Pain again
...written on 02.04.02, @ 2:07 a.m.
Sun Feb 3, 2002
Guess what I'm wearing . . . go on, guess!
No.
Nope.
Wrong again!
Give up? Ok, I'll tell you.
I'm wearing a canalgesic & anti-inflammatory cataplasm. Betcha didn't know Victoria's Secret made those, huh? Tee hee. Just kidding.
You see, I got bruised again today. Unlike the bruise of the last entry, which was psyche based, this one was purely physical. Upon trying to execute a valiant out of bounds save in a volleyball game, my left knee locked and slid out from under me and I crashed to the floor on my right wrist.
Yes, I did say "ouch", once or twice. I took myself out of the game for a while and just kept score. It was a match between the teachers (6 of us) and our international course high school students (5 of them). Brian gets kudos for being the most improved player as he started out the morning with not knowing how to serve and ended up serving some much needed points at the end.
Anyway, this bandage thingee is really cool! I mean COLD! I don't know if they have these in the States or not, but they are thin plastic bandage pads that stick to your skin and feel like you've got your hand in a bucket of ice water. So I'm going to be chillin' for the next 24 hours.
This is a land of tremendous advances and at the same time it's like a third world country. At the gym today, there was no water fountain, only machines full of sports drinks, coffee and vitamin bars. Energy saving measures meant that the only source of warmth in the gym was a small kerosene heater by the drink machine around which parents huddled waiting for their children to finish with their activities upstairs as our group played downstairs in our jackets and scarves for the first two games. Even the sentinel at the door of the gym, a stuffed badger under glass that some taxidermist had posed in a golf swing with a cap on his head, appeared to exhale frosty breath through a tooth chattering grimace.
And what of basic safety issues? You tell me. Would you feel safe in a country where for the second time on the front page of the newspapers appear three executives posed in a severe apologetic bow as they humbly beg the public's forgiveness for not only their cover up of what happened to the first cow that had Mad Cow's Disease (allegedly ground up for food for other cows), but that since then, they have been falsely labeling the origin of beef products to avert a beef buying crisis and get more government subsidies?
It also worries me to see a majority of parents driving around with their children unprotected, holding babies in their arms, or letting toddlers roam free in the car. I just hope they never have to face a tragedy due to their senseless oversight, laziness or lack of education.
The other night as I was biking my way to work, I passed a contingent of Gifu Bicycle Police, who gave me and my helmet a once over, as they pedaled by in their uniforms with matching baseball caps. So much for role modeling safety!
Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful things about Japan. I really enjoy living here, but there are some things that just stick in my craw.