Doctors and other little occurrences

I caught something from my students last week.  Due to the Mom's getting worried, and Takarazuka this weekend, I went to the doctor.  I've already had an interesting visit with an eye doctor, and here was another interesting moment. I am lucky enough to have a "Ear, Eye, Throat" doctor a few houses down from my apartment, so during my break yesterday, I went in. No English, so it was one of those fun gesture games. Have you ever tried to fill out a medical questionnaire based off of someone else's gestures? ha ha anyway, It was a building with 3 rooms. Waiting room, Doctor's room, and nebulizer room. (or at least that's what Minori and Jaciel said it's called.)

I waited till I was at the front of the sue, and went in. I sat in what felt like a dentist's chair, and the doctor started prying my nostrils wide and putting hoses up to spray all this stuff up there. I kept trying to say that I had THROAT problems, and my nose was fine, but hey….I survived. What interesting instruments they had. After a few more gesture games, the doctor gestured for me to go into the nebulizer room, where I sat and breathed in some sort of medical fumes for 3 minutes.

(Twas a glorified humidifier)

I paid 10 bucks, and walked across the street to the pharmacy, and talked moderate English with the pharmacist (phew.) Got it all figured out, and I'm feeling amazing already.

I'm taking the stuff on the right. As for the stuff on the left, they're heavy pain killers.  The doctor thought I was in pain or something. I don't think I'll need them, but hey, there they are.

They also gave me this little medical journal, with my prescription and details of my visit, so if I need to make another appointment, they can just look at my history. I'm liking that idea.

Ok so the biggest reason I went to the doctor was so I could still go to Takarazuka this weekend. I would die if I got kicked out due to coughing, hence why I swallowed my fear and went to the doctor.  

Because todaaaaaay I'm going to see TAKARAZUKA!!!!!!! I don't think I could have ever predicted that I'd end up liking something as far-out as this, but what Disneyland is to Rob, Transformers is to Jack, and Beatles is to Dad, Takarazuka is to me. I'm usually not a fan of big displays of cheerful happy musical stuff, but this is my one big exception. 

Ok so I haven't blogged for a few weeks, but I've taken a few random photos. So here are some random moments that have happened over the last few weeks.

I stayed at Minori's house one of those weekends. Since it's colder now, the winter foods are starting to appear. One of the big winter dishes is nabe or "hot pot". Freaking delicious, as always. Tofu, mushroom, lettuce, bamboo, salmon ….rats I can't remember the rest. But you pretty much have it on a little mini stove on the table and keep it simmering all through dinner. It was delicious, Minori's Mom is amazing.

This is Minori's nephew, Kiroshiro. He's freaking adorable, and isn't afraid of me anymore! YAY!

This was on Halloween at school.  One of the student's Bento lunches.

Here's the school lunch version.

So at C.I.P. I give lots of piggy back rides, and other such fun rough housing. But I usually make the kids say stuff in English, or do something first. Some of the 5 year olds discovered that if they drew me pictures during their free play time, I'd give them more "super-jumps" and such. So it got to be a habit of receiving a bunch of pictures after lunch everyday. This one is freaking insane!!!!!! That's all one picture. Ms. Julpha said that 4 of the girls had been working on it all week. As soon as I walked into their room, the girls ran to where they'd put the picture, and then all walked to me with at least one hand holding the picture.  That sucker's as long as me ha ha ha!! The kids have also got the idea that if they are touching the picture when it is given to me, that means they get a super-jump. So everyone tends to try to help deliver pictures ha ha ha. It's all kind of crazy.

On Halloween morning, Ms. Jaciel dressed up as Sadako, aka Ring girl, and burst out of nowhere to scare the pre-schoolers as they were arriving. While the kids screamed and clung to their Moms, the Moms screamed and then clapped. They thought it was awesome. This alone made me laugh my head off.  At one point, Ms. Jaciel was standing still in a hallway, waiting to scare Minori. I didn't know she was there at the time, and ended up being the one getting scared instead. Lots of screaming, running and all that.

 Here's my favorite moment from the Korea Trip. This was around Midnight, in the middle of a market-place maze. I tried pig's foot and some blood sausage. The pig's foot was bland and chewy, and the blood sausage wasn't too bad. That night was so much FUUUUN.

I've been buying lots of mushrooms for my own nabe hot pot dinners. It's almost like pasta ha ha ha.

I went to the book store the other day, and it's always been interesting to see the books about poop. Unko.  I read that one, which is all about how poop gets used to help things grow…etc. I've even seen little gold poop stickers or paperweights. …..Interesting.

I'm building up a treat package for Mike, and I've been looking for some delicious stuff, and a few crazy things. I found some Ramen Chips, those should be interesting.  This one I thought I should try before I send to him. I was pretty hesitant, but it was in the treat section and seemed so bizarre. Well….was a definite EWWW.  Imagine an extremely thin slice of bread, that is heavily breaded and soaked in oil. One bite was enough. I'm not sending this to Mike ha ha ha.

I really wish I could send the treats in the bakery, because THOSE are the best. Dango, Warabi Mochi, Pancakes…..so yummy. Here's a type of Mochi I hadn't tried yet.

It had a strawberry in the middle. That made it soooo good!!!

Thats it for now. YAY FOR TAKARAZUKA!!!!

Atsuta Shrine

After Sports Day, I was worn out and moody, so I decided I needed another distractive break.  I got on the subway, and I just sat and looked at people for a good half hour. At one point, a woman with some form of turrets sat down, and I heard some of the loudest screaming I've ever heard. It was hard to keep myself from squeezing my eyes shut.

Eventually I got to a point where I decided I should go see something. I typed "Things to do in Nagoya".  The first thing is the castle, but I did that last weekend, so I did the 2nd thing that popped up lol.

Atsuta Shrine.

The green colors are going to leave any day now, so I was doing lots of appreciating.

I swear I am always posting pictures of these types of trees ha ha ha!

It was great to get into such a beautiful forest setting!

I might be wrong, but I saw signs up that dealt with a certain 3/5/7 celebration. I don't know much about it, but it deals with kids when they turn those 3 ages. I can't tell you how many cute little kids I saw walking around today!!! I took as many pictures as I could without becoming invasive.

I should just make a separate blog for trees. Those wisteria trees, the bamboo, and these guys always stop me in my tracks. 

These are often placed next the written down prayers at the shrines.

 

I have no idea what's behind those doors...

…but I was very interested in way they built those walls.

Ok I should have included a human in this photo for size comparison. If that had been standing vertically, the hilt would have gone from my feet to my waist. See that teeny little sword on the lower right? That's a full sized sword. There wasn't a lot written in English at the shrine, but something led me to believe that this was the sword of the prince that is buried at the shrine. There's a painting of him holding it while riding into battle. It's definitely the length of two of me, at least!!

I think maybe lanterns representing some generous patrons to the shrine?

On one of the lanterns. This guy is everywhere. When a kid does something bad, parents will often warn them that an ogre will come yell at them if they don't behave. 

This. Tree. Is. Huge. And Gorgeous. People were praying to it. 

Another branch of the Atsuta shrine, a section that is nearly restored.

While rebuilding, they built around the trees. *tear.

Another example of them building around the trees.

I love these rounded roofs.

This could make a comfortable, small hut. They don't seem to clear out the dead trees, they let things get taken care of as nature would.

Another massive tree. Wow.

This type of fern has always reminded me of Germany. 

I did lots of wandering. No regrets.

 I found this door that's built into a little hill. OoOoOo

 The boys were dressed up toooo!!! CUTE

6 month mystery SOLVED. And…a good laugh.

There's an instrumental song that plays on loudspeakers all over Nagoya, every night at 6. I asked all of my students if they knew the words, but they were too shy to tell me. And I never remembered to ask the Japanese teachers, because I was never around them when the song came on. I was always in a class, or at home. Anywho, I've been hearing this song everyday for 6 months, and not knowing the words was driving me insane.

I'd given up on learning the words ages ago, but that didn't stop me from going all out, "Tra-la-la"ing whenever the song came on. Well, today 2 of my students had the gusto to sing the words for me. I wrote them all down, and I was finally able to find a version of it on youtube!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6GQgx1etuQ&feature=youtu.be

After that, I looked at the sidebar to see what videos were linked to it. There were a bunch of animated nursery songs. Well, I clicked on one to see what other kinds of songs little kids listened to (because they're some of the few that I can translate).

What do you know….the first song I clicked on had me doing a double take, and laughing my head off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn6dIP3Uxto

Just watch. And then laugh. A nursery rhyme about it? Really?  

Takarazuka at the Hilton!

We all have guilty pleasures.  Mine is Takarazuka. For those who I haven't told, Takarazuka is an extravagantly specialized musical theater company consisting of all females. What could be more fun than to get to be in musicals where you can choose between playing the male or female role. Takarazuka's been in business for 100 years exactly, with it's members split into 6 groups who travel back and forth, putting on plays. Most of the time these plays are stuffed with crazy costumes, cheesy happy songs, and dramatic story-telling.

Ms. Mihoko and I occasionally chat about Takarazuka, and through her various connections, she got tickets to a small concert by a former Top Star of Takarazuka's Star Troupe. We went to it today, it was at the Nagoya Hilton. I was a bundle of nerves, I was so excited.  It took everything for me to not freak out ha ha ha. I was biting both lips to keep my ridiculously huge smile hidden.

Anywho, Star Troupe has been my favorite group for a long time, and I was lucky enough to see Minakaze Mai sing and tell stories of her time in Takarazuka, back from 1979-1988. Takarazuka's been putting on some special shows this year, to celebrate the 100th year, so Minakaze Mai has been performing in some of those shows as well. She was a wonderful singer, and so sweet! 

It was an amazing experience, and it only made me more excited to find a time to get down to the Kansai area to see a full fledged Takarazuka show. I really want to see the current Star Troupe top stars, because they're my favorites and they'll be retiring next year. Takarazuka has some pretty extreme fans, so it will be difficult to get a ticket for the most popular troupe, especially now that the top stars are going to switch. Ms. Mihoko enjoyed it, and has invited me to a possible trip down to Takarazuka City soon!  AAAAHHHHH!!!! I might die of happiness.

Did I mention that the Hilton was gorgeous?  It was a beautiful spot for a concert like this. 

Another typhoon is making it's way up Japan, it's supposed to hit Nagoya hardest tonight. Everyone has been asked to stay indoors until tomorrow, because this one's supposed to be bigger than the past typhoons this year. I am skeptical, but the heavy winds are fun.  We'll see if all this hubbub is worth it.