I live!

Pondside Buddha in Hirabari

Sorry for the silence on the eastern front, folks - Google Blogs has this tendency to not allow me to sign in for weeks at a time, though I try every permutation of password I have ever used. Doesn't help that I get all my error messages in Japanese, because Google "helpfully" senses my location and regionalizes the page.

What I've been doing for the past month: surviving.



Turns out that nasty bout of food poisoning back in January gave me an ulcer, plus a combination of stress, no chiropractor, and sleeping on a futon on a wooden surface screwed my shoulders up so badly it cut off the blood to my inner ear, so I spent most of February and March in a state of perpetual dizziness and nausea.* Working with a hole in my tummy while the room spins around you can be difficult, especially in the Japanese work environment, where it is wholly and entirely your fault if you are sick: you are a shameful and awful person, you have disrespected your superiors, your coworkers, and your clients by succumbing to your wretched humanity, and so on and so forth.** Keeping one's head above water in those conditions is a little trying, and add to that the fact that the end of April is busy, manic, and nose-to-the-grindstone stressful for pretty much every single company in Japan... I guess I kind of got eaten by Real Life.

Gotta take my cue from the sakura. Just floatin' on by in the river of life...

Luckily, my sisters came from Canada for the Golden Week holiday bearing maple syrup and sanity. Golden Week is the last half of the last week of April and the first half of the first week of May; generally people get two or so days off in April, and then four or five in May, to make a whole week of holiday. This is because there are a bunch of national holidays within the space of those two weeks, so most companies give their employees about a week off, creating a sort of national "spring vacation".

May 5: Boy's Day (more recently Children's Day): The carp is a symbol of power, so carp flags are EVERYWHERE, especially on the homes of parents with little boys, to celebrate.

 Eva, Lauren and I doodled around Nagoya, seeing the sights and enjoying the weather; we spent one night in Kuwana and one day in Ise, mucked about, and generally had great fun. They both took about ninety million pictures, so I let my camera take a rest for a bit. Pictures forthcoming as soon as the girls put them up on Facebook!

Sunset in Hirabari

Now, the nights are cool but the days are very warm. Not quite shorts weather, but sweaters are definitely uncomfortable; for the last week, we had some rainy days with incredibly disgusting humidity levels, but today it was lovely and clear. Here's hoping the good weather continues!

 Probably the biggest news in my neighbourhood: a Hummer in the neighbours' garage. You would not believe how IMMENSE that thing is in a tiny Japanese suburb.

*I spent wayyy too much on hospital fees for doctors who took a look at me, sucked air in through their teeth regretfully, then asked me what I thought was the problem. I do not need to pay someone to sit there while I diagnose myself; thanks for nothing, Japan. Finally it got sorted, but it took two months of various hospitals and specialists before anyone really twigged to what was going on. There were points where standing up and walking without falling over were hard for me, never mind critical thought. And yes, through it all, I still went to work.

**I know you all think I'm exaggerating, but all fancy language aside, I now understand why there was a word created in Japanese to mean "death from overwork". There's a reason I've been borderline depressed and driven to midnight anxiety attacks this winter, is all I'm saying. It's very easy to get caught up in the culture of overwork, especially when you begin to lose your perspective.