I hope that everyone knows by now that China is basically the most polluted place ever. They have some crazy pollution dust or something that troubles surrounding areas when it travels by wind. In Matsue, we get a haze sometimes coming across the Sea of Japan. Let's go back in time to the beginning of February. I was just beginning to get settled when I developed a cough. I felt totally gross and diseased but attributed it to the amount of travel I had just endured and the stress that comes with moving countries. The strangest part for me was that I only had a cough. I feel like usually when you are sick you have other symptoms such as runny nose or sneezing. I took some medicine and the cough did improve some but not all the way. Jump forward to about a week ago. I had a coughing spell that left me unable to breathe for a short period of time. This girl has taken enough kinesiology/ health/ first aid classes to know the symptoms of an asthma attack and my friends, this was one. It happened maybe two more times before I went to the doctor (real smart, Vanessa. Let the temporary inability to breathe happen multiple times before getting help. Whatever). Thank goodness I have the nicest coworkers in the whole wide world because Izumi translated a letter I wrote about everything that happened into Japanese, found me an English-speaking doctor (well, he spoke enough English), and sent me on my way. After incorrectly navigating the near-impossible bus system of Matsue and hitching a ride with a police officer, I arrived at the clinic. We talked and he agreed that it was probably caused by pollution but also essentially told me that my spiritual, mental, and physical self were not aligned and that the respiratory system is sensitive to such misalignment. Maybe I can find somewhere to get my chakras aligned. Anyway, the nice doctor man put me on a bronchodilator to stop the scary stuff, and two other medicines to finally rid me of the remnants of my cough sickness. I go back Monday to tell him whether it's been working or not (it has). What an ordeal! Luckily the health insurance in Japan is pretty good so the whole appointment and 5 days worth of 3 medicines was just over $20.
Now on to the happy part of the post! I was reading online about how to learn Japanese because it is so ridiculous living in a country and not speaking any of the language. It had some tips like study every night and setting attainable goals (duh), but one I thought was worth paying extra attention to was to be accountable to someone and make bets with them. Of course this sparked my interest- betting is something that I think is fun and maybe I'm close to the worst person to play poker ever (thus making me the best to play with?) but why not try it? I got my coworker Alaina to try this out with me: we have made it our goal to learn hiragana then katakana, giving ourselves 2 weeks for each, then 5 kanji a week until we can't take it anymore. We are about halfway through week one of hiragana and I have learned 10 symbols! It is definitely hard but I learned 5 during my lunch break today with the help of some great iPhone apps and it was so invigorating coming back from lunch with more knowledge than when I left. When I was walking around I even recognized a few characters on signs. What a fantastic feeling.
If you are confused on the difference between the hiragana and katakana syllabaries, click here for a definition of hiragana and here for katakana.
In other news, I will officially be visiting my very fantastic dear friend Sarah Feather in Seoul, South Korea during Japan's Golden Week. Lots of holidays in Japan all at once and I will use my days off to be jolly, Gangnam Style.
Tomorrow I have my first real lesson where I will be teaching my branch manager. This weekend is the big St. Patrick's day parade and festival and beer drinking goodness. I'll be walking in the parade and I'll take pictures to show you friends. Yes, I realize this is a week before St. Patrick's Day, but that's how much Ireland has an influence in Matsue. We have two weekends of celebrations. See info on Lafcadio Hearn for more knowledge of the connection between the 'sue and Ireland. Did I link wikipedia enough today?
I made Japanese curry and it was so fantastic. This is what it looked like before I gobbled it.
No comments:
Post a Comment