41 posts tagged “2007”
The last time I was in Japan, I spent my last day with a guy named S from the Netherlands just strolling around the Asakusa area. Since both of us are the adventurous sort, we decided to stop and eat at a place we thought was "authentically" Japanese. We figured that if there were no other gaijin (foreigners) in line and that the signs outside were entirely in Japanese, that we were assured something of the traditional feel.
We had a seat outside for a few minutes waiting for the restaurant to open while an old Japanese man said to me, "Kono resutoran no tabemono wa oishii desu yo." After managing to mutter, "So desu ka?" he rebutted with a long sentence of rapid Japanese (none of which I could understand) to which I just smiled and nodded back. A waitress popped out from under the noren to usher us all in with an "irasshaimase!"
S and I took our shoes off and plopped ourselves down on cushions in front of a long wooden plank lined with multiple place settings. After staring at the completely Japanese menu and looking confused, our waitress came over with an English version. Even the English menu was difficult to understand -- we spent a few minutes trying to process its broken English in an attempt to figure out what the restaurant was famous for. We finally ceeded to ignorance, ordered the specialty and a side dish we knew would be safe (tamagoyaki -- who can go wrong with that?).
Steven and I take pictures, chat, and prepared our chopsticks as the food finally came out. Here was a small iron plate sitting on a frame of hot coals, bubbling with what appeared to be small soft-bodied fish. I tilted my head in bewilderment -- the waitress came over to add more items to our dish from an inconspicuous box next to us. We still stared at the plate for what seemed like an eternity before diving in.
The taste itself was actually delicious, but I just can't bring myself to eat whole fish -- eyes, heads, bones and all -- I just can't do it. The texture was... to say the least, awkward. I spent my time picking out the flesh and leaving the bones, until finally I was too hungry to keep going. Steven and I ate some tamagoyaki to offset the strange delicacy and vowed that we would likely never come back to this place again. We payed the bill to the smiling (maybe smirking) waitress, and left laughing.
That was the last meal I had in Japan in November. Hopefully the first and last meals this upcoming trip will be just as much of an adventure!
If you could easily choose to live in another country without all the red tape and legal stuff, which one would you select and why?
Submitted by Matthew 25.
Japan, duh.
昨日はあたしの最後の日本語のクラス。それはすごい楽しかったでした。
クッキが食べました。あたしたちは焦土がしました。日本語が少し話しました。
これはあたしのスックリプトでした：
”はじめまして！あたしの名前は中村めぐみです。２３歳です。ICUの看護しです。１１月日本に行きました。すごい楽しかったですした。東京や京都や鎌倉や横浜に見ました。広島にお好み焼きは美味しい方でした。東京で日本人の友達が会いました。あたしのお祖母ちゃんも会いました。さっきは日本語が勉強しました。四月また日本に行きますだから。”
今でも日本語が少しだけ分かります、で本当にがんばります。じゃ！バイバイね！
Just as I'm getting ready to leave to go back to Richmond I read my friend Sarah's post about what you would do if you were offered the opportunity to just get away.
I'd leave.
I think since coming back to America I've had a load of stress -- readjusting to my job hasn't been easy. Being absent a few days puts you at a disadvantage when it comes to practice. I feel like I'm still forgetting little housekeeping things that I would've otherwise taken care of usually and I've been feeling slightly guilty about it lately. I've also been missing life there, mostly the food though -- I'm constantly getting sick from all the grease and lack of movement here, so much that it's driving me mad. But I think what I miss the most is the feeling that I'm having an adventure.
As an adult, I feel like I'd lost that in the months that I became depressed. Finally taking that vacation was a real eye-opener and reminder of the person that I used to be and the person that I can become. In the spirit of it, I decided to continue to forward my plans for applying to graduate school and also maybe accept the challenge of changing occupations to learn Japanese better.
Recently, in spite of all the grad school preparation, I've found that financing a study abroad (particularly in Japan) is very, very difficult. There aren't loan programs that will easily lend to institutions without large populations of Americans attending. Because of this I'm kind of stuck in this rut of filling out the applications but scared of trying to figure out how I'm going to self-finance a $17,000/year tuition and living costs through graduate school. In the end I might have to take up a private loan from a bank just like my friends and just bite the bullet in terms of trying to pay that off after I graduate. Who knows.
I've applied for a job with an English-language teaching program in Japan through an eikawa called Geos. To be honest, I kind of did it on a whim. If I don't make it into graduate school (which, at this point seems like a likely circumstance considering I have little work experience) I'd like to spend the time working in Japan and learning Japanese better in the meantime. It'd mean giving up nursing, but I'd be chasing a dream and living an adventure.
Perhaps a better question is -- if you were given the chance to live another life, would you?
I guess we'll see in a few weeks.
My arrival at Narita however was like waking up on the wrong side of the bed. As soon as I went to pick up my luggage from the carousel I noticed that it had been ripped down one entire side and my garments were exposed to the free world. I had to take it to the claims counter where they offered to replace it free of charge and taped it up enough for me to make it through the two hour train ride to Tokyo. On top of having wrecked luggage, I had forgotten my Japanese cell phone in Virginia and had to end up renting a phone while in the airport (all the while lugging my broken luggage and thousand pounds of handcarried items). I finally made it down to the train station on the bottom floor of the airport and managed, in broken Japanese, to buy myself a ticket to Kuramae (in Asakusa) and began the long train ride with all my things. On the train ride itself I was lucky enough to meet a girl and her friend that had just gotten back from visiting her aunt in San Francisco. Even better was the fact she spoke fluent English and was helping me find the station I needed to get off at.
It's crazy the amount of times I've been to Tokyo in my life and never once remembered riding the metro there. I got lost at least three times before reaching my final destination that day -- and when I finally made it out of the station it started raining! Tired and hungry, I made it to the hostel, ate some onigiri and went straight to sleep.
I got up early the next day to head to Senso-ji nearby and enjoyed a scenic stroll through quiet Asakusa. Being a million miles from home and by myself didn't faze me at all somehow. Maybe it's the feeling of 10 million other people within spitting distance of you, but I never feel alone in Tokyo. Once I arrived at the temple, the feeling was reconfirmed by the bustling crowd and handful of other gaijin snapping photographs. After buying a ton of souvenirs and taking pictures left and right, I headed back to the hostel and tried to grab some rest along with a bite to eat and headed off to Akihabara. After being frighteningly overwhelmed by dozens of girls wearing maid outfits attempting to pass me tissues and cards outside of the JR station, I headed off to Laox and bought a nice Nikon brand camera case for about $2.50USD. For all the talk about Japan being uber expensive -- it isn't. Sometimes I think it's a more expensive living here in the U.S. than it is over there... The cost of food is about the same (whether you're at a nice restaurant, or a crappy one) and the electronics are much nicer and cost much less than what I'd get it for over here in the U.S.. If cost is what's stopping you from going to Tokyo -- think again.
I felt a little tired after the whole Akihabara thing and went back to the hostel again (by this time it was about 6pm) and went to see if someone wanted to grab something to eat. I met another backpacker there named Emily (from Wales) and went out for a bite of (terrible) sushi and ended up having to get something more 'normal' to eat afterwards. We decided the next day to go around the city in one go. Since it was Emily's last night there, and she wanted to eat something completely Japanese, we headed for an okonomiyaki place near our hostel where we had to do the "point-and-nod" just to order our food. I feel like a cripple sometimes because I can't read a lot of kanji yet. I made a promise to myself that when I go back to Japan in April, that I'll know enough kanji to make sure I can read a menu and order something that's not going to make me hurl.
Anyway, that's the end of the first part of my trip to Japan. More to come later on.
I want to do this in November, haha:
It's been decided. I nixed the idea of going to California and decided to head out of the country instead.
I've booked a flight to Japan on November 9th. So far I've made plans to stay and backpack around the Tokyo area for the first few nights, but I wanted to get around to seeing Yokohama this time around too. I'm planning on staying until the 18th, but might delay coming back to America if work allows it.
I'm looking forward to being stress-free and halfway around the world!
In no particular order:
- Center Gai (Shibuya Crossing) in Shibuya-ku - Probably one of the busiest intersections in the world and right at the south exit of the metro. If you've ever want to feel small, stand in it for a split second; it's the most amazing thing to witness at rush hour (it's probably neatest at night).
- Shiodome in Minato-ku - This is the place you only see in your dreams (or nightmares if you're a country person at heart). It's probably the most futuristic-looking part of the Tokyo skyline and is home to luxury apartments and business offices. One of my favorite pastry shoppes (named "Pastry Boutique") in Tokyo is located inside of the Royal Park Shiodome Tower that resides there.
- Tokyo Midtown in Minato-ku - There's plenty in the way of shopping and upscale living, but my favorite place is the Suntory Museum of Art just to the west. Even if you aren't a fan of art, you'll feel a deep appreciation for what's featured there.
- Happo-en in Minato-ku - The most picturesque gardens in Tokyo (next to the Imperial Gardens). I've only been here for weddings. If you've ever seen Memoirs of a Geisha and enjoyed the scenery in the Japanese gardens, you'll likely enjoy a stroll through here. Spring is the best time to see this place.
- Palette Town in Odaiba (I think this is also part of Minato-ku) - I haven't really been there since I was a kid but I enjoyed it very much back then. I was told once by someone that if I ever rode the ferris wheel there that I should do it with someone special to me. I have yet to do this.
- Milk in Shibuya-ku - I think the art of watching live bands where you aren't getting crushed in a crowd is lost in the United States. Milk has an array of different music playing on any given night and one of my friends and I's favorite places to grab a drink and listen. Not too far off is another place called "Crocodile" that we also frequent.
- Almond Bakery in Roppongi, Minato-ku - The perfect place for a mid-afternoon break from losing your money in Tokyo.
- First Bar in Roppongi, Minato-ku - A little sketchy for Roppongi standards, but this was always the best place for a girls night out in Tokyo. Cheap drinks with good company make for a good time at this bar. Beware of the gold diggers though.
- 300 in Ginza, Chuo-ku - Ginza's notorious for being home to danger and gaijin, but for a good (mostly) safe time you can head to 300 where everything from drinks to food on the menu are around 300 yen. It's a good place to mix and mingle. There's another branch on 8-Chome (appropriately named the 300 8-Chome branch...) that has DJs on Fridays.
My unit (in comparison to the previous one I worked in at a smaller hospital) receives a massive amount of post-arrest patients. The difference with our service is that our unit is probably the one most familiar with initiating what's called the hypothermia protocol.
The hypothermia protocol is a treatment plan that's initiated after someone has been resuscitated from an 'arrest state' (induced by either ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, or pulseless electrical activity). During hypothermia protocol, a patient is chilled (down to 32 degrees celsius) for a period of 24 hours and then slowly rewarmed back to a normothermic body temperature. The reasoning behind hypothermia protocol is that if you can chill a patient (whose body has just sustained a large amount of damage and is in a 'hypermetabolic' state) down, you can slow the rate at which the cells are being destroyed and minimize damage to the body and, in theory, preserve some of it's function. All of this winds down to hypothesizing that patients who have been through hypothermia and rewarming have better outcomes than patients who receive no such treatment at all (if they didn't -- why would we bother going through the therapy at all?).
Of course there are also other factors that need to be taken into account before saying that the survivability is greater after hypothermia... Co-morbidities like shock states (cardiogenic, septic, etc.), disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), previous damage from other heart attacks/arrests also play into how good of a chance a person is going to have in surviving the arrest itself in addition to how well they will recover from the hypothermia therapy.
Lately, perhaps because we're in the midst of a hot summer, the ICU acuity at our medical center has been through the roof with patients requiring the hypothermia therapy. I'm interested in knowing how many medical centers actually implement a supportive therapy of this type and whether it improves their mortality rates or not.
