Christmas was a very calm and relaxing day, that is until the evening. In the morning we slept in and watched more Friends episodes. Ryota’s family was abundantly generous to me, even giving me Christmas gifts. His mom gave me a super cool pair of Columbia clogs (that’s shoes, not canines in case the font looks funny!), Ryota gave me a sweater, his dad gave me a cool sushi mug with Japanese characters on it, and his sister a fancy pair of pants unlike any pattern I’ve had before. I love all of them [people and gifts that is!]. After lunch I was happy to continue another Christmas tradition of the Estenson family- seeing a movie on Christmas Day. This year I went to the mall with Ryota and his sister to see Avatar. Holy Smokes! That movie blew me away. I went into it knowing nothing about the story, graphics, or actors and left with my jaw on the floor. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Luckily (for me) it was in English with Japanese subtitles so I was able to enjoy it in its full glory! I’ll definitely have to see it again when it comes out on DVD (probably won’t drop another $20 bucks to go to it in theaters again! Movies are soooo expensive here!). After the movie, Ryota and I went with his friends to a batting cage and fun soccer tic-tac-toe arcade before coming back for dinner. That’s when out night changed.
When we got home Ryota’s sister was sitting on the couch crying and his parents were gone. The three of us immediately got back into the car and headed for the hospital. Ryota’s mom had suddenly become very ill just 20 minutes earlier and was in intense pain, being sick again and again. We spent the night waiting in the Emergency Room, learning that his mom had eaten bad Kiwis and gotten food poisoning. It was especially scary for their family, however, because nearly 10 years ago Ryota’s mother had stomach cancer, so there was the gut wrenching (bad word choice) fear that it was something related to that. Luckily (again bad word choice, take it in context) she was scheduled to be dismissed around midnight, so we were able to go back home for dinner and cake.
Our delicious Christmas feast. It included Nabe, fried shrimp and oysters, sashimi, and more!
It sounds like a horrible cliché or even a stupid joke, telling people that I spent Christmas night in an ER waiting room, but as I sat there I realized that this is something that does actually happen. I was slapped in the face with the fact that there are people who spend Christmas, Thanksgiving, every day of the year, in hospitals, nursing homes, jails, refugee camps, or even at war. I realized then and there that my spending ONE meager year as a safe, healthy, supported exchange student was far from the challenge I had at times built it up to be. This year is remarkably easy for me, and I vowed then and there - sitting on the hospital’s cold plastic chairs, smelling the sting of rubbing alcohol, hearing a baby wheeze down the hall, listening to the hiccups of Ryota’s sister sitting next to me, feeling trapped in between the overly white walls of this, as ever other, hospital - to value each day of this exchange.
Today, Monday the 4th, I spent more time at Miki’s house with her family (even though she had to go back to work today, haha, poor Miki). But her brother, Hideki, following in the path of his barber shop owning parents, uncles, aunts, and even grandparents, is a talented stylist in Tokyo. He offered to give me a free haircut today, and after that we went to the shrine with his cousins. It was yet another low-key day, and now I’m simply relaxing at home. Not much to say beyond that. Probably will watch a movie tonight and read more of my book.
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