The Japanese

Hello again,

I made it back from Japan, which is a bit of a miracle, considering I wasn't sure I was going to make it in the first place. Let me set the stage:

a) Two nights before I had planned to go I got a sore throat, to much yelling at children I suppose, so Dr. Dueck subscribed a lot of water to himself, thinking water can solve a lot of things, hopefully a sore throat is one of them

b) Getting up the next day it was still sore, so I knew it was going to be a long one. I continued to drink the water, but as my classes continued, I got worse and worse. Minute by minute I just felt I was getting weaker and weaker. And as the afternoon went on, I gained a headache, which slowly grew as I continued to get weaker. Let me just say, when I mean weak, I simply mean I am losing energy, I am not getting frail to the point that my bones can snap, if you follow me. So with the loss of energy also comes the losing of patience.....................fortunately this wasn't an issue on this day, lucky kids!!!!!

c) So after a few subtle complaints to the boss, he let me go 1/2 hour early from school, not a big deal anyway, as I wasn't teaching. It was a special activity/school promotion day.

d) So I hopped on the bus, ready to fall over and sleep at anytime, but being forced to stay awake in an effort to maintain my balance on a bus, driving in traffic, with a stickshift! Not a smooth ride.

e) I made it home at 6:00 p.m and was prepared to sleep until 5:00 a.m., when I would have to get up and pack so that I could catch a bus to get to the airport about 2 hours away for a 10:00 flight. However I slept for about 40 mins, but was still tired, so in an effort to get back to sleep, I stayed in bed for another two hours, didn't work. Was wide awake and still lacked energy, so I went for my canned peaches, then got some fresh air and came back to the apartment.

f) I was now awake, but the throat was sore and the head was still pulsing, so I packed up, cleaned the apartment etc. And hit the sack around 11. The only thing was that I wouldn't actually sleep, but would toss and turn enough so that every hour I would look at the clock and it would have only moved 5 minutes. Am I the only one this has happened to?............................. It was terrible. I gave up. At 4:00 a.m. that morning I got up, sent some emails, had my Fruit Loops (they got 'em out here) and was out the door at 5:30. I was not looking forward to traveling in this tired and ill condition, but it had to be done, there was potential for this to be a long trip.

g) This all was on top of my lack of confidence as to how to get on this bus and get to the airport only compounded the problem. There was no bus schedule, just a sign that said the airport bus comes by every 20 minutes or so. In Canada, 5:30 is not necessarily a peak travel time, I was thinking this could actually be 1 hour or so. Anxiety added to my lack of sleep didn't turn out to be pleasant. Fortunately the bus came and I slept for a "solid" 10 minutes, enough to get me on the plane to sleep.

h) Turns out I didn't sleep on the plane, just watched Hotel Rwanda (PS - great movie). I got more and more nervous about how I was going to make it through the day........until I met a guy on the same visa run as I was on. He offered me some "No Sleep Gum". This provided to be a mental thing more than anything else, "no way I can sleep now, I have no sleep gum".

i) (I'll cut to the chase as my computer battery is dying on me) Needless to say, I made it through the day, and as it went on I started to feel better and better, I don't know how this was the case, adrenaline I suppose courtesy of the awe that I was actually in Japan. It would turn out to be OK, I made it through the day, and had a great sleep at the Capulse Hotel (see the pics)

This has been the story of my last few days. I can't believe I made it through them. No doubt it was the grace and mercy of the Lord. From what others have been telling me, most foreigners get sick within their first few weeks out here, so I suppose this was just my turn.

Battery is almost out, must be gone, I haven't even read over what I have written. The pictures will tell you more about my trip in Japan. "see" you next week

Kev