Sick

Yesterday I woke up with a little stomach ache but nothing serious so I decided to go to school anyways- it is what I would do at home for Northfield High School... that was the wrong choice. After 3 hours of sitting in the library (which I will explain later on) I finally went up to my home room teacher with tears practically in my eyes saying that I needed to go home. He looked very concerned and we made a quick call to my Okaasan explaining what was going on. Of course she said I could go home and she said something about leaving work early- I said that she didn't need to do that because I would probably just try to sleep it off anyways. So, my teacher wrote me a pass to leave school and I headed for the train. I have to say that is one thing I definitely miss about Northfield, the 10 minute drive to get home rather and an hour by two trains and one bus.

When I finally got to my second train I sat and waited for its arrival but was not surprised to see my Okaasan walking towards me. She had left work early and decided we would take a taxi home. Despite not feeling well I was pretty excited, my first Japanese taxi ride! Wrong again. While the ride was about 20 minutes shorter than my remaining train and bus would have been it was a very rough ride with many abrupt stops and lurching starts.

Finally home I immediately changed out of my uncomfortable layers of uniform and into some nice workout shorts and a t-shirt. I crawled into bed when Okaasan came up to see if I wanted any stomach medicine (which I happily accepted- to be honest I was curious about what Japanese medicine was like... just white pills) and asked if I needed to go to the doctor/hospital. I quickly told her no that I didn't think it was that bad, I just needed sleep. And sleep I did. I laid down at 12:30ish in the afternoon and was out almost immediately. I slept for about 6 hrs straight before Okaasan came and woke me up to see if I would eat something and see how I was feeling. I still wasn't very hungry but I agreed that food was probably a good idea. So, I was allowed to sleep for another hour while she prepared dinner then I joined her downstairs.

When you are sick in Japan you eat soup. This soup was soooo tasty! Even while I wasn't feeling well I still wanted seconds, though I refrained myself knowing it probably wouldn't make me feel any better. The soup was some sort of mixture of rice and egg, sounds gross but tastes so good.

After dinner I took a quick shower and went back to bed. I slept until 9:30 am this morning. Most of my stomach pain was gone but I still feel a bit sick, probably just a little head cold.

Being an exchange student in Japan with a cold is like the world is ending. To be honest I probably would have gone to school today if I were back in the states, I am feeling that much better, but Okaasan told me to stay home. She also postponed our trip with my host grandfather to Nara (Japan's capital before Kyoto or Tokyo) that was supposed to take place tomorrow. This was unfortunate but moms, even host moms in different countries, typically know best. I have also been given strict orders to stay in bed and am only allowed out to use the bathroom, eat food, or take my nightly showers.

I got a call from a Rotary member yesterday seeing if I was okay and multiple friends have emailed me to say they missed me at school and hope I am okay. I am not sure how the Rotary member knew I was sick but am glad my friends noticed I was gone and that they cared enough to check in on me.

Another little tidbit that I found kind of funny is that my Okaasan said that when I first called her saying I didn't feel well she was very concerned that I had eaten some of the moldy bread that I had found... even knowing it was moldy. Haha, no I did not eat moldy bread. Gross!

That has been my last two days. Like I said I feel a lot better today so don't be surprised if there is another blog post later today... I am kinda bored.

Sayonara from Osaka, Japan.