Inevitably someone will ask me or I will think about one day and want to revert back to what the most difficult thing about being on JET may have/currently feels like been/is.
That my friends would be the cold, both the sickness and the actual temperature.
I'm currently dealing with a cough I seem to have acquired yesterday, not sure how or why it didn't come earlier. See, on Thursday I sent my ass/was sent home because I had a fever and was like, oh fuck this shit. I didn't pull no "I'm okay thanks for caring about my health let me get back to work as my body destroys itself" shit, nope, I went home.
Okay, it's just a cold or something, I've had colds before, no biggie I thought. Then the fever wouldn't go down, and my head felt like it was going to pop off from all the pressure. My heartbeat was racing, it sounded like a drum sloshing around my brain, and I had the chills like I was in a Michael Jackson Thriller cut scene (well, it felt like that anyway). I was trying to stay calm, trying to remember what it feels like to be sick. I rarely ever got sick back home, so I genuinely forgot if the throbbing and pain was supposed to be cause for concern or not. This felt like a bit much though.
My wonderful fever then went up some more and I decided I would go to the hospital just in case. And since Japan is so affordable, I figured hey it couldn't hurt. Before my friend picked me up to take me I of course threw up my lunch and all the nasty Pocari Sweat my nurse had told me to drink, and at least my stomach felt better.
I'll skip the mundane hospital procedures and move to the why I think the cold is the hardest part about my JET experience.
I rarely ever got sick back home. I personally feel it has a lot to do with hygiene habits being significantly different back in Texas at least. That's not the only reason, but it does play a huge part. Like the washroom, so many of the male teachers don't wash their hands. To be honest, when I went back to visit my family over the winter break, one of the first things I noticed was how everyone just washed their hands after they likely touched their genitals to release their urine streams. I understand that here on the Tsush it is a very unpleasant feeling to have to wash your hands in water colder than ice, but for all the hand washing signs they put up, I rarely see any body do it. I even feel a bit stupid when I do it, then I'm like wait no, why should I feel stupid? This is also not me just being overly knit picky, if you know me, I myself am a nasty mother fucker, but the hand washing thing, especially during flu season is just one thing that drives me nuts.
What else makes you vapid, you might ask? Well, I hate that I can never escape the cold. I come home, it's freezing, I go to work, it's freezing, I shower, I want to cry just knowing as soon as the hot water goes off my balls will tightly tuck themselves back because of the cold.
But use a heater then you might say. And to that I say, okay, install a good one in my place, and make sure it doesn't cost me a fucking arm and a leg to blow lukewarm air that will escape through the tatami because the goddamn building made of concrete will suck the hot air away in about 10 seconds or less. For the prices I've heard from other JETs on how much they pay to keep their places warm in the winter, I'm just going to go somewhere warmer. I am dead serious.
There is nothing like catching a cold in the Tsushima winter to make you re-evaluate a whole mess of things. Like, why the hell did I agree to another year of this? And although these 3 or 4 months or so of winter will test your character and definitely eat at your will and strength, knowing full well that I voluntarily choose to be here, makes pinning the "I survived another balls cold miserable Tsushima winter" badge on my satchel just make me look like a fucking idiot. It's like wearing an "I chose to breathe today" badge. That may be true and nice and all, but you'll likely still look like a dumbass.
To finish this wonderfully optimistic and upbeat entry, I'm no longer in the "look what I can do/did that you haven't" club. You can keep the very inconvenient lump of frozen rocks and ice water with no social life whatsoever in the winter. The gloomy gray cloud cover for a long long time, just enough to make you question your sanity, is also part of the dream vacation package. Because for the 3 to 4 months of winter, I pretend Tsushima does not exist. I forget that it is a lush island full of life and beauty in non-winter months and that it has some of the most breathtaking views you could ever imagine. I forget all of that, especially when I get sick repeatedly every year despite how well I take care of myself because I live in the land of close quarters and no hand washing. Oh and sneezing with masks on because apparently those masks are made of non-porous iron or something. I mean, why else would they not cover their mouths when hacking up a lung right in front of you? What the hell do you mean you want to shake my hand? Um, nope.
The most challenging thing about being a JET on Tsushima is the fact that for about 3 or 4 months each year, your bones forget what it is like to be warm. And there is no way to remind them that Spring will soon be here, but never soon enough. That's the honest to goodness gospel truth.
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