Even though I am on the road to recovery, I seem to have a flat tire and the auto club hasn’t shown up yet. I woke this morning feeling the same as yesterday, and I’m starting to wonder what it would be like to live the rest of my life this way. Today the pain ratcheted up a notch with lots of pressure from within my nose and head, and I finally gave in and went to the school nurse.
I don’t know why I don’t take more advantage of this handy service. I walk in and get mothered by a professional. Ms. Mizuta bustled me off to a comfortable chair and then asked me a whole bunch of questions. I answered as best I could in Japanese. She nods sagely and goes rummaging around for goodies. Three first year students were there watching me curiously, each with their own maladies to worry about. They grinned shyly at me waited patiently for me to leave. I got the distinct impression that I had interrupted some kind of female medical consultation.
The nurse took one look at my throat and I swear that she winced a little – that’s gotta be a bad sign. She gave me some pills and some lozenges, and wished me good luck. I got out of there just in time to catch the morning meeting with the rest of the teachers.
There is a theory among my teachers about my sickness. They seem to think it is because I take showers in the morning. Everyone in Japan bathes at night and then runs right off to work in the morning, which might explain why everyone is sleeping on the trains. I’ve tried to tell them that temperature has nothing to do with it. I read all about it on the web – so it must be true! Anyway, every day that I come in sick they ask if I took a shower in the morning. I say ‘yes’ and then they react as if I told them I eat dinner in the morning. They can’t believe that I would do something so crazy.
My classes went well today – the highlight was during my first class when I awarded the grand prize to the best paper airplane designer. I gave the student a package of origami paper. The girl looked at it like I was handing her a bomb – maybe she has origamiphobia. Lot of good planes today – I was really impressed with the effort put forth by today’s kids. The boys always sit apart from the girls, and they rarely interact. The beauty of the plane lesson is that the planes are always straying into the boys or girls areas, and so they are forced to say something to the opposite sex.
Mr. Hayashi once again sent me home early – I was gone by 2 o’clock. I made a run into Akashi to pick up some supplies for White Day coming up – I have a lot of people to give presents to! I’m going to pass those out on Friday.
My plane tickets were confirmed today, so they’ll be waiting for me at the airport. I’ll be spending three days and two nights in Seoul. I downloaded some travel guides and so I’m starting to think about what to do. I leave on Wednesday and I’m back on Friday. The day before I leave I’m attending the sumo matches in Osaka with Mel, so that should be fun. I’m going to be busy soon, so I’m hoping I can knock this cold out ASAP.
