my tree, which was so exciting! Everyone gathered around the art supplies and made really creative and beautiful ornaments. I asked everyone to sign their ornament so I knew who had done what. Within days, my tree was overflowing, and ornaments spread out over the wall. (I had asked my nurse where would be an appropriate spot to tape the tree so that it didn't damage the hospital wall, and it was okay to hang it right over my bed, much to my joy.) My friends Mie and Haruka even brought some of their own supplies, including beautiful origami paper which they used and then donated to the project.

Having spent a lot of time visiting people in hospitals, creating an art project for my guests was very important to me and I highly recommend doing something like this for anyone who is anticipating a long hospital stay. (you can do flowers in Spring, leaves in Autumn, surfboards in Summer, etc). Normally, when you visit someone in the hospital, especially if there are a lot of visitors (who may not know each other), everyone kind of stands and/or sits awkwardly around the hospital bed. When conversation flags, the poor patient feels a bit like a zoo exhibit. I really didn't want this to happen to me. I wanted everyone's experience of visiting me in the hospital to be an enjoyable one, and for there to be a minimum of awkwardness, especially because I'd invited half of the free world to share my hospital adventure. I had guests who spoke minimal English and those who spoke minimal Japanese. Sharing a common project created a sense of community among strangers and gave us all a common topic to talk (or gesture) about. It also made me very happy to look at my tree and know that there were so many people here who really put the effort into showing how much they cared about me. At night, I would look up at my tree and smile. It also gave me something to chat about with my nurses besides my temperature and bowel problems. This was a win for everyone concerned.

Another great thing which was really awesome was that my friend Helen brought a deck of cards. We all played hours of Rummy and Gin (500 Rummy) which was really, really fun! In fact, everyone enjoyed playing cards so much that we brought the cards to the bar on NYE and played 500 Rummy while waiting for the countdown to midnight.

Christmas was ridiculously fun! First, it snowed. Looking out my window at the beautiful snow made me instantly happy, especially because I didn't have to shovel it.

The next gift was that they removed my IV so I could shower again. I could also go up and down stairs. I climbed down and up five flights in the early morning, did three more later on before my shower, and another four flights after lunch, At this point, I was taking oral painkillers at request. I wasn't in a whole lot of pain, much to my surprise, so I used about 2 a day, as opposed to the four that I was allowed to have. I also had many, many visitors! This was in part because Christmas in Japan as a foreigner is a bit dull until the evening when the clubs open. So visiting me in the hospital and seeing other fun people was a huge step up from sitting in ones own tiny apartment watching movies. My hospital room became a Christmas party, with people chatting, making ornaments and generally having a good time. I also received a ton of great fruit and cookies! The fruit was especially welcome!

Note: The below section is going to go into a fairly detailed discussion of Japanese hospital diet and my struggles with constipation, and a related minor medical mix-up, so you've been warned.

By the 25^th, I was having a lot of gas but no bowel movement. Constipation is a very common side effect of abdominal surgery. The anesthesia and trauma of surgery slows the movement of your bowel, leading to constipation. This is problematic because straining to make a bowel movement can disturb or break your stitches in addition to being painful. Almost all of my post-op pain after the first day was due to constipation and gas pain. Because of this, it's VERY important to eat a high fiber diet including lots of bran, fresh fruit and veggies, brown rice, beans, etc. ASAP after surgery and in the following months. Also, you want to avoid caffeine or anything else that is dehydrating. This includes Green Tea, which in Japan is seen as exactly the same as water. So my nurses thought I was doing just fine drinking 5-6 cups of green tea daily, but in fact this was not nearly as helpful as the same amount of water. I knew this about Japan, but I hadn't been thinking when they told me this (wanting a hot drink I guess), but on the 25^th I cut all the green tea from my diet and drank water, fruit juice, and the Rooibos tea I'd brought with me from home only.

For me, the hospital food was not meeting the fiber standard, and I think my body was letting me know this in various ways. When I'd arrived at the hospital through the 23^rd, the food had tasted pretty good, as time went along, the food began to taste worse the the point where I was only eating the vegetables and (when lucky) fruits. By the 25^th, the smell of the rest of it made me nauseous. This is because the diet in the hospital, which was traditional Japanese, is not very high in fiber, certainly not as high in fiber as I'm used to eating. Every meal includes processed white rice (mostly empty calories and not recommended for constipation), a fish (no problem), sometimes Miso Soup (ok) and some kind of vegetable. The ratio of vegetables to everything else was less than 1/3rd, and fresh fruits were given very rarely. On the 25^th, I asked my friend to bring me a box of Bran Flakes and milk. I replaced the rice with bran flakes (even though it created some strange flavor combinations) and ate a lot of fruit. For Christmas dinner, I ate bran flakes and fruit. The following morning the same, with a little fish for protein, and then for lunch the vegetable part of the lunch and you guessed it, more bran flakes.

I was really, really tied up because generally one bowl of Bran Flakes will get my bowels moving if I'm having constipation, but by the afternoon of the 26^th, I'd eaten half a box and still nothing. My friend Polina, God Bless her, had given me a bento box of salad which I ate that night for dinner with more Bran Flakes and fruit. That night I dreamed of avocados, spinach, wheat soba, and brown rice (why they didn't give us brown rice in the hospital I HAVE NO IDEA). I was losing it a bit at this point actually. I felt fine; I couldn't eat the food, and I wanted to go home.

That night, one of the nurses woke me at 3am to ask me if I'd taken my pain medication and if I was in pain, and I was like “no” but after she left I couldn't go back to sleep. I got up and took my iPhone to go take a walk around the hospital. I think the nurses were a bit confused, but they let me wander as long as I told them when I came back. I was at this point seriously considering just going back to my apartment. I was off all oral medications except the pain medication which I was mainly taking for gas pain. I walked all over the hospital, and finally settled into a random bathroom and started calling people in the States.

My friends managed to convince me not to run away from the hospital, and when I went back to bed an hour later, I laid down and thought on the situation. I would have asked for an early release at that point, but I was waiting for my friend to pick up a particular form from my apartment which said the hospital couldn't charge me more than a certain amount for my surgery. Due to a mix-up, this form had arrived at my apartment late which meant that I hadn't been able to take it with me to the hospital when I arrived, but as long as I gave it to them before I left it was okay. I seriously debated going back to my apartment (it was only a half hour by train) and getting the form myself but I was afraid I might get overtired and fall asleep on my futon, arriving back at the hospital hours later to find a bunch of panicked nurses and police officers looking for me. As I lay there, I realized that my only complaint about the hospital experience at this point for me was the food, and because one of the schools I work at is in the area of the hospital, I knew the area well enough to know there was a grocery store about a block away. I decided to take my large pocketbook, go to the grocery store, buy the food I wanted to eat and prepare it in the hospital microwave.

That morning, I used my dictionary to look up the exact name of the medications I was taking, and realized that what I'd thought was a laxative they were giving me was actually an antacid. I looked up constipation and asked specifically for a laxative and they gave it to me. I have no idea why they hadn't given me the laxative earlier since I'd clearly been concerned about constipation, but oh well. The laxative was supposed to start working in the evening, but my all bran marathon kicked in about five minutes after I took the laxative and I had a very good sized bowel movement. This put me in a very good mood for my shopping experience. I also was off all pain medications at this point, thanks to my nurse who told me to try going longer without the pain meds before taking them. I was mainly taking them because of the gas/constipation and fear of being in further pain, but I didn't really need them. I was very grateful to be off all medications at this point, though it also baffled me why they were continuing to keep me in the hospital.

End of bowel talk!

There was a garden in the hospital, so I got my coat and sweats on and at 10am told the nurse I was going for a walk in the garden. I said I'd maybe be about an hour and I left my cell phone number on the table in case someone needed me. I waited for 10am specifically because that's when the new patients were admitted, and it was really quite busy. I walked the block to the grocery store easily and had a really joyous time shopping. I also ran into a couple of my students, and we chatted a bit. The entire experience made me feel so gloriously normal. It took me about 45 minutes to get through the grocery store. I had to sit down on my way back on a ledge because I got a bit tired, which was no problem. I just surfed the internet on my iPhone and waited for the fatigue to pass. I got back to the hospital in about an hour with a pocketbook full of groceries. I was careful to keep my shopping light because I wasn't supposed to be lifting more than 10-15lbs. This was no problem. I ate some of the hospital lunch because there was a good vegetable salad but told them not to bring me dinner or breakfast. Ultimately, I ended up telling them not to bring me any more meals. I was perfectly content to cook myself.

On the 28^th, I went shopping again. Mie also came with my form later that afternoon, and I asked her to ask the nurses on my behalf (because she's Japanese and I knew she'd know how to ask correctly) if I could go home early. I was supposed to be released on the 31^st, but aside from checking my temperature and blood pressure (always normal) twice a day, and looking at my scar once daily (always normal), they weren't doing anything for me. I saw no reason why I needed to be in the hospital any longer; I felt kind of bad to even be taking up a hospital bed, and it would be easier for me to care for myself at home. The nurse said she'd talk to my doctor. She came back a bit later and said they'd take blood in the morning and as long as it was good, I could leave the next day (29th) at 10am. I was SO thrilled! Dr. Hariyama came in a bit later to check on me. At that point I was sitting cross-legged on my bed playing 500 Rummy with two friends. Dr. Hariyama asked me how I was doing and I said GREAT, and that I really wanted to go home. I thanked her for all of her hard work on my behalf and gave her the angel I'd drawn of her as a thank you card and a hug (which was a bit overwhelming for her).

My blood work was good, and Sachiko sensei gave me a ride back to my apartment. Helen came and helped load the suitcases (I'd needed an extra suitcase for all of my presents), and helped me get them into my apartment. Then we went out for Indian. My hospital adventure had been a really positive experience, but I was very happy to be done with it. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone's help, the nurses (who I gave cookies), doctors and staff at the Kosei Byouin as well as my friends here and back in the States. It was a really good experience, and I'm very happy to have had this surgery here in Japan at the Kosei Byouin with so many kind and qualified professionals!

More to Come: Road to Recovery (ie: maybe a bit too much partying on NYE), a note about payment and insurance and how it worked for me in Japan, and my one week followup appointment!

Interlude: Hair

I've wanted to write about my thoughts on Japanese hairstyles as I see it for a while now, especially in relationship to my own experiences as an mixed race African American woman in the States, but I've had so many things I've wanted to write about that this one, not being directly related to a travel destination, has gotten a bit lost in the shuffle. But hair musings kind of fit in with this section of my Tokyo trip, specifically in regards to the high fashion mall that Andrea and I passed through while waiting for new Steph and Ben.

I'm not sure what happened to the pictures I took of the various hair extensions and dyes that I noticed in one of the non-clothing stores in the mall; it's possible I didn't photograph them because these same products, namely hair extensions of wild colors and textures, are so common here. The desire to write about Japanese hair also relates to a conversations I've had with multiple people who have commented on the amount and variety of dyed hair colors that are abundant here, specifically in regards to the commonness of blond and lightening hair dyes. That and curly perms, which are also very common here.

In short, the type and variety of hair changing products, extensions, etc, really surprised me when I first came here. A part of this is because when I was a child, I really wanted Asian, or as my grandmother said, Oriental hair. Having long, straight, black hair instead of the frizzy (albeit long) mess I had on my head was something I remember actually closing my eyes and wishing for.

I think a part of this particular fixation came from my grandmother's desire to give me multicultural dolls as a kid in order to give me dolls that looked “like me”. Unfortunately, being so light skinned, the darker African American dolls she gave me (which I am grateful for, don't get me wrong) didn't really look anything like me, and she didn't want to give me brown haired, Caucasian dolls (though I have light skin and brown hair) so ultimately the best compromise (unspoken) became the Asian featured dolls. And they had hair that was naturally straight. No hot comb needed, no frizzy braids that rapidly became full of painful knots. I never wanted to be a blond, but boy did I want straighter, smoother hair.

Of course I'm sure the other part of my desire for more Asian hair is related to African American idea of “good hair”: ie: the straighter and longer the better – this is a much talked about thing in African American studies and not worth beating to death here, but I'm mentioning it for three reasons.

1. Ironically, as much as I hated my hair as growing up (and truthfully had an ambivalent relationship with it until I started getting it braided in Grad School, and then later cut it to shoulder length before leaving the country—two great hair decisions), I definitely have “good hair”. My grandmother was incredibly proud that she was able to take me from being a bald baby that seemed to hold the dubious future of NEVER growing hair to having a granddaughter whose hair went all the way down to her touch her butt. My mother had hair that was equally as long when she was younger, but she cut it, a big regret. (note: I didn't cut my hair until after my grandmother died, that's how strongly I didn't want to disappoint her)
2. I've had more than one conversation with different people (non African American) who have expressed confusion at why Japanese women often go for lighter hair, even blond hair. Until it was directly pointed out to me, it didn't really trouble me or really enter my notice as being unusual. What surprised me was the desire to have curly, full, ie: not straight hair.
3. The hair extension and attachment products you find here are exactly the same ones you'll find in Philadelphia for the stores that serve African American women. For example: the fake clip-on bun, the clip on ponytail of varying colors and lengths, wigs, weave in hair, etc. The only thing missing is the hair-grease (much to my dismay). Of course, Caucasians in the States do use these products (minus the hair grease, in general), but not nearly as regularly or commonly as far as I have seen. And the push to have lighter hair is common across races in the U.S.

Of course, everyone wants the hair they don't have. I think that's a universal; ask a woman what kind of hair she likes, and it's probably the opposite of the kind she has. At least until she's gotten old enough to develop a healthy relationship with the locks she's got. But in the African American community, the emphasis on “good hair” stems from historical pressures related to oppression, opportunity, and a push or desire for “whiteness” that has always felt deeper than a mere stylistic decision. In fact, one of the major thoughts that popped into my head upon seeing the array of hair changing items ran along the lines of "the people here must hate their hair as much as my folk at home".

Which is kind of ridiculous if you think about it. Why can't a person just want different hair because they think it's pretty, or different, or for some frivolous reason? Like in John Varley's "Steel Beach" where people just had sex changes because sometimes you want to try something new.

But in the States, hair decisions are more serious. At least from my experience. Choosing to go natural, get dreadlocks, braids or the semi-opposing microbraids, choosing extensions or not, going blond or not and how one chooses to lighten her hair all sends a message. For example, when I wore braids, there was a sense of relief that went with it because people as a rule didn't ask me nearly as often what my race was (or assume I was either Caucasian or Hispanic). Braids looked good on me, but they also made my life easier. They sent a message in a language that I spoke and understood without thinking about it or even consciously reflecting on it. In contrast, when I cut my hair, more people automatically assumed I was Caucasian.

I know hair here is also sending a message, but like the Japanese language, this unwritten language is also unclear to me. (unless we're talking about drinking, directions, work, how I like Japan or humidity) But it's interesting. Like does going blond and curly indicate a desire to be more International? More white? (because there is a definite favoritism of the Nordic Caucasian look here, IMO) A generational urge to separate from older ways? What does it mean for Japanese of Brazilian descent? Chinese or Korean? Or is it just a stylistic choice without so much baggage (an option that seems ridiculously freeing)?

I don't really know. But it's something that has been in my thoughts periodically, so I figured it was worth talking about.

Some awesome hair I've seen in my time here:

Still Alive...and 未来～東京!

I know I have been out of touch with the posting here. I've mainly been updating facebook and my youtube channel, to which I am putting the link below:

Vash's Youtube Channel

It's been a very busy month or so. Way too much to summarize in any detail, but I'll grab some of my recent facebook updates/events and let them tell the story:


6/24/10: Fun! Fun! Fun! Erin's 2010 Birthday Bash!

6/26/10: Last Night at Fever, and that means Mucho Dancing. Pregame Nomihoudai Karaoke at Fushimi. Hooked up with Andrea and met Rina-chan. And yes, I was in a Red Bull Commercial. If there's anyone on this planet that doesn't need an infusion of Red Bull, it's me! (note: summary of events, not true facebook update)

6/27/10: Nagoya Adventure Evening -- Another fun filled night of Karaoke, dancing and all around good times!

7/1/10: Salsa Party at TIA in Toyota City Japan!

7/3/10: Perfect summer breakfast: cold miso topped with fresh cut peaches, apples, bananas, yogurt and bran flakes plus half bagel with creamcheese, tomato and avocado, side of chai. Also, today is not that hot! I actually just have my deck door open to let in outside air. No aircon!

7/4/10 - (afternoon) : Happy Fourth to all! It's odd celebrating this in a country where it really doesn't matter. But Erin and I had a rousing picnic and later we're going to set off fireworks. I downloaded 2CDs of "Songs of America" so we're gonna annoy the river with patriotic gusto. And YES WE CAN buy fireworks in Japan at the DOLLAR STORE!

7/4/10 - (late-night): So after buying fireworks and 24 patriotic songs for under $8, Erin and I opted not to blow up Toyota Staduim and instead just used hand sparklers while singing such hits as "Glory Glory Hallelujuah" and "Grand Old Flag" at the top of our ever loving lungs. Andrea also made a phone cameo for a "Born in the USA" reprise. All in all, great 4th here in Japan!

7/8/10: I'm going to be in Nagoya on Saturday if anyone wants to hang out or party! Message me if you want to get together!

7/14/10: Yesterday: roughest game of Fruits Baskets ever. Before we even got the kids in a circle, four were in tears. Today was much better. Managed to sing an entire song about Fruits without making anyone cry.

7/16/10: Ron's Going Away Party at Outback!

7/17/10: Mie and I got to see Miyazaki's newest movie 借りぐらしのアリエッティ("Arriety's Life of Borrowing/The Borrower Arriety") today on opening night! Brilliant film, in the running for my favorite Miyazaki film (which is saying something). It was beautiful, surprising and emotionally resonant. And I'm betting it's even better with subtitles! See this when it hits your country!



7/20/10: Summer Vacation!!!!!!

7/21/10: First earthquake today! Woke this morning to my futon shaking beneath me, climbed down off the loft, tried to stand in the doorway between my main room and hall, realized it was not a load bearing wall, tried to get out on the deck, turned around, ran out the front door and then stood like an idiot outside for five minutes while nothing happened. At that point, I doubted it had been an earthquake at all.

7/24/10: Ichinomiya Tanabata Festival!




7/25/10: Toyota's fireworks display tonight was two hours of awesome! Wow!



7/26/10: 明日東京へ！楽しみよ！

And today, I am finishing last minute packing and trying hard not to cough out a lung as I prepare for the next five days in Tokyo! I spent last night printing out maps and Wiki-travel information as well as packing (making sure I had decent toothpaste and the like). I'm soo excited to go to Tokyo! With Andrea and I kickin' it Philly style, as well as Izumi-chan (who I met in Ichinomiya) and hopefully the opportunity to hook up with Susannah (who arrived in the land of the Rising Sun yesterday, I think) we should be having nothing but the good times! I just wish I'd fully kicked this stupid cold...

There's a song by Ketsumeishi called "Tegami Mirai/手紙～未来" and for the longest time, I thought one part of the lyrics of the chorus were "Mirai no orera no tokyo ha!/未来の俺らの東京は"

I thought this meant "in the future we'll all be in Tokyo."

Not only was I dead wrong about what the lyrics actually were "Mirai no orera no joukyou wa!?/未来の俺らの状況は!?" ("What will our future be?" -- thank you Karaoke and the internet), but truthfully I don't think even if I was right the version I heard would mean what I thought it did (or anything coherent). But even knowing one is wrong, the feeling is there, and so I have the song on my playlist as I finish my last minute packing and breakfast and dishwashing. Accuracy is overrated, ne?

手紙～未来 Video Below:



What will the future bring? For the immediate future, we'll be chillin in Tokyo? After that, wakanai!

Jaa ne!

For Now, The Sun

For now, Toyota City is bathed in sunshine. I wake up, throw open the curtains to my small deck, slide the glass door aside and the morning pours in: crisp a hint of flowers, birdsong, and shining sun. Even so, I've been living with vague anxiety of the inevitable change. The rainy season is coming. An entire month of dreary, humid days where the sky alternates between leaking and pouring. After that, the heat. Imagine Florida in summer, except no airconditioning, at least not at my schools, which is of course where I am during the hottest part of the day. So at this point, I am living in a beautiful bubble soon to be broken by rain, the pieces of which to then be further dissolved by oppressive heat.

According to my flashcards the rainy season is in June. So from June first, I've been opening my deck and breathing a sigh of relief. Not yet, I've said, turning my face up into the sun. But soon. At Kosema yesterday, I found out the rainy season actually begins in the second week of June and continues on until (or possibly through) the first week or so of July. Worse, it is “abunai” (dangerous) to bike in this mess (at least according to my coworkers), so for a string of rainy days I am constrained to the limits of Japan's (albeit exceptional) public transportation system. If this is actually the case, not only does this mean a switch for me to the bus, but it means that everyone will be switching to the buses and trains (that would ordinarily bike), so it's gonna be humid, wet, sticky and CROWDED. But, as this is Japan, even so things will be very polite and organized. At least I won't have to deal with the soggy alcoholic with the aura of urine that makes Philadelphia trains and buses so exciting.

I am hoping, as with many things in life, that the anticipation of the event is far more powerful than the event itself. Like with Natto. And for now, best to live it up. Bike, run and be merry, for tomorrow we shall be inside. Doing Karaoke. So it's not all bad.

***
For more of Vash's adventures in Japan and onwards, check out: http://vashabroad.blogspot.com

Japanese Sign Language, Ooku no Hito, and Vash on TV!

So Monday night was exercise, which was excellent. I then went to the Jusco, where I purchased Hoi Hoi traps to kill roaches. I had left the sheet which told me what roach traps to buy at Higashiyama (of course) so I ended up just going to a person who was working at the store and saying “Gokiburi wo koroshitai...” (I want to kill cockroaches!) and the nice lady took me right to the section and recommended some great products including the Hoi Hoi traps I've got scattered around my apartment now. Since I've put them out, I haven't seen a roach! I also purchased a Bento sushi for dinner (under $5 for a Sushi platter that would be almost twice that much in the States) and some milk. Suffice it to say, I was dead tired by the time I finished eating.

Even so, I didn't really get to bed until 12am, so I was tired on Tuesday too when I went to work. But biking woke me right up, first because of the exercise and second because I accidentally took the wrong road and had a real panic moment that my usual lack of direction would make me late for work. This was especially problematic because I also had to leave early to attend CPR training. So being late and and leaving early, BIG problem in any country.

Luckily, the road I was taking to Homi was roughly parallel to the road I should have taken (155, going to Seto) so when I realized after about 10 to 15 minutes that none of the landmarks I recognized were appearing, and that the Chome I was in was not on my map (they all aren't listed, alas) I asked for directions to Josui Station. That's the closest large thing that I figured people would know if I asked for directions. Then it was a quick left turn and lots of downhill riding, and I was actually not only right back on track, but I was actually right at my school! Turns out the road that I had taken to get to Josui station went right PAST my school!

So I was on-time for Toyota Yogo! Phew! It was also a real reminder that even if you've successfully walked or biked to a place once or twice before, that's no protection against being lost in Japan. At least if you're me. But while I'm still getting lost, my ability to handle it and get back on track is also definitely improved. And I am much more well able to deal with biking on hills, and getting better at understanding the Japanese road system. So yay!
Classes went well. Having made it my mission to greet and say goodbye to every student (or as many as I can) is beginning to show real signs of paying off. The kids now remember me, and some even pop out with a “good morning” or a high five unsolicited! It's very exciting!

I'm not sure how much of it is that they're learning good morning and the like from me, or that they're just getting over their shyness (it's incredibly hard to tell here--) but either way, I feel really great because it's beginning to feel more and more like my presence at this school (and all of them) is making a positive difference! And I'm getting to know the kids better, and they're getting to know me. It's great! I'm still terrible with names though at Toyota Yogo because I'm there more often, and I have more free time in which to talk to students individually, I'm probably doing the best of all of my schools with remembering specific children and teen's names.

Another exciting thing about working at Toyota Yogo is one of my coworkers, (name a blank, as usual, but he says his first job is fishing, and second job is as a teacher, really great guy) a nice older gentleman who worked at four schools for deaf children before coming to Toyota Yogo, is teaching me Japanese Sign Language. We have a great time chatting in the staff room about all kinds of things, and I usually pick up between 3-6 new signs every day I'm there, which (since he teachers me most of the signs in Japanese and English if he knows the English word – his English is really pretty good, so our conversations drift between the two languages) provides a great grounding for new vocabulary in addition to giving me a new language, and something else interesting to share with the kids at my various schools. The sign language helps me ground my Japanese, so I figure (like with any gesture) it will help them ground their English a bit as well. It's also totally fun!

I had to leave early for CPR and AED (it's a machine that shocks the heart if it's failing) training so after volunteering (inserting myself) into the third period songs class (far better than spending another useless 45 minutes in the staff room) I headed back to my neck of Toyota to go to City Hall. I also stopped at a 7-11 and treated myself to an American Dog, which is the Japanese version of a corn dog. It's about as healthy for you here as in the States, which is to say not very, but I loves me a corn dog. The corn dogs here are extra special because instead of having a thin layer of cornbread, they are thic like a fist. The hot dog is the same size as a standard hotdog, but the cornbread layer is about as thick around as the dog itself. It's made of delicious (though having tried 7-11's version and the Sankus version, I totally recommend Sankus more. The cornbread is a bit fluffier there, at least at the Sankus next to VITS Karaoke, where I buy my karaoke snacks. Of course, this is a wild generalization, so take it for what it's worth).

CPR training was fun because I got to hang out with some folks from my company that I hardly ever see because we're all off living our own lives and etc. (and the training was basically in English, though we ended up drifting into Japanese a lot because we had some very experienced Japanese speakers in our group (Lem) who could translate the more complicated questions and answers) We learned what to do when we see someone lying flat on the ground, clearly not moving. First, tap their shoulders vigorously and say in a loud voice “wakarimasuka!” (do you understand/are you okay enough to understand me?) and if they don't wake up, then call for help “dareka kite!” (da ray ka keetay)

After that, you check for breathing, and if they're not breathing, start CPR. Checking for a pulse takes too long, so we're not supposed to do that. Depending on how panicked I am in a real situation, I'll probably automatically check the gums though to see if they're blue, because that's what we do for cats. Blue is BAD, because it means the tissues aren't getting oxygen (probably not breathing); pink is good, it means that the tissues are at least getting O2. White is also bad, because it means that for whatever reason, there's blood loss or anemia (check for wound). But this is an aside. If they aren't breathing, start CPR.

Once someone comes, get the first person to call for an ambulance “kyuu kyuu sha wo yonde kudasai!” the second person gets to get the AED (heart shocker machine) “AED wo motte kite kudasai!” and then last person is charged with bringing as many people as possible: “ooku no hito yonde kudasai!” We all had fun with “ooku no hito yonde kudasai” for two reasons. First, nobody (at least sitting near me) had heard the phrase “ooku no hito” before. And most of these folks (with the exception of Justin, who has been here for 7 months, and me, getting on 7 weeks) have been here for at least 1-2 years. Lem's been here for 11 years. He may have heard it before though; but he's also taken the class before when he got his driver's license. So first we had to define “ooku no hito,” definition: lots and lots of people. I assume that the 'ooku' is some form of 多いOoi (many) though which one and why its being used this way, I have no idea.

The second reason for confusion revolving around “ooku no hito” was the question that two or three of us asked in various ways? Once you have all these “ooku no hito” gathered around, what do you do with them all? I've always heard that as a passserby, if there is an accident, and there are people gathered around (and someone is clearly handling the situation), the last thing you want to do is add yourself to the mass. Too many people can make a bad situation worse. But in Japan you want “ooku no hito” because they'll help you with the CPR. Apparently, people in Japan (according to my trainer) are very likely to know how to do the chest compressions as a matter of course, and since it takes six minutes from the phone call for the kyuukyuusha (ambulance) to arrive, you're going to need those extra hands to keep you from getting exhausted as you do the CPR. But if nobody comes at all, then you do two minutes of CPR and then run off and call for the ambulance. (Dial 119 for ambulance here. There's a different number for the police and fire department.)

The next part of our training was on proper use of the AED. I'd never seen an AED before. It's basically a machine about the size of an old Mac laptop (ie: thick as a brick, about a square foot around) that checks for heartrate and then delivers (if necessary) a shock to the heart. There are leads that stick to the chest, one over the upper right side of the chest (across from the heart), the other diagonally to the left, just below the ribcage. For a child under eight, you put one lead on the front of the chest in the center of the ribcage, and the other on the back. You also really need to take any metal off the chest and dry the area, otherwise it's bad things. The shock is pretty tough.

If the heart isn't beating at all, the AED doesn't give a shock, as unlike in the movies, jolting a flatline doesn't do anything useful. Our very important phrase that we learned here was “hanarete!” 離れて！It means, back up, get your hands off, etc. (separate/detach/release). This is actually a word in a song I'm trying learn for Karaoke, The Mass Missile's 愛の讃歌（あいのさんか）which is all in Kansai-ben apparently; this explains a lot about why I couldn't find a lot of the words in the dictionary. I'll never forget the meaning of this word though, because after Hanarete comes the shock. “Shoku shimasu!”

Like me, everyone I've talked to since the training has had some sort of experience with the word “hanarete” running through their minds or dreams. The AED is quite straightforward (though its all in Japanese) and none of us has any trouble learning how to use it.

During our training, there was also a news crew (TV and newspaper) taking pictures and videotaping us for TV and the paper. I did a short interview (in Japanese; it was me and two others of our group) about how I found the training to be useful which turned up on the six-o-clock local news! (including in Nagoya). I never got to see it, but throughout the week fellow teachers and one student, as well as a friend online, have mentioned that they saw me on TV. I wish I could find an online link to the interview so I could see it, but who knows. The nice people at Kosema however did clip the newspaper article out for me. I'm taking a picture of it to post online. I'm right in the center of the picture used in the article. This also gives you an indication about how stress-free life here is as our CPR class was actually newsworthy.

It's also, I'm sure, because we're foreign. Being foreign here in Japan, especially in school with the students, is a little like being a rock-star. People always want to talk to you and ask you questions, etc! Even so, in school, I still have some residual nervousness from my own Elementary School experience (where I was about as popular as a roadkill skunk). Sometimes I have to fight a diffuse fear when approaching students at random “oh god, they're not going to like me...!”

This is especially true with the fifth and sixth grades (where I was about as popular as a roadkill skunk that had been left out in the sun for two days) but with a bright smile and an energetic hello, everyone's around me chattering and giving high-fives etc! Just entering a school, often kids will wave at me from the windows, and I'll here in excited tones “it's Vash! Eigo sensei!” or some permutation of this. For a ham like me, this is ridiculously exciting! (it's also allowing me to exorcise some old demons.) Even so, I do tend to find myself drawn to the unpopular kids (or those with learning disabilities) though I try to spread myself as evenly as possible. As a general rule, the kids here are incredibly kind to each other. Any horsing around is not meant in a mean spirit that I've seen, though I'm only getting a very narrow window into this world, so I can't make any generalizations as I really don't know.

So that was my exciting Tuesday!

Phew these entries take a long time, especially when one has a backlog!

Hugs to all :)

--
For more of my adventure in Japan and onwards, visit my blog: http://vashabroad.blogspot.com

Take Your Blog to Work Day

So I've figured out what the problem was with my netbook screen and taking my computer around. There's a manufacturer's defect that I discovered in Japan (I'd noticed it vaguely in the States but hadn't used the computer enough to recognize what an annoying problem this was until it became my primary computer) which means that if my screen is too bright, it goes to a full white screen. I can either take three months and ship it back to the States to repair it, or just turn the brightness down on my screen. I've been going with Option B.

But I'd also thought there was a positional issue as depending on what angle I held the screen, it would sometimes or sometimes not go white. Because I thought there was something loose inside the monitor, I was reluctant to drag my computer on the road, thus turning my extra-portable netbook into a super small at home desktop. BUT: I realized yesterday that the reason why the screen goes white when I close it to hibernate is NOT positional, but instead due to the fact that the screen automatically goes back to its original brightness after it hibernates. And so, with a quick FN and the down arrow a couple of times, the problem is solved. This means that these free periods that have been driving me nuts are now valuable time for blogging and writing fiction. Wahoo!

Hence this exciting blog entry. Since I have about three hours of free time scattered through today (the teachers are doing いんかい (don't know the kanji for this one, and because I don't have internet here, had to use my denshi jisho, which while it was not especially informative in regards to this word, did let me know that 陰核　(いんかく- inkaku) is clitoris. What a difference a syllable makes! Wonder when I'm going to get to use that one?)




(scrolling down as my Japanese coworkers can actually read the Japanese on my computer)




Also, tonight I'm staying late to do aerobics with a group of other female teachers at the school. It was really fun the last time I did it, now almost a month ago (I had to miss last week to pick up my Gaijin Card at City Hall as I thought because I was a week late that they'd send it back or something, who knows). So instead of leaving at 4:45, I'm staying around the school until about 7, and exercise starts at about 5:30. This time, I'm going to try not to get my ass kicked aerobically by my desk neighbor's mother. I doubt that's going to come through for me though.

So anyway, onto more exciting things, like what I've been doing for the past few days. Since we last left our intrepid heroine, she was learning a bit of Portuguese at Nishihomi Elementary. My major trials at that time included not getting lesson plans or schedules from the schools through my company as expected, at thus having to go it blind almost every day. I am happy to say that problem has been resolved. Turns out there was a mistake in the spelling of my email address, so some random person in the world has been receiving my lesson plans and schedules, but it was not me. I'm super glad that the problem was something so minor, though it was incredibly frustrating and annoying at the time. As a result of receiving my schedule, I was able to prepare four lessons for Ohata, and all went basically smoothly.

I also got the number on that group of fourth grade boys that so thoroughly drove me up the wall last time I was there. Life in regards to school—because I was always completely unprepared—had been so gosh darned difficult that their behavior had nothing in it to rattle me at all, so there's a blessing in that I suppose. The ticket to getting them running my direction was a combination of TPR (total physical response), games involving fly swatters and a willingness to share with them how to say things like “poop” in English. Things went a little awry when I tried to slow things down for a food related song, but once we got out the fly swatters and I refused to do anything until they settled down, things were well on track. I feel like I'm about 85% there (mostly because I went against my gut and attempted the song in my lesson plan...the gut is usually right). It was kind of ironic because after the lesson, the HRT apologized for the boys not listening, and I felt that they had been leaps and bounds above the last time. And next time, we're all going to be marching well in tune. It was a lot of fun.

I also got to watch the school's preparation for 運動会（うんどうかい – undoukai), the Sports Festival. I took video of it which you can watch here:



Undoukai is a huge deal here in Japan. No joke. All of my schools are busily preparing for it, taking time from class to work on flags and routines, etc. It's really an amazing demonstration. At the above school, Ohata (time for class...gosh these times go so much faster with the netbook!) (back now, gosh I love blogging at school. I will take another break at a very soon point to say goodbye to all of the kids as they pass by the door of our staff room. Last time I taught them how to say “baby” with the baby in arms gesture, and they all got such a kick out of it!) It's like a huge school fair that centers around sports. Or at least that's what I think now. Probably after I experience the real thing, I'll have a different impression.

My day at Ohata went wildly well, and afterwards I was feeling a bit introverted, so I made the decision to go to Jusco and go grocery shopping, go running, and then head home to catch up on episodes of Dexter online. Luckily that plan didn't work out. Instead, as I was getting ready to head out running, I ran into (almost literally), Erin, another woman from our company, also from the States. She actually went to school in Pittsburgh, practically in my backyard globally speaking. She was on her way to get 100 yen/plate sushi at a chain sushi place and that sounded like fun so I asked if I could join her. She's blond haired and blue eyed, and I noticed we got stared at a lot more together than I usually do alone (since everyone just thinks I'm Brazilian). I had actually gotten Erin's email address at our last meeting, but lost it twice (me and paper...sigh...) which I regretted at the time quite a lot, but regretted even more after I found out she was a fantasy writer. So in Toyota, there are at least two speculative fiction writers! I feel so lucky!

We bonded on writing and geek stuff and about life in Japan, including, (maybe because we are American) a ten minute intensive discussion about teeth. Erin was telling me that she has a British friend who when he goes out with Americans absolutely refuses to let them (us) get started on teeth around him. Apparently as Americans we're obsessed with dental care. Truthfully, these days I do feel obsessed with dental care, though now that I found Listerine at the Jusco, my teeth aren't quite such a disaster as they were which is a major YAY!

Now I can shift my obsession from getting rid of my gingivitis to getting rid of the giant roaches that have begun to appear in my apartment. It's getting warmer and more humid, and as such I've seen two of these monsters in the last week, and that's two too many. They seem to range in size between half and three quarters of the length of my pinky. The first I wasn't able to kill (I assume it went back down the toilet) but the second I beat until it was not only dead but in half. I don't know where the second half went. I got the head, so the rest is probably still alive somewhere, probably starving, pooping and eventually decaying somewhere in my walls. I find this very disturbing if I think about it for any length of time.

Mike gave me a good eHow page on my Facebook which I read over. I also found this excellent website on roach (gokiburi) killing products in Japan, what they are called, how they work and where to find them. (http://www.jp41.com/living-in-japan/kill-cockroaches.php) I am every grateful for the internet for providing me with these gems of information. On the other hand, I'm also a bit exhausted because I got the bright idea to start researching this right before I went to bed, which meant that I (a) couldn't fall asleep last night because every small noise made me thing “they're coming out of the walls” and (b) I couldn't stay asleep last night because every small noise woke me up thinking “they're coming out of the walls.” I found a detailed and informative website (which I now can't find) that also showed pictures of all the different types of roaches in the world so that you can identify the ones that are plaguing you. (this is a large part of the reason for my sleepless night). I have a good feeling that in Japan, I'm dealing with some sort of radioactively enhanced German roach species. As of now, I've bleached all of my surfaces, sponge cleaned my floor with bleach cleaning supplies in the kitchen/hall, plugged my drains, and I'm buying roach killer and actual bleach tonight (I've been using a bleach based cleaning spray: I know it's bleach because of the smell).

What is upsetting though is that because I live in an apartment complex, aside from throwing bleach down the drains and buying roach traps, sprays and powders (this environment may be too humid for boric acid though), there isn't a whole lot I can do to keep the roaches from coming in from my neighbors. This isn't really much different from Philly, though at least in Philly I have five cats, three of whom are real killers (and of course, I don't use toxic roach killing products around my loveable kitties, but since I'm alone, gotta do what you gotta do). I'm just praying these roaches aren't the types that fly. I can barely deal with the groundbound ones.

But yes, there's more to life in Japan than teeth and killing roaches. Like everything else.

After my great dinner with Erin, I headed to Jusco to finish up my grocery shopping. Just talking and hanging out with another writer here in Japan (and one who is actually working on a fiction project) was so inspirational for me! I started thinking about getting back to writing fiction, what I would write etc. None of this panned out on Friday, because by the time I was done grocery shopping, it was time to go to the Izakaya. I'd been neglecting Kogame (小亀) and putting my position as Jouren (常連) in doubt I felt, and I also just missed my Izakaya friends like Ito and Kato-san and Hitomi-chan, to name a few.

That said I was also EXHAUSTED so not at my best. This pushed my Japanese into the toilet because I could barely think, but I still had a great time. I also ended up meeting two very exciting people: our local Councilman Kamo Mikio and another man who is the father of the Toyota City's Olympic rower. We had a great time, and he gave me a Beijing Olympics pin from his son's go at the Beijing Olympics. His son is currently training for the next Olympics. He's in Slovakia, and I think there's a strong possibility that I agreed to go to Poland and Slovakia over summer vacation with these folks to meet him. I'm also going to be trying rowing in early June with a local team. I was so tired though, all of this completely slipped my mind when I talked to Steph the next morning, so I basically was like “oh no, nothing exciting happened. I just did my job.”

That night, I crawled home around 1:00am and passed out. I woke the next morning, chatted with Steph, watched some TV on my computer and then around 2:00pm decided it was time to do something useful with my day. Usually, around 11am or 11:30, I'd start looking on the internet for interesting places that were close enough to Toyota for me to bike to, but at 2pm, there wasn't much point in spending 1-2 hours on a bike just to come home, and I was still a little tired, so I just decided to explore my own backyard. Michael () supposedly has a painting in the Toyota Museum of Art, which is less than a kilometer from my apartment, so I figured why not go there and see it?

Of course, I wound up in the wrong building (because this is me in Japan) but this worked out because I saw an incredible Nomen mask exhibit and got to talk extensively with the artists. They explained to me about the world of the dead (Jigoku/hell) and how the masks were images of people in the land of the dead, their features frozen at the point of death, but at some point as charactures of how they had lived their lives (evil or good people). Hence some of the masks are scarier than others. This was really interesting and I had every confidence it would make it into a story in some way or shape.

After that, I decided to go running, and since I usually have no idea how far I'm running here I aimed for a Mcdonalds that a billboard at the part of Route 155 near my apartment said was three kilometers ahead. I figured if I ran that way once, and then ran back, it would be 6k. This was a great run! I actually ran a little bit longer because I (a) ran from my apartment to the sign and (b) kept running past my apartment and for about another five minutes because I didn't want to stop running on “Believe” from the Run Lola Run soundtrack. It did take me about 50 minutes to do this, which is slow, but I am happy to be getting back into shape today. Getting back into running definitely paid off at recess, when I played “Oni” (a form of tag) with some sixth grade boys. Fifteen minutes of flat out running. Good warmup for aerobics tonight I think.

After running I went home, cooked, and then finished watching the last season of Dexter. What a kicker of an ending. I am very sad. It feels weird, looking back over my weekend and thinking about how anti-social I felt. This was in part exhaustion, but also in part a shift in my understanding of my life here. I'm working to get back the things that were important to me in Philly, including running, biking and of course writing. These things do require one has some time to herself and some reflection. That's not to say I'm going into hermitage, not by any means, (this weekend is already filling up) but I just wasn't up to my usual level of socialization this weekend.

On Sunday I started Japanese classes at TIA. It seems a LOT of people tested into class A, which was a huge problem for the class A teacher who was a bit overwhelmed. The class is entirely in Japanese. This is not an immersion method exactly; it's because Japanese is the one language that all of us have in common here. This is completely obvious, but it was also a real mental flip for me, who is used to thinking of English (even now) as the primary language through which I get information. If there was another theme for my weekend, it was illustration of the shift in understanding that here, Japanese really is the default language. I know this intellectually, but instinctually, it's still weird.

So the entire class really was in Japanese. The other Japanese class I took in Philly (at the Japanese Language School) attempted to do this, but it was very easy (too easy) for everyone to drift back into English if something didn't make sense or wasn't completely clear. At this class, the teacher spoke in Japanese for the entire time. In this class, I also was the only American, and one of only three primary English speakers (two of whom were native Japanese who had learned English at International School in Japan and felt more comfortable with it, hence their taking this class). I had a couple of questions, one of which I asked the teacher, and the second I ended up talking to one of my classmates about 苦手 (にがて/nigate) which means things that others can do that you can't do; looking it up in my denshi jishou, it said “weak point” which also makes sense.

The first thing we did after basic classroom setup was Jikoshoukai. I volunteered to go first. I've given my Jikoshoukai in English and Japanese about a million times here so it holds no fear for me. But even if it had held fear for me, I'd have volunteered to go first (or in the first few people) because you don't learn anything if you don't put yourself out there. Which is why I volunteered to go in the first three for the exercise that included 'nigate' because I wanted to really use it where the rubber hit the road. I think I am going to really enjoy this class and learn a lot, which is very exciting.

After class, I had the chance to go to a BBQ in Nagoya, but before I went I wanted to make another go at the Toyota Art Museum to see Michael's painting. Of course I left my SD card for my camera in my apartment so I had to make two trips, and by the time all of that had happened, it was too late to go to Nagoya. Truthfully, I wasn't too upset about this because I was feeling introverted, so instead I went to the museum, enjoyed the art, then went outside and took my netbook for a spin. The exhibits at the museum had an otherworldly quality that was excellent in regards to giving me fodder for writing, and outside that evening I did start the first few paragraphs of a story. It's still in progress, so I'm not going to talk anymore on that until I have a draft. We'll see. (if not this than something else)

When I got home, I beat that roach to death. And cleaned. And ate. And cleaned. And talked to my grandfather and uncle on the phone. And cleaned some more. Still have some more cleaning to do.

Which brings us back to today. This has been a good day. It's now 4:30pm. All of my coworkers with the exception of the Tea Lady (a lovely older woman whose job it is to serve tea, organize and clean things as far as I can tell. It's a big job, and she's always working) and one other teacher have been involved in meetings all afternoon. This gave me the room practically to myself, a little lonely but okay. Now everyone has returned (yay!) and are handing out food products (double yay!). The room is filled with cheerful (and relieved) chatter as well as some whispered gossip. I am like a rock in a stream. I'm here, I have a place, but in regards to being effected by the movements of this flow, I'm just here. Typing.
Today I only had three classes, which ordinarily would have been reason for madness, but thanks to having my netbook, it was all good. My lessons today all went surprisingly well.

The most interesting was the first, where we had some four visitors, older gentlemen with salt and pepper hair in full suit and ties who looked over our class with serious expressions and notepads. Yikes! But the lesson went well, and I think we made a good impression. And clearly this was a serious situation, because I've been thanked by about 5 different people at school for doing the lesson today, including the Principal. So at least my three hours of preparation for this lesson plan actually paid off. That and having Jun-sensei, my HRT for this class, who is excellent. He had lots of great ideas for this lesson, which made it a success. Alone, I doubt that would have happened.

After that, it was days of the week with first graders. They did better at it than I'd thought they would because clearly they'd reviewed these before and even had a cute days of the week song that they mostly knew. Still, a lot of this broke down at the games section. None of them could handle the whisper race, though they tried gainfully. I guess I'm not the only one who can't understand small Japanese children when they whisper. And for Fruits Baskets, they all kept forgetting what day of the week they were, so that was a bit of a disaster too. This is in part, because as my HRT said, they're really only good with Sunday through Tuesday. Wednesday through Saturday tends to bite the dust. But everyone had fun. And they're six-year-olds, so yeah.

Last up was second graders and animals. Those kids got a huge kick out of playing Karuta and giving me viciously hard low fives. My palms were actually red when they were done. But all in good fun.

Now, it is almost time for exercise. I have been to the convenience store and gotten some food, so hopefully my blood sugar won't plummet halfway through the lesson. I also got some instant curry from the Conbini, and some kind of Mochi snack from a store near the Conbini. It was sweet and delicious. There's an entire curry section on the Jusco grocery store, but I still couldn't find the same instant curry that's in my cupboard. But the conbini had something close. Also got some ready to go Donburi. If it's like other ready made food here, it's sure to make a delicious dinner. After exercise and roach spray buying, I don't think I'm going to be up for much by way of cooking.

Ja ne!

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For more of my adventures in Japan and onwards, please visit my blog at http://vashabroad.blogspot.com

Days Gone By

Boy life got away from me this week! As usual, so much happens even in a day, it's hard to categorize, so catching up on four days is really going to be a challenge. And one I think would be best approached obliquely. So here goes:

It's been another great week of meeting people, going to cool places, and teaching (both in the victories and the “try agains”).

On Sunday I signed up for Japanese classes at TIA (Toyota International Association) and took a test to place me in the correct class. To my surprise (and delight), I placed into level A, the top level class they offer. This was kind of awesome, especially considering I've only been here about 5 weeks. Luckily, the fact that I'm always asking people “what did you say?” or “I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying because I don't have a lot of vocabulary or grammar” definitely keeps my feet on the ground though in regards to my Japanese abilities. I have a lot to learn and I'm very excited to start classes this upcoming Sunday.

Also on Sunday I had the pleasure of attending Makato-san's International English conversation get together at Aichi University, where I met some awesome people (that I still need to put into my phone and email...busy week, yeah!) and had a fantastic time chatting and learning Salsa dance! This was a really great time! I also met some fine folks from the Garbage Rangers, who once a month in Power Rangers costume pick up garbage around Nagoya. I'm going to check out their next outing. Only in Japan! Have I mentioned how great (and interesting) life is here yet?!

On Monday, it was back to work! I started the week at Higashiyama, and since I had a schedule with lesson topics, etc, was able to do a much better job than last time, especially with the Animals lesson for the first graders. I really love all ages of kids, but there's an special place in my heart for the first graders and second graders because they are so outgoing and up for anything. As the kids get older, they get a little shyer, and by fifth grade especially, (and I remember this from my own childhood), peer pressure is a real PITA. You have to work a bit harder with the older kids to get them involved, but they do make up for it by having more mature conversations (and also speaking more clear Japanese. I feel terrible about it, but little kids' Japanese I have an especially hard time understanding). I am also developing better relationships with all of the teachers in this school, which is great! They are also beginning to tell me more about what the kids know (and don't know) so I can plan more appropriate lessons. This is a huge help!

I also had a chance to go running on Monday night. What a great idea! I ran for about 40 minutes and felt so sore, tired, and great! It was a wonderful decision that I repeated tonight for a half hour. I'm getting back into a 3 day a week running schedule for sure! Now if only I could figure out how far I was actually going.

On Tuesday, I went for the first time to Nishihomi Elementary. I admit, on the train (I intended to bike but it was raining and I was running late) I felt a bit nervous about once again having another first day in another brand new school (how would it go?) but this school was an absolute joy. Of course, there were scheduling concerns (I didn't receive any of the lesson plans they made – big shock...not—so I only had prepared for Jikoshoukai. But the teachers there were excellent about giving me the information, plans and materials I needed so the lessons went well anyhow. Also, the kids here hail from all over the world (mostly from South America: specifically Brazil and Peru, and the Philippines, though other countries were also represented), and the mix of cultures gave the school a unique energy. The kids were very outgoing. For example, during my Jikoshoukai section of my lesson with the fifth graders, when I was asking where people were from, the kids were absolutely excited to shout out their countries or origin and were quite excited when I held out my Brazil flashcard and placed it on the map. (I need one for Peru and the Philippines too).

Later, when talking about the difference in pronunciation of Karaoke in Japan and the States, one of the girls (and here the girls were much less shy than at my other schools, a huge difference) shouted out Musikow, which is what Karaoke is called in Brazilian Portuguese. So I was able to incorporate it into the lesson, and learn some Portuguese as well.

The fourth graders were also ridiculously excited after class to tell me how to say all kinds of things in various languages (as I taught English), so I learned how to say Good morning in Philippino, Brazilian Portuguese, and one girl, who spoke five languages (Italian, Portuguese, Philippino, Chinese and Japanese) also told me how to say “I love you” in Italian. I wrote all of these down and will have them memorized by the week after next when I return. One of my fellow teachers (Kana-sensei, who translates between English, Japanese and Portuguese for the school...omg!) also taught me a fair number of words and phrases in Portuguese, including “Eu nao falo Portuguese” which means “I don't speak Portuguese” and “Sou Americana” which means “I am American.” So now when random people walk up to me and start talking to me in Portuguese, I can whip that out. (though by the end of my year working at Nishihomi, I should speak some Portuguese at least).

Also, I learned Good Morning “Bon Dia” (pronounced Bone Jia) and Good Afternoon: “Bon Tarde” (pr. Bon Tarji (long e sound at end). In Brazilian Portuguese, the D's tend to go to J's, though this isn't a fast rule. If you want to ask “how you you?” you ask “Tudo Bem” but this D is pronounced like a D and the E in Bem is long (Beem). I'm good = Estou Bem. There is a difference in To Be adjectives in Portuguese depending on if the is is referring to a changeable vs. unchangeable state. So Sou Americana is an unchangeable state. (theoretically). I was born American and will probably die American. Whereas I'm good--Estou bem--is a changeable state; I'm good now, but maybe tomorrow, not so good. I found this to be wildly interesting, and it may end up being the core of a story...not sure yet. In general though, you can see in the grammar and words relationships between Spanish and Portuguese, which is helpful as I did take Spanish in High School, though I forgot pretty much all of it.

Then it was back home where I tried out the instant curry beef I'd bought at Jusco. So good! Just a few minutes in boiling water in it's metal container, and three minutes of cooking yakisoba noodles, and I had a delicious curry beef with veggies (some I added) and I have three more packets. Definitely going to have more curry soon! I also did a great deal of lesson planning for today. More than I'd have liked since it took close to five hours. That's in large part because the lesson they wanted wasn't compatible with my teaching materials.

Also, I had to do another lesson on animals, as the one I had was way to simplistic for the older kids (there's a difference between first and fourth graders). To my surprise though, all of my lessons went well today. This was by far the best day I've had at this school, so all of my prep work really paid off! Hopefully though, this will get faster (looks like my next few weeks of lessons are compatible with my teaching materials, thank God.

Then it was running tonight, yakisoba noodles with veggies and way too many chocolate wafers. I also watched this week's episode of House which was great! And if anyone's been keeping up with the new season of Dr. Who, I must admit I'm really liking the new Doctor. Not that I don't love David Tennant (because if he called...) but the new guy is doing a hugely great job with the role too. And I love Amy. She reminds me a little of me except less commitment phobic. (yeah, that's kind of sad). Also, the writing this season (except the first episode which was a bit weak in my estimation) has been really great! Not that I expected less of Stephen Moffet.

Nuff said, off to shower and bed!

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Read more about my adventures in Japan and abroad at http://vashabroad.blogspot.com