Mmmm, chocolate orange. So delicious.
After eating Pasta Michi, James came back to my apartment to get his bike. I was sitting in my room reading a book when I heard really strange noises from my bathroom… strange noises for someone just washing their hands?
What was that? I asked, because my sink is really bad, because I can’t take the time to fix it, so oh man, what if it has really gone wrong this time?
He says, I was plunging your sink. You need to fix that.
Yeah someday I will.
I still love books. Nothing a computer can do can compare to a book. You can’t really put a book on the Internet. Three companies have offered to put books by me on the Net, and I said, ‘If you can make something that has a nice jacket, nice paper with that nice smell, then we’ll talk.’ All the computer can give you is a manuscript. People don’t want to read manuscripts. They want to read books. Books smell good. They look good. You can press it to your bosom. You can carry it in your pocket.
-Ray Bradbury
Amen
The last time I went to the dentist was a total wash.
I was a sophmore in college, and had a horrible popping pain in my jaw. I did some research and concluded that I should seek professional help. Professional help let me down. The dentist sat me in the dentist chair, told me there was nothing he could do, and charged me $30.
Three and a half months ago, the most excruciating physical pain I have ever felt in my life began. One of my teeth had broken, all the way down to the nerve. It hurt when I ate. It hurt when I didn’t eat. It hurt for basically no reason at all, simply because it was an exposed nerve, and that’s what exposed nerves do.
I did nothing. I put up with it. I didn’t take any medication, I didn’t seek any help. I brushed and kept food away from it. Eventually, the pain dulled and faded. It was replaced with a lesser pain whenever food or pressure or cold or sweet came into contact with it.
Weirdly enough, I can easily think of the positives that came from the whole thing. For instance, I stopped eating sweets and drinking sweet soda. I paid much more attention to the rest of my teeth. My pain threshold is significantly higher.
But eventually, I decided that enough was enough, and I should do something. My JTE made an appointment with her doctor, and I got lost and it was a complete fiasco and ultimately the day that I finally cracked and had a culture shock breakdown.
I got directions to another English-speaking dentist, but I never got up the nerve to make an appointment.
Last night, when dropping off a friend after A Very JET Thanksgiving, I noticed the dentist, as it was right next to her apartment. It had a happy penguin sign on the door.
Today, I thought, “I know exactly where it is, I basically have no excuse not to go down there an make an appointment, despite my fear and loathing of dentists”. So after school, essentially on a whim, I went.
If my mindset had been anything other than a whim, I would not have gone. Planning to go to the dentist is terrifying. Going with a happy, “oh gosh why not” attitude is easier.
So I went. The nurse was nice to me, and filled out my forms in Japanese. Only the head dentist spoke English, but that was ok. I sat in the chair and explained the problem. They all looked at my mouth. They all nodded wisely.
“You need a root canal.”
And really, there was no arguing with that. I needed a root canal. And so I got a root canal. I also got a lot of anesthesia. It was really one of those “Well, this is happening now I guess” experiences.
It was fast, painless, and cheap. I’m going back on Thursday for… a filling, I guess.
Thanks, Japan.
Well I didn’t even know it, but yesterday was the 1-year birthday of Things I Love Thursday. Fancy that!
Today things are winding down… or are they gearing up? I went to the Prefectural Office this morning for the ceremony to officially employ 8 new JET teachers with the Board of Education here in Tokushima. I gave my speech, which everyone liked, and participated in lots of formalities. I also traded phone and email info with a few people there, so perhaps my weekend won’t be as quiet as I originally thought.
And now for something completely different, let me tell you about Japanese toilets.
I heard about a year ago that in Japan, ladies would continually flush the toilets in order to cover up any embarassing noises they were making. This wasted a lot of water. So someone invented a little device that is mounted in the wall, and when you push the button or what have you, it makes a big old loud noise akin to that of a toilet flushing repeatedly.
I suppose they could have used any old loud noise, such as an elephant trumpeting, but frankly that would be hilarious, and who can go to the bathroom when you’re laughing so hard?
At any rate, I forgot about this info until I got here, and saw little panels in the walls. “No way,” I thought. “I’ve got to try this out”.
Ironically enough, I waited until there was nobody else in the bathroom, because I didn’t want to make this big old loud noise and disturb other people. I don’t even know what I’m thinking sometimes. At any rate, you wave your hand at this motion detector, and the noise kicks up and a green light comes on. You push a button to make it shut up, or it will wind down on it’s own, at which point the green light will blink to alert you. I use it even though I don’t care, because I like motion detectors and pushing buttons.
Also, the sinks have motion detectors, the good kind that stay on as long as your hands are there, instead of the kind that go off and make you move your hands away and then try and trip the detector again, usually ending in failure. But for some reason, there are no paper towels, cloth towels, hand driers, or drying things of any sort. Are you supposed to bring your own? I never see a lady carrying around a personal towel or anything. Everyone carries a long face towel though, to mop their faces and sling around their necks. (Even I have one. They are quite literally necessary for all the sweating that goes on around here). They are like fashion items.
So there you go, another true fact about Japan: they have robot bathrooms.
Have a good weekend everybody!
love
Emily
