How is everyone today? Well I’m doing well right now. Last night and this week was another story. I’ll tell you right now.

On Tuesday I fell going up the stairs to my room. I was going up the second step when I misjudged that step and fell forwards. This didn’t seem like that big of a deal until the next day. About 1:00 PM I started to feel like I had a slipped disc. I couldn’t stand up all that well. To top that off, I had to walk two miles with my bike back to my dorm…in the rain. Not making that bit up. It wasn’t a very good day. So I really couldn’t stand up all that well so I just stayed in my dorm for a day or two. Luckily (oddly) we had a typhoon the next day. My classes were canceled so I got to rest that entire day. It was quite nice. As for Friday, I felt fantastic in the morning. It was a good morning. No pain. Once I went to school (I took the trolley because of my back and fear) my problems started up again. This time, it was something completely different. It was a muscle tensing to epic proportions. I was massaging my back for my entire class period, which is an hour and thirty minutes. I went home and was in pain.

Last night was one of the longest I’ve had in a long time. I tired to sleep but my back kept me up. This was to the point that I was crying. If you know me, most people know I have a severely high pain tolerance. I tried to fall asleep at around 4:00 AM. I ended waking up at around 6:30 AM due to the my muscles tensing up again. I started to shake (I do that when I’m very sick or in a lot of pain) so I decided to go see my Japanese friend in the room near me. She is a lovely girl who gave me some medicated patch. It worked well I must say. Well I felt the effects after I went to a medical clinic. So after she gave me this, I had to wait until 8:15 AM to go to a hospital. (bi yo0 i n) Once there we had to wait until 9:00 AM to be seen by a doctor. He didn’t speak English so it was fun.

Once there, he asked if I was in pain or where the pain was. I said in my back but now there is no pain. So he tried to get me to say “ow.” It didn’t work but they did end up taking X-Rays of my back. Once those were done we went back to the doctor (i shya) to see what was the problem. It turns out that I fractured one of my vertebra. Its not as bad as it sounds but basically I’m going to be in pain for the next week or two.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I’m perfectly fine (except for the pain), and that I can still go to school and function in normal society. The only thing I won’t be doing is riding a bike or any other sports.

-Kyle

Well, this morning was our first typhoon in Kyoto, which is worthy enough for me to break my blogging fast. Since I’m a desert woman, any more than an inch of rain makes me worry. So I had no idea what to expect from a typhoon. I was relieved in the morning (most of it passed throughout the night) to find that my apartment was unscathed. Actually… everything was fine. A few branches fell off trees, and there are leaves everywhere.

The worst of the damage.

Though during the night it seemed pretty dramatic. I woke up once to find my whole apartment lightly shaking and another time to the wind. The city sirens went off around 2-3am, but apparently I’m the only one who heard them. So now I can stand proudly and say I’ve lived through a typhoon! I’m sure my grandchildren will be amazed.