Taking on One Day at a Time

Well, just past two weeks since my tumble and I am healing up steadily. Its been a real rollercoaster of emotions and feelings, dealing with my injury, being stuck in my room and unable to get out, but I just want to take a moment to thank the people who have been so supportive of me.

There is my dorm "mom" who stayed with me the five hours it took to see a doctor and get a proper diagnosis. She checked on me every weekday for the past two weeks, slipping mail under my door and talking with me. And during rough days during that first week, she would buy me sushi, bring trays of food, buns and soup to me.

Despite my many attempts to cloister myself away, she would keep my spirits up, and when I tried to push going to school, she would remind me that I have a years time in Japan and what is most important is to rest as much as possible so that I don't reinjure myself and take longer to get better.


And then my dorm mates, T, who would grocery shop for me, bring me my homework and genuinely ask about my wellbeing, Y, who lent me money until I was able to take a taxi to a seven eleven to take money out to pay for my hospital bills and would pick up odds and ends for me, and F and S, who both brought me home-made treats to cheer me up. Even though I have only known these women for a few months, they have all been so caring and kind.

Margie, my mom's friend from long ago sent me a box full of easily prepared foods from Costco, with everything from Swiss Miss hot cocoa to ramen to a massive jar of peanut butter.

And lastly, today, a bunch of my friends lured me up onto the roof of another dorm, where they had prepared a "cheer up" party for me with lots of food and drinks and they bought me a Totoros to make me feel better.

All of these photos are of the gifts given to me during my recovery, but more precious than any object is the genuine caring and kindness behind these gifts. Being on exchange in a country where you can't properly communicate, nor understand what people may say to you makes for a very lonely experience, but people have adamantly found ways to show me that they care about my wellbeing. And then there are my friends and family back home who have been so supportive, listening to my anger and frustration without judgment and with wide open hearts. I am so grateful, and so fortunate and I only hope that I can make my loved ones proud and find some way to repay my friends.

It's really hard to keep things in perspective when you're injured and depressed. It can feel like the world is caving in on you and you're all alone in your suffering, but it seems like, if you can get past that tunnel vision, then the world just opens right up and things don't seem so impossible anymore. I'm not through the woods yet by a long shot, but I am not going to let what is going on for me right now, stop me from experiencing Japan as best I can.


<3
Rocketfrog

 

 

On being Disabled in Japan...pt 1 of what will likely be a very tedious series...

Along with the fun, typical, curious cultural lessons that go along with being in a new country, I've also learned a lot about being injured in Japan. Having a disability in Japan is challenging, to say the least. There seems to be a general lack of understanding and comprehension about injuries. That great "gaman" spirit is used to justify pushing people past their pain limits and just "suck it up" and keep at it. Priority to use the elevators is given to the staff, then disabled, and yet, that seems to matter little to the many, many students who like to use them, and on top of all this.....many of the elevators on campus are locked. You can't even use the damn things until you hunt down the person with the key!!!!

When I was given a room on the first floor of a dorm very close to my university, I assumed it was because they were being sensitive to my knee disabilities. Only yesterday, I realized that I got this place out of puuuuure luck of the draw. They put a girl with multiple sclerosis, who cannot climb stairs, on the fifth floor of my dorm. If there is a fire and the elevators are shut down, what is she supposed to do?!

It really hits home how lucky I am to have this particular dorm, especially when things like this happen:

I have had knee problems since I was a kid. My kneecaps twist partially out of the socket, very, very easily and depending on the severity of the twist, I may need to rest a few hours, or a few weeks. Yesterday, I tripped in the street, went stumbling forward and twisted the shit out of both knees before hitting the pavement. My right knee was the size of a fucking cantalope but due to my inability to communicate clearly in Japanese, everyone thought I was crying because the fall surprised me. So the first health clinic I went to didn't give me pain meds, gave me tiny little ice packs, and then dabbed alcohol on my skinned knee before wanting to send me off.

Lucky for me, nurses began to realize that there was something a little more serious going on and my dorm mom insisted that we go to another clinic for an Xray. Only after waiting for about an hour, they didn't have an xray, couldn't do anything to help but, they referred me to a sports injury Doctor at a nearby hospital who could speak English. I had to wait another two hours but as soon as I saw him, I got an Xray done, a brace made, and an MRI taken. They wanted to hospitalize me for the weekend, due to the fact that I could hardly walk but I wanted nothing more than to be home so I could contact my parents, sleep in my own bed and just be on my own. I took my first pain meds at eight that night and put on a proper icepack shortly after that.

Needless to say, yesterday was a very long day.

I am worried about the severity of this injury. The last time I popped my knee out in this kind of a manner, I was lined up for surgery within a few months. The doctor was vague as to what damage had been done this time. There was too much blood and other assorted fluids in my knee to even let the doctor manipulate my patella, so he was vague as to whether it may still be dislocated, or fractured but he seemed pretty certain I had contused the bones and there were little bone shards even I could pick up when I saw the Xray. My emotional health is a whole other ballgame. I just want to be left alone, but I can't manage tasks beyond being in my room, using the bathroom and feeding myself. So far, I'm sitting on who to contact until I have no other choice.

My parents have reminded me that I can come home and that my health is priority. If I have to go home, I have to go home, right? Right.

<3
Rocketfrog

Golden Week

Hey y'all! Happy Golden Week!

For those who are unfamiliar with this fancy dancy holiday, it is the longest string of holidays in Japan. This is when most people go out traveling with their friends, visiting family and traveling about a bit. I, along with two other exchange students, took the bullet train to Nagasaki for a three day visit. It was a very enlightening trip and I had a good time exploring the historical sites. I didn't have the opportunity to hit up on any of the Confucian or Shinto Shrines, but I was able to see Dejima Island, the Martyr's Museum, Urakami Cathedral, Peace Park, the Hypocenter of where the atomic bomb hit and the Oura Church.

Japan loves to promote it's local specialty foods and Nagasaki proudly claims the title as the "Castella" center of Japan. Castella is a special pound cake brought over by European foreigners which is dearly, dearly loved by the Japanese. And if I have to catch even another sniff of the stuff, I will ride that Shinkansen back to Nagasaki, find and burn every existing recipe for the cake. It was alright the first time I tried it but wherever we went, sellers pushed samples of the cake on you and they can be pretty pushy, considering how intense the competition is.....ooooh, I hate castella.... And I had to buy a block of the damn stuff as a souvenir for the people I know back here in Kyoto....

While in Fukuoka, we also went to "Huis Ten Bosch," a.... very odd amusement park which in my opinion was a complete waste of money and time. It is modeled after Holland and caters to all of your Dutch chocolate, cheese and amusement park-food needs. Of course, these places are the Japanese idea of what Holland is, and it works very, very hard to market the West to the Japanese. I've spent four years studying "Orientalism" and the exoticizing of Asians by the West and there I was, in a place that prided itself on bringing the "exotic" West to Japan. Oh irony. All of the rides were PG-kiddie amusement shows, though there was also a huge port section dedicated to the manga "One Piece", not a manga I follow, but the two girls I was with were very happy.


Anyways, I was very happy to come back to Kyoto. I met with an old friend in Osaka, wandered around Kyoto University which is close to my home and which happens to have a few vegan/vegetarian/health food restaurants/stores, (WIN!!!). There is the Falafel Garden, which has hummus worthy of my...very...picky best friend's palate (I <3 you), and there's the Sunny Place which is closed for Golden week, and then Cafe Proverbs (15:17), my favorite. It reminds me of a wonderful mix of the Naam in Vancouver and the Rebar in Victoria. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is relaxed and the staff are great. :) They seem to have something of a seasonal menu and right now, blueberries are the focus. Yuuum! I hope to go by there to study and enjoy their organic soy lattes again soon. It's such a cute place. If you happen to be in Kyoto, definitely make a stop by Cafe Proverbs (15:17).

<3
Rocketfrog