In Japan, there is a common practice of wearing a facemask when you are sick so that you do not spread your germs to others. This starts as soon as kids are able to walk, i.e. around 2 years old. When I saw pictures of this, I thought, “Aw! What a cute idea!” But then, starting in the middle of October, it was like the plague had come out and suddenly one-third to one-half of my students were wearing the masks. I was shocked and couldn’t understand why they would even come to school if they were so sick they needed to wear a mask. And then I realized that it could be anything from a sore throat to a small cough to a stuffy nose to a full-blown cold. Which is a relief and yet, then again, it makes me wonder just what makes them feel like they need to wear one? Is it out of consideration for others or do they want pity for their ailment?
While I have yet to find out, I did have the unfortunate chance of needing to wear one when I got my own cold at the turn of the season. It was an icky, nose running/stuffed up, sore throat, head cold. Ugh. And the worst part was I got it during the worst typhoon of the year. So, the day before I had headed out with one of the teachers from my travel school and her friend who also works at the school. We got lunch by the ocean and then they graciously drove around town to many different stores trying to find me an emergency backpack kit for the typhoon, in case anything bad happened (although they themselves didn’t even have one, I like to err on the side of caution. Plus, my husband has pretty much engrained it into my head that I need to be prepared for anything). Eventually, I found a backpack that had a built-in flotation device, a glow stick, some carabineers, and enough other survival stuff that I felt adequately prepared (although I wish I had my Leatherman or at least some sort of knife). The next morning, I woke up to the storm raging outside my apartment and felt no need to get out of bed except to take some cold medicine and lay back down. Throughout the day, I spent it between the couch and my bed, drinking a ton of water and being a general lazy bum. It was great. That night, I had a hard time sleeping because of my throat, so I decided I would wear a mask to bed so that it would keep the moisture in. Well, it worked, but it also kept my nose so well moistened that it dripped all over in my mask. Yeah. Gross, I know, but I wanted to share it with you in case you decided to try it. The next day, I wore the mask to my travel school because I was still not feeling so good and I didn’t want to skip school because I only see those students once a week. So of course on the day that I am not feeling good, I accidently leave my wallet in my apartment and only discover that I don’t have it as I am locking up my bike at the bus station in downtown and don’t have time to bike back to get it to make it to the bus on time to get me to school. So, I end up biking to the school. It was a nice enough day and it was only about a twenty-minute bike ride, but I felt crappy. Walking into the teachers’ room, I set down my bag and one of my JTEs starts talking to me about the day’s lessons for about five minutes until she finally says, “Do you have a cold?” No, I am just wearing the mask for fun. OF COURSE I HAVE A COLD! Ugh. Anyways, I troop through the day and head back home. On my bike. I can’t win with this school because it really is up-hill both ways. The next day I decide to wear the mask one last time just because I don’t want any lingering sickness to seep out when I am teaching (i.e. breathing towards the students while I speak to them in English). The other teachers notice I am wearing a mask today and continually tell me to feel better and to not push myself (too late). Overall, it definitely made me feel like I wasn’t spreading my sickness and it kept my nasal passage moist enough that I could continue to breathe through it instead of getting a stuffy nose and being unable to breathe at all. I have also heard that the medicine in Japan is less effective than the medicine in America and I can not speak for that quite yet because the only “medicine” I took was throat lozenges and those worked just as effectively as the ones in America in my opinion. Another time I was sick was when I had ingested a large enough amount of lactose that my body did not like it and decided to revolt. So, the next morning, I had to call in to my school that I was supposed to teach at (Sakuragaoka) and try to tell them, in Japanese, that I was sick and I would not be coming in to school that day. The receptionist did not quite understand my Japanese and instead of trying to work through it with me, transferred me to the English department where I conveyed my message after a few trials and errors to let them know that I wanted to take sick leave for that day. It wasn’t that hard to do, other than trying to relay my message over the phone and even if you don’t speak Japanese, if you just say your main JTE’s name and say your name, I am sure you will be able to let them know easily enough that you want/need to take sick leave. Just make sure you are legitimately sick because they might want to take you to the hospital. Especially if you are sick for more than one day.
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Myself
Video blogger and now a blogger as well. My life in Japan has changed me for the better. However, it wasn't easy... Archives
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