病院 and desire and the G-muffin

Sometimes when you're here, you feel so alone, but these are only moments. Soon after, you have so many options, so many thoughts, and so many different people to talk to. And to think I'm going to be leaving in only three months???

One day this week, it got colder, and I got sick. For one day. I told people, 気分が悪い(kibun ga warui, I feel sick), and that was enough for me to get asked several times that day and the next whether I was feeling okay. Yeah, I'm fine! I used that phrase (note the translation) because I didn't want people to equate my sickness with disease-spreading or bed-ridden connotations. The next day I felt fine, after nine and a half hours of quality sleep, despite that there is still enough dust to which I'm allergic on my blanket to circulate around the room and into my nose. Sleep can ignore the hell out of that. Sleep is one of the most marvelous things available to mankind, and I have learned to respect it more than anything in recent years.

When I asked one of my Japanese friends here where his friend was going, he said "Oh, he's first going to the hospital" and I was initially like, "the hospital??" Then, I remembered what my host family told me: the word for "the doctor's" and "the hospital" is one in the same. They are not separate from each other, even though in the US you know there's a pretty big difference between the two. That word is in the title of this post, and it's pronounced "byouin". "Biyouin," as pointed out by my Japanese textbook and probably all the others, means the hairdresser's, so you better make the "byo" part quick. But yeah, sickness and injury are a big deal here. Maybe this is my father's fault or the fault of whoever it was that told me that people here over-medicate, but I'm going to be sure to tell nobody that my wrist hurts because of frisbee today. You know that throw I can whip out where you backhand on the same side of your body as your throwing arm? Don't do it. It's useless and dangerous because the defender won't see it coming, and since you need it to be closer to the inside of your body to get all your strength, there's no way to get it around the defender and still have it be a strong throw. Unless you're really good. Oh well.

I seriously can't believe I'm going to be gone in three months. I think I'm the only person who's realized how true this is now, and make that less than three months. Geez, that's crazy! I don't know if I'm going to be able to make the parting happily. You know what I mean. I mean, what's in Paris besides the language? Ah, mais c'est beau...

I'm totally zoned in now on Japanese: speaking it, living it, hearing it. Also, I can't wait for the seasonal allergies to subside so that I can totally live in my house without having a sharp hay fever reaction to something in my room all the time.

Also, the best way to not get homesick (and to not suffer from allergies in your room) is to go to bed early. If it weren't for the fact that I'll probably be hanging around with Japanese friends later tonight, that's exactly what my schedule would be on this beautiful Friday. I hope it's not raining now, though. I still have to go back.

Lastly, sometimes desire hits me like a brick here. The best remedy for that, as non-sequitur as it may seem, is frisbee. Making every day a frisbee day makes every day a really awesome day. Man, there's this girl here who is so good at getting open and sooooo gentle and delicate that she kind of just flutters about. She gives the softest handshakes and high-fives ever. Man, I hope whoever she's in love with or whoever she falls in love with takes care of her and treats her right. She's the one I inadvertently smacked in the face when I made a high backhand throw right in front of my body instead of to the left side as it should've been. I'm so glad the bruise is gone or never got there! Also, I think she's stronger than she puts on; she certainly doesn't make that impression with any physical gestures. She's fantastic. And she's only one of the many cool people I've met here. Frisbee is the topping on the Gaidai blueberry muffin: you don't need the rest of the muffin, for one thing, and if you have desire, the Gaidai blueberry muffin is there. I love this place.

^____^