Sick in Japan :(

As soon as some sort of sick bug goes around, without fail, I get it.  Weak immune system, whatcha gonna do? (thanks Mom!)

Anyways, had a really weird experience today at the Sophia University Student Health services center that I'm going to try to describe, even as my head feels as if its a balloon filled with wayy too much helium (What does that even mean?? See, im sick!).  So I just wanted to get some cold medicine, and unlike the US, you can't really just go to 7-11 and buy some DayQuil.  I just needed something to make me feel less junky so I could finish my take home midterm and study for my Japanese lesson test, both occurring tomorrow.  Apparently you have got to go to the pharmacy, or in my case the Sophia University Health Services Center.  So I staggered over there after barely making it through my first and (luckily) only class of the day.  I had prepared by making a cheat sheet of phrases I could say to describe my symptoms such as  "Atama ga itai" (Lit: My head has pain..aka headahce) "Kaze o hita" (I have caught a cold)...etc.


So I go in there with the expectation of hopping in and hopping out with some Japanese equivalent of cold medicine.  Well, as usual, my expectations were totally wrong.  I go in there and they make me put a thermometer under my armpit (ok, thats fine, i guess) and then they bring to this bed in the back of the ward and motion for me to lay down (ok, I can see that being realistic as well).  Then, they close the curtain around me, and close a sturdier looking curtain system behind that, so I am completely isolated.  Kinda weird but OK. I'm sitting there for an hour waiting for a doctor to come give me some medicine and send me on my way, but no one comes.  So, I decide to text my Japanese friend, Takuya, and ask him what is going on/is this normal?  His reply was essentially, "No not really normal, but want me to talk to the on the phone for you?" I said that it wasn't necessary, then proceeded to get out of the bed to go and get some answers for myself.  This is when I got a little bit creeped out.

I got out of bed, pulled back the 1st curtain, then tried to pull back the 2nd sturdier curtain, but it wouldn't budge.  It seemed as though they had locked me in, quarantined me, if you will.  WEIRD.  So I kind of shimmied between the 1st and 2nd curtain, past other beds etc. until I got to an area where I could get out into the main infirmary.  I hopped out, relieved, and the nurses were sort of standing there looking at me like "Uh...where did you just come from?" So I made up some story that I had to meet my teacher and just wanted some cold medicine.  They then proceeded to tell me that the Doctors weren't in today and that they couldn't prescribe me and medicine.  I'm thinking to myself, "Ok, so why was I laying in that bed for an hour?" Well at this point I was pretty creeped out by the quasi-quarantine vibe, so I decided to cut my losses and get the heck out of there.

I'm still completely confused about what had happened, and I still wonder how long I would have been there had I not escaped from my quarters.  My Japanese has definitely improved a lot, but in terms of hospital vocabulary, my knowledge is pretty limited.  So I am kind of wondering what my experience would have been like had I been able to communicate with the nurses. 

Well, I hope that made some sense to you all...but seeing as how the whole experience didn't/doesn't make any sense to me compounded by the fact that I am trying to recount this experience while totally sick, I don't have very high expectations...