06/09 - Heavy Man

Weight lies on your back

though you only notice when

it grows heavier


Today started off with an interesting scene on the train. Aykut and I were chatting when all of of he sudden this women behind him collapsed onto the back of his leg. He almost fell forward into me, while she slid to the floor. At first we figured she was going to have a seizure, but she didn't. It seemed like she must have just fainted. She was very lucky that Aykut and his back and legs were there to break her fall, or she could have hit her head very hard. People gathered around her and she came to fairly quickly and was helped up and into a seat. It would have been nice to help more and know more about what was going on, but all of the talking was being done in Japanese and very quickly too.

Later in the day we had our usual Monday meeting with our coordinator. She is very nice and helpful. Just last week she helped Aykut get some assistance with his sleeping problem. My back and neck have been very sore, so I asked if she could take me to the acupuncture place next to our University and book me in for an appointment. I'd never tried acupuncture before, but my good friend Kaz has been telling me to give it a shot for a long time. Nothing had been working so I thought I may as well try it here. My coordinator managed to book me in right after school and explained a bit about my back so I figured everything was set.

When I got there, it was a different woman than we had spoken to later. I had to fill out lots of forms, with a little help from the woman. I asked her in Japanese to write my address for me. She obliged, and said the words and numbers out loud as she wrote. Addresses are written in the opposite direction here, so she started by saying "Tokyo, Higashimurayama...". She was speaking quite quietly and kind of mumbling until she got to the word "PINUS" which she said much clearer. Perhaps because it is always written in all capital letters. I couldn't help but laugh, but despite knowing lots of medical terms she had no idea what was funny. We then had to try and chat in broken English and broken Japanese about why I was there and what issues I was having. Eventually I called my coordinator and she acted as a translator for us over the phone. This all took quite a while, which I thought was going to eat into my hour of treatment. However, once we got started she still worked on me for a full hour, massaging, doing physiotherapy style treatments, and of course putting needles in me. I got more relaxed and felt better as the session went on. It was great. At the end she put three small needles that were built into little stickers on me and told me to keep them on for three days.

Over the course of the three hours we both laughed a lot. There was a lot of laboured communication, but it was really very funny and she was the sweetest little old lady. Using her Japanese-English dictionary she managed to say a lot. She told me she hadn't spoken English for ten years. She even managed to tell me that she had been to Vancouver before, for three days. I asked her if she stayed downtown. She thought for a while and asked "Where is downtown in Tokyo?" Which is a damn good question. Before I left I booked another appointment for two weeks from now. I'm looking forward to it and I'm planning to learn some good Japanese phrases to help things go more smoothly. I also asked her to take a picture with me. She smiled and ran off to fix her hair and move things around in the background. It was hilarious. In the picture she looks great though, much younger than in person, so she did something right. It was like all her wrinkles disappeared for the shot.

Now for the best part. Before I walked out she looked outside and then opened a cupboard full of old umbrellas. She gave me one because she thought it looked like it would rain some more. I couldn't possibly explain my feelings toward umbrellas or refuse such a kind offer, so I took it. It's a hilarious little umbrella, but it will come in handy and I can think of my nice Japanese grandma acupuncture lady every time I use it. On the way home, it absolutely poured. Even with my new umbrella I was absolutely soaked by the time I got in through my door.