My volunteering schedule!

I've finally received a rough volunteering schedule for my next 5.5 months at the hospital here in Japan!!

It all begins TOMORROW Monday April 1st, I'll be in the Brain surgery and cerebral internal medicine ward, shadowing for the first three days then working solo for the next 2 weeks.
Monday April 22nd - Gynecology ward for 3 weeks.
Monday May 13th - Respiratory medicine, hematological medicine, connective tissue disease and rheumatic disease medicine for 2 weeks.
Monday May 27th - Orthopedics ward and post HCU for 2 weeks.
Monday June 6th - Oncology and Chemotherapy ward for 2 weeks
Monday June 24th - General Surgery ward for 4 weeks
Monday July 22nd - High Care Unit for 4 weeks
Monday August 19th - Emergency Room for 2 weeks

Each ward is going to have a variety of tasks associated with it. At this point, I'm not entirely sure how I will be helping, but I am very excited to start! I'll also be volunteering some days sister hospitals, Kaita and Minami Kagoshima Sakura. My duties there are still a little uncertain though, but they specialize in longer term care.

Let's do this!

busy week, busy week!

The past couple of days have been really busy!

Wednesday, after my Japanese lesson with Yushiaki san and Saki san, we took the above ground JR train to Sasaguri city in Fukuoka Prefecture. In Sasaguri is the famous Nanzoin Temple with the largest bronze reclining Buddha in the world! The temple was beautiful and the Buddha was insanely hugeeeee!!

Thursday was my 23rd birthday and also my 23rd day in Japan. During my Japanese lesson, and self introduction to our teacher Tsuru san, my "Hajimemashite. Watashi no namae wa Olivia desu. Niju san zai desu. Demo, otoutoi nijuni sai desu."  "Nice to meet you, my name is Olivia. I'm 23 years old. But, yesterday I was 22 years old." went over really well. Tsuru san quickly figured out I was talking about my birthday and she was so happy for me! :) We also had a lesson with Watanabe san and with Sadatani san. After lunch, Kathy, a nursing student from the Philippines gave us a tour of the hospital where we met so many wonderful members of staff. I'm very excited to be working along side them soon. They were all very patient with us while we butchered basic Japanese sentences. For dinner, Samantha and I rode our bikes to Trial (surprise?) and ordered a pizza - no cooking for me tonight!

Friday was our last day of Japanese lessons.Our teacher was Komatsu san, the head nurse in the education department of the hospital. We then had a tour of the Orthopedic Surgery ward and got to visit the operating room on the same floor. We were told that if we have free time and are interested in observing surgeries we were welcome to come by (HOW exciting is that?). I hope to be seeing a lot of the OR during my time here.
We also had an orientation with Tamura san, the head nurse of emergency. She was really friendly.

For dinner, Samantha treated me to sushi for my birthday meal, so kind! Yano san told us about this sushi restaurant nearby to our house called Onoshou. Thought we'd give it a go.
The restaurant looked like someones house and was tucked in behind a bicycle shop. And also - the menu was entirely Japanese. -->
Thankfully, being the sushi fanatic that I am, I was able to communicate to the chef that makimono and sushi was great - and that miso soup and green tea were also okay. So he just made us something along those lines. And.it.was.SO.delicious!

They even brought me a couple of candles with dessert! We managed some small conversation and left quite full and very satisfied. I plan on going back!

Back at home, Samantha and I put my new toaster oven to the test and made a small birthday cake. It...was...excellent! Two layers of vanilla cake with a vanilla custard yogurt/strawberry jam mixture in the middle with whipped cream and icing on top. HELLO excellent Friday night. Delicious!


Here's to an excellent 23rd birthday spent in Japan!

Japanese words of this week:

Onaka ga ippai! = I'm full!

What an amazing day!

Kyou wa totemo suteki deshita!

After our Japanese lesson with Raku san (who was so wonderful!), myself, Samantha, Yano san and Raku san went to Kitakyushu. Kitakyushu is a city famous for their steel factories and for Kokura Castle, which is especially beautiful in the Spring!

Firstly, Yano san treated the three of us to lunch at a wonderful restaurant that specializes in soba noodles. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat flour and are eaten cold dipped in soy sauce or hot in a soup (don't forget to slurp loudly!). The Japanese eat SO much and SO quickly. Yano san was done before I was half way through and then ate Sam's extra food (she ended up getting two meals because they initially brought her the wrong one - they gave her what she asked for complimentary to the wrong meal - amazing!)

After lunch, I tried explaining to Yano san what a "food baby" was. It went like this:
Olivia: "How do you say 'pregnant' in Japanese?"
Yano san: "Ninshin."
Olivia: "I am ninshin..."
Yano san: "Congratulations!"
Olivia: "....with food."
Yano san: "errr.....oh?! Haha!"

He eventually understood that it is an expression for over-full and bloated as opposed to actually carrying a child.

We then walked towards the Kokura Castle where sakura viewing parties (hanami) were in full swing! Samantha and I were stopped by a particularly outgoing Japanese woman and asked to take a photo with her. "Together! Want a picture with beautiful Japanese women?" I couldn't resist, she was too funny!

I took far more pictures than necessary of the sakura, the castle and the Kitakyushu area. But now I'm beginning to understand the hanami. The sakura flowers have a certain something that make you want to just look at them forever. Perhaps it's the knowledge of their temporary beauty, the flowers only last a couple of weeks. The Japanese treasure the time of the sakura blooming and they use the season as a reminder that beautiful things in life don't always last forever and to treasure the great things in life while you can.

The last bit of the day we spent walking around the Kitakysushu area. It was really nice! Kitakyshu is all hustle and bustle, with great smells from sushi restaurants to cafes to bakeries all stuffed into narrow streets. We went for tea and I had my very first real macha, where green tea powder is frothed with a bamboo whisk. It's pretty intense, healthy and high on the caffeine Richter scale, yippeeeee.

Finally, we found a purikura machine. Easily one of my FAVOURITE things in Japan. It's like a photobooth gone totallllly wild! The machine takes 6 pictures, and then makes your eyes really big and you can decorate it with stamps and words. Then it will print out multiple copies for you and your friends to share. They're cheap too, only 400 yen! You can't have a better time than when exposed to purikura with Yano san....unless you've got wigs.

And we had wigs.

I lent Yano san my sunglasses because without them he "looked like Andy Warhol".


The Japanese know how to have the most fun.

がんばって

がんばって. Ganbatte. Work hard.

It's something the Japanese say to each other to encourage hard work and perseverance. I've heard it so many times since being in Japan...because it's been directed at me. Learning Japanese has not been easy. I've said "wakarimasen" (I don't understand/I don't know) more than I can keep track of and it seems like wakarimasen isn't packing it's bags to leave any time soon.

The most recent form of Japanese language torture manifests itself as counting. There are different ways to count different shaped objects. Irregular shaped things like apples or jars or tv sets have a different counter word depending on how many things being counted. (1,2,3 = hitotsu, futatsu, mikku...). People are counted by adding -nin, except for 1 person and 2 people (hitori and futari). Flat things like sheets of paper and postage stamps are counted by using -mai. Two pieces of paper = kami o ni-mai...But two books = hon o ni-satsu. Different counter words. Long cylindrical shapes are counted as -pon, -bon or -hon depending on how many things you're counting (ippon, ni-hon, sam-bon...1,2,3). Ahhhh.
So, interestingly...
Two cylindrical shaped objects = Nippon
Japan = Nippon.

Japan = two cylindrical shaped objects.

To save us from all feeling stressed out, I'll leave you with a picture of an adorable girl leaving school and a parking space sign that was too good to pass without stopping and taking a picture.

I've also found out that hospital staff badminton games start next week. Better get myself a racket.

watashi no shumatsu...my weekend.

Friday's Japanese lesson was crazy vocabulary day. We learned a lot of different adjectives and a lot of different verbs. Fun fact, not only do Japanese verbs change according to time and mood...but the adjectives do as well! (#dies)

So, for example...
is = desu                    is not = dewa arimasen
was = deshita         was not = dewa arimasendeshita

This ALSO applies for adjectives like "oukii" (oh-key), big.
is big = oukii desu                is not big = oukikunai desu
was big = oukikatta          was not big = oukikunakatta desu

Also, the structure of a Japanese sentence is subject object verb whereas in English it is subject verb object. This is troublesome for me because I won't understand the start and middle of the phrase, but can catch on that it was about something someone ate.

After our lesson, we walked to a traditional Japanese theater, the Kaho Gekijo Kabuki theater. It is the only two story kabuki theater in Japan that continues to make use of the original building! This picture was from the stage looking at the seating. The building can hold over 1,200 people who sit on tatami mats and traditional Japanese pillows. On the right of the picture, you can just make out the part of the stage that rotates. 26 people push from under the stage to rotate it. This is how they change scenes during the play! Amazing! Sugoi!

I had the chance to wear the "princess's clothes". It was really heavy! "Totemo omoi desu!"

Also, spring is in Japan - the absolutely stunning cherry blossoms, sakura, are beginning to bloom outside of the Iizuka hospital and what a sight they are.

Saturday is groceries and miscellaneous shopping days...and we all know what that means....TRIAL! :) This time, I picked up a toaster oven - something I'd been wanting to add to my kitchen pretty much since I arrived. I refuse to eat a piece of untoasted toast again! (is there a correct term for untoasted toast?...bread?) Anyways, so I picked up a toaster for myself as an early birthday present from my friend Patrick (who'd sat in on one too many of my complaining rants I guess). :) I am very happy with it!
Sam also bought a takoyaki grilling plate! We went nuts for dinner. ALL the takoyaki...only with shrimp not octopus.

Sunday, Samantha and I went for quite the bike ride to a shopping mall called AEON nearby-ish to our apartment. This city and it's streets! We must have road our bikes in the total opposite direction without even noticing. This place is a complete maze. You feel very lost, then all of a sudden end up riding past a place you had dinner a few days ago. I swear if I know the layout of this city before I leave I've accomplished something great. On our way there, we stopped to take a few pictures of the Sakura blooming and of some young boys skateboarding along the Onga river.

 

The malls here are just...crazy. Stores don't have entrances, they just all kind of blend into one...big....crazy-ness of things for purchase. On top of these places, there are massive amounts of ice cream, cakes and confectionery shops. Oh, and arcade and video game stores....and check out the wall of cards!

As we were leaving the mall, I had to stop and watch this guy make cakes for about.....26.7 minutes. They make three different kind of small cakes, each with a different filling. White bean paste, red bean paste (YUM) and custard. They...looked....delicious! If I wasn't totes mcgoats stuffed from our Indian lunch (yeah, I know...I had Indian food in Japan. But! It gave me the chance to meet an Indian man who spoke Japanese. Strange! Oh, and they did Indian GREAT. Believe it or not, I ate the whole thing. When I was done, there was naan left to take home. ;)















Japanese words:
Kirei = pretty
My mother = watashi no haha
My father = watashi no chi chi.
Those are easy for me to remember :P

Can't...blog...fast enough.

Ahh, I can't keep up! I'm so busy here that it's becoming difficult to maintain the blogness monster without forgetting what I've even done!

Tuesday:
Our lesson with Urakawa san was spent as a review day. So basically we talked about the Japanese food that we liked. I now have two new foods I've gotta try: mentaiko and unagi seiro mushi, both made famous in Fukuoka.

After lunch, Yano san and Hanaoka san (the director of the Fureai Centre at the Iizuka Hospital - they're in charge of having us to volunteer!) took us to the Toyota factory! I taught them a little bit of French on the drive there. They enjoyed it and hearing Hanaoka san say "Bonjour! Comment ca va?" was great!
The best part about this trip surprisingly didn't go to seeing the manufacturing process of Lexus vehicles (which, from start to finish takes 19 hours per vehicle and they make over 300 cars a DAY!) but to Yano san. They supplied Samantha and I earphones and a microphone to Yano san so that he could translate our tour from Japanese to English. He walked in front of us and kept saying "Can you hear me...? Hmm...can you? Haahahaha". It was golden! Seriously, the man has a contagious laugh and he is rarely seen not laughing. Then when I told him his microphone was karaoke he laughed and said "with an audience of two! hahahaha.........[pause] Mammaaaaaaa, just killled a mannnnnn". We DIED laughing!
We then went to the employee training building and took a shot at using the painting gun, played some hand coordination games and dipped our hands in wax (they do this to keep circulation in their fingers after repetitive motion throughout the day). Yano san kept the wax shape of his hand, lol.

Wednesday March 20th was a vacation day in Japan. It's called Shunbun no hi aka spring equinox! I gladly took the day off to catch up on some serious sleep. Then hit the books. I spent quite a bit of time looking through my Japanese text and making myself cue cards of verbs, nouns and short phrases. Later, Samantha and I decided to try our luck on the streets for dinner. We settled on a vending machine style ramen joint (took a long time to find, of course everything was closed). Despite totally guessing what we'd ordered and not being able to communicate at all with the chef, the meal was great! I enjoyed a spicy soup that you dip the ramen noodles into.


Also, this just in! I've decided to take up running to keep the calorie input/output in order. I've set a goal of 100 runs during my time here in Iizuka. Shouldn't be hard considering the beauty of the scenery around the Onga River! Current run count is at 3. :)



Today's Japanese lesson was INTENSE. We worked through three chapters before I could even think through the first one. Annnnnnd revision is in serious order. All the vocabulary today. After lunch we went for a stroll around Iizuka and I tried meron pan (melon bread - sweet bread in the shape of a melon) with a custard filling. Turns out the reason for all the confectioneries in Iizuka (more confectioneries than people, I swear) was to supply energy (in the form of massive amounts of sugary goodness) to the coal miners that used to work in the mountains here. Now that the coal miners are gone, it's up to me to keep these places in business (apparently).

Japanese words:
tanoshii = fun. My day was fun = Kyou wa tanoshikatta desu!
Atsui desu ne! = it's hot (temperature) eh? and it's opposite: Samui desu ne!

More words, more sights, more treats.

The past few days flew right by! The weekend was consumed with bike rides to Trial, the best store in the world. Samantha and I decided to dedicate Saturday (yes, the whole day) to spend looking through the entire store. It did take us about 3.5 hours to complete the trip...plus a very interesting bike ride home. Turns out I had WAY too much stuff to carry back on my bike. Samantha had to take some and I had to balance a bag on each handle, feeling like a tight rope walker desperately trying not to break my eggs. The very tight roads didn't make it easier getting back.
Today's note to self - make more trips instead of a single very risky trip. Yikes!

We went back Sunday for other small things we forgot. The great thing about Trial is that you always leave with something you didn't intend on getting...and you're very happy. :)

Unfortunately Saint Patrick's Day isn't celebrated in Japan. I wore my green shirt anyways! :)



This weekend I also worked on my origami skills. I chose a very difficult one that required 6 pieces of paper. It was initially a cube, but opened up into what I am proud to say does actually look like a rose. I then made a butterfly to sit on it. I showed a few people and got a shocked face and a "sugoi!" "Amazing!" for it. :)

I also took this opportunity to fire up the rice cooker. I managed to figure it out without much trouble considering all the buttons and options in Japanese. The rice turned out a little gooey though; too much water, oops!

 Today, our Japanese lesson was about identifying objects in different places. E.g. "The pencil is in the desk drawer", or, "Who is on the 3rd floor? Mr. Takahashi is!" It's much more complicated than it sounds. I'm sure our teachers were bored out of their minds at the simplicity, haha. Gomennasai!

For our afternoon trip, we went to the Yakult yogurt factory! I really enjoy watching the manufacturing process, plus we got free samples weee! :)

 After the factory, we took a short trip to a small shopping area close to the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine that is famous for a small grilled desert called Daifukumochi. It's a small rice cake (mochi) filled with sweetened red bean paste (anko). And wasn't it DELICIOUS! They make them in sets of four and grill them to be served fresh and still warm.

Also, check out the amazing Starbucks! It's one of the most famous Starbucks location in Japan because of it's exterior decor. Cool!

Also - I love Zen gardens. This is my first experience with a true Zen garden, not one of the miniature ones people decorate their office space with hehe.
It was so beautiful, and very calming.

Japanese words for these past few days:
Sou desu ne! (Sooh day-su neh) = the equivalent of "I know, right?"
Otoko no ko = "boy"

Netawaku. Futowaku. Chimuwaku.

"Network, Footwork and Teamwork."

This is part of the vision statement of the Iizuka hospital said by it's employees during the daily morning meetings. I admire this hospital and the people who work there more and more each day.

Yesterday, March 14th, was "White day" in Japan. One month after Feb 14th is the day for men to give gifts of chocolate, cakes and other sweets to women in return for gifts they received on Valentines day. (and can I just say...WHY is this not done in North America? Seriously, there is way too much pressure on men to give gifts and the ladies get off totally Scott free! Love oriented gift giving reciprocity should be the way of life).
Anyways, so a man at work presented Samantha and I with a few treats that were made by his family in their bakery. So kind, and so delicious!
Our Japanese lesson was great. Our teacher essentially threw the book out the window and spoke to us with a white board and marker writing down words and simple phrases (well - simple for Sam, she's got excellent Japanese!). We also counted money. The counting system here works in four digits instead of 3. So 1000 is sen (one thousand) but! 10000 is ichi (one) man ("ten thousandth" category identifier). Confusing?...It took me 12 minutes and my Japanese text to figure that out.
After our lesson, Kobayashi-san (our teacher) took us to the Ouzuka tomb. Interestingly, they don't even know who is buried there. But it's very old, very large, has intricate detailing and holds historic significance, an exhibit was made. Kobayashi-san also treaded Sam and I to delicious snacks from a bakery. I can't handle all these sweets! Note to self, start work out regimen NOW.
At night, we were invited out with Ken, a previous Lattitude volunteer who has stayed to continue work at the Iizuka Hospital, and medical students and doctors to a pub nearby. It was great fun regardless of my minute conversational Japanese. There was a young girl there who found my knee comfortable and was a gangnam style dancing champion. I also met a man named Hai-san. In Japanese "Hai" means "yes", so everyone calls him "Yes man". I had a really great time :)

Today, the conclusion of my first week in Iizuka, was delightful. Our Japanese lesson was lead by Nishio-san, an absolutely splendid woman. She gave us candies and told us about Cats the musical playing in Hiroshima (I MUST go!) later in March. We also spoke a lot about how sounds are said in Japanese versus English. The Japanese say "nya nya" to describe the sound of cats meowing. After lunch, Yano-san took Samantha and I to the Kyushu National Museum and the Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. He is so much fun! He let me take this picture of him with his head on a cardboard cut out of one of many men who carry and race one ton floats at the Hakata gion yamakasa festival in July.








Cherry blossoms are not quite in bloom yet. But we got a peak at some beautifully pink plum blossoms soaking up the start of the spring sun. On the ride home, we listened to some of Yano-san's favorite music: The Police, Bohemian Rhapsody and the Safety Dance.








Japanese words of this week:
ototoi (oh-toe-toe-ee) = day before yesterday
otto (oh-toe) = husband
Otouto (Oh-tooooe-toe) = younger brother
Otou-san (oh-toooe-san) = father
to (toe) = and
ottosei (oh-toe-say-ee) = sea lion
outo (ooooh-toe) = sound

Imagine: The day before yesterday, my husband, father and younger brother heard the sound of a sea lion.

The wheels beginning to turn...

Monday March 11th: First day at the Iizuka Hospital :)

My first day at the Aso Iizuka Hospital was mostly business oriented. I introduced myself to the staff again, this time in English and translated by Yano-san. We then went through some paperwork and got our locker keys. We then went to register at the local government for our stay here. Because I'm over 20, I had to register for the Japanese pension plan, which was interesting. Because I won't be using it, I also had to cancel it at the same time. Time consuming and redundant? It okay, we snacked on sour jube jubes (which Yano san loved! haha). For lunch, Yano san treated us to a meal at Yoshimora, a very popular restaurant nearby to the hospital. It was great! We also met the Vice president of the hospital there, with our mouths full of fried chicken. Back at the hospital, we met the nursing staff and the English teachers! They are planning the first ever St. Patrick's Day party at the hospital this year - I promised to be intense about it. :) At 5pm Sam and I treated ourselves to a coffee (Ko-hi) in the hospital lobby and cinnamon twists and donuts from the nearby bakery (p.s I gotta slow down with the treats). Unfortunately, when we made it home, the internet was giving us trouble and decided it didn't want to cooperate anymore. Hence, no blogging for Olivia until today. Sorry to keep you waiting. So I went to bed early and a little disgruntled. Although, I have settled in quite well - making my own misoshiru, edamame and single serving coffees with built in filters.

Tuesday March 12th:

Day 2 means more orientation stuff and more introductions, including the Director of the Fureai Center Hanaoka-san. We also had a short interview for the in-hospital magazine, picture included! #famous. I used this opportunity to tell everyone at the hospital to be patient with me and use hand signals if necessary to get a point across :). We also had our uniforms and shoes fitted! For lunch we dined next door to Yoshimora and met Yano-san there by accident, haha! We had omuraisu, omelette and rice, and it was sooooo tasty! I also met a woman who works at the hospital who is a huge Hawks fan (the Fukuoka baseball team!) and I was eager to catch a game with her, we're planning a trip :). We then had time to go to TRIAL supercenter - legitimately the GREATEST store that ever was - it trumps 100 yen store [hyaku ki] ANY day! Trial is like a Walmart, but trying to sell things as cheap as possible (it also has an arcade!). We bought Samantha a bike.


Wanting to go on a bike ride, we spent over 30 minutes trying to add air to the tires. Major fail. By the time we figured it out it was dark outside and we didn't want to venture back to trial at night (plus we got lost crossing the Onga river too many times). So we saved it for another day. Instead, we went to Aso Mart to pick up a few groceries. And again (by accident, I swear!) we saw Yano san! He bought us banana pudding as a surprise. He's so thoughtful!


Wednesday March 13th:

Today started our first day of Japanese lessons. We received a notebook of units to complete over the next two weeks. We completed the first section of introductions and possessions...to put it simply, it was not easy. It's going to take some practice. After, we spent some time making origami cranes. :)

After our lesson, we have 1/2 day trips planned to get us involved in the city/community. Today our teachers took us out for a teppanyaki style dish called okonomi, an omelette-like meal that you grill yourself. It was SO great! Everything here is served with some kind of sauce, and it is to die for!

Japanese words of the day:
1) Tsuru, つる = crane
2) Jagaimo, じゃがいも = potato (along with the wonderful "watashi no jagaimo desu". It is my potato.)
3) Suteki, 素敵 = lovely/amazing
4) Yata, やった = yay!

p.s I'm having a hard time organizing these pictures. 30 minutes later...I'm just going to leave it like this.

My first weekend in Iizuka-shi

My first weekend in Iizuka has been only semi-eventful because I was told by Yano san to relax before starting work and because I've managed to catch a vicious cold thanks to dust from China and pollen from the mountain flowers filling my nose holes (run on sentence?). Other than nursing myself back to health with copious amounts of lemon tea with honey and too many hours of sleep and warm baths, Samantha and I took this opportunity to explore the city a little bit. :) This is the outside of my apartment building. I've been here 2 days now and I've only seen a single other person who lives here. I said hello to her :)

Saturday, we walked to the hospital, only about 10 minutes away from our apartment, and found a few great places nearby including a grocery store, a ramen shop and a bakery (that will be getting a LOT of my money  in the near future - helloooooo cinnamon swirly pastry goodness). We stopped for takoyaki, a Japanese snack that Samantha is fond of. They are little balls of dough typically filled with diced octopus tentacles, smothered in a delicious sauce. It truly was something special!



We also walked across the Onga, a river that runs straight through Iizuka with an excellent jogging/biking path (Samantha and I then agreed to commit to regular work out sessions along the river), and found a 100 yen shop! Amazing! I bought lots of necessities (like a frying pan - I had to make scrambled eggs in a pot that morning). Iizuka is also particularly nice at dusk. The mountains in the background are beautiful and the sunset was captivating.

Sunday was much more relaxed. A little chilly for exploring, we opted for a quick run to a supermarket for miso soup and frozen veggies on sale. Also - I have noticed that regardless of seeing that I am clearly a foreigner, major GAIJIN over here, the Japanese will start full on legit conversations with me....while I stare in confusion. Whether they are saying "Oh hi there, you're amazing for volunteering in a foreign country where you don't understand 5% of the language and you also happen to be astoundingly beautiful" or "You silly little blonde girl - that is definitely not edible, it's cat food." I just smile and make the "I don't understand you" face. One day I will understand and hopefully be able to respond.

Another fun topic; Samantha and I looked for my keys in her apartment today for over 25 minutes, including looking through all the garbage only to find them in my jacket pocket. I swear I'm going to staple them to my face.

So tomorrow starts my first day at the Iizuka hospital, where my second attempt at speaking Japanese in front of the staff will occur. Here we goooo! :)