Today was my first day volunteering in a new ward; gynecology. When I tell people that I'm working on the north 7th floor...they all say "ahhh....lady's ward". I should also mention that Samantha and I have split up and I'm really feeling the hurt of not having a Japanese-English translator. This is the point where my gesturing becomes a serious art.
Nagaoka san, the head nurse on the N7F, is an absolute delight! She's so gentle, soft spoken and kind. The cutest! She takes her time to explain things to me in Japanese and in as much English as she can to make sure I understand what's going on. Then we laugh together when I look totally confused while she searches through my mini dictionary.
Today I worked with Nakano san, a nurse aid. She is full of energy and is very happy to speak with me despite my permanent "...huh?" face. We worked similar jobs to the previous ward and spoke about lots of things including my age, my height, my weight, if I was married, my family and how I like to spend my time. She's very patient with me when she asks the Japanese name for something and I've completely forgotten. My excuse is always "Sorry! I'll keep working hard". She also now tells everyone that I go jogging every day and I have to tell them that all the delicious Japanese food is going to make me seriously obese if I don't. She's easy to joke with and we've already have a few good laughs. I'm excited to continue working with her.
Another thing I find totally necessary to mention: I saw my first Japanese yawn today. This event broke my theory that the Japanese plug themselves in at night. Seriously, these people are machines! Onto my next theory of how they can consistently work at 112%.
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