I am sick. Blah. I think its quite easy to get sick in a foreign country, because of all the new foods and the stress it adds to your life. It doesn't help that this is the time of year during which many people get sick. I went to the doctor on Saturday, which involves lots of waiting. You can't make appointments at the hospitals, so you basically wait in line all morning. They only take new patients at the clinic part of the hospital from 8:30-11:30am (even Mon-Fri), so you have to get there early. I got there at 11:15 so I was one of the last people seen. The doctor says I have tonsilitis, an infection of my tonsils. Sounds like fun, huh? Well, my tonsils are all swollen up and they look infected. The doctor gave me three drugs to take, which I finally understand what they do now. I think one is to ease the pain of swallowing, another to protect my stomach from the other drugs, and a third is an antibiotic. They also gave me something to gargle with (minty iodine?) and mint things to suck on to make my throat feel better. My out of pocket cost for everything was 3,000 yen, about $24 dollars, which isn't bad for a doctor's visit and drugs.

I basically spent most of the weekend watching TV and playing computer games, because I didn't have the energy to go very far away. Victoria was a real sweetheart and brought me some American food products from the foreign food store and orange juice. I did manage to grade almost all of the papers I need to though, so that was good. I had to miss the soba noodle-making party at a nearby town, which I was looking forward to. I didn't really feel like potentially infecting lots of my friends and Japanese children. Today I am at work, but I am trying to take it easy and not teach too much. Hopefully I can get lesson planning done for the rest of the week.