Overall, my knees are healing pretty well. I'm going to have a wonderful scar on my left knee, and some bruising still remains. Over the weekend and into Wednesday, I was suffering from water on the knee, which was both kinda gross (and squishy) and fairly painful. I spent most of Wednesday walking around the mall in Maebashi with Kozue-sensei.
This is itself was enjoyable - as enjoyable as walking around a mall can be. Kozue-sensei needed to do some Valentine's Day shopping, but apparently so did every other woman in the mall. The Valentine's Day kiosks had definitely seen better days. The highlight of my time at the mall was the discovery that Japan has Baskin Robbins. And they sell crepes. This made me thankful that the mall is far enough away that I can't go there every day.
After all this, though, my knee was not in the best condition. It especially hurt when I was sitting down, so I decided it was time to get a wrap or a real ice pack for it, since I was going to be on my feet in the evening making peanut butter balls. Kozue-sensei took me to a drugstore and helped me pick out an ice wrap, which I put on as soon as I got home.
Instant relief. I hadn't realized how much heat was coming off my knee, and putting on the ice pack made a profound difference. I kept it elevated and still for about an hour and when I got up, I expected some stiffness or at least a little pain. Nope, it was quite painless and moved easily. Color me shocked. And completely appreciative.
Even when I woke up on Thursday, my knee still felt good. I iced it again last night, and I've noticed that there's much less swelling and fluid around the knee this morning. Since I'll be on my feet most of today, I'm thinking about wearing one to work. The important thing is that the achiness is finally going away, and maybe it won't be long before I can get back to working out - which is not exactly a positive incentive, but I need to stick to my schedule.
My head, by the way, is completely okay. Only a small lump and a little tenderness remains. There wasn't even a bruise or anything. Head wounds are so melodramatic, with their blood and severe immediate swelling.
Oh, and hey, today is Friday the 13th. Can't wait to find out what horrors await me today!
(and there's another one in March - 2009 must be one lucky year)
Showing posts with label owie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label owie. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
is it karmic retribution or just bad luck?
I'm starting to wonder if I inadvertently pissed off some cosmic deity that is now wreaking physical and emotional revenge on me. This has been a pretty crummy week so far, and it's not even over yet!
It started on Sunday, of course, with my crash on the bike (which was entirely my fault, I admit that). The weather's been pretty grey and crummy all week, and I'm officially sick of winter and ready for spring to get here. February is a dreary month, and it's that time of the year for the winter blues. Add in all this uncertainty about my future with GEOS, and this is the first week in Japan that I've felt the on-comings of a blue funk.
The situation with the school has been escalating, though I didn't realize it until today. Usually when I see Benni-sensei and Hitomi-san conferring quietly in the office, I mind my own business and let them come to me if it is my business. Turns out, today's conference was. After my afternoon class, I went in to mark attendance, and Hitomi-san told me that she had been told by the Ito Yokado school boss that she should make a schedule for me that combines my current schedule with the NET's schedule at the Kids' school. Essentially, I'm intended to take over his position when he leaves in April.
This is highly laughable - and also insane. The NET at Ito Yokado has 74 students and 30 classes; I have ~45 students and 22 classes. Also, I am supposed to take over Benni-sensei's students to, which would give me maybe 10-12 more classes (most of her students have said they prefer to quit). On this schedule of mine, I have an estimated 55 classes.
I never claim to be good at math, but even I realized that this wasn't adding up. My days are 9 hours long, and I work 5 days. That's 45 weekly hours for classses. Notice the number difference: I would have to work 11 hour days to get all those classes in, without breaks, the majority of them kids' classes.
Well, Hitomi-san was having a mental breakdown trying to get it to work, even though I kept telling her that it was impossible, and she finally called her boss to find out what the hell the deal was. I've made it pretty clear that I don't want to teach only kids classes, and I've been falling back on my boss's reassurance that that wasn't going to happen. However, Hitomi-san was informed that I was slated to take over the NET position at Ito Yokado and that the only classes to be sacrificed were the adult classes. GEOS has made that clear enough already, practically encouraging us to convince our students to quit rather continue their contracts at Ito Yokado.
This did - and to an extent still does - infuriate me. In January, I told my boss that under no circumstances did I want to become a kids only teacher, and he told me that wasn't what was going to happen. Either I go to Ito Yokado in essentially the same capacity I'm in now or I go to a new school - that's what I was told. Now, the Ito Yokado head is telling Hitomi-san that my boss "lied to" or "misinformed" me. Also, she told Hitomi-san not to show me the schedule or even speak to me about the proposed move to Ito Yokado. Thankfully, she ignored this.
I spent most of the evening working myself into an agitated state and consuming large quantities of chocolate. Because I have not been "officially" apprised of the situation, Hitomi-san didn't want me to contact my boss and demand an explanation. Instead, she sent him a harried email, to which he replied that he was "occupied" but that someone would contact me tomorrow. She gave him my available times, apologized to me profusely, and suggested that I not agree to anything that had to do with Ito Yokado, to tell my boss that I wanted to move and request an adult school and nothing else. She also told me the head of the Ito Yokado school was crazy, but I'd already figured that out.
Here's why I'm mad: I was told that I would go to Ito Yokado with my students, separate from the kids' school. I would not be replacing the NET there, who has been coerced into staying even though he's wanted to leave since October. And now, I'm starting to wonder if this was the plan - to have me replace him. I don't want to believe that my boss deliberately lied to me, so I'm anxious to talk to him to get the story straight. Because if I find out I'm being tricked into going to Ito Yokado as the only NET, I'll be very displeased indeed.
I talked with Benni-sensei a while after our last classes, then headed home. I decided that I needed a bath to relax me, so after my shower, I stayed in the bathtub to fill it up and relax. I'm sitting there, washing my still scabby knees and thinking about the screw-job that GEOS is doing to me and about how idiotic and enfuriating the whole thing is.
The next thing I know, I'm having some weird "Twilight Zone" moment where I have no idea where I am or what I'm doing. Complete disorientation, total black-out. And I'm aware of a dull pain on my forehead. I touch my fingers to the sore spot and discover that I have a ginormous goose egg developing. I think what happened is that the warmth of the air and the water overwhelmed me (taking Japanese hot baths is a lot like taking a sauna), and I passed out for a few seconds. I've gotten drowsy in them before, but I've never lost consciousness, until this time. I hit my head on the sink, and that brought me around again. I must have hit it pretty hard, because not only was there a large and lovely goose egg, but there's also a little scratch near the top.
My first thought was, "oh, crap I hope I don't have a concussion," especially after I stood up and was hit by a wave of dizziness and nausea. Nothing came of it, and I didn't feel confused and the dizziness passed quickly, so I figured I was mostly alright. My main problem now is that my arm is going to fall off because I'm holding this thing of whipped cream to my head.
I don't have any ice, but I do have this soft plastic bag of whipped cream. I used it on my knee the other day, and now I'm holding it to my head. My arm hurts. My head feels better - still a bit of pain, but it's very dull, and the swelling has gone down some. There's a bit of warmth, but that's to be expected. It's not fever, just some heat around the goose egg. And my hands are really cold too, so the heat feels even stronger.
Actually, my head feels a lot clearer now. I'm still mad that I'm being played like a chess piece in the grand GEOS scheme, but perhaps I'm also thinking about it too much and letting it get to me. I'm taking things too seriously, worrying about something that I can't do anything about yet. I should focus instead on what I want, what I need to do for myself. I also shouldn't get worked up about things when I don't have all the information. I'll speak to my boss, lay out my concerns and desires, and let it go from there. It's really all I can do.
In the meantime, I'll remember to pay more attention to my surroundings, to pay attention to the good things that are around me. One thing I'm still enjoying immensely is my classes. I hope that's something that never changes.
Also, gyoza party. All the gyoza I could eat (which amounted to too much), and good company as a bonus. Also, when our students came into the school, they all said pretty much the same thing: "Smells like a chinese restaurant!" We smelled like it too, on our clothes. Eau de gyoza, very nice.
It started on Sunday, of course, with my crash on the bike (which was entirely my fault, I admit that). The weather's been pretty grey and crummy all week, and I'm officially sick of winter and ready for spring to get here. February is a dreary month, and it's that time of the year for the winter blues. Add in all this uncertainty about my future with GEOS, and this is the first week in Japan that I've felt the on-comings of a blue funk.
The situation with the school has been escalating, though I didn't realize it until today. Usually when I see Benni-sensei and Hitomi-san conferring quietly in the office, I mind my own business and let them come to me if it is my business. Turns out, today's conference was. After my afternoon class, I went in to mark attendance, and Hitomi-san told me that she had been told by the Ito Yokado school boss that she should make a schedule for me that combines my current schedule with the NET's schedule at the Kids' school. Essentially, I'm intended to take over his position when he leaves in April.
This is highly laughable - and also insane. The NET at Ito Yokado has 74 students and 30 classes; I have ~45 students and 22 classes. Also, I am supposed to take over Benni-sensei's students to, which would give me maybe 10-12 more classes (most of her students have said they prefer to quit). On this schedule of mine, I have an estimated 55 classes.
I never claim to be good at math, but even I realized that this wasn't adding up. My days are 9 hours long, and I work 5 days. That's 45 weekly hours for classses. Notice the number difference: I would have to work 11 hour days to get all those classes in, without breaks, the majority of them kids' classes.
Well, Hitomi-san was having a mental breakdown trying to get it to work, even though I kept telling her that it was impossible, and she finally called her boss to find out what the hell the deal was. I've made it pretty clear that I don't want to teach only kids classes, and I've been falling back on my boss's reassurance that that wasn't going to happen. However, Hitomi-san was informed that I was slated to take over the NET position at Ito Yokado and that the only classes to be sacrificed were the adult classes. GEOS has made that clear enough already, practically encouraging us to convince our students to quit rather continue their contracts at Ito Yokado.
This did - and to an extent still does - infuriate me. In January, I told my boss that under no circumstances did I want to become a kids only teacher, and he told me that wasn't what was going to happen. Either I go to Ito Yokado in essentially the same capacity I'm in now or I go to a new school - that's what I was told. Now, the Ito Yokado head is telling Hitomi-san that my boss "lied to" or "misinformed" me. Also, she told Hitomi-san not to show me the schedule or even speak to me about the proposed move to Ito Yokado. Thankfully, she ignored this.
I spent most of the evening working myself into an agitated state and consuming large quantities of chocolate. Because I have not been "officially" apprised of the situation, Hitomi-san didn't want me to contact my boss and demand an explanation. Instead, she sent him a harried email, to which he replied that he was "occupied" but that someone would contact me tomorrow. She gave him my available times, apologized to me profusely, and suggested that I not agree to anything that had to do with Ito Yokado, to tell my boss that I wanted to move and request an adult school and nothing else. She also told me the head of the Ito Yokado school was crazy, but I'd already figured that out.
Here's why I'm mad: I was told that I would go to Ito Yokado with my students, separate from the kids' school. I would not be replacing the NET there, who has been coerced into staying even though he's wanted to leave since October. And now, I'm starting to wonder if this was the plan - to have me replace him. I don't want to believe that my boss deliberately lied to me, so I'm anxious to talk to him to get the story straight. Because if I find out I'm being tricked into going to Ito Yokado as the only NET, I'll be very displeased indeed.
I talked with Benni-sensei a while after our last classes, then headed home. I decided that I needed a bath to relax me, so after my shower, I stayed in the bathtub to fill it up and relax. I'm sitting there, washing my still scabby knees and thinking about the screw-job that GEOS is doing to me and about how idiotic and enfuriating the whole thing is.
The next thing I know, I'm having some weird "Twilight Zone" moment where I have no idea where I am or what I'm doing. Complete disorientation, total black-out. And I'm aware of a dull pain on my forehead. I touch my fingers to the sore spot and discover that I have a ginormous goose egg developing. I think what happened is that the warmth of the air and the water overwhelmed me (taking Japanese hot baths is a lot like taking a sauna), and I passed out for a few seconds. I've gotten drowsy in them before, but I've never lost consciousness, until this time. I hit my head on the sink, and that brought me around again. I must have hit it pretty hard, because not only was there a large and lovely goose egg, but there's also a little scratch near the top.
My first thought was, "oh, crap I hope I don't have a concussion," especially after I stood up and was hit by a wave of dizziness and nausea. Nothing came of it, and I didn't feel confused and the dizziness passed quickly, so I figured I was mostly alright. My main problem now is that my arm is going to fall off because I'm holding this thing of whipped cream to my head.
I don't have any ice, but I do have this soft plastic bag of whipped cream. I used it on my knee the other day, and now I'm holding it to my head. My arm hurts. My head feels better - still a bit of pain, but it's very dull, and the swelling has gone down some. There's a bit of warmth, but that's to be expected. It's not fever, just some heat around the goose egg. And my hands are really cold too, so the heat feels even stronger.
Actually, my head feels a lot clearer now. I'm still mad that I'm being played like a chess piece in the grand GEOS scheme, but perhaps I'm also thinking about it too much and letting it get to me. I'm taking things too seriously, worrying about something that I can't do anything about yet. I should focus instead on what I want, what I need to do for myself. I also shouldn't get worked up about things when I don't have all the information. I'll speak to my boss, lay out my concerns and desires, and let it go from there. It's really all I can do.
In the meantime, I'll remember to pay more attention to my surroundings, to pay attention to the good things that are around me. One thing I'm still enjoying immensely is my classes. I hope that's something that never changes.
Also, gyoza party. All the gyoza I could eat (which amounted to too much), and good company as a bonus. Also, when our students came into the school, they all said pretty much the same thing: "Smells like a chinese restaurant!" We smelled like it too, on our clothes. Eau de gyoza, very nice.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
the dangers of night riding
I've mentioned before (in my Kamakura post) that my night vision isn't that great. I know this and even accept it, but apparently, my subconscious feels the need to remind me of it every once in a while.
I've ridden home from the Isesaki train station at night a number of times now, and it's lit rather decently, so I thought I knew my way around it alright. To get from the bike park to the road, you have to cross a street and get up on the sidewalk. Well, I forgot that the sidewalk had a curb to it; I saw it too late and plowed right into it. I'm not even sure if I had time to hit the brakes. One moment, I was thinking, "Oh, crap, I'm going to hit that curb, I should do something about it," and the next, I was flying off my bike. I always thought that flying over handlebars was an exaggeration, but it turns out that it's entirely possible if you hit something head on. I didn't exactly shoot over the handlebars, but I did get kinda flung over them, to painful results. Of course, I landed heavily on my knees, but my right foot got caught on the pedal and sort of broke my fall on that side. It also pulled my shoe off.
My initial reaction to this was typical for me: I laughed uproariously at my complete and total idiocy. Yes, when I injure myself, I laugh. A string of expletives also came out as I berated myself, but mostly I laughed. I also inspected the knees of my jeans because I could feel that my knees were badly damaged and I was wearing my favorite pair. Miraculously, they came through unscathed. My knees themselves were not so lucky, especially my left one. I could feel dampness and immediate swelling.
I was still gathering my wits about me when I noticed two young Japanese men approaching slowly on their own bikes. I didn't think I was able to get myself up yet, so I tried to scoot out of the way to let them pass. I can only imagine what they were thinking (crazy drunk foreigner, probably - I was, after all, sitting on the sidewalk with only one shoe and laughing about the fact that I'd just crashed), but they very kindly stopped to help me. One them picked up my bike and inspected it for damages while the other helped me up. They were very nice, and one of them pointed out my completely useless light and kept saying, "Broke? Broke? Need fix." I'm not sure if he thought it was broken in the fall or if he was telling me to get it fixed (and therefore avoid any further accidents), but I appreciated the concern. I've been meaning to get it fixed ever since I got the bike.
They asked me several times if I was alright, and after making a show of inspecting myself and thanking them profusely in Japanese (which is one thing I can do and do well - they certainly appreciated it and shook their heads and said, "no problem, it's ok, it's ok"), they continued on their way. I took a few more moments to collect myself before setting off on my journey home, which takes about 20 minutes.
I immediately noticed that my handlebars were a bit cockeyed, and my tires were definitely a little flatter than before. There wasn't enough light to really see how bad the damage is, so I'll have to do a more thorough inspection in the morning. I'll probably have to take it to Cainz Home and get some work done on it. The least I should do is get that stupid light fixed.
That was the least of my problems, though. It rained the past two days, and now that lovely mountain wind is blowing through the valley, and I AM SO SICK OF IT THAT I COULD SCREAM. My students just shrug and say, "That's Gunma!" but they're not out riding their bikes around in it, are they (well, maybe Naofumi-san is, but he's a road racer and is therefore more capable of dealing with such conditions, and when I mention the weather, he just grimaces and complains about it too). It's bad enough when my knees don't hurt, but I thought I was going to pass out from sheer exhaustion. However, this did assure me that my knee hadn't been completely destroyed; I could still muster some form of locomotion, which I doubt would be possible if I'd broken my kneecap.
Currently, I am in great pain, so knowing that I was able to walk and ride on it comforts me. The numbness in my knee (either from the initial pain or the incredible cold) has worn off, and great bolts of agony rip down my knee into my leg whenever I move. I have a very beautiful strawberry forming on that left knee, and it's swelling to a nice size. My right knee is a little skinned and swollen, but it's otherwise fine. It might have a little bruising tomorrow, but I'm sure the left one will be the show stealer. Well, at least I'll have a story to tell my students.
Speaking of students, I do have some bad news about GEOS Isesaki, but I feel that I've had enough hardships for tonight, and I don't really want to write about it. Tomorrow, I'll get to it. Right now, I just want to eat a lot of chocolate and watch a movie or something that doesn't require a lot of my energy.
And, just for the sake of entertainment, chew on this: I slept through an earthquake this morning. Well, not exactly slept - it did wake me up. At first, I thought my (already very strange) dream was getting weirder, and then I realized I was awake. It wasn't strong at all, just a weak shaking, like someone picking up the apartment building and jostling it about. I heard some dishes clanking about in the sink, but that was it. It didn't last very long; I'm not entirely sure because I was half-asleep. I also feel immediately back to sleep when I heard birds start singing again.
When I woke up, I went online to see what I could find about it, mostly to prove to myself that it wasn't a dream. An earthquake did indeed occur, just a little before 7am, approximately 18 miles off the coast and of 5.8 magnitude. Apparently, no damages were reported.
It turns out that this is not the first earthquake since I arrived in Japan: there was one in December too, also off the coast and would probably have been felt inland. I do not recall this at all.
I've ridden home from the Isesaki train station at night a number of times now, and it's lit rather decently, so I thought I knew my way around it alright. To get from the bike park to the road, you have to cross a street and get up on the sidewalk. Well, I forgot that the sidewalk had a curb to it; I saw it too late and plowed right into it. I'm not even sure if I had time to hit the brakes. One moment, I was thinking, "Oh, crap, I'm going to hit that curb, I should do something about it," and the next, I was flying off my bike. I always thought that flying over handlebars was an exaggeration, but it turns out that it's entirely possible if you hit something head on. I didn't exactly shoot over the handlebars, but I did get kinda flung over them, to painful results. Of course, I landed heavily on my knees, but my right foot got caught on the pedal and sort of broke my fall on that side. It also pulled my shoe off.
My initial reaction to this was typical for me: I laughed uproariously at my complete and total idiocy. Yes, when I injure myself, I laugh. A string of expletives also came out as I berated myself, but mostly I laughed. I also inspected the knees of my jeans because I could feel that my knees were badly damaged and I was wearing my favorite pair. Miraculously, they came through unscathed. My knees themselves were not so lucky, especially my left one. I could feel dampness and immediate swelling.
I was still gathering my wits about me when I noticed two young Japanese men approaching slowly on their own bikes. I didn't think I was able to get myself up yet, so I tried to scoot out of the way to let them pass. I can only imagine what they were thinking (crazy drunk foreigner, probably - I was, after all, sitting on the sidewalk with only one shoe and laughing about the fact that I'd just crashed), but they very kindly stopped to help me. One them picked up my bike and inspected it for damages while the other helped me up. They were very nice, and one of them pointed out my completely useless light and kept saying, "Broke? Broke? Need fix." I'm not sure if he thought it was broken in the fall or if he was telling me to get it fixed (and therefore avoid any further accidents), but I appreciated the concern. I've been meaning to get it fixed ever since I got the bike.
They asked me several times if I was alright, and after making a show of inspecting myself and thanking them profusely in Japanese (which is one thing I can do and do well - they certainly appreciated it and shook their heads and said, "no problem, it's ok, it's ok"), they continued on their way. I took a few more moments to collect myself before setting off on my journey home, which takes about 20 minutes.
I immediately noticed that my handlebars were a bit cockeyed, and my tires were definitely a little flatter than before. There wasn't enough light to really see how bad the damage is, so I'll have to do a more thorough inspection in the morning. I'll probably have to take it to Cainz Home and get some work done on it. The least I should do is get that stupid light fixed.
That was the least of my problems, though. It rained the past two days, and now that lovely mountain wind is blowing through the valley, and I AM SO SICK OF IT THAT I COULD SCREAM. My students just shrug and say, "That's Gunma!" but they're not out riding their bikes around in it, are they (well, maybe Naofumi-san is, but he's a road racer and is therefore more capable of dealing with such conditions, and when I mention the weather, he just grimaces and complains about it too). It's bad enough when my knees don't hurt, but I thought I was going to pass out from sheer exhaustion. However, this did assure me that my knee hadn't been completely destroyed; I could still muster some form of locomotion, which I doubt would be possible if I'd broken my kneecap.
Currently, I am in great pain, so knowing that I was able to walk and ride on it comforts me. The numbness in my knee (either from the initial pain or the incredible cold) has worn off, and great bolts of agony rip down my knee into my leg whenever I move. I have a very beautiful strawberry forming on that left knee, and it's swelling to a nice size. My right knee is a little skinned and swollen, but it's otherwise fine. It might have a little bruising tomorrow, but I'm sure the left one will be the show stealer. Well, at least I'll have a story to tell my students.
Speaking of students, I do have some bad news about GEOS Isesaki, but I feel that I've had enough hardships for tonight, and I don't really want to write about it. Tomorrow, I'll get to it. Right now, I just want to eat a lot of chocolate and watch a movie or something that doesn't require a lot of my energy.
And, just for the sake of entertainment, chew on this: I slept through an earthquake this morning. Well, not exactly slept - it did wake me up. At first, I thought my (already very strange) dream was getting weirder, and then I realized I was awake. It wasn't strong at all, just a weak shaking, like someone picking up the apartment building and jostling it about. I heard some dishes clanking about in the sink, but that was it. It didn't last very long; I'm not entirely sure because I was half-asleep. I also feel immediately back to sleep when I heard birds start singing again.
When I woke up, I went online to see what I could find about it, mostly to prove to myself that it wasn't a dream. An earthquake did indeed occur, just a little before 7am, approximately 18 miles off the coast and of 5.8 magnitude. Apparently, no damages were reported.
It turns out that this is not the first earthquake since I arrived in Japan: there was one in December too, also off the coast and would probably have been felt inland. I do not recall this at all.
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