Phew!

Glad this week's over!! Things have been really busy being back at work, bit of a shock after two weeks in bed, plus the added stress of thank-you-present-giving, which (like everything else!) has it's own protocol, although luckily I had some help getting the right presents and working out what to say to people. I was so determined to do everything right but it turns out most people weren't expecting me to do anything, which was embarassing in some cases and funny in others. At any rate I figure it's better to err on the side of doing more than enough, and if it was too much then I hope people will put it down to the fact that I really am grateful, beyond what is required by etiquette. Being so far from home and getting sick makes you everyone's responsibility, because you have no primary carer or next of kin. In a society where everything has a procedure, and everyone has a role to play, it's impossible to draw the line between work responsibility, good manners, and genuine concern, but it meant in the end that I was never abandoned in hospital for more than a few hours, and I was made to feel like my presence was missed. For which I feel far more gratitude than it's possible to show with properly wrapped presents of the appropriate value, accompanied by the correct combination of honorifics. Although of course the real chance to prove that is next time school asks me to do something horrifically embarassing, or the office ask me to work a weekend...

Incidentally... the weather here's been getting a lot colder, only one or two degrees by teatime. We've had a couple of gorgeous mornings where it's been frosty and clear, with fantastic views across the bay; really thought it would snow today - I'm sure it was snowing this time last year - but so far nothing except huge rain storms and the odd bit of hail. Still... managed to get a few shots of the village looking wintery.

Sunrise behind Iwaki on Thursday morning 

You can't see it too well, but the outer sea wall of the port got shredded up at the end, in a storm the other week. 

Looks cold huh? 

Just when you thought everything was going to plan...

Ok folks so the reason I've been offline this time is because... I got tonsilitis and wound up in hospital for a week and a half!! Not the least daunting experience I've had since coming to Japan at any rate. Was absolutely horrified when I went to see the doctor for what I thought was just a cold or mabye 'flu and after one look at my throat he admitted me - shock horror, what am I going to do, all alone in hospital, with no English, no PC and no non-Japanese food?!! Arggh. At least, I thought, it'll only be for a couple of days while I recover, I'll be back home in no time.

Didn't quite work out like that though, unfortunately. My throat was so swollen I couldn't eat or hardly talk for four days, was running fevers over 40 degrees and got caught in a nasty cycle of hot-water-bottles and ice-packs, shivers and sweats, and on a drip the whole time. Had this weird fear of IVs before that, having never been sick enough to be admitted before, either here or back home; just the concept of having something outside permanently plugged into your blood stream was, I thought, a bit weird. Still didn't have much chance to argue and it seems to have made me better.

Japanese hospital was pretty nice though. My experience of the NHS (free healthcare back home) is severely limited but I have no complaints about the treatment I received here, the surroundings, or the atmosphere. Hospital food seems to be a universal problem, and it was all Japanese-style; not just that but healthy Japanese-style with all the good yummy bits (tempura, yakiniku etc) taken out - spinach for breakfast anyone??! And in my case it was healthy-Japanese-food mashed into easily-swallowable portions, mail course being the inevitable Kayu (お粥 - literally "weak rice") which is like a kind of rice-gruel. Not so bad because if you mix it with condensed milk and jam it turns into something resembling rice-pudding, but this brought forth virtual screams of horror from any Japanese in the vicinity, since mixing sweet stuff with rice is tantamount to sacrilege here. I had teachers who came in just to watch me do my "rice with jam" thing, horror, shock, disbelief...

About five days in I got moved to a little room on my own which allowed me to enjoy my delerium, and my rowdy visitors (thanks guys!!) in peace. Was absolutely blown away by the number of people who came to visit and brought stuff to make me feel better, and I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who took care of me, as well as all the people at home who have sent cards and flowers. お世話になりました！

Unfortunatley as a result of being asleep the entire time, and having a concentration span of about 15 minutes, the idea of the 8-hour drive to Sapporo to take 4 1/2 hours of Japanese Proficiency Test has had to be abandoned for fear that the minimal risk of passing wasn't worth the risk of putting myself back in hospital...!! Good luck to everyone going, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you guys tomorrow.

So that's all the news really... have no idea about much else that's been going on the past couple of weeks, will be going back to school on Monday and looking to slowly re-engage with the outside world, which at the moment seems like a whole new adventure. Idea of staying in bed all winter is most tempting...

The flowers my parents had sent... thanks mum and dad!! xxx 

My extremely messy room....