Not again....

Yes, it's happened again... I'm starting to think I might be cursed or something... Or am I just incredibly un/lucky?

Today I went wall climbing with my good friend Kanegon, as we've taken to doing every few weeks or so. Things were going well, I managed to climb a level 3 wall, quite a feat if I do say so myself, it was bloody hard but with some advice from the instructors I managed it. It's interesting, at first I thought it was about raw muscle strength, it partially is, but mostly it's about making the best use of energy that you already have, because in most cases, you already have the strength you need but it's about applying that strength effectively through balance and effective use of space. It's elementary physics in many respects too, which I do actually have a mild interest in despite my shunning of it post GCSE.

Anyway, I had moved onto this really great challenging new wall and I had got about half way up (maybe about 4 metres up or so, we routinely drop from heights of about 8 metres at the top, as there's loads of padding so it's fine as long as you land right.) I noticed kanegon was climbing up on my left side about as high as I had. The poor bloke was clearly struggling a bit, scrabbling at a fingerhold that was just a little bit to difficult to reach... Seconds later he gave me this look and I thought "yep, that's you gone" And sure enough a few seconds later he fell down. I thought not much of this to start with, especially as both of us and practically everyone else in the hall falls off relatively regularly.

A few minutes later I reached the top and dropped down myself, I noticed kanegon stretching his feet out, he looked a little uncomfortable so I sat down next to him and uttered a cheerful "だいじょうぶ " or "Daijobu" Which literally just means "are you alright?" Naturally being Japanese he told me he was just fine.

But he wasn't, two minutes later he was still grimacing stretching his legs and muttering "いたい itai!" (meaning "owch" basically). I asked him if he wanted me to get him some ice. In the end it turned out he needed a bit more than that. I gestured to the owner that I needed a bit of help, and he took the poor guy off to one of the back rooms, to look closer. At his point I just carried on climbing assuming he would be ok.

When he came back on crutches and with his foot taped up I decided something was definately not right. The owner recommended we dropped by a clinic "sometime" to have it looked at. Kanegon was looking a bit pale... and that horrible feeling started creeping back like last time. Now having worked in a hospital for a 3 months I'm no clinical expert. But when someone is quite unwell and in need of medical attention there's a "look" they have, and Kanegon had it right now. Drawing on my experience from last time, I gave Dr Takahama a call. His advice after hearing the situation was get to the nearest hospital, and quickly.

Of course here presented a problem. Kanegon could not put pressure on his foot. But he couldn't afford to call the ambulance. No one else at the centre could give him a lift. He turned to me and said... "can you drive me?" Now I really, really, really, wanted to say yes. The guy was really suffering. I don't have an international license or international driving insurance, I only passed my UK test back in June anyway... I've never driven anywhere in Japan except car parks and fieldsOutside it was dark, absolutely bucketing with rain and rush hour. . So I figured that balancing the risks, as much as he was suffering, he would be suffering a lot more if I took him through the front of his windscreen while trying to navigate one of Japan's deadly intersections. (Thank you very much A-Level Critical Thinking, I took away much more than just that D grade)

I told him this and thus followed the most agonising drive I've ever been in. Everytime the car had to brake Kanegon's face would contort into this awful scrunched up mess. I did my best to help by carrying everything, phoning all our contacts and his friends explaining the situation and of course navigating in the car, as neither of us had any idea at all where the bloody hospital was. As we were in Anjo City which I do not know at all. I told him to just focus on moving the car and I would watch traffic and naviagate. So at times there would be a lot of "stop!" "go!" "stop STOP!" etc etc. It would have been funny if it wasn't so horrible. Eventually we got to the hospital, and it kinda felt like a scene from a war movie. He was hobbling along though the absolute pouring rain with his arms around my shoulder, and me doing my best to support him. We entered the Hospital. God knows what they were thinking. But it's not everyday that one very wet Japanese in climbing clothes ,with his foot in a makeshift bandage-splint, and a very wet bedraggled and stressed foreigner stagger into the perfectly clean and uniform reception of a Japanese hospital and ask quite calmly if we can see a doctor. We got some looks, that's for sure.

In the end in turned out he'd broken one of the central bones in his foot, and it would take around two months to recover. It was kind of weird being sat in another hospital and ANOTHER X-ray room on my day off but whatever. The most important thing was that the guy had some help in getting to the hospital and someone to keep him company while he waited for the doctors to sort him out. Which did take ages. It's not all bad, in a way the guy's got the best Christmas present he could hope for. Two months off work!!!

On top of that other interesting things happened this week. I went to Dr Takahama's "party" but to my horror it turned out to be more of the Japanese equivelent of the W.I. Christmas party. Now it's pretty intense to walk into a very formal setting in England, knowing you have to watch your every move and word extremely carefully to set a good impression. Imagine it in Japan when the first thing is said to you is "I hope you speak Japanese, the other foreigner doesn't" No pressure. So I brought out my politest Japanese for all.

Of course these kind of people are quite easy to handle if you play up to their values. So I just mentioned my education credentials, goals and ambitions etc, pretty soon they softened considerably and even became somewhat friendly by the end. Crunch time came towards the end, when we were asked to make a speech in Japanese. Whoops.

But despite this it wasn't too bad, I had the advantage of someone going before me so I was able to see exactly what not to do or say. So, I just made a short 3 minute natter about what I do here, and how much I enjoyed it, and even managed to drop the hint that I was looking for potential more vounteer work in the future. What could have been a very embarassing social faux pas, ended up as an excellent opportunity to rub shoulders with some important people in the local community and get my name out. Most of the women there were either local franchise owners, or in the medical industry, such as running other clinics or small hospitals nearby. Iwas approached by a few towards the end, including such flattering remarks as "for someone who's been in Japan 3 months, your Japanese is excellent" (That's really not true, it could be so much better, if I could find the time and motivation to study PROPERLY) and "I run a maternity clinic, there are many midwives there, we could use a balance, you're a very charming man, I'm sure you could fit in" I just told people if they need to contact me they can do it through Nakazawa clinic. I doubt anything will come of it, but it's good practice regardless for the future.

So from medical emergencies to "high" society, what next for the ginger in Japan? Well, a week long pissup in Tokyo actually. I'm sorry if you were expecting something else noble and enthralling. I'm really looking forward to meeting my great Canadian friend Craig once again, it should be amazing fun bombing around the largest metropolitan area in the world, on the busiest holiday in the world.

The weirdest thing about all this, is I'm building all these contacts connections and friends just to lose them all in exactly two months and ten days. Things are progressing excellently but I feel a bit like government on it's last term, which is about to lose the election. You can change everything, but will it make any difference? Will you even be remembered after you leave? After that time I will be adapting something of a nomadic life, homestaying, travelling, travelling with family, backpacking, touring etc.

My only regret so far in this whole endeavour is that I clung to what was familiar for perhaps a little too long. If I ever return as a JET or something, time will no longer be an issue, and I can go as mentally ballistic as I like. The other thing about these last few months is I think I've finally found what kind of person I really am and what I can do, and what I want to do with my life. I'm never going to be able to live the same way again. I listen to the radio in the UK sometimes, and it's still really great to listen to, but many of the things that interested me before have just lost all appeal to me. I don't know... can I ever settle down to a nine to five and office job? The world's out there with so many opporunities and people. I met many people here, who aren't even 25 who are saying things like... Oh I can never go travelling now, I'm too old. I can't stop what I do now, that's just what I do, all I really want to do is settle down. Well it's a trap...if you want to do it... get out now, or you'll find yourself just like one of the poor old people in the secure unit one day, all their lives wanting to do something, but always letting more "important" things take their place. Isn't your innermost desire and dream something that's worth giving up everything you know for? Isn't "normal" life boring? So many people complain about hating their lives. Do something about it.

That being said, I would be lying if I said I don't yearn for the stability of home sometimes. And I am looking forward to starting my degree next year. Honest.