In Summery: Sick but Optimistic
First, Sunday. I've been having problems sleeping / breathing so I did a huge clean and vacuum of my apartment. I had been gone in Tokyo for 10 days and before that I had a nasty cold so I figured it's because of dust and after talking to Mom I was sure of it. Bedding washed, floor vacuumed, shelves rearranged and books dusted, I was exhausted since I haven't been breathing right since my cold in December. Didn't help. Decided to give it a couple of days.
Monday. My coordinator called me up on Friday telling me to come into the office at 4pm for a meeting. Since I only go into Nagoya once a month on long weekends (if I can help it) I decided to leave early, spend the day doing my shopping and going to the company office at the end. The office I reasonably close to Nagoya station so I could walk 90% of the way underground. It's actually at the next station over, but no way am I paying 2 bucks for the subway to walk 500 m in a warm underground mall. Besides, on the way there's a Starbucks and when I'm in Nagoya (or other city) is the only time I even see a Starbucks so no way in hell am I missing out on that!
So, do my shopping, had lunch at Denny's (at 2pm, but still.). I know, Denny's. You laugh but they have decent food in Japan. Japanese versions of American food, usually tastes better and has mushrooms. I love mushrooms. Now, the REAL reason I goto Denny's. They have nice, heated, western-style toilets. Oh, yeah. I was desperate and went to a bathroom in Nagoya station once.. Not pretty.
I still had an hour and a half before I had to be at my meeting, so I decided to head there anyways. Even if I'm early I'd be around people and I bought magazines besides. Yeah, get lost in the underground. This happens EVERY BLOODY TIME I have to goto the office. It's a good thing I'm obsessively worried about being late. I'm the same in Canada to. If I have enough time to get ready I'm always about 20 minutes early for any meeting. Only time I'm late is if I goto the wrong place, or it's like "Meet you in 20 minutes." when I'm shopping with Mom and she throws me a curve ball by actually being on time. LOL I think it has to do with the fact I never go into the station at the same entrance. Last time my meeting was in the morning so I went straight to the office from the Kintetsu line. Time before that was the first time I ever went so I met a coordinator on the ground floor of the station and walked with her. This time I was shopping a couple of blocks from the station so I went down the first underground entrance I could find. Right in front of Denny's. LOL
So thanks to my shitty sense of direction I was only half an hour early. But I had my chai so it was ALL good. The person who had the appointment before mine was there. He was going through basic training. He's in Okizaki, with 5 schools and at the same middle school 85% of the time. I had to fight down a wave of pure envy. Then I had my meeting with Tamas. I had been preparing myself for this meeting since Friday. I expected everything to empty placation to half-promises to evasion. No. Sat down. I told him what I told Aki and he says, straight out. "I understand. I'll send you a list of what's available in Febuary when I'm sure what's coming up." o__O
I was stunned. Out of all the possible situations I had considered this was not one of them. In a bizarre way I was disappointed. I knew I had the power in this meeting, which usually doesn't happen and I was looking forward to sticking to my guns. I was SO SURE that they were going to try to weasel me into staying in Toba until July but it didn't happen. Didn't even suggest it.
The reason for coming into the office was called "follow-up training" which had alarms going off. Usually follow-up training happens when someone makes a complaint about you. And all my schools have been throwing me rave reviews so far so I thought it was just an excuse for a face-to-face with the boss and filling out my Visa extension forms. Wrong. I actually had a complaint. It HAD to be from Kamo ES because I hadn't seen them since September and I was at their school the entire last week of my term. I'm not enthusiastic enough they said. Fair enough. I was still struggling with a cold, I didn't have a single break during the day. I got to leave early some days, but when I was working, it was non-stop. Plus, I was pretty burned out by this time and worrying about my position in April - so they didn't get me at peak performance either. It was hilarious because one of the teachers came to me after class with a dictionary and said that I was "calm and collected" during class.... I took that as a COMPLIMENT! I thought it was a GOOD thing to be in control. Tamas was completely understanding and actually made all my excuses for me. I wasn't going to make any excuses, why bother? I was going to take the criticism and if there was a nugget of truth in their complaints, work with it. (And there was, so I am working on my enthusiasm level.)
So I got follow-up training. And even better, there were two other ALT's with me. One was from the Nagoya area. Got off to a bad start because he was bitching about his 20 minute commute. And I was like, "Oh yeah? 2 hours, mother F&@@*$!" Not literally, of course. But I shut that one down. The other ALT was from Yokkaichi which is actually one of the stations that I stop at on my way to Ise. Yeah... Apparently Yokkaichi has their own English program which states down to the minute what you are supposed to do, say, and act. Man. That's a real tough one. I've got so much FREEDOM comparatively. And then the other ALT's actually have to stay at school until 4:30 every day, I get to leave as soon as my classes are over. I never stay past 4 unless one of the teachers asks for a meeting after 6th period and it stretches for over 30 minutes. (That's happened, oh, once so far. I left at 4:15. LOL) And the way there were describing some of their classes, yeesh! Tearing up game cards, being completely unruly, etc. I'm so spoiled with my kids, they're all decent, even when they misbehave it isn't out of spite. It's because they're kids! After getting my promise from Tamas that I'll be moving in April I started getting nervous. O_O What am I going to do if all my classes are shit-heads?? I mean, I act all "cool and collected" but I don't have a thick enough skin yet. It still BOTHERS me. And my teachers, at least they control their classes! The other ALT's were talking about how they were trying to keep attention and the teachers weren't helping AT ALL.
Then again, apparently their teachers actually take part in planning the lesson and actually have input. I don't get that. There was a talk on how to approach teachers with suggestions and here I am.. I'm the one to TELL my teachers what is going on. They don't argue with me. They're the ones that make suggestions to ME. And frankly, when one of them does I get really excited and praise them! -_-;;
I talked to Mom about the meeting when I got home. It was 2:30 am my time, but it didn't matter. For reasons I'll explain in a minute. She made a good point that it's better to be busy everyday than be spoiled with all my "extra free time." I mean, god, what do I do with it? I have a nap, I watch DS9, I read... Not exactly productive. But the reason I was up so late was because the right side of my face felt like it was going to explode. Throughout the day I had been blowing my nose every 5 minutes or so. It was a lot of snot too, but I didn't really think about it since it was about 2 degrees and I was going in and out of heated stores and subway tunnels. It got worse on my train ride home, I used up every kleenex I had and by the time I got home I had pains from the side of my nose, to bellow my eye, across to my EAR and down to my jaw and teeth. It all ached. Not bad enough that I was crying or suffering or anything, but enough that it was really starting to piss me off and I couldn't sleep. I told Mom and Dad that I thought I had a sinus infection and I was debating whether or not to goto school tomorrow so I could goto the hospital. Mom eventually convinced me to go.
So I did. Tuesday I returned to Kamo ES. I didn't have any hard feelings over the complaint, like I said, they've only seen me from that one week that I wasn't at my best. My other schools have seen me over a period of 4 months so they have a broader view. That day I had to work all six periods. Oi vey. Each was a different grade doing a completely different subject, it was hard to keep it all straight! I had called Aki when I got up that morning and asked her to help me find a hospital/doctor I could goto. I called her again during lunch break and she found my an Ears, Nose and Throat clinic that was about 5 minutes drive from my apartment. Great! The thing was, the clinic opened at 3 and closed at 6. The hospital walk-in hours were over so this was the only place in the area people could goto. I was scheduled to teach until 3:30 and driving from Toba to Ise takes about half an hour. So I made myself look really pathetic and the vice principal agreed to let me go after 5th period. And thank god I went...
So I get to the clinic after some Japanese parking hilarity and I get my number. I only waited about 40 minutes so I was REALLY pleased. Of course, health care in Japan is privatized, so it's on the American system. So... Do I have insurance? Of course not. -_-;; I have no one to blame but myself. Apparently W5 has a contract with a health insurance company in New Zealand, but I had my travel insurance which covers hospital and theft so I didn't need more, right? (I learned later that my travel insurance may actually cover this, but I need to send all this stuff in myself anyways, so it really didn't matter at the time.) So before I got to see the doctor I got the whole "you should have insurance and you have to pay 100% of the fees." Well, I wasn't expecting any different.
The doctor and nurses were really friendly and nice. And after I showed that I could understand Japanese they treated me like any other patient. Well... They dumbed down their language a bit, but that was it. This clinic was REALLY fancy. It looked better than the Ears, Nose and Throat clinic at UBC when I had an ear infection! So that made my stomach churned. I figured a hundred bucks just to LOOK at the place. So first I had a optical fiber camera shoved up my nose. A very interesting feeling. After looked at both nostrils he mutters "youkunaine" which means "that isn't good". Crap. So then he said he wanted to take an X-ray of my face. I agreed to it, of course, I wanted to know what was wrong! But I'm thinking, "Oh god, 50 - 100 bucks here..." Got some x-rays. While they were developing they stuck a nebulizer into my nostrils and I had to breathe in my nose and out through my mouth for about 5 minutes. The place is really efficient, there was a nurse at every station and me and 2 other patients were rotated around each other easily. Come back to look at my x-rays. He points the the sinuses that are above the eyes, and they were like two black blobs on the x-ray. "These are healthy." the doctor explains. Then he points to the sinuses that are in my cheeks. They were just about completely white. "These are not." stating the obvious.
I have "acute sinusitis" a sinus infection. Fuck. I'm taking 20 pills a day and I've got this emergency nasal spray that I can use 3 times a day. I only use it when I need to sleep though. Helps me breathe. So night time and nap time.
More bad news, I have to go back every week for the next 3-4 weeks. So, my bill times 4. Unless something isn't working and they have to switch meds, then who knows how much it'll cost? Good news! My doctor's visit AND my meds totaled up to only $100.00. I was so relieved after the whole chat I was terrified I didn't have enough money in my wallet to pay! I was thinking I was going to have to beg them to take my purse and I'd take my driver's license, debit card and my car keys and drive to an ATM and come right back! There was enough electronics in my bag to prove that I'd come back, I figured. Cell phone, my new electronic dictionary, my DS, not to mention my gaijin card, canadian debit card and my credit cards. Enough insurance I think.
So I'm pretty miserable most of the time and I will remain so for at least another week. Then I might start feeling better once the meds have a chance to kick in. Taking tomorrow off because it's my island day and I'm just not up to an 11 hour day with at least 4 hours being outside in the cold or in a drafty boat. So yeah. Don't get one of these. They aren't fun. Enjoy my wall of text.
Monday. My coordinator called me up on Friday telling me to come into the office at 4pm for a meeting. Since I only go into Nagoya once a month on long weekends (if I can help it) I decided to leave early, spend the day doing my shopping and going to the company office at the end. The office I reasonably close to Nagoya station so I could walk 90% of the way underground. It's actually at the next station over, but no way am I paying 2 bucks for the subway to walk 500 m in a warm underground mall. Besides, on the way there's a Starbucks and when I'm in Nagoya (or other city) is the only time I even see a Starbucks so no way in hell am I missing out on that!
So, do my shopping, had lunch at Denny's (at 2pm, but still.). I know, Denny's. You laugh but they have decent food in Japan. Japanese versions of American food, usually tastes better and has mushrooms. I love mushrooms. Now, the REAL reason I goto Denny's. They have nice, heated, western-style toilets. Oh, yeah. I was desperate and went to a bathroom in Nagoya station once.. Not pretty.
I still had an hour and a half before I had to be at my meeting, so I decided to head there anyways. Even if I'm early I'd be around people and I bought magazines besides. Yeah, get lost in the underground. This happens EVERY BLOODY TIME I have to goto the office. It's a good thing I'm obsessively worried about being late. I'm the same in Canada to. If I have enough time to get ready I'm always about 20 minutes early for any meeting. Only time I'm late is if I goto the wrong place, or it's like "Meet you in 20 minutes." when I'm shopping with Mom and she throws me a curve ball by actually being on time. LOL I think it has to do with the fact I never go into the station at the same entrance. Last time my meeting was in the morning so I went straight to the office from the Kintetsu line. Time before that was the first time I ever went so I met a coordinator on the ground floor of the station and walked with her. This time I was shopping a couple of blocks from the station so I went down the first underground entrance I could find. Right in front of Denny's. LOL
So thanks to my shitty sense of direction I was only half an hour early. But I had my chai so it was ALL good. The person who had the appointment before mine was there. He was going through basic training. He's in Okizaki, with 5 schools and at the same middle school 85% of the time. I had to fight down a wave of pure envy. Then I had my meeting with Tamas. I had been preparing myself for this meeting since Friday. I expected everything to empty placation to half-promises to evasion. No. Sat down. I told him what I told Aki and he says, straight out. "I understand. I'll send you a list of what's available in Febuary when I'm sure what's coming up." o__O
I was stunned. Out of all the possible situations I had considered this was not one of them. In a bizarre way I was disappointed. I knew I had the power in this meeting, which usually doesn't happen and I was looking forward to sticking to my guns. I was SO SURE that they were going to try to weasel me into staying in Toba until July but it didn't happen. Didn't even suggest it.
The reason for coming into the office was called "follow-up training" which had alarms going off. Usually follow-up training happens when someone makes a complaint about you. And all my schools have been throwing me rave reviews so far so I thought it was just an excuse for a face-to-face with the boss and filling out my Visa extension forms. Wrong. I actually had a complaint. It HAD to be from Kamo ES because I hadn't seen them since September and I was at their school the entire last week of my term. I'm not enthusiastic enough they said. Fair enough. I was still struggling with a cold, I didn't have a single break during the day. I got to leave early some days, but when I was working, it was non-stop. Plus, I was pretty burned out by this time and worrying about my position in April - so they didn't get me at peak performance either. It was hilarious because one of the teachers came to me after class with a dictionary and said that I was "calm and collected" during class.... I took that as a COMPLIMENT! I thought it was a GOOD thing to be in control. Tamas was completely understanding and actually made all my excuses for me. I wasn't going to make any excuses, why bother? I was going to take the criticism and if there was a nugget of truth in their complaints, work with it. (And there was, so I am working on my enthusiasm level.)
So I got follow-up training. And even better, there were two other ALT's with me. One was from the Nagoya area. Got off to a bad start because he was bitching about his 20 minute commute. And I was like, "Oh yeah? 2 hours, mother F&@@*$!" Not literally, of course. But I shut that one down. The other ALT was from Yokkaichi which is actually one of the stations that I stop at on my way to Ise. Yeah... Apparently Yokkaichi has their own English program which states down to the minute what you are supposed to do, say, and act. Man. That's a real tough one. I've got so much FREEDOM comparatively. And then the other ALT's actually have to stay at school until 4:30 every day, I get to leave as soon as my classes are over. I never stay past 4 unless one of the teachers asks for a meeting after 6th period and it stretches for over 30 minutes. (That's happened, oh, once so far. I left at 4:15. LOL) And the way there were describing some of their classes, yeesh! Tearing up game cards, being completely unruly, etc. I'm so spoiled with my kids, they're all decent, even when they misbehave it isn't out of spite. It's because they're kids! After getting my promise from Tamas that I'll be moving in April I started getting nervous. O_O What am I going to do if all my classes are shit-heads?? I mean, I act all "cool and collected" but I don't have a thick enough skin yet. It still BOTHERS me. And my teachers, at least they control their classes! The other ALT's were talking about how they were trying to keep attention and the teachers weren't helping AT ALL.
Then again, apparently their teachers actually take part in planning the lesson and actually have input. I don't get that. There was a talk on how to approach teachers with suggestions and here I am.. I'm the one to TELL my teachers what is going on. They don't argue with me. They're the ones that make suggestions to ME. And frankly, when one of them does I get really excited and praise them! -_-;;
I talked to Mom about the meeting when I got home. It was 2:30 am my time, but it didn't matter. For reasons I'll explain in a minute. She made a good point that it's better to be busy everyday than be spoiled with all my "extra free time." I mean, god, what do I do with it? I have a nap, I watch DS9, I read... Not exactly productive. But the reason I was up so late was because the right side of my face felt like it was going to explode. Throughout the day I had been blowing my nose every 5 minutes or so. It was a lot of snot too, but I didn't really think about it since it was about 2 degrees and I was going in and out of heated stores and subway tunnels. It got worse on my train ride home, I used up every kleenex I had and by the time I got home I had pains from the side of my nose, to bellow my eye, across to my EAR and down to my jaw and teeth. It all ached. Not bad enough that I was crying or suffering or anything, but enough that it was really starting to piss me off and I couldn't sleep. I told Mom and Dad that I thought I had a sinus infection and I was debating whether or not to goto school tomorrow so I could goto the hospital. Mom eventually convinced me to go.
So I did. Tuesday I returned to Kamo ES. I didn't have any hard feelings over the complaint, like I said, they've only seen me from that one week that I wasn't at my best. My other schools have seen me over a period of 4 months so they have a broader view. That day I had to work all six periods. Oi vey. Each was a different grade doing a completely different subject, it was hard to keep it all straight! I had called Aki when I got up that morning and asked her to help me find a hospital/doctor I could goto. I called her again during lunch break and she found my an Ears, Nose and Throat clinic that was about 5 minutes drive from my apartment. Great! The thing was, the clinic opened at 3 and closed at 6. The hospital walk-in hours were over so this was the only place in the area people could goto. I was scheduled to teach until 3:30 and driving from Toba to Ise takes about half an hour. So I made myself look really pathetic and the vice principal agreed to let me go after 5th period. And thank god I went...
So I get to the clinic after some Japanese parking hilarity and I get my number. I only waited about 40 minutes so I was REALLY pleased. Of course, health care in Japan is privatized, so it's on the American system. So... Do I have insurance? Of course not. -_-;; I have no one to blame but myself. Apparently W5 has a contract with a health insurance company in New Zealand, but I had my travel insurance which covers hospital and theft so I didn't need more, right? (I learned later that my travel insurance may actually cover this, but I need to send all this stuff in myself anyways, so it really didn't matter at the time.) So before I got to see the doctor I got the whole "you should have insurance and you have to pay 100% of the fees." Well, I wasn't expecting any different.
The doctor and nurses were really friendly and nice. And after I showed that I could understand Japanese they treated me like any other patient. Well... They dumbed down their language a bit, but that was it. This clinic was REALLY fancy. It looked better than the Ears, Nose and Throat clinic at UBC when I had an ear infection! So that made my stomach churned. I figured a hundred bucks just to LOOK at the place. So first I had a optical fiber camera shoved up my nose. A very interesting feeling. After looked at both nostrils he mutters "youkunaine" which means "that isn't good". Crap. So then he said he wanted to take an X-ray of my face. I agreed to it, of course, I wanted to know what was wrong! But I'm thinking, "Oh god, 50 - 100 bucks here..." Got some x-rays. While they were developing they stuck a nebulizer into my nostrils and I had to breathe in my nose and out through my mouth for about 5 minutes. The place is really efficient, there was a nurse at every station and me and 2 other patients were rotated around each other easily. Come back to look at my x-rays. He points the the sinuses that are above the eyes, and they were like two black blobs on the x-ray. "These are healthy." the doctor explains. Then he points to the sinuses that are in my cheeks. They were just about completely white. "These are not." stating the obvious.
I have "acute sinusitis" a sinus infection. Fuck. I'm taking 20 pills a day and I've got this emergency nasal spray that I can use 3 times a day. I only use it when I need to sleep though. Helps me breathe. So night time and nap time.
More bad news, I have to go back every week for the next 3-4 weeks. So, my bill times 4. Unless something isn't working and they have to switch meds, then who knows how much it'll cost? Good news! My doctor's visit AND my meds totaled up to only $100.00. I was so relieved after the whole chat I was terrified I didn't have enough money in my wallet to pay! I was thinking I was going to have to beg them to take my purse and I'd take my driver's license, debit card and my car keys and drive to an ATM and come right back! There was enough electronics in my bag to prove that I'd come back, I figured. Cell phone, my new electronic dictionary, my DS, not to mention my gaijin card, canadian debit card and my credit cards. Enough insurance I think.
So I'm pretty miserable most of the time and I will remain so for at least another week. Then I might start feeling better once the meds have a chance to kick in. Taking tomorrow off because it's my island day and I'm just not up to an 11 hour day with at least 4 hours being outside in the cold or in a drafty boat. So yeah. Don't get one of these. They aren't fun. Enjoy my wall of text.