Kurokawa-Juice!

Today has been brought to you by:

Severe knee pain!
Severe back pain!
Speaking test anxiety!
Total spaz-fest in 食堂!
and Professor Mikiko Kurokawa <3

The past few days have been nothing short of a pain-induced haze that has made it difficult to study and do anything but lay about and silently wishing for death because knowing that this week is an apocalypse waiting to happen and it just so happens to be C-Week here at ICU, where the C stands for Christianity -- so it's fitting, really, that the whole world ends during this particular week when the schedules for classes are fucked five ways to Thursday.

Today's class was thankfully uneventful, other than everyone getting the last grammar quiz back and we all were aboard the Fail-Boat for that one (what sort of universe do we live in that when between Me, Josh, Stewart, and Rhiannon, Josh gets the higher score?! MADNESS!) We had a vocab quiz that I crammed for, and likely got an 8/10 on considering I know I fudged one, and outright forgot the other.

After that, it was to 食堂 for some lunchings. Me, Josh, Stewart, Rhiannon, Anjelique, Laurent, and Marc were all eating (and I was studying/spazzing over my speaking test and grumbling about pain) when Marc thought it'd be a good idea to start harping on me to go see a doctor, get more drugs, etc etc.

The fact of the matter as to why I haven't is A.) Money B.) Time C.) 私の日本語はSHITです。 I can survive going out, buying things, getting my bike fixed and all of that, but understanding Japanese medical lingo and bureaucracy? Not so much. Marc continues to harp on me about it, saying, "Well, you have insurance back home, right?"

Let me pause there for a moment and explain: yes, I do have health insurance back home, but it is only because GVSU required it prior to departure. I got the bare-minimum coverage, as in, I pay $50 to say "Hey look, I have an insurance card!" It doesn't cover X-Rays, prescriptions, or anything that I would actually need.

So I told him, yes, I have insurance.

"Then I don't see what the problem is."

The problem is, that despite having 'insurance', it will not cover physiotherapy for my legs. It will not cover painkillers, nor the surgery that will be a necessity in a few more years according to the last doctor's diagnosis. That will have to come out of my pocket.

Again, "I don't see what the problem is."

...Not everyone has their parents wiring them $1400 a fucking month. Not everyone has that sort of laissez faire luxury of financial security. Thanks for reminding me that I'm poor, ghetto, white trailer-trash with no future all over again, and telling me that I don't have it so bad since I'm not gay and oh-so-persecuted.

In too much pain to deal with this and under so much damn stress, I pack up my shit and get the hell out of　食堂. The last thing I needed was someone tearing into my about how I am not doing anything about my health. The doctors won't do anything since the condition isn't bad enough yet. On top of that, I'm in so much pain, and worrying about my grades that yes, maybe I am a little sensitive, but fucking hell man, have some goddamn tact. Not everything has to be about how depressed you are because you don't have a boyfriend >:/

I get about half-way to my bike when Josh just grabs me and gives me a giant bear-hug. I am just so overwhelmed that I just slump to the ground, holding my books and crying because of everything plus just the utter agony I am in physically. No sooner had I slumped then Professor Kurokawa (of J3 love and fame) appears, frantically wondering if I was okay.

For those playing the home game, Kurokawa was my professor last term who I love and adore. She was perhaps the most understanding person and knew of my health issues and if I had to miss a day in class, she didn't hold it against me. I learned so much from her, and really, she's too good for this school in my opinion. Hell, Kurokawa, Ninomiya, and Ozawa are too good for this school. The rest of the professors are uncaring people who just want results, K, N, and O see you as actual people with lives, feelings and problems -- a rarity in Japan, or so I hear.

Josh assure Kurokawa I am fine, and she runs off to go teach her next class and eventually, I return to 食堂 to study some more. Marc leaves, Rhiannon and Stewart headed out to 吉祥寺, leaving me, Anjelique and Josh to help me study.

Then suddenly, out of the blue, Kurokawa appears and hands both me and Josh a can of Tropicana fruit juice. As soon as she appeared, she was gone!

Like nectar from heaven, I drank the juice and hoped it granted me Kurokawa's blessing. Me and Josh jokingly call it a "relic" of Kurokawa, and think it will bestow greatness upon us.

I suppose we will have to see how well it helped me come the results of the speaking test...

(Note to self: Get a small present and card for Professor Kurokawa. Her sweetness is just too good to go un-thanked.)

The weather has become gorgeous in Tokyo. Absolutely gorgeous. Sunny days in the high 60s and 70s, a pleasant breeze, and everything is so green and alive. While the cherry blossoms are gone, so much more is happening.

My professors for this term all seem like an enthusiastic lot. Kazuno Eri is the head teacher, and seems to be a fair lady. Ninomiya Rika is just beyond words; she is like an older Professor Komatsu Maho, just minus the mod-hipster style and stories about drinking whole bottles of whiskey. And today it was announced that since we were splitting into two sections, that Ozawa Ikumi would be back teaching J4.

Last term, Ozawa was the head teacher of J4, and the students loved her to death, and I am pretty sure I know why. Between the three of them, we have some very energetic and optimistic women teaching us who have a sense of humor (as opposed to Sato from J2 back in Fall Term).

Everything is starting off well, in my opinion. I got an 85% on my first vocab quiz of the term. I miss-translated 学ぶ・まなぶ as "to study specifically" when it should have been "to study in depth", and I partially blanked on "society", writing しゃきょう instead of 社会・しゃかい. Today was our first kanji quiz, and I am fairly certain I kicked its ass, so long as they aren't overtly picky with how my kanji look. I was most impressed at remembering how to write　横断歩道・おうだんほどう - pedestrian walkway. Woo.

I should really try to write more often. I've become so terrible. I have been continuing to teach English, I have about 3-4 students now with more expressing interest. I also make a point to go out once a week to find geocaches. I think I'll go to Ikebukuro this Saturday because there are a few clustered around the station area (池袋西口公園は＃１！) Speaking of geocaches, I introduced my newest student, Tsubaki, to it. He seems very keen and curious about it :)

Anywho, I have a grammar quiz tomorrow, and considering we spent next to no time in class going over it, yeah. I should study :)