A bright bulb nearly went out.

Yesterday was a very trying day. Finished Lunch at Showanishi Elementary and was helping clean around the base of the stairs with three students, two second graders and one of my favorite students Oda who is a fifth grader. I had actually finished teaching Oda's class a bit before lunch and she was as cheery and full of participation as usual, however, now she seemed very distant and was half heartily sweeping. Also odd because she is usually very tenacious and thorough in her cleaning. It at first appeared that she may have been sad or upset about something and was thinking about it. I asked her if she was all right, she barely glanced at me in a "glassed" over expression. I thought to myself maybe she doesn't want to talk about it now so I just stayed there and swept by her and kept an eye on her asking is she was alright every minute or so.


After about four or five minutes she just stopped and stood with her back to a wall and stared with that same blank look out into nowhere. At this time I became much more concerned mainly for her condition of what appeared to be upset in a big way, but a feeling began growing real quickly that this was something far worse. I came up next to her and tapped her and asked again if she was all right. She slowly moved her head to the right a little (not looking at me) and reach out and grabbed my broom; she seemed like she was on autopilot.

I took the broom gently back from her and handed it to one of the ni-nenseis (2nd graders) that was also standing next to me trying to figure out what the hell was going on with Oda. Moments later her eyes began to track left a little and jerk 3/4 back towards the right (her perspective) and quickly worked their way all the way to the left, her head began to mimic the general motion and continued to the left and up a little bit till her head was at a very unnatural angle vertically and twisted to the left. At this moment it clicked with me, "SEIZURE!" alarms went off in my brain. Also at this moment she had come to the full extent that her noggin' could rotate in those directions and began to fall, away from me, towards a wall and a drop. As her head started to graze the wall I snagged her. She was already in violent convulsions. I made sure she wouldn't hit her head and brought her down to the ground. The two little ni-nens ran up and placed their hands on her as to help but looked at me and they didn't have a clue what was going on or what to do. I looked at the tiny one close to me and said rather loudly "Principle! (in Japanese) Now! (in English)" She looked at me a little confused and then I followed up with a loud "Ima!!" (now in Japanese). Her eyes went completely buggy huge, but she got the message and ran off to fetch the principle and staff.

I had Oda on the ground and her head supported, but I brought her down quickly and her legs bended backwards (couldn't drag back as we went to the ground because of the wall) so she was in an awkward position. I braced with one arm and used the other to try and untangle her legs, the other ni-nen unfroze for a moment and assisted me. Once we had her straight and in a good position I rolled her on her side into the recovery position; if you have ever been around a seizure it's almost guaranteed that they will vomit, don't want them to drown. At this point the other ni-nen was really scared and bugged out. I was alone with her for a few minutes... she was having some severe convulsions and her jaw was very firmly clenched, I was worried about her tongue. After a few more moments passed about four staff members rushed out. None of them had a clue what to do. They wanted to move her, I denied them that option almost as soon as their sentence ended. Two of the staff at least were calm and followed my lead in supporting Oda. She began to vomit and it came out her nose due to the clenched teeth, forcefully enough so it didn't block the airway. At that moment some teacher was shoving toilet paper in front of her to clean it up and wipe her nose clear, again I said no and told them to get a real towel because they were only making a mess.


After about five or six minutes the convulsions began to dissipate and she relaxed. I massaged her jaw open to visual check her airway and tongue, all looked good, thank god she had not bitten off her tongue. Her ABC's were good but she was now in a pretty unresponsive semi conscious state. Under control finally. Some kids were watching on the landing above and one laughed, I don't know about what or if it was about what was going on, but I turned and said "Dame!" (bad) pretty loud while stills supporting Oda. The teachers all jumped and all the kids were dead silent the rest of the time, that is the only time I have yelled in Japan, they were prolly surprised such a loud noise came out of the usually volume controlled Jesse Sensei.

It took a good a bit and finally a group of local fire fighters showed up, we moved her onto a stretcher and used some oxygen; by this point I was still an active caregiver, they did not wave me off. So I kept her hair back, head supported still and told her everything was going to be okay even though I doubt she could hear anything. We then carried her down to the main gate and waited for the ambulance. They took their sweet time getting there, loading her, and then talking for a bit... they should have moved on and done the talking while on the move. I was appalled at the response times and how long it took to do everything. I hope I don't have to go through the Japanese Medical System and be that guy that they let die because they were not hauling butt.

Later her father showed up to say thank you to me while he was picking up her things and told me what hospital she was in. I asked if I could visit and he said of course. I immediately made her 13 tsuru (paper canes) and put them all on a string together and then was picked up by Teruyo. We headed to the hospital after picking up some flowers; two big white Lilies and lots of pretty pink flowers (she always wore pink so I was assuming it was her favorite color). I met the girls mother and we talked about Oda, I then got to stay a while... it turned into several hours or me reading books and stories in English and Japanese, holding her hand, and staring at the wall while her mom got some rest and company. She barely opened her eyes once or twice and never said a word. I finally got home after eight in the evening. Long day.

Ended on kind of a good note though. Mike, Fish, and I went to the Onsen (bath) near Kure Eki and soaked and what not for about an hour and then all got thirty minute Japanese Massages at about midnight, was pretty damn cool. The massage was great, but the best part was when I was sitting in a old school white bathtub (the kind with feet) on top of a ten story building with hot water constantly pouring in an over flowing. I was sitting back with my legs hanging out watching the night sky. Definitely doing that again.

The 13th.... the 25th time...

Some of you have been clamoring for a update on how my birthday was. It rocked. I pretty much got three days of parties and good times from all those here in Japan that know me. The week was a horrendous build of anticipation for something I don't get to excited about usually. It was a hard work week, but every class in every school throughout the week wished me happy birthday and sang and some even gave gifts; even though I had never said it was my birthday somehow they knew. Someone let the cat out of the bag. I guess I got excited because a lot of people showed me that they sincerely cared and it made me feel a little be respected and loved.

Friday continued in this trend of school bound birthday wishes, but was hard since I have one class that is primarily composed of Lucifer clones. However once I was finished I was free! I went and got a haircut so I would look halfway decent, then went home, showered and headed to my favorite bar Memphis where several of us had planned to have a little party and FFF (Free Food Fridays). It was great! I was surprised when I received thoughtful gifts from Ryan, Lindsay and Darius. They really didn't have to, but it was so nice though. We had a few drinks and socialized and then planned to mosie on over to a new bar opening up. Then the "Master" of the bar brought out a beautiful chocolate birthday cake! Everyone sang to me and I blew out my four candles.... yes I was four that night, not twenty-five. I then carved it up and made sure everyone in the bar got a piece. It tasted great!

Sadly we had to move on. My birthday happened to coincide with two other events: Shun (Vickie's boyfriend) was opening up a new bar and Leia was having her going away party there (two birds one stone) and we were obliged to join them. Everyone was there, it was great! The night eventually progressed to a romp of karaoke and late night Micky-D's. Yup classy.

I had to wake up early the next morning for a meeting and presentation by the most recent set of students that went to Bremerton from Kure. Three girls, all very bright and fun. Their presentation was enjoyable and I actually understood it. After that I staggered home more tired than anything else (was a little hard to keep my composure but I did fine at the meeting) and promptly fell asleep. I awoke a few hours later to noise and knocking at my door. It was Hiroe and her whole family! They had driven up all the way from Fukuoka to wish me happy birthday! What a surprise! They told me to get some clothes on and get in the car, so I did. They took me to Miyajima, a big and beautiful temple island just past Hiroshima. Was amazing, we timed it perfect so we got a great clear sky sunset. After that they took me out for a birthday dinner. Once we got back to Kure Masaki was too tired and drunk too continue (he had been drinking the whole day while Hiroe and I had not) so Hiroe and I decided to head out for some fun on the town. Was a really great day!

In the morning I was picked up by Hiroe and fam and we headed to the Clayton Bay Hotel, a surprisingly super nice hotel in Kure. Waiting there was Teruyo and the Sasaki/Suga clan (minus pop, he was climbing some mountain somewhere) and they all escorted me into the main concourse and dining area. It was a surprise birthday brunch!!! It was wonderful, we ate a lot of food and fun opening some presents. I received stationary supplies from Hiroe's sister, an amazing scrapbook from Hiroe encompassing our entire lives knowing each other, some beautiful artwork from all the kids, a nice wallet from Tsuyako, Osamu, and Yasumitsu, and a wonderful scarf from Teruyo! It was perfect!

The only negative things were that part of me looked at it that if I live to be one-hundred years old, I only have 75 cents left for the ride. The other being I was said I couldn't call mom oat 12:01 Am her time so she could wish me happy birthday First (officially due to the time zone I was born in), but my cell phone carrier changed its international procedure and I am still trying to figure it all out.

Eh?

So life in Japan is running along smoothly as can be expected, an yes the kids at Tenno ES have made a habit out socking me in the berries. Life can be rough here, not as in hard, but there is not a lot of "cushyness" like there is in many other parts of the world. Things just kinda function with out overdoing things; they love the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" mentality and it has done right by them.

Some cool experiences since last I wrote. Tons of festivals going on at the moment to bring in the season change. They are fun and the food is amazing. I usually draw more attention than the festival though so it can be weird at times. They never get over how big a person can be in this country. I was fortunate enough to be invited to go to a Matsuri (festival at a shrine) on the far side of town with two JETs Lindsey and Ryan. Was creepy though, we were in the Yakuza area or Kure... for those of you that don't know what is, its the Japanese mob... the kind you don't want trouble with. The night was incident free for my party and I, but we did get a fine education in "spot the gangster". They are pretty easy to pick out based on behavior, haircut, etc.

We had a Halloween party at the local pub called Memphis that I like. I followed my tradition as going as tall people and went as Jaws. Not the shark, but the villain from the James Bond flicks that was over seven feet tall and had metal teeth. Yeah my teeth were foil, booya! As the night progressed many of us moved on to check out a small bar tha tone of my colleagues had heard about and wanted to check it out before going to another "known" bar to do some karaoke. We ended up in some random "hostess" bar, the kind where you pay by the hour to have company.. was weird. It was closing time, but they let us in and let us pay by the drink instead. So we had a beer and some alcohol soaked fruit and then moved on (no we are not quite raging alcoholics, its the social culture over here to drink and socialize). Was kinda odd, I felt like we may have been set up, heh. We then went and had a good time at the other bar and I eventually got taken by the bartender from Memphis (the bar we started the night at with the party... yeah she came with us, lol) and we went to another place. Definitely the underbelly of Kure, it was where all the working women went after their places closed up shop. Even the girls from where we had the beer and fruit were there! It was a crazy good time and lots of fun. No mom, I did nothing bad except get home just after moon went to bed.....

So yeah, Kure has its rough spots, but what do you expect from an industrial city. I didn't think they were bad, just needed a different perspective to appreciate. Was really fun though.