This post goes in so many directions I don't know where to begin...
Soooo....update.
I'm working on getting all my photos from my Kyoto trip uploaded to facebook. You guys are mostly friends with me there--do me a favor and view them there, so I don't have to upload them here as well? 8D;;
Mostly, this is probably going to be TMI about my recent, sudden health condition that just kind of popped up out of nowhere. So, turn away now if you don't want to know. I don't really want to put it behind a cut, because I for one know that people very rarely click on TMI cuts, so. Voila. Basically, apparently, I have a Pilonidal Sinus, which is located in an unfortunate place right above the tailbone. It started developing an abscess right as I was getting back from Kyoto, so I just brushed it off as my jeans irritating the skin, as that has happened before. Alas, it did not go away, and it started to really hurt, so four days later, I went to the clinic, we got an appointment at the hospital for the next day, and here we are. I went to the hospital, they took blood tests, CT scans, the works, and then said to me "We're going to have to cut it open and drain it". And they did, with a local anesthetic, but it still hurt like a bitch. Now I have to go back every day and have them flush it out, because that's just the way it works. On the plus side, they've set me up in a dorm room near the hospital and campus, so I don't have to go the hour commute twice a day every day, nor do I have to wake up at god knows when in the morning to come in.
My host mother, the day before my procedure, though, told me that she "didn't appreciate me making a frowny face at her children, and she knew that I was in pain, but her children are only 6 and 8, and she doesn't appreciate it". I bit my tongue and held back the comment that I could throw up on her children, if it would make her feel better, because the antibiotics were making me really nauseous. Then, the day I returned home after the procedure, she told me "I know that you're in pain, but your room is just too messy, I can't have such a room in my house. You're an adult and you should know better". Where there is an ounce of truth in the fact that I don't often clean, she was referring to my desk, and the fact that there were a lot of papers on there in no particular order. Which is probably because every day, we get a tree and a half of paper, and because Japan doesn't believe in pocket folders, I haven't figured out how to file everything yet. So. Yeah.
THAT IS WHY I WILL BE LIVING IN A DORM NEXT SEMESTER. That, and a whole list of other things that she doesn't like about me. I don't use Japanese table manners (god forbid I put my hand in my lap instead of on the table gripping the bowl I'm eating from), I don't like to wear long sleeves like the Japanese do even though it's November and it's 70 FUCKING DEGREES OUTSIDE, my parents didn't go out and buy gifts for her children to include in the package they sent of my old piano music, I'm not allowed to stay in my room at night because she thinks it's antisocial and breads a bad personality, I don't eat enough, etc., the list goes on and on. Paperwork is already filled out. Now to just break the news to her and the family...
Blegh. Shit has gone down, and I am so tired, what with having to go to the hospital every morning, then to school. I suppose if they can't find me a permanent dorm closer to the school for the remaining of the semester, and I have to go back to my host family's, than it's only 6 more weeks until I move out, right? I feel bad for the kids--they'll probably be sad and cry, and the host mother will probably tell other students she hosts later that I was a disappointment or whatever, but I don't care. This is my experience in Japan, I am here for me, and therefore I am doing what I think is best for me to enjoy myself. CJS has already helped me out a lot more than she has anyway, aside from initially showing me how to get to school. She is planning to go to my chorus concert as of now, and she has bought me tickets to see KODO. Oh well, awkward situations ahoy, but eventually, everything'll work out, right?
Meanwhile, I'm working on finding omiyage for those that want something. So, yeah speak up. Anyone want a present from Japan?
EDIT: Ianto's face in my mood icon = PRICELESS
I'm working on getting all my photos from my Kyoto trip uploaded to facebook. You guys are mostly friends with me there--do me a favor and view them there, so I don't have to upload them here as well? 8D;;
Mostly, this is probably going to be TMI about my recent, sudden health condition that just kind of popped up out of nowhere. So, turn away now if you don't want to know. I don't really want to put it behind a cut, because I for one know that people very rarely click on TMI cuts, so. Voila. Basically, apparently, I have a Pilonidal Sinus, which is located in an unfortunate place right above the tailbone. It started developing an abscess right as I was getting back from Kyoto, so I just brushed it off as my jeans irritating the skin, as that has happened before. Alas, it did not go away, and it started to really hurt, so four days later, I went to the clinic, we got an appointment at the hospital for the next day, and here we are. I went to the hospital, they took blood tests, CT scans, the works, and then said to me "We're going to have to cut it open and drain it". And they did, with a local anesthetic, but it still hurt like a bitch. Now I have to go back every day and have them flush it out, because that's just the way it works. On the plus side, they've set me up in a dorm room near the hospital and campus, so I don't have to go the hour commute twice a day every day, nor do I have to wake up at god knows when in the morning to come in.
My host mother, the day before my procedure, though, told me that she "didn't appreciate me making a frowny face at her children, and she knew that I was in pain, but her children are only 6 and 8, and she doesn't appreciate it". I bit my tongue and held back the comment that I could throw up on her children, if it would make her feel better, because the antibiotics were making me really nauseous. Then, the day I returned home after the procedure, she told me "I know that you're in pain, but your room is just too messy, I can't have such a room in my house. You're an adult and you should know better". Where there is an ounce of truth in the fact that I don't often clean, she was referring to my desk, and the fact that there were a lot of papers on there in no particular order. Which is probably because every day, we get a tree and a half of paper, and because Japan doesn't believe in pocket folders, I haven't figured out how to file everything yet. So. Yeah.
THAT IS WHY I WILL BE LIVING IN A DORM NEXT SEMESTER. That, and a whole list of other things that she doesn't like about me. I don't use Japanese table manners (god forbid I put my hand in my lap instead of on the table gripping the bowl I'm eating from), I don't like to wear long sleeves like the Japanese do even though it's November and it's 70 FUCKING DEGREES OUTSIDE, my parents didn't go out and buy gifts for her children to include in the package they sent of my old piano music, I'm not allowed to stay in my room at night because she thinks it's antisocial and breads a bad personality, I don't eat enough, etc., the list goes on and on. Paperwork is already filled out. Now to just break the news to her and the family...
Blegh. Shit has gone down, and I am so tired, what with having to go to the hospital every morning, then to school. I suppose if they can't find me a permanent dorm closer to the school for the remaining of the semester, and I have to go back to my host family's, than it's only 6 more weeks until I move out, right? I feel bad for the kids--they'll probably be sad and cry, and the host mother will probably tell other students she hosts later that I was a disappointment or whatever, but I don't care. This is my experience in Japan, I am here for me, and therefore I am doing what I think is best for me to enjoy myself. CJS has already helped me out a lot more than she has anyway, aside from initially showing me how to get to school. She is planning to go to my chorus concert as of now, and she has bought me tickets to see KODO. Oh well, awkward situations ahoy, but eventually, everything'll work out, right?
Meanwhile, I'm working on finding omiyage for those that want something. So, yeah speak up. Anyone want a present from Japan?
EDIT: Ianto's face in my mood icon = PRICELESS