Eyes Straight Ahead, Please!

I've decided - this year is going to be healing for many things. All that went wrong last year will straighten out this year.

Here's what's new with me:

I finally went back to the doctor for my cold that's been lasting over two months and got some more meds. I'm feeling spacey, so I'm going to have to call them tomorrow and change them. Due to the language barrier, they didn't bother to go through the possible side effects, and I just thought I was super tired all day until I realized that it was from the pills.

Besides that, I bought a used scooter a few days ago, which makes transportation so much easier and makes my city even smaller. That's good for getting to students as well as sightseeing.

I start a new Japanese lesson on Monday, which I'm happy to be getting back into as well.

And it snowed yesterday, all day. Huge flakes that looked more like old soap flakes than real snow. If felt like being on a movie set, except that it melted when it hit the ground.

I will hopefully be able to collect some unemployment money next week (at last).

My visa status was just changed from a work visa to a tourist, since the company went back on their word and didn't rehire me as promised. That gives me three months to live here hassle-free.

I also just found out that I should be getting some back wages for the unpaid months sometime near the end of April or beginning of May. that money will hopefully go toward paying bills in the U.S. so I can take the time to travel through South East Asia in July and August (which I'm really getting excited for as well).

So I just need to add a few more students to my workload and start aikido next month, and everything will be back on track.

I've been dealing with so much Japanese bureaucracy and various offices, it's ridiculous. It requires such effort to try and communicate with people in realms that have such specific specialized vocabulary I don't know in Japanese.

In the last two weeks, I've dealt with:

• a doctor's office
• a pharmacist
  
• a scooter sales shop
• the unemployment office
• the Immigration office
• the Labor Standards Bureau (to get back wages)

These each took a lot out of me, and made me realize how much we take for granted, being able to communicate in the States when something new arises.

One last thing:

My mom has breast cancer. They found it during a mammogram last year, so it was detected early enough that a tumor didn't even have time to form. After a partial mastectomy and radiation therapy, they feel confident that it will be eradicated. So I'm trying not to get too upset about it and just focus on a positive outcome.

Remember to get your regular mammograms, ladies! It could just save your life one day...