「迷惑マン」と呼んでください / Being A Pain In The Ass To Others Is My Specialty

English below...


嫌だ。去年、肺炎になった時に比べるとそんなに悪くないけど本格的な風邪をひいちゃった。畜生。

小学児童は本当に「小さい黴菌とウィルス工場」だから最近、学校で風邪やインフルエンザがすごく流行っている。そして月・火曜日、吹雪の中にスキー学習に行くことはバッド・アイディアだったかもしれない。

やっぱり、今回は僕の番だ。きっと、スキー学習の文句を言ったからかな。

昨日、昼くらいから調子はどんどん悪くなりましたから今日は休んでいる。学校もスキー学習も。

何でアジアにいる間にこんなに風邪をひくかな？毎日何回もちゃんと手を洗ったり、うがいをしますがあまり意味ないみたい。アジアのウィルスはそんなにちがう？僕の免疫系はそんなに弱い？

奥さんによると、日本では風邪をひくことは「迷惑」です。ちゃんと体を気をつけないと周りの人に迷惑を掛けてしまう。休んだら、職場の同僚、奥さんに迷惑を掛ける。休まないと仕事の同僚と子ども達は僕の風邪をひいて、迷惑を掛ける。

厳しいな、日本。

よく頑張っても迷惑を掛けるしか出来ないみたい。どうしてもうまくできない状態だ。

とにかく、金曜日に欠かせない授業があるから、とりあえず、風邪薬を飲んだり、沢山寝たり、成功を祈ることしかないみない。


Ugh. While it's not nearly as bad as my bout of pneumonia from last year, I've defo gotta full on cold. Crap.

Little kids are pretty much tiny bacteria & virus factories, so colds and the flu have really been going around lately. That, and going skiing w/ the kids on Monday and Tuesday in the middle of blizzards both days probably didn't help much either, so I guess it's only natural that it was my turn to get sick (well...bitching about going skiing no doubt knocked a few points off my karma level, too).

Ya know how sometimes you can feel a cold coming on? Well, that started around noon yesterday and picked up steam from there. As a result, I'm home sick today, i.e. no ski lessons
and no school.

Why the hell does it seem like I'm constantly sick whenever I'm in Asia? I wash my hands multiple times a day and gargle whenever I get home, but its like it makes no difference. I was never like this back in the states. Are the viruses here that much different or is my immune system really that weak?

According to my wife, the Japanese consider a cold as meiwaku, or "causing others to be inconvenienced" which is a big social taboo here. In a group-based society like Japan (as compared to an individualistic society like the US) I can see the reasoning behind this way of thinking, but supposedly, no matter what the case, it's your own damn fault if you get sick. Because people who "take care of themselves" never get colds. Yeah right.

If I take the day off to try and get better, I cause trouble for both my wife and the people I work with (regardless of whether I have classes or not). If I try to drag my ass into work, I cause trouble by possibly getting even more sick and infecting my co-workers and the kids. Seems like no matter what I do or how hard I try to stay healthy, the only thing I can do is end up being a pain in the ass to those around me. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

In anycase, seeing as I've got classes on Friday that I can't miss and a wedding to attend on Sunday, guess the only thing I can do is take my cold medicine (thanks M&D for the Thera-Flu & NyQuil!), sleep and hope I somehow feel better in the next 20 or so hours. *shrug*