Sunday, July 3: Oh to be sick in Japan

Today began fairly normally.  I haven't been feeling well since Friday, but since I didn't have a temperature yesterday I thought I'd be fine for church after taking some ibprofen.  But then I checked out my tonsils....and found lots of little white spots.  I used to get strep throat a lot as a child but I rarely had the white spots.  So after consulting my favorite family doctors....aka my family, I told Minako as she picked us up for church.  We agreed to go to the doctors this afternoon.
First was shopping time!  The mall across the street from the church is huge and wonderful :)  Plus it was on your own time, so it was just me and Madelyn.  Although we don't speak the language, it's fun to explore on our own.  I was a little confused on the exchange rate so I didn't buy much today, but I have since then figured it out so I'm all set for next Sunday.
Church at 10:30am was church.  It's in Japanese so I'm not totally sure how it went.  Oh!  That's a lie...I read Mattthew 13:11 in English before we took communion.  So I do know that part of the sermon was about communion, plus Dr. Shin said cracker a few times before we took communion.  The communion wafer thing was the same as the SAFMC uses, however, Madelyn nor I could identify the "blood of christ".  It was a clear liquid in glass communion glasses.  Madelyn thought it might be wine, but it incredibly sweet.  All I know is it made me choke which apparently isn't the most polite thing to do in a Japanese church.  Oops.  Oh!  And the vocal leader of the music changes each week I think.  Todays guy was this adorable old guy and I was so excited...then he started singing.  SO tone deaf!  Actually, he was practically monotone (singing basically one note).  It was miserable, as if I didn't sick enough.  I tried to block it out, remind myself that Jesus loves it, and noted that Japanese churches must have low standards for leading worship.  Or maybe everybody has a turn?  I don't know, but it's one of those things I feel like I can't ask.  Another example of such a forbidden topic is how kids ride in the car.  Shove them in, lock the doors, and thats that.  No carseats unless it's an itty bitty baby.  Not even seat belts unless you're an adult in the front seat!  Crazy.
After church Madelyn and I were talked at by a couple practicing their English.  They were somewhat decent.  I understood something about 3 sons and a daughter and the daugther is in Atlanta and something about wedding but no wedding and reception and october, november, december.  I would have been more entertained but felt awful and just wanted to sit down.  Yay being sick.
After church, we stopped by a 7/11 type store and got lunch.  I got some colt noodles with normal, unfriend chicken, cabage, carrots, and some salty/garlic/soysauce thing to pour on it.  Minako then drove us back to the school to eat outside in the heat under Happy Dome.  Feverish plus humid heat and people = please just let me change into comfy clothes and rest!  The lunch group ended up being Madelyn, myself, Minako, Majelyn and her husband, their son Nono chan and daughter Naomi chan, Minako's other niece Uri chan, and Dr. Shin with his wife Keiko Nishimura.  Big group!  They're all really nice, but a lot of the conversation is in Japanese.  I feel like it would be rude to ask what they are talking about since they do a good job translating for us when it's our business or something funny.  We asked some questions to get to know the culture and customs etc but my brain just wasn't wanting to process today.  So I just let them babble a steady stream of what now seems to be white noise, broken up by Dr. Shin's adorable laugh.
Following lunch was a little rest time followed by hospital.  Yay!
Apparently, Japanese hospital is a combination of regular doctors' offices on the main floor and an actual hospital on the floors above.  It only took and hour and a half including driving there and back so I'm pretty impressed since it's all walk-in-style....with a very special way to walk in, too!


Matching shoes?

Yup.  Totally matching.  We ALL matched.

Yeah, check out these bad boys!
I looked so good.
Matchy-matchy with all the patients!

 Shoes apparently carry in viruses outside, so you walk in to one room, put your shoes on a shelf, pray nobody takes them, and put on these slipper thingy things.  Then you can proceed into the main waiting room.

I had an embarrassing moment (one of many every day!), Minako asked me what my family name was and I replied "Cleveland" and then proceeded to spell it for her.  Facepalm.  I'm in Japan.  She writes my name phonetically in Katakana....probably "Ku-Li-Bu-La-N-Da" or "koo-lee-boo-lah-nn-dah" for any of you who haven't recently brushed up on your pure Italian vowels.  Anyways, back in the waiting room...it was strange compared to American doctors visits...I felt like I went back in time.  The nurses were all in white jumper style dresses, long sleeve button up collared shirts, white tights, frumpy white heels, and little white paper hats that sit on the back of their head.  No scrubs.  I found it funny that for being so conscious about shoe germs, they think it's fine to walk through the waiting room with a vile of somebody's blood or to roll a patiend in a bed past all the already sick people.  Maybe it's because everybody is already sick?  I don't know.
The doctor didn't do any test which concerns me.  In the waiting room before seeing the doctor, I took my armpit's temperature which was translated to me as being about 99 F, so I had a slight fever.  Then I stuck my arm in a blood pressure machine which I think was fine but I dunno.  (Thanks, Eric, for doing that with me for fun at Walmart becuase now I knew what to expect)
Finally I got to see the doctor, behind the curtain.  He looked at my throat for less than a second.  Put his stethoscope thing under my shirt to feel my heart beat which was unusual for me since all my female doctors in America do it over my shirt (grrr I don't like male doctors).  And he muttered other things to Minako and they laughed and that was that.  Then I went and waited some more in the waiting room.  Minako told me he thought it was just a cold and to rest and take the meds he was gonna give me and if I dont get better afterwards then come back and he'll do blood work (no thank you!).  So I have 1 "googling" or gargling solution which looks like soy sauce, some "troat candy" or cough drops, and 4 different kind of pills!  Thanks for the advice dad on requesting no powder. I don't know what that would have involved but they were going to give it to me if I hadn't stopped them!  So I guess I'll just take the mysterious pills for the next 4 days (3 x a day and some of the pills I double up on so I'm taking 18 pills a day) and be thankful I'm not one of those anti-pill people.  I realized hulu, pandora, and any other kind of US internet entertainment does not function in Japan.  Except youtube.  Yay youtube.

Wow this is a long blog.  Sumimasen! (sorry about that!) So I'll end it now...please pray that Madelyn doesn't catch whatever I have!

p.s. happy five months, to my wonderful and supportive boyfriend!