Day 191 in Japan - Sick Day.

Today was not one of the top days in Japan, but it was memorable as my first sick day! Yes, after various sniffles and minor infections and stuff through the year, today was the first day that I had no choice but to stay home. My alarm went off at 6:45, and I tried to swallow, only to realize that I couldn’t really get my throat working. It was really, seriously sore and I had no voice. I waited until 7:30, then called my teacher to try to tell him that I wouldn’t be in, although he could barely understand me over the phone. He was lovely and told me not to worry, and that he would take care of everything for me. Thanks, Mizuno-sensei! You are a champ. I went back to sleep for a bit, then dragged myself to the supermarket for some throat lozenges, painkillers and something to take down my temperature (it was over 39). I think that the walk to the supermarket did some to take the temperature down – it was -3 at 8:30

Didn’t do very much for the day. My throat felt a lot better with a few throat lozenges, eucalyptus lollies and cups of earl grey tea tipped down it, but I still couldn’t speak. Sam thought it was wonderful (although he worked all day, so he only saw me in the morning and the night, when I felt my worst). I actually felt a little guilty at about 2 pm, once the Panadol started to bring down my temperature and I felt like I could have worked, but then I tried to Skype Mum and Fletch and couldn’t talk properly. There is no way I could have got through yelling at 4 classes at Shimizu today. Right? (assuage my guilt, blog gods) I took it easy, slept a lot, watched a lot of Veronica Mars, and tried to look through some of my latest photos. I pretty much stayed under the kotatsu and had a bath and drank hot liquids – all of the things that Japanese think that you should do when you are sick.

Food Highlight of the Day: Vegemite toast and earl grey tea – my traditional “sick day” foods.