Hey all,
I apologize for not updating nearly all week. No, I wasn't just being lazy - I've been feeling really bad this week due to - allergy season!
Ah yes, it's nearly springtime here! Funny, I almost feel like winter never happened. Although I understand that the weather has become much colder after I left, and there have been some snowdays....what a bummer I missed them! But, springtime has virtues of its own: warmer days, flowers beginning to bloom, my nose becoming red and runny...uh-oh. It's been many years since allergies have hit me this hard - perhaps it's all the unknown flora, or because I'm not taking allergy shots at the moment. In any case, for about a week now I have been in severe discomfort. Lucky they have so many tissues here - it seems they use them in place of napkins.
Because I'm dumb and didn't bring any anti-congestant or Claritin with me, I prepared to grab a box of tissues and suffer it out. But to my great thanks, my okaasan stepped up to the plate and tried her darndest to help me. She also has similar allergies, and offered some of her medicine to me. But I am not so bold as to take someone else's prescription, especially in Japan, so I respectfully declined. She also started making tea for me everyday - she calls it "allergy tea" but I have no idea what's in it. She says it will help me, and she also drinks it herself. I don't know if its working or not, but I like tea so...fine by me!
However, on Wednesday I knew I just couldn't make it to school. I had been unable to sleep the night before, with my nose always clogged I couldn't breathe very well and my bedside had become a veritable mountain of used tissues. I told my okaasan that I would be staying in bed all day. She immediately whipped up another allergy remedy, a very interesting one. I don't know what she mixed together, but it was some root-like things, mashed into a paste. She spread the whitish past onto one of those large square band-aids and stuck it to my forehead. "Keep this on for three hours, and go to sleep. It should help your nose - it worked for me!" she said. So I went to bed with a large bandage on my forehead containing mashed plant matter. Hmm...
Apparently, okaasan prefers natural remedies over prescription drugs. "Taking too many pills is bad" she says, and I'm inclined to agree. However, I'm sad to say that the root concoction did little or nothing for me - it only left me with a rather sticky forehead. (Perhaps this is because my discomfort was no longer caused by allergies; as they're wont to do, my allergies had turned into a cold, which is then usually followed by a sinus infection. Let's hope it doesn't get that far). What worked far better were the cough-drop-like things that she bought for me later that day. Just like the ones in America, they have that Vicks-vapor type feeling that clears you up temporarily. And she brought me my lunch in bed too, making a special type of rice gruel for me that is reserved for times of sickness. It was all very considerate of her.
Whether due to root paste, tea, cough drops or just plain bed rest, the next day I indeed felt much better. Okaasan then gave me a couple of face masks to wear for the day. You may or may not know, but the Japanese people have a habit of wearing surgical face masks outside. Up until now I assumed it was sick people who didn't want to get others sick, or paranoid people who didn't want to get sick in the first place. But apparently, it's considered a good idea to wear them during allergy season, so that less allergens make it to your nose. It's a good idea actually- we should do that more in the states. But still! I felt so self-conscious wearing the mask, even though it's very much accepted here to do so. Perhaps I felt I was being stared at, people thinking "How come a foreigner is doing what we do? Are they making fun of us?" Quite the contrary, I think it's a great idea. But for some reason, I just don't feel comfortable doing it. Plus the masks aren't the most comfortable things in the world themselves. They kinda trap heat around your face. So I stopped wearing it...
Here's some more info on face masks from the BBC website:
"It is a common misconception among foreigners who come to Japan that the people wearing white cotton face masks on the streets are sheltering from pollution. In fact, they are usually performing a public service by trying to keep their cold germs to themselves.
Face masks are one of the most visible examples of the Japanese obsession with battling baikin or germs which, as the mercury rises at this time of year, goes into overdrive." -
Juliet Hindell, BBC NewsAnd I hear there are even face masks with patterns and characters from popular TV shows. I need to find me some of those...like this one-
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http://www.teaching-in-japan.com/
Well, this weekend I intend to rest on Saturday, because on Sunday I'm going on a field trip with my Art in the Kansai Area class to see a Buddhist temple in Nara. I'll post all about it when I get back, I swear. Now that I'm feeling better I have absolutely no excuse.
I hope you all are well. Further updates as events warrant!
Please leave comments/tags as always!
