Clumsy/へた

I realized this morning that I had yet to blog about my unfortunate clumsy self.

First day in Japan, I wore new dress shoes and got tremendous blisters all over both feet (we did a lot of walking that day that I was not prepared for and they would not let me go back and change). At some point during days 1-3, I apparently sprained my ankle extremely badly. Day 3, because of the blister on my left heel, I could hardly walk. The pain was so terrible!!!!

I finally broke down crying at the IES Center telling them how much pain I was in. They almost immediately took me to the doctor.

Now, I've discovered this strange quirk about Japan: Because there is not a lot of space, it is rare to find what we would think of as a "hospital". Nothing is that big. It costs too much. Rather, there are what we would call "clinics" here and there, everywhere.

The doctor and nurses were extremely kind, though they didn't speak a lick of English. Oisha-san examined my foot and came to the conclusion that my heel was in so much pain because it had become infected. Great.

He gave me some pain killers and antibiotics to take three times a day. The bill was about 5000 yen. I was supposed to come back later, but I never made it. (I'm lazy, you know).

Anyways, after a day or two, the pain from my infected heel dulled enough for me to feel the pain in my ankle. That was not too pleasant, I might add. The biggest shock was realizing that I could not feel the sprain because of the infection. I went and quickly brought a brace and wore it for the next week until the swelling went away.

Now is the time to add another unusual quirk: After the pain from the infection went away, I noticed another oddity with my foot. Still today, I cannot feel either of my big toes. They are completely numb. I can move them fine, but I'm still a little worried that I can't feel them. My housemate also wore new dress shoes one day, got a blister, and cannot feel her big to either; so hopeful, this is just an after effect of the blisters and the numbness will go away eventually.

More clumsiness to speak of:

I thought I was all better. It didn't hurt, I could walk fine, everything was great! Then I went to Akiba with two other students. While there I tripped up some steps (yes, you may laugh) and re-sprained my ankle. It hurt so much that it took me from 5 until almost 8pm to get back home. The next day I had to skip the class field trip to Asakusa and rest. Why am I SO unlucky?

My foot is better once again, aside from the numb toes, but I am still taking it easy. Hopefully I am through spraining my ankle, but for any time that I know I will be walking long distances, I plan to wear my brace. This weekend I think I may go to Shinjuku and to see Tokyo tower. I'm running out of money fast so I think it's time to get a part time job.

Until next time, じゃね!