I managed to get myself up painfully early for my journey to Kashiwa hospital. The temperature was a bit chilly but I genuinely miss the cold so I wore as little clothes as possible in order to embrace it. Some of the looks I got from people in their 3 layers were priceless. I got to shimbashi station and took a train to ueno. From there I switched to the Joban line. Whilst in the station I found a touch screen vending machine!!! So fucking cool.
The train to kashiwa station took about 40 minutes so I just wrote in my blog. I had to switch to a local line in order to get to Kita Kashiwa station. I totally misjudged my timing because I arrived almost an hour early haha. I waited for Ogawa-San to arrive and she couldn't believe I was wearing shorts and a tiny vest. She was freezing lol. I told her in Soviet Scotland it's always cold. We walked to the hospital which wasn't far away and she took me to the ER staff room and introduced me to the staff. Soon after, Hirokazu arrived (my med student drinking buddy) and we went to the case conference followed by a ward round. Lots of very interesting cases, some completely shocked me. We looked at a few CTs then I had to eat. I ended up buying Camembert flavored crisps. They did not taste good. The consultant told us there was a drug rep lecture at 12 and they have free lunch. Sold.
I didn't understand very much but my bento box lunch was genuinely vile. It looked expensive but tasted like absolute gads. Then this photographer started taking photos of the lecture audience. I smized tae fuck. We headed back to the ER but we were told to go rest in the bunk bed room until shit started to go down. Fine with me. I awake 4 hours later and we need to go clean a homeless man. Ok...
To be fair it was pretty fun. Like 8 people wearing aprons, gloves and masks just covering him in soap and buckets of water. We also gave him a good shave hah. Afterwards I got to apply Vaseline to some burns. Disgusting but kinda cool. After that there was nothing to do but fanny around with super Mario. Hiro read about 40 comics and lots of napping was done. We then had a delicious steak and rice dinner and then listened to one of the doctors presentations on heart attacks.
Afterwards it was late enough that we could just sleep and chill. The other doctors slept too so I didn't feel totally redundant.
Thursday 27 September 2012
Tuesday 25 September 2012
Day 32: Sometimes you just need pizza
I had the worst sleep ever the night before. My new a/c started leaking so I had to turn it off and rely on an open balcony to keep me cold . That made me worry I was going to get robbed (despite living on the 6th floor...) and I couldn't sleep. I got up early and was so tired. I got to the hospital on time and sat through the case conference. I am definitely getting better at understanding what they are talking about.
Dr takahashi was finishing his night shift so I was chatting to him which is always fun. He talked about how he used to work in a host bar. Host bars are places rich people goto spend time with beautiful people for extortionate prices. It's essentially like a brothel without the sex. He says he used to get lots of gifts from his clients but they were "not very beautiful". Hahahaha he's such a funny guy. There was another medical student on today too so we hung out too. There really wasn't a lot to do though. There were some very interesting cases to learn about though.
I spent time with the secretary talking about Scottish food. She almost fell off her chair when I told her about haggis. She can't speak a word of English so talking with her is always quite fun. She was taking me to Kashiwa hospital the following day so we arranged a time and place to meet up.
For the afternoon, it was pretty quiet and I got away early. I did a little spring clean before going to meet Nikita for pizza. I was feeling a bit homesick so he decided to cheer me up which was nice of him! I had an early night before my early journey to Kashiwa Hospital.
Dr takahashi was finishing his night shift so I was chatting to him which is always fun. He talked about how he used to work in a host bar. Host bars are places rich people goto spend time with beautiful people for extortionate prices. It's essentially like a brothel without the sex. He says he used to get lots of gifts from his clients but they were "not very beautiful". Hahahaha he's such a funny guy. There was another medical student on today too so we hung out too. There really wasn't a lot to do though. There were some very interesting cases to learn about though.
I spent time with the secretary talking about Scottish food. She almost fell off her chair when I told her about haggis. She can't speak a word of English so talking with her is always quite fun. She was taking me to Kashiwa hospital the following day so we arranged a time and place to meet up.
For the afternoon, it was pretty quiet and I got away early. I did a little spring clean before going to meet Nikita for pizza. I was feeling a bit homesick so he decided to cheer me up which was nice of him! I had an early night before my early journey to Kashiwa Hospital.
Day 31: 0
I crashed at my friends place hungover until I was told to leave ha. When i got home, all I did was recover from the night before and mourned the loss of the money I thought it was okay to spend.
Day 30: Don't think with your dick
I spent most of the day recovering and watching Raising Hope. Such a good show. My friend Soh eventually convinced me to go out to Shinjuku to meet him for dinner. I craved a Burger King for no reason so we went there. The plan was to go out in nichome but as it started raining Soh decided to head for home. I was still up for a fun night out so messages some friends who happened to be in roppongi! I literally sprinted for the last train to take me there.
When I arrived: Shuho and Hayato were there waiting for me. I quickly downed a lime cider and we headed into this club called Jumanji55. They tried to convince me to pretend I was a model so I would get in for free but I was top scared I'd get my face slashed by a real model ha. When we got in the club I met like 10 of their friends and people were pretty drunk. Everyone was so nice and friendly!
It got too busy upstairs so we went downstairs and it was full of beautiful people. It was a bit cunty that models got free drinks as well. I ended up dancing with this hot Russian model. only cos she was a complete third wheel with her friends (who were almost shagging in the club). What was cool was when I ordered a beer I would take a gulp straight away and the cool barman would refill it haha. We went to the convenience store once to buy cheap booze. Whilst outside a drunk man apparently told me to not think with my dick and to go back to my own country. k. we went back to the club and ended up staying the whole night before heading into the station. We said our goodbyes and I got on my train home.
I was drunker than I realised and ended up arguing with this American guy who told me I was going to hell for being gay. Delightful how these assholes exist everywhere. I think I told him he was a cunt and hell sounded like a great party. I missed my stop by about 10 and wandered around in the rain until I found a McDonald's breakfast. I soon worked out I was near my friends apartment so I called them at like 5am and told them I was coming over. Haha
When I arrived: Shuho and Hayato were there waiting for me. I quickly downed a lime cider and we headed into this club called Jumanji55. They tried to convince me to pretend I was a model so I would get in for free but I was top scared I'd get my face slashed by a real model ha. When we got in the club I met like 10 of their friends and people were pretty drunk. Everyone was so nice and friendly!
It got too busy upstairs so we went downstairs and it was full of beautiful people. It was a bit cunty that models got free drinks as well. I ended up dancing with this hot Russian model. only cos she was a complete third wheel with her friends (who were almost shagging in the club). What was cool was when I ordered a beer I would take a gulp straight away and the cool barman would refill it haha. We went to the convenience store once to buy cheap booze. Whilst outside a drunk man apparently told me to not think with my dick and to go back to my own country. k. we went back to the club and ended up staying the whole night before heading into the station. We said our goodbyes and I got on my train home.
I was drunker than I realised and ended up arguing with this American guy who told me I was going to hell for being gay. Delightful how these assholes exist everywhere. I think I told him he was a cunt and hell sounded like a great party. I missed my stop by about 10 and wandered around in the rain until I found a McDonald's breakfast. I soon worked out I was near my friends apartment so I called them at like 5am and told them I was coming over. Haha
Day 29: Will's Leaving Party :'(
I spent the next day chilling like a villain until it was time to head to Shibuya with Will for his leaving party :(
We got on the train and headed to the hachiko statue to meet his friend Nat. After she arrived we tried to find somewhere to eat and ended up in this restaurant which describes itself as "aquarium dining" and right they were as the restaurant had aquariums everywhere. I was hoping to be scuba diving for my meal but you know whatever. We got this amazing pot of cheese, meat and vegetables over a hot plate. Nat told us how she was extremely allergic to the mushrooms in our pot and only found out when she came to Japan. I naturally shat myself and assumed the same would happen to me.
We chatted about literally everything and as we were finishing dinner lots more people arrived at shibuya station. We met up with ItoKen and Nami and walked to beat bar, this place where lots of western bands goto and sign the wall. It was very cool and also very small. More and more people arrived and it turned into a real party. All of wills friends were really nice and there was even a guy from Manchester. Yuka and Ayumi arrived too. My favorite thing was when Yuka said her boss was "so bitch" for making her stay late in the office hahah.
We kept drinking and more people kept coming! I smoked about a million fags. As last train time was approaching a lot of people dropped out going to the club. We managed to convince our new Swedish friend to come with us though. We headed out from Beat into the pouring rain and tried to find TRUMP room. We got lost and ended befriending a bunch of Japanese people our age who were trying to find it. As a team we managed and headed into the club which was so packed. We were there for like 5 hours so to summarise: I made lots of new friends, spent far too much money, pole danced, fell over and took some Japanese girls with me. I had such a good night and it was a great send off for Will :(
We got on the train and headed to the hachiko statue to meet his friend Nat. After she arrived we tried to find somewhere to eat and ended up in this restaurant which describes itself as "aquarium dining" and right they were as the restaurant had aquariums everywhere. I was hoping to be scuba diving for my meal but you know whatever. We got this amazing pot of cheese, meat and vegetables over a hot plate. Nat told us how she was extremely allergic to the mushrooms in our pot and only found out when she came to Japan. I naturally shat myself and assumed the same would happen to me.
We chatted about literally everything and as we were finishing dinner lots more people arrived at shibuya station. We met up with ItoKen and Nami and walked to beat bar, this place where lots of western bands goto and sign the wall. It was very cool and also very small. More and more people arrived and it turned into a real party. All of wills friends were really nice and there was even a guy from Manchester. Yuka and Ayumi arrived too. My favorite thing was when Yuka said her boss was "so bitch" for making her stay late in the office hahah.
We kept drinking and more people kept coming! I smoked about a million fags. As last train time was approaching a lot of people dropped out going to the club. We managed to convince our new Swedish friend to come with us though. We headed out from Beat into the pouring rain and tried to find TRUMP room. We got lost and ended befriending a bunch of Japanese people our age who were trying to find it. As a team we managed and headed into the club which was so packed. We were there for like 5 hours so to summarise: I made lots of new friends, spent far too much money, pole danced, fell over and took some Japanese girls with me. I had such a good night and it was a great send off for Will :(
Day 28: Sumo sumo sake
I slept for a long time in order for the constant hangover that my life had become to slowly disappear. Will and I were planning to goto the Sumo Stadium today and I was really excited. We talked about how when we are young one of the first memories in your head of Japan was sumo wrestling. And after all these years we were finally getting to see it. There are actually very few sumo tournaments in the calendar so it's pretty difficult to get to see.
We arrived at the stadium and went to buy tickets. The cheapest (the back row) were about £35 lol. The front row cost like £150. Such a rinse but definitely worth it. We couldn't have been much further from the action but it was still so cool. The traditional ceremonies before each fight; old women screaming for their favorite sumo wrestler; people in the front row getting crushed by wrestlers who get thrown out the ring. It was a surprise no one died, luckily Will and I stayed out of harms way.
On our way home we realised how many other foreigners were there. It is kinda rare to see other white people in Japan in most areas.
When I got home I said hi to my neighbour/colleague Reiko, as we had planned to goto dinner together that night. We decided to goto Roppongi Hills and we found this amazing restaurant on the 5th floor. I told her to choose anything for me to eat as I didn't mind. The food was unbelievable and I even ate a fish eye. Must say it was pretty decent. We then ordered a whole grilled fish, which was actually delicious. We split 2 desserts between us and got some sake. I was learning how to never pour my own glass ha.
After dinner we headed home and watched some YouTube videos I had talked about over dinner! It was a really nice evening!
We arrived at the stadium and went to buy tickets. The cheapest (the back row) were about £35 lol. The front row cost like £150. Such a rinse but definitely worth it. We couldn't have been much further from the action but it was still so cool. The traditional ceremonies before each fight; old women screaming for their favorite sumo wrestler; people in the front row getting crushed by wrestlers who get thrown out the ring. It was a surprise no one died, luckily Will and I stayed out of harms way.
On our way home we realised how many other foreigners were there. It is kinda rare to see other white people in Japan in most areas.
When I got home I said hi to my neighbour/colleague Reiko, as we had planned to goto dinner together that night. We decided to goto Roppongi Hills and we found this amazing restaurant on the 5th floor. I told her to choose anything for me to eat as I didn't mind. The food was unbelievable and I even ate a fish eye. Must say it was pretty decent. We then ordered a whole grilled fish, which was actually delicious. We split 2 desserts between us and got some sake. I was learning how to never pour my own glass ha.
After dinner we headed home and watched some YouTube videos I had talked about over dinner! It was a really nice evening!
Day 26: Eating is never cheating...
I was absolutely shattered after the previous night shift and didn't get a whole lot of sleep before my next one. I headed to the hospital to find lots of cool doctors were working this nightshift with me. There were also two medical students that I soon started talking to as well. One had lived in the US for 5 years so his English was really good. Nothing cray cray happened on this night shift tbh. I dozed off for an hour or so around 1 o clock but after that I didn't feel any sleepiness. Things were extremely slow in the ER but that's always a good thing because it means people don't need medical attention haha so I can't really complain can I?
Eventually I decided to catch up with all my blogs that I was behind with so I spent a good while doing that while the other medical students ko'd from exhaustion. I had this weird energy gel and felt like I could run a marathon. I suspected the secret ingredient was probably speed.
I was absolutely ravenous by like 6am and I was praying the case conference this morning would provide nice food. The drug company gave us this kind of bento box and I'm not really sure what was actually inside. I ate it anyway. I feel bad for the drug companies, they come out to promote a new drug, bring us all lots of free food, no one really pays attention then they just leave haha!
After the shift the other medical students fancied a wee bevvy. How wrong I was to accept lol. It started out so well, but as we drank more I forgot to eat anything to compensate. Anyway it was lots of fun and for the record I was extremely exhausted and had actually gotten to the entrance of my apartment building. I guess I forgot the entrance code and fell asleep outside. Someone must have found me, panicked and phoned an ambulance. Not as bad as it sounds. Lol...
Eventually I decided to catch up with all my blogs that I was behind with so I spent a good while doing that while the other medical students ko'd from exhaustion. I had this weird energy gel and felt like I could run a marathon. I suspected the secret ingredient was probably speed.
I was absolutely ravenous by like 6am and I was praying the case conference this morning would provide nice food. The drug company gave us this kind of bento box and I'm not really sure what was actually inside. I ate it anyway. I feel bad for the drug companies, they come out to promote a new drug, bring us all lots of free food, no one really pays attention then they just leave haha!
After the shift the other medical students fancied a wee bevvy. How wrong I was to accept lol. It started out so well, but as we drank more I forgot to eat anything to compensate. Anyway it was lots of fun and for the record I was extremely exhausted and had actually gotten to the entrance of my apartment building. I guess I forgot the entrance code and fell asleep outside. Someone must have found me, panicked and phoned an ambulance. Not as bad as it sounds. Lol...
Tuesday 18 September 2012
Day 25: First Night Shift in Tokyo ER
I think it was a really good move to sleep in until 6pm the day before, It totally prepared me for the night shifts I was about to begin. I spent the whole of monday afternoon sleeping and crying over the blind girl in Masterchef before heading to the hospital. When I arrived I found a big crowd of my colleagues smiling at me. They had been waiting for me to come in because a patient had arrived who could only speak English and they wanted me to take a history from her and then present the case back to them. I felt useful once more. They were overly impressed with my summary of the patient and then we began deciding what the best option was next. The patient and I talked a lot about the differences between the Japanese and Western medical systems and it was interesting to hear the patient's point of view of the healthcare here. They were extremely grateful I was around as it made translating information a lot easier and I was able to keep they occupied.
After they managed to get home safe, one of the doctors asked me if I would like to present a case at the conference in the morning, in Japanese. I love going out of my comfort zone and so I just went for it. We found a different patient and we went through the information before collating an english version and then translating it into Japanese. I spent a lot of the night reading it over and over and making sure I had the correct pronunciations down. Everyone was again very helpful.
It turns out the free lunch thing transfers over to night shift too and I got a free dinner, yas. A lot of the evening was very quiet with periods of it being busy. After talking to two of the doctors they revealed they LOVE metal music and we were soon talking about all the bands we shared in common. KoRn came up eventually and I told one of the doctors how I saw them live in Scotland like 5 years ago. She also happened to be a smoker too and so we had little cig breaks together (we almost got attacked by the rats and she literally didn't bat an eyelid while I shat myself). Amazing. I love how no one cares here if you are a smoker and a healthcare worker. When other medical students see I smoke they look at me like I just spat in their face. If you ever told a doctor, most would condescendingly tell you how bad it was for you. Yeah, like I didn't know that one already. Each to their own.
As it got later I started to feel a little bit tired. This was like 5.30 am so completely justified. I went to the staffroom to rest my eyes briefly and when I awoke it was 7am and I had another before my presentation. SHITTTTTT, I suddenly got really nervous. I was going to be presenting a patient to like 12 doctors in a language as difficult as Japanese, why did I agree to this? I ran through it one more time with the night shift team and they said it was good. I got told to goto the conference as it would be starting soon. I walked in and not only was there 12 doctors there but 6 medical students i'd never met were there AND my tutor Dr Takeda was at the back. Heart was racing. I got up and got started, made a few little slip ups but once I was finished I was asked a few questions (in English thankfully) before Dr Takeda stood up and told me congratulations for a perfect presentation. Everyone clapped and I was so relieved I didn't end up telling them the complete wrong information.
I was on such a high that I invited my colleagues out for a beer after our shift and to my surprise they said yes! I didn't get away until 9am, 14 hours after I arrived. So crazy. We went to a Family Breakfast restaurant and you should have seen the waiter's face when we asked if they served beer. I thought he was going to phone the police. It definitely did not feel like 9.30 in the morning. In my defence it was like 1.30am back home ;)
We all headed home and I collapsed into a big tired heap to sleep for the day until I was in again for my next shift at 7pm :|
After they managed to get home safe, one of the doctors asked me if I would like to present a case at the conference in the morning, in Japanese. I love going out of my comfort zone and so I just went for it. We found a different patient and we went through the information before collating an english version and then translating it into Japanese. I spent a lot of the night reading it over and over and making sure I had the correct pronunciations down. Everyone was again very helpful.
It turns out the free lunch thing transfers over to night shift too and I got a free dinner, yas. A lot of the evening was very quiet with periods of it being busy. After talking to two of the doctors they revealed they LOVE metal music and we were soon talking about all the bands we shared in common. KoRn came up eventually and I told one of the doctors how I saw them live in Scotland like 5 years ago. She also happened to be a smoker too and so we had little cig breaks together (we almost got attacked by the rats and she literally didn't bat an eyelid while I shat myself). Amazing. I love how no one cares here if you are a smoker and a healthcare worker. When other medical students see I smoke they look at me like I just spat in their face. If you ever told a doctor, most would condescendingly tell you how bad it was for you. Yeah, like I didn't know that one already. Each to their own.
As it got later I started to feel a little bit tired. This was like 5.30 am so completely justified. I went to the staffroom to rest my eyes briefly and when I awoke it was 7am and I had another before my presentation. SHITTTTTT, I suddenly got really nervous. I was going to be presenting a patient to like 12 doctors in a language as difficult as Japanese, why did I agree to this? I ran through it one more time with the night shift team and they said it was good. I got told to goto the conference as it would be starting soon. I walked in and not only was there 12 doctors there but 6 medical students i'd never met were there AND my tutor Dr Takeda was at the back. Heart was racing. I got up and got started, made a few little slip ups but once I was finished I was asked a few questions (in English thankfully) before Dr Takeda stood up and told me congratulations for a perfect presentation. Everyone clapped and I was so relieved I didn't end up telling them the complete wrong information.
I was on such a high that I invited my colleagues out for a beer after our shift and to my surprise they said yes! I didn't get away until 9am, 14 hours after I arrived. So crazy. We went to a Family Breakfast restaurant and you should have seen the waiter's face when we asked if they served beer. I thought he was going to phone the police. It definitely did not feel like 9.30 in the morning. In my defence it was like 1.30am back home ;)
We all headed home and I collapsed into a big tired heap to sleep for the day until I was in again for my next shift at 7pm :|
Day 24: Burrito el loco
Somehow, we slept in til about 6pm... I still don't know how it happened, guess we drank a lot more than I thought we did. We were both ravenous so Nikita took me to this AMAZING mexican restaurant and I had the biggest and most delicious burrito with a really strong margarita. It honestly hit the spot like nothing else. By the time we were done it was time to go home and rest before my week of night shifts began! What an overly chilled weekend I'd had! Something I don't often have.
Day 23: Masterchef Marathon
I woke up absolutely craving a burger and managed to find a Freshness Burger restaurant for lunch. I had the biggest mf'ing burger on the menu and it was absolutely delicious. I was so exhausted from my full week so I decided to just have a day at home. Someone posted a video up on facebook of a masterchef contestant who was completely blind. After I weeped over her amazing achievements and cookery skills I decided to indulge myself in a little Masterchef Marathon.
My only other plan was to meet Nikita after his work for some wine and cigs. We ended up in a playpark at like 2am smoking and drinking like plebs and talking about politics. It was so late so I just crashed at his place and we watched youtube videos until the early hours. So nice and chilled.
My only other plan was to meet Nikita after his work for some wine and cigs. We ended up in a playpark at like 2am smoking and drinking like plebs and talking about politics. It was so late so I just crashed at his place and we watched youtube videos until the early hours. So nice and chilled.
Day 22: A restaurant revisited
I again was a little bit late for the hospital this morning. That bear bar host much have spiked my drink loolol. Again, there wasn't too much going on at the hospital. Dr Takahashi was in today and he is literally one of the funnest people in existence. He speaks good english and was good at getting me involved. We went for our little secret cigarettes now and again, definitely found a nest of rats next to the bins we smoke by and I definitely shat my pants. Lost some man points but tbf you can't lose something you never had.
I got away a little bit early again today, I just had nice chilled plans with William this evening. I went to go save him from his hangover and take him out to dinner at a restaurant I used to love when I was in Japan 2 years ago. We used my new app to find an even quicker route to Shinjuku! Only 22 minutes from our station. However when we arrived we discovered the catch was that it took us into the part of the station that was furthest from the main exit. So we fought through about a million people to get to the other side and it probably took us the same time as normal ha.
I found the old restaurant relatively easily but to my shock they didnt serve the same delicious set meal I had before so I had something else which was okay. William was so tired and hungover so we just went for a quick drink in Nichome before heading home for an early night ha.
I got away a little bit early again today, I just had nice chilled plans with William this evening. I went to go save him from his hangover and take him out to dinner at a restaurant I used to love when I was in Japan 2 years ago. We used my new app to find an even quicker route to Shinjuku! Only 22 minutes from our station. However when we arrived we discovered the catch was that it took us into the part of the station that was furthest from the main exit. So we fought through about a million people to get to the other side and it probably took us the same time as normal ha.
I found the old restaurant relatively easily but to my shock they didnt serve the same delicious set meal I had before so I had something else which was okay. William was so tired and hungover so we just went for a quick drink in Nichome before heading home for an early night ha.
Saturday 15 September 2012
Day 21: Medical English and LGBT+
Looks like I spoke too soon. I was running so late to this hospital this morning I had to have a shower in the hospital after the case conference. Not that surprisingly the shower was a lot better than the one at my apartment. Maybe I would be late more often. Generic day at the hospital, so don't need to go into details. I was due in Ikebukuro to meet Hirotaka in the afternoon so I got away early.
Hirotaka studies medicine at another university in Tokyo and invited me to his medical English class. Its taught by mainly western doctors (including an English guy) so I thought it would be fun to go along. There was a big turn out and we got put into random groups for little group work challenges. The aim of today was how to take a sexual history from patients in English. I always found this very interesting so I knew a lot about how to take a history. Not to mention I have been to the GUM
clinic (FOR CHECK UPS) a number of times.
I was actually a little surprised how little people knew. I guess Japan is very conservative. Not used to asking people how many shags they've had in the past 3 months. It was actually really fun because although I didn't really learn anything I was able to teach the other medical students (and even a cardiologist) about the best ways to sensitively ask questions in English. The whole session made me realise how much I enjoyed sexual health.
The topic of sexuality came up and I knew I might have to voice some opinions. I did have to clarify a few facts that were thrown in but I was happy to make an input. It definitely made me realise that doctors should get extra specific training on dealing with LGBT people.
After the session Hirotaka and his friend took me to a nice restaurant full of delicious food. We ordered far too much and I almost exploded. His friend said farewell and I decided the night wasn't over. I googled gay bars in the area and found one called zoo (later realising it was a bear bar Lololololololol).
A tiny little bar with only 6 seats we sat down and were served so many little treats by the host, this tubby old cute man with a beard. He was absolutely hilarious. Honestly reminded me of Hattori Hanzo! He even said "you're Japanese verrrry goooood" like he says ha!
Such a funny way to end the day!
Hirotaka studies medicine at another university in Tokyo and invited me to his medical English class. Its taught by mainly western doctors (including an English guy) so I thought it would be fun to go along. There was a big turn out and we got put into random groups for little group work challenges. The aim of today was how to take a sexual history from patients in English. I always found this very interesting so I knew a lot about how to take a history. Not to mention I have been to the GUM
clinic (FOR CHECK UPS) a number of times.
I was actually a little surprised how little people knew. I guess Japan is very conservative. Not used to asking people how many shags they've had in the past 3 months. It was actually really fun because although I didn't really learn anything I was able to teach the other medical students (and even a cardiologist) about the best ways to sensitively ask questions in English. The whole session made me realise how much I enjoyed sexual health.
The topic of sexuality came up and I knew I might have to voice some opinions. I did have to clarify a few facts that were thrown in but I was happy to make an input. It definitely made me realise that doctors should get extra specific training on dealing with LGBT people.
After the session Hirotaka and his friend took me to a nice restaurant full of delicious food. We ordered far too much and I almost exploded. His friend said farewell and I decided the night wasn't over. I googled gay bars in the area and found one called zoo (later realising it was a bear bar Lololololololol).
A tiny little bar with only 6 seats we sat down and were served so many little treats by the host, this tubby old cute man with a beard. He was absolutely hilarious. Honestly reminded me of Hattori Hanzo! He even said "you're Japanese verrrry goooood" like he says ha!
Such a funny way to end the day!
Day 20: Lion Cake, Pizza Buffet and Anne Hathababes
For the first time... in Drag Race history: I was early for the hospital (7.30am start for the conference). I was so proud of myself! There has since been no repeat of the hamburger for breakfast and like last week it was more rice balls and green tea for breakfast. I was sat with Drs Ito and Takahashi and they were very helpful at translating the talk on reducing hospital acquired infections. I even got a little sticker to put on my name badge saying I'd attended aha. Me and my smoker buddies went for a secretto cigaretto before starting our shift.
I actually got to do quite a lot today, the nurses have started calling my name in Japanese (ポール: pronounced POH-ROO) and asking me to do helpful things! Woopa. A drunk patient came in who required restraining and I was on hand to help out, felt like a bouncer. They required stitching on their head and I got my gloves on and had to hold their head in place. Even though it wasn't remotely medical I still felt part of the team. I always felt like I was just getting in the way before but I felt helpful now finally.
For lunch I had a big set meal of ramen, rice and gyoza and I was quickly informed by Dr Funamizu that I ate my food in the exact opposite order of the way you're supposed to. Japan is hard :( After lunch there were a few more patients in the ER but nothing too crazy, I was due in Ikebukuro to meet Yuka for dinner and cinema and so I asked my consultant (at 4.30) if I could please leave at 5 and he literally said: just go now, you've done well today. Chaching! And off I was to Ikebukuro in North East Tokyo! I got on the underground and was listening to more Kill Bill Volume 1 Soundtrack, so good. Could not believe how packed the train was to Ikebukuro. The line wasn't so great because it kept like braking at stupid points and people would just like fall right over aha.
I got to the station and arrived a little bit early. I thought it might be nice to buy Yuka something nice as a way of saying thank you for organising my part-a. I found this cute little cake shop and they sold all different animals, intricately designed onto delicious cakes! So hard to choose but the lion looked the best! It was actually relatively cheap too! I headed to the proper exit and waited for Yuka to arrive. She arrived looking really good for someone who has been working all day! We decided to find the cinema first and then look for a place to eat cos we had 45 mins to spare. After walking in circles for 15 mins we eventually found the place, bought our tickets for The Dark Knight Rises and headed to a nearby pizza place! It was a pizza buffet which was decent but they had some weird toppings. I also accidentally picked up a dessert pizza and ate it after a slice of pepperoni. Disgusting.
We went to watch The Dark Knight Rises (2nd time for me) and it was sooo good (again) and then headed home cos it lasts about 10 hours aha.
I actually got to do quite a lot today, the nurses have started calling my name in Japanese (ポール: pronounced POH-ROO) and asking me to do helpful things! Woopa. A drunk patient came in who required restraining and I was on hand to help out, felt like a bouncer. They required stitching on their head and I got my gloves on and had to hold their head in place. Even though it wasn't remotely medical I still felt part of the team. I always felt like I was just getting in the way before but I felt helpful now finally.
For lunch I had a big set meal of ramen, rice and gyoza and I was quickly informed by Dr Funamizu that I ate my food in the exact opposite order of the way you're supposed to. Japan is hard :( After lunch there were a few more patients in the ER but nothing too crazy, I was due in Ikebukuro to meet Yuka for dinner and cinema and so I asked my consultant (at 4.30) if I could please leave at 5 and he literally said: just go now, you've done well today. Chaching! And off I was to Ikebukuro in North East Tokyo! I got on the underground and was listening to more Kill Bill Volume 1 Soundtrack, so good. Could not believe how packed the train was to Ikebukuro. The line wasn't so great because it kept like braking at stupid points and people would just like fall right over aha.
I got to the station and arrived a little bit early. I thought it might be nice to buy Yuka something nice as a way of saying thank you for organising my part-a. I found this cute little cake shop and they sold all different animals, intricately designed onto delicious cakes! So hard to choose but the lion looked the best! It was actually relatively cheap too! I headed to the proper exit and waited for Yuka to arrive. She arrived looking really good for someone who has been working all day! We decided to find the cinema first and then look for a place to eat cos we had 45 mins to spare. After walking in circles for 15 mins we eventually found the place, bought our tickets for The Dark Knight Rises and headed to a nearby pizza place! It was a pizza buffet which was decent but they had some weird toppings. I also accidentally picked up a dessert pizza and ate it after a slice of pepperoni. Disgusting.
We went to watch The Dark Knight Rises (2nd time for me) and it was sooo good (again) and then headed home cos it lasts about 10 hours aha.
Day 18: Schwasted with Colleagues!
MY BIRTHDAY - SURPRISINGLY, I wasn't too hungover this morning. Don't quite know how I managed to get to the hospital for 8am but I managed it. I arrived and Dr Ito was working, woopa! This day was going to be fun! Another doctor I hadn't met before was working too and he was equally fun! His english was very good and he was very keen to get me doing things. He made me read ECGs, Xrays and explain CT scans to him which was good practice as it's so difficult to remember the correct ways to present them. The rest of the day was pretty standard! More interesting than usual which was good. Had soba noodles for lunch. You literally just dip a bunch of cold noodles into this cold soup sauce. I had it before but it still feels weird. Japanese people absolutely love slurping their food and it does take some getting used to. If you did that in the UK someone would probs knife you.
I always find it so interesting to watch Japanese TV after lunch! It literally just talks about food, food and more food. A typical TV show will show clips of celebrities going to about 5 different restaurants and eating all kinds of food. These clips are shown to other celebrities who sit in a bright sparkly studio and react to them eating the food and they are shown in a kind of picture in picture and the top left of the screen. Everyone just takes a bite of the food and then goes NUTS for it, saying how delicious it is. So cray.
The rest of the afternoon was much the same! I managed to convince Dr Ito and my new doctor friend as well as Will to go out for dinner and drinks after work for my Bday! They also invited some other resident friends of theirs. I got away early at 5pm to go get ready! I picked up some beers for Will and I to get us started for the evening and then I took him back to the ER Staffroom to wait for them to finish! We watched more TV with yet more food TV shows. We headed off to the other hospital building to fetch two very beautiful young female doctors and they were both lovely with pretty good English. We had just finished discussing the wages of doctors in Japan -me being told the wages were rubbish- before grabbing 2 taxis up the road to the restaurant. We ended up in this really nice traditional restaurant with SO many salarymen (businessmen). It was like a sea of white shirts!
We sat down and we ordered 6 beers! 4 big ones for the boys and 2 small ones for the girls. We had a big birthday Kampai (cheers) and I challenged Dr Ito to our "Drink Fight" that we planned to have. They ordered literally so much food and it was all delicious and so well presented. They asked if I'd tried ?natto before, and I remember one of the consultants telling me I had to try it because it was traditional Japanese food. I heard it smelled like cheesey feet so was a bit reluctant i'll admit. It arrived and I wanted to hurl. It was like beans but it was in this weird goo that honestly I can only describe as similar to semen. I tasted it and I wanted to spit it out (something I NEVER do- cos I like everything) but it tasted like feet. I washed it down with some beer and all was well. They ordered us like a big bottle of sake essentially. It was extremely strong stuff. I could not stomach to shot it all in one and had to sip away at it.
They just kept ordering more and more food until our table could not fit any more plates and my stomach could not fit anymore in it. The bill came and as I got my wallet out the doctors signalled to me that they were paying. I say doctors and I mean DOCTOR. It is normal in Japan for the highest ranking doctor to foot the bill! I didn't see how much it was but it must have been pretty expensive. Nuts, I was so thankful! We jumped in two more taxis and headed to this traditional bar restaurant up the road. When we arrived, our shoes were off and in the lockers and we had to go under this really tiny door (maybe 4ft tall). Apparently it was so you bowed on your way in as a mark of respect. So cool. Yet one more thing that wouldn't happen in the UK. If they made everyone limbo under a 4ft door some arsehole would end up falling over and cracking their head open hahaha.
So cool to walk in socks over the shiny wooden floors! The 6 of us were sat at this private room with a big round table! Yet again a whole round of drinks were bought and the cigarettes were out. Dr Ito even bought me a whole new pack of menthols when mine ran out. People be so friendly up in here! Yet more drunken chat continued before the girls left and left the 4 men there to talk about manly things. I revealed a bit too much about my personal life and I didn't remember until 5pm the next day. So embarrassing. It was getting very late and some of us had to work the next day! Dr Ito jumped in a cab home after I challenged him to a fight. And the 3 of us walked home together! Such a good birthday!
I always find it so interesting to watch Japanese TV after lunch! It literally just talks about food, food and more food. A typical TV show will show clips of celebrities going to about 5 different restaurants and eating all kinds of food. These clips are shown to other celebrities who sit in a bright sparkly studio and react to them eating the food and they are shown in a kind of picture in picture and the top left of the screen. Everyone just takes a bite of the food and then goes NUTS for it, saying how delicious it is. So cray.
The rest of the afternoon was much the same! I managed to convince Dr Ito and my new doctor friend as well as Will to go out for dinner and drinks after work for my Bday! They also invited some other resident friends of theirs. I got away early at 5pm to go get ready! I picked up some beers for Will and I to get us started for the evening and then I took him back to the ER Staffroom to wait for them to finish! We watched more TV with yet more food TV shows. We headed off to the other hospital building to fetch two very beautiful young female doctors and they were both lovely with pretty good English. We had just finished discussing the wages of doctors in Japan -me being told the wages were rubbish- before grabbing 2 taxis up the road to the restaurant. We ended up in this really nice traditional restaurant with SO many salarymen (businessmen). It was like a sea of white shirts!
We sat down and we ordered 6 beers! 4 big ones for the boys and 2 small ones for the girls. We had a big birthday Kampai (cheers) and I challenged Dr Ito to our "Drink Fight" that we planned to have. They ordered literally so much food and it was all delicious and so well presented. They asked if I'd tried ?natto before, and I remember one of the consultants telling me I had to try it because it was traditional Japanese food. I heard it smelled like cheesey feet so was a bit reluctant i'll admit. It arrived and I wanted to hurl. It was like beans but it was in this weird goo that honestly I can only describe as similar to semen. I tasted it and I wanted to spit it out (something I NEVER do- cos I like everything) but it tasted like feet. I washed it down with some beer and all was well. They ordered us like a big bottle of sake essentially. It was extremely strong stuff. I could not stomach to shot it all in one and had to sip away at it.
They just kept ordering more and more food until our table could not fit any more plates and my stomach could not fit anymore in it. The bill came and as I got my wallet out the doctors signalled to me that they were paying. I say doctors and I mean DOCTOR. It is normal in Japan for the highest ranking doctor to foot the bill! I didn't see how much it was but it must have been pretty expensive. Nuts, I was so thankful! We jumped in two more taxis and headed to this traditional bar restaurant up the road. When we arrived, our shoes were off and in the lockers and we had to go under this really tiny door (maybe 4ft tall). Apparently it was so you bowed on your way in as a mark of respect. So cool. Yet one more thing that wouldn't happen in the UK. If they made everyone limbo under a 4ft door some arsehole would end up falling over and cracking their head open hahaha.
So cool to walk in socks over the shiny wooden floors! The 6 of us were sat at this private room with a big round table! Yet again a whole round of drinks were bought and the cigarettes were out. Dr Ito even bought me a whole new pack of menthols when mine ran out. People be so friendly up in here! Yet more drunken chat continued before the girls left and left the 4 men there to talk about manly things. I revealed a bit too much about my personal life and I didn't remember until 5pm the next day. So embarrassing. It was getting very late and some of us had to work the next day! Dr Ito jumped in a cab home after I challenged him to a fight. And the 3 of us walked home together! Such a good birthday!
Friday 14 September 2012
Day 17: Birthday Party
I genuinely woke up from my chilled evening of alcohol and cigarettes feeling a whole lot better. I got ready and headed into Shinjuku to meet Justin, who I'd not seen in two years! I wanted to goto a bar (at like 2pm) but he informed me that on a Sunday afternoon in Tokyo it was unlikely for bars to be open, I was devastated so we just went to Tully's coffee and caught up! I had to head home to get ready for tonight (I had 0 clue what I was going to wear) all just to come back into Shinjuku again. I decided it would be nice for me to wear nice trousers (for the first time in this roasting city) and a nice shirt. I made sure William got ready on time and we headed into Shinjuku early.
Yuka planned the entire evening at Pasela Resort in Shinjuku, a Karaoke restaurant. We arrived first and waited for everyone to come. Yuka got there first out of everyone and went to the front desk to confirm our reservation. We were on the fourth floor and were given a room number. It was like checking into a hotel, and we genuinely had our own private room with a huge table and widescreen TV for the karaoke! It was amazing! Little by little everyone arrived into the room and it started to fill up nicely! William and I were the only ones who didn't speak very good Japanese in the whole room! It was a great bunch of people! It was all you can drink so we ordered soooooo much to drink! The food eventually came and it was delicious!
It wasn't long before William was first up on the karaoke, he sure does love that karaoke! Like a proper Japanese person! It really is enjoyable to sit in a private room with friends and just fucking go for it on that mic. Not as embarrassing as the cringes that sing Adele at CC's or Priscilla's (before it shut lolo). Anyway, ha, Yuka gave me a really cool Adidas jacket (she works for Adidas) that I am definitely going to wear and a magnetic photo of Aya and us together in Shibuya 2 years ago. Yoichi and Chase gave me this cool face massager that will keep me looking young. Ayumi gave me a beautiful rose. Yuka loves her surprises and she presented me with a massive heart-shaped pillow with messages from everyone wishing me a Happy Birthday! Such a good memento of the occasion! :)
All of a sudden this MASSIVE birthday comes out of nowhere and everyone starts singing Happy Birthday! Afterwards I graced everyone with my beautiful voice. I absolutely butchered Celine Dion and some Lady Gaga too. If Whitney Houston wasn't dead before, she sure is now. Absolutely murdered "The Greatest Love of All". It was still fun though! People in the UK take Karaoke so seriously, as if they're saying "I could totes win X Factor with this voice but I wudnae dae it". Aye pal.
Everyone started devouring the cake but I wanted to keep mine! We went downstairs and asked if I could get a doggy bag for it (so plebby aha), and they said no. I literally downed my huge slice and almost choked to death in doing so. It was really late so some people had to run off for the last train while the rest of us took some purikura photos (in the cool booths!) Such a good Birthday party! 22 in Tokyo, bitches!
Yuka planned the entire evening at Pasela Resort in Shinjuku, a Karaoke restaurant. We arrived first and waited for everyone to come. Yuka got there first out of everyone and went to the front desk to confirm our reservation. We were on the fourth floor and were given a room number. It was like checking into a hotel, and we genuinely had our own private room with a huge table and widescreen TV for the karaoke! It was amazing! Little by little everyone arrived into the room and it started to fill up nicely! William and I were the only ones who didn't speak very good Japanese in the whole room! It was a great bunch of people! It was all you can drink so we ordered soooooo much to drink! The food eventually came and it was delicious!
It wasn't long before William was first up on the karaoke, he sure does love that karaoke! Like a proper Japanese person! It really is enjoyable to sit in a private room with friends and just fucking go for it on that mic. Not as embarrassing as the cringes that sing Adele at CC's or Priscilla's (before it shut lolo). Anyway, ha, Yuka gave me a really cool Adidas jacket (she works for Adidas) that I am definitely going to wear and a magnetic photo of Aya and us together in Shibuya 2 years ago. Yoichi and Chase gave me this cool face massager that will keep me looking young. Ayumi gave me a beautiful rose. Yuka loves her surprises and she presented me with a massive heart-shaped pillow with messages from everyone wishing me a Happy Birthday! Such a good memento of the occasion! :)
All of a sudden this MASSIVE birthday comes out of nowhere and everyone starts singing Happy Birthday! Afterwards I graced everyone with my beautiful voice. I absolutely butchered Celine Dion and some Lady Gaga too. If Whitney Houston wasn't dead before, she sure is now. Absolutely murdered "The Greatest Love of All". It was still fun though! People in the UK take Karaoke so seriously, as if they're saying "I could totes win X Factor with this voice but I wudnae dae it". Aye pal.
Everyone started devouring the cake but I wanted to keep mine! We went downstairs and asked if I could get a doggy bag for it (so plebby aha), and they said no. I literally downed my huge slice and almost choked to death in doing so. It was really late so some people had to run off for the last train while the rest of us took some purikura photos (in the cool booths!) Such a good Birthday party! 22 in Tokyo, bitches!
Day 16: A huge chunk of cabbage
I literally spent the entire day in bed watching true blood. Drinking lots of fluids in order to get rid of my wee illness. It did seem to work and by the time I had to get ready to meet my friend I felt a lot better. I travelled to Shinjuku Studio Alta to meet my friend Ryota. His English isn't so good so we had to utilise google translate a few times.
He took me to a Yakitori restaurant nearby. Yakitori is like chicken skewers. He ordered soooo much food and beer. Along with the Yakitori this absolutely huge chunk of cabbage arrived too. Yes, I ate it with chopsticks and yes it was very difficult. To get into the restaurant we had to take our shoes off and stick them in a locker. Walking around barefeet in restaurants is strangely fun.
After our meal we went for some beer and treats, before going to chill at Ryotas apartment. He likes a lot of the same music and actually knows who Dir en grey are. One of my favourite Japanese bands. We just kept smoking and drinking! Such a good Saturday evening. I think it may have killed whatever illness I had lol.
He took me to a Yakitori restaurant nearby. Yakitori is like chicken skewers. He ordered soooo much food and beer. Along with the Yakitori this absolutely huge chunk of cabbage arrived too. Yes, I ate it with chopsticks and yes it was very difficult. To get into the restaurant we had to take our shoes off and stick them in a locker. Walking around barefeet in restaurants is strangely fun.
After our meal we went for some beer and treats, before going to chill at Ryotas apartment. He likes a lot of the same music and actually knows who Dir en grey are. One of my favourite Japanese bands. We just kept smoking and drinking! Such a good Saturday evening. I think it may have killed whatever illness I had lol.
Friday 7 September 2012
Day 15: Pizza and Picnics
I woke up and genuinely felt so ill. I could hardly stand up and my head was throbbing. I made the decision that I couldn't go into the hospital. I probably had some sort of virus or something so I didn't want to spread it to any of the patients. I just stayed at home eating, taking painkillers and watching True Blood. I think I had probably just being overdoing everything a little bit so I needed to calm the fuck down and chill. I did start to feel better towards the end of the day and my neighbour William thought it would be nice for me to get some fresh air.
We bought a few beers and headed out to Harajuku for some dinner. I love Harajuku, it's always full of the most interesting looking people. We went looking for this restaurant he'd been to where you can get a burger and all you can drink beer for 1500 yen (12 pounds) but when we got there, there was some kind of gig on so we didn't get in aha. Instead we found this really retro looking pizza joint and decided to see how the Japanese make pizza. We ended up ordering a 2L jug of beer and getting a huge "pepperloni" pizza. It tasted divine. I just wish I hadn't felt so crappy.
We headed over to Yoyogi Park which isn't far from Harajuku to goto this friday night picnic event. Will had been to it before and said it was very chilled and just people gathering to drink. We got there and it was pretty busy! Everyone was chatting away. These two lovely people came over to chat to us to find out our stories etc. One girl looked about 16 and she eventually revealed she was in fact 32. I honestly couldn't believe it. This other woman came over and spoke perfect English to us. People were pretty friendly.
William's friend joined us shortly after and it was nice to just chill. I got an email from Jo Kelly to say that our decile ranking scores had come out (relevant for our first job applications) and I was a little bit disappointed which was a bummer but I guess I only had myself to blame. Just need to ace the exam we have in December, which is possible. This white guy came over to us to say hi. Will asked his name and he said "Taku", Will looking confused said "Taku?". "I'm half japanese" he said. Will and I looked at each other. He was 100% white and had a Canadian accent. To quote Karen Dunbar: "I smell shite. Definitely shite." There are so many white people in Japan who pretend like they are actually Japanese. So weird, like that guy in Nip/Tuck who got that eye operation to look asian...
ANYWAY, it started to rain and I was feeling a bit crappy still so Will and I got the train back to Shimbashi and had a nice early night to try and get rid of this illness before my Birthday Party on Sunday evening. :)
We bought a few beers and headed out to Harajuku for some dinner. I love Harajuku, it's always full of the most interesting looking people. We went looking for this restaurant he'd been to where you can get a burger and all you can drink beer for 1500 yen (12 pounds) but when we got there, there was some kind of gig on so we didn't get in aha. Instead we found this really retro looking pizza joint and decided to see how the Japanese make pizza. We ended up ordering a 2L jug of beer and getting a huge "pepperloni" pizza. It tasted divine. I just wish I hadn't felt so crappy.
We headed over to Yoyogi Park which isn't far from Harajuku to goto this friday night picnic event. Will had been to it before and said it was very chilled and just people gathering to drink. We got there and it was pretty busy! Everyone was chatting away. These two lovely people came over to chat to us to find out our stories etc. One girl looked about 16 and she eventually revealed she was in fact 32. I honestly couldn't believe it. This other woman came over and spoke perfect English to us. People were pretty friendly.
William's friend joined us shortly after and it was nice to just chill. I got an email from Jo Kelly to say that our decile ranking scores had come out (relevant for our first job applications) and I was a little bit disappointed which was a bummer but I guess I only had myself to blame. Just need to ace the exam we have in December, which is possible. This white guy came over to us to say hi. Will asked his name and he said "Taku", Will looking confused said "Taku?". "I'm half japanese" he said. Will and I looked at each other. He was 100% white and had a Canadian accent. To quote Karen Dunbar: "I smell shite. Definitely shite." There are so many white people in Japan who pretend like they are actually Japanese. So weird, like that guy in Nip/Tuck who got that eye operation to look asian...
ANYWAY, it started to rain and I was feeling a bit crappy still so Will and I got the train back to Shimbashi and had a nice early night to try and get rid of this illness before my Birthday Party on Sunday evening. :)
Day 14: Rooftop Beer
I headed in again at 8am, but didn't manage to fit in breakfast. After the cases had been presented I decided to goto the Starbucks in the hospital (I know, so wasted on me) and get a "Sausage pie"- essentially just a sausage roll and some blueberry yoghurt granola. One of the doctors had never seen granola before in his life, so I explained to him it was a big bunch of yummyness. I headed back into the ER and it was really quiet again. I explained to some staff about why I was so young and finishing medical school so soon. I got to chatting to a medical student who was the year below me but 4 years older. Thank god for the UK medical education system.
I also had to draw a map of Europe for some of the nurses who had no idea where Scotland was. They were surprised to find it was just north of England. Another nurse asked me if I had blonde armpit hair to which I said yes. She giggled like a schoolgirl (even though she was in her 40s) and ran off embarrassed. To be fair I usually get asked more personal questions than that...
There were a few interesting cases today, which kept us all busy but they came in one at a time so that whenever they were in like 10 doctors would be dealing with them! It did mean someone could tell me what was going on. For lunch we had Thai food again which was yummy! I spent a lot of my lunch talking to my parents on whatsapp which was nice. Afterwards we headed back to the ER! It became really quiet after a busy morning and towards the end of the day I started to get a bit of a sore head/sore throat.
I left early and headed to the pharmacy round the corner to buy some painkillers and my delicious gel beauty tonic aha. I then headed to get some food and groceries. I walked around the grocery store and only managed to buy some juice, yoghurt, and philly cheese. I didn't have a FUCKING CLUE what anything else in the store was...
I headed home to chill for a bit and eat dinner. My neighbour William decided to go get us some beers and we hung out for a bit. We ended up on on the rooftop (almost) of our building smoking some cigs and taking in the view! Was a good way to end the day.
I also had to draw a map of Europe for some of the nurses who had no idea where Scotland was. They were surprised to find it was just north of England. Another nurse asked me if I had blonde armpit hair to which I said yes. She giggled like a schoolgirl (even though she was in her 40s) and ran off embarrassed. To be fair I usually get asked more personal questions than that...
There were a few interesting cases today, which kept us all busy but they came in one at a time so that whenever they were in like 10 doctors would be dealing with them! It did mean someone could tell me what was going on. For lunch we had Thai food again which was yummy! I spent a lot of my lunch talking to my parents on whatsapp which was nice. Afterwards we headed back to the ER! It became really quiet after a busy morning and towards the end of the day I started to get a bit of a sore head/sore throat.
I left early and headed to the pharmacy round the corner to buy some painkillers and my delicious gel beauty tonic aha. I then headed to get some food and groceries. I walked around the grocery store and only managed to buy some juice, yoghurt, and philly cheese. I didn't have a FUCKING CLUE what anything else in the store was...
I headed home to chill for a bit and eat dinner. My neighbour William decided to go get us some beers and we hung out for a bit. We ended up on on the rooftop (almost) of our building smoking some cigs and taking in the view! Was a good way to end the day.
Day 13: Running through Tokyo
I headed to the hospital for 8am and was feeling a lot better since the raw horse incident. I had a morning of conferences and again understood very little. Dr Takeda was very helpful in translating most of it for me. The medical students who were now attached to the ER gave presentations to the full staffroom. Afterwards they were given a grilling by the senior doctors on the cases. I'm glad grilling medical students happens worldwide aha. Again, there was free food lying around! I managed to get some rice balls and 2 of them were delicious, the third had something inside that almost made hurl and I threw it straight away ha.
I hit the ER for a bit but it had become a lot quieter than last week. The rest of the day didn't really change and I got away a bit earlier again because I still didn't feel too great. My American friend Doug had asked me to go for a run with him up in Ningyocho and I thought it might make me feel a bit better. I headed up on the underground with my running gear and we set off from his apartment. It was just starting to get dark so I was scared my night blindness would kick in and I'd fall in the river. Doug is like 6ft 6 and runs long distances for fun (weirdo) so we split up so I wouldn't hold him back. We ran to the river (about a km from his place) and then went separate directions. I was sweating a beast already but it felt amazing! I hadn't exercised since the summer so it had been a long time coming.
I ran past so many people with dogs and thought I was going to trip over a leash or something. The waves of the river were splashing onto the walkway and it was kinda refreshing. It was totally dark now and I could see the Tokyo Sky Tree in the distance, all lit up and pretty! I managed to get to the meeting spot a lot earlier than I expected myself to so I had time to cool down before we ran back home to shower. We headed out to get some well-earned sushi for dinner! It was like any revolving sushi place except this time you had a touch screen in front of you to order more! Doug had 10% coupons so it only cost like 15 pound for the masses I managed to eat.
I ended up gorging on ice cream and crisps afterwards to reward my run which kinda defeated the purpose but as if I care aha. I definitely felt very fresh anyway, full of endorphins. Good way to end my day!
I hit the ER for a bit but it had become a lot quieter than last week. The rest of the day didn't really change and I got away a bit earlier again because I still didn't feel too great. My American friend Doug had asked me to go for a run with him up in Ningyocho and I thought it might make me feel a bit better. I headed up on the underground with my running gear and we set off from his apartment. It was just starting to get dark so I was scared my night blindness would kick in and I'd fall in the river. Doug is like 6ft 6 and runs long distances for fun (weirdo) so we split up so I wouldn't hold him back. We ran to the river (about a km from his place) and then went separate directions. I was sweating a beast already but it felt amazing! I hadn't exercised since the summer so it had been a long time coming.
I ran past so many people with dogs and thought I was going to trip over a leash or something. The waves of the river were splashing onto the walkway and it was kinda refreshing. It was totally dark now and I could see the Tokyo Sky Tree in the distance, all lit up and pretty! I managed to get to the meeting spot a lot earlier than I expected myself to so I had time to cool down before we ran back home to shower. We headed out to get some well-earned sushi for dinner! It was like any revolving sushi place except this time you had a touch screen in front of you to order more! Doug had 10% coupons so it only cost like 15 pound for the masses I managed to eat.
I ended up gorging on ice cream and crisps afterwards to reward my run which kinda defeated the purpose but as if I care aha. I definitely felt very fresh anyway, full of endorphins. Good way to end my day!
Thursday 6 September 2012
Day 12: Maybe not my best idea
I woke up in the morning and genuinely felt awful, perhaps the raw horse wasnae my best idea. I messaged my colleague to tell them I didn't think I could make it in today. I stayed in bed and tried to rest. I needed to run a few errands in the afternoon, like getting more money out. There is only one kind of bank that I can withdraw from so I tend to just withdraw a couple hundred pounds (10s of thousands of yen) at a time and then work my way through it, there just so happened to be a Citibank in my area so I dragged myself out of bed and got my moneys, I treated myself to a nice late lunch and headed home to rest some more.
I met my friend Bunny in the evening when I was feeling a bit better and we ate loads of delicious food and watched some paralympics coverage! I did not know how amazing it was to watch sitting volleyball! Japan's coverage of their medal-winning athletes was tear-jerking. It was really nice to watch. We ended up watching Wrath of the Titans (a film I didn't get to finish on my plane trip here) ;) and I went home for an early night. An uneventful day, but I was feeling better than I did when I woke up.
I met my friend Bunny in the evening when I was feeling a bit better and we ate loads of delicious food and watched some paralympics coverage! I did not know how amazing it was to watch sitting volleyball! Japan's coverage of their medal-winning athletes was tear-jerking. It was really nice to watch. We ended up watching Wrath of the Titans (a film I didn't get to finish on my plane trip here) ;) and I went home for an early night. An uneventful day, but I was feeling better than I did when I woke up.
Day 11: Clip clop into my mouth you delicious animal
My 2nd week at Jikei! I was still feeling tired from my amazing weekend! But I headed into the hospital for 8am and sat through another set of case presentations, with one of the doctors trying to translate for me as best they could. It was definitely a very quiet day in the hospital, a lot of chest pain patients presented, and of course more elderly people falling. One of the doctors I hadn't really spoken to was laughing with me about when I came into ER last week drunk. She asked if I remembered being sat in the waiting area talking to a "big fat American man" and I obviously didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Oh dear...
For lunch we had curry again (they really love it here), except this time I had cheese curry... An interesting experience let's just say, was pretty tasty though. We were watching more crazy Japanese TV and when my colleagues had finished I decided to rest my eyes on the couch and ended up having a cheeky 40 winks. I headed back into the hospital and Dr Takeda said he needed to go observe some cardiac catheterisation in the other building and he wanted me to go with him. We headed across and we bumped into lots of prestigious professors that I was introduced to as "the elective student from Scotland". We got to the catheterisation and I realised it was one of the patients that had presented to the ER, they were looking into their coronary arteries to look for narrowing.
We then went for a wee tour around the ICU, the hospital is so new and clean in this building! He then asked if i'd seen the VIP suites, I was like "the WHAT?". He took me up to the 22nd floor of the hospital and showed me some of the rooms for rich VIPs who stay in the hospital. They cost as little as 70,000yen a night (like 500 pounds...) Who can even afford that though? They were amazing though and had a great view. Great place to be ill I guess.
We went back down to the ER and not much had really changed. I got to look at lots of CTs and X-rays which was really useful. I got away at 5pm today which was a first, it meant I got to get some things done before meeting my friend. I caught up with my friend Hirotaka and we headed out to Shimbashi for some dinner! He said he was dying to get me to try some raw horse so I thought why not? I doubt they're going to sell that in the UK anywhere. It was actually pretty delicious! Tasted a bit like chicken, but then don't all things.
It was full of "Salary-men", which are basically middle-class white shirt-wearing business men. Shimbashi is business district so whenever you go anywhere in the evening you always see a sea of white shirts. After we were done, I had a craving to watch Kill Bill because it had been years so we grabbed a few lemon ciders and some junk food (seaweed flavour crisps, not quite the same) and went home to watch Uma Thurman kick some ass. :)
For lunch we had curry again (they really love it here), except this time I had cheese curry... An interesting experience let's just say, was pretty tasty though. We were watching more crazy Japanese TV and when my colleagues had finished I decided to rest my eyes on the couch and ended up having a cheeky 40 winks. I headed back into the hospital and Dr Takeda said he needed to go observe some cardiac catheterisation in the other building and he wanted me to go with him. We headed across and we bumped into lots of prestigious professors that I was introduced to as "the elective student from Scotland". We got to the catheterisation and I realised it was one of the patients that had presented to the ER, they were looking into their coronary arteries to look for narrowing.
We then went for a wee tour around the ICU, the hospital is so new and clean in this building! He then asked if i'd seen the VIP suites, I was like "the WHAT?". He took me up to the 22nd floor of the hospital and showed me some of the rooms for rich VIPs who stay in the hospital. They cost as little as 70,000yen a night (like 500 pounds...) Who can even afford that though? They were amazing though and had a great view. Great place to be ill I guess.
We went back down to the ER and not much had really changed. I got to look at lots of CTs and X-rays which was really useful. I got away at 5pm today which was a first, it meant I got to get some things done before meeting my friend. I caught up with my friend Hirotaka and we headed out to Shimbashi for some dinner! He said he was dying to get me to try some raw horse so I thought why not? I doubt they're going to sell that in the UK anywhere. It was actually pretty delicious! Tasted a bit like chicken, but then don't all things.
It was full of "Salary-men", which are basically middle-class white shirt-wearing business men. Shimbashi is business district so whenever you go anywhere in the evening you always see a sea of white shirts. After we were done, I had a craving to watch Kill Bill because it had been years so we grabbed a few lemon ciders and some junk food (seaweed flavour crisps, not quite the same) and went home to watch Uma Thurman kick some ass. :)
Tuesday 4 September 2012
Day 10: Fat Bastard Breakfast
This day was a complete write-off. Literally nothing exciting happened so I will keep it brief. I got up, dazed and confused once more and headed to breakfast at Dennys. A surprising amount of Japanese food in the American Restaurant. I got a big stack of pancakes and a load of french toast. When I finished it I thought I was going to explode. I rolled myself to the train station and headed for home. I literally just planned to sleep through this hangover. The only good thing about hangover days is that they save me money and I can catch up with Facebook messages etc.
I decided I had not had enough of my darling Hugh so I decided to watch Wolverine to make time go by quicker aha! I went out for dinner just to get out of the house, listening to the Kill Bill soundtrack. So awesome, on my way back this 40 year old woman asked if I wanted a Japanese Massaji. I told her no, because she was clearly a prostitute and said I was tired and needed to sleep aha! Smooth. First full week in Tokyo. Check.
I decided I had not had enough of my darling Hugh so I decided to watch Wolverine to make time go by quicker aha! I went out for dinner just to get out of the house, listening to the Kill Bill soundtrack. So awesome, on my way back this 40 year old woman asked if I wanted a Japanese Massaji. I told her no, because she was clearly a prostitute and said I was tired and needed to sleep aha! Smooth. First full week in Tokyo. Check.
Day 9: Hugh Jackman, Arty Farty and Bingo Coupons
Nikita and I ended up in the bar really late so I ended up sleeping in until quite late! I was meeting Tak and Studio Alta in Shinjuku for our long awaited night out so I essentially just got ready and went out to meet him! I arrived into Shinjuku station and oh my lord was it busy busy. I catwalked out the station and headed over to studio alta, where Tak was already waiting! We said our hellos then headed over to the Skyscraper district! We were planning on having dinner in the Park Hyatt (the place they had drinks in Lost in Translation) but first made a little detour to the Square Enix shop (video game geeks will ken what I'm on about).
It was pretty cool inside but everything was so overpriced and all stuff that only a collector would appreciate. The jewellery was literally extortionate. But then it always does seem so in this country. Maybe it's cos it's actually decent here unlike the cheap shite back at home. We made our way to the Park Hyatt. The bar/grill was on the 52nd floor or something ridiculous. It took a wee while to actually find it but when we did it was worth it! Had to take like 3 lifts. We got to the front desk and the woman very kindly informed us that we could not wear shorts in the bar. I thought the jig was up, but she asked our waist sizes and informed us she was going to fetch us some trousers to wear. I could not believe it! Only in Japan, eh.
I walked into the bathroom cubicle to change and the seat automatically stood up, I honestly shat myself but then again I was in the right place so it was aight. We headed out in our mismatching trousers and shirts into the bar. It was like a dream, so nice inside. I had been to see it last time but I definitely could not afford anything last time. We were sat next to the piano and were informed a jazz band would be performing later on. I looked at the menu and could not believe how expensive some things were. 60 pound for a steak? I'd rather have 60 drinks at GHQ thanks. I quickly scanned for the cheapest thing on the menu, which still sounded pretty delicious and ordered a beer.
The atmosphere was really nice, dim lighting and we came just in time for the sun going down. So we could spot all the light in the skyscrapers going on. It was really pretty, honestly. Our food came and it was so oishii. We just sat chatting forever and relaxing. It started to get busier and busier and eventually the jazz band came out. Once we were finished we changed back into our schemey shorts and headed downstairs for a taxi. Whilst walking through a corridor on the 41st floor I heard a big commotion in front of us and saw lots of teenage girls screaming and surrounding this older gentleman with a beard and cap on. I heard a strong australian accent and realised who it was. HUGH JACKMAN. My heart started racing, the biggest celebrity I'd ever seen was Jodie Marsh and I really wish that story wasn't true. I whipped my phone out and took a couple photos. I wanted to ask for one too but I was too scared he would get his Wolverine claws out and slash my face.
My darling Hugh ran off after his cute little son and we headed to the elevator. I don't know why I was being such a little fangirl about it but it just felt so exciting to have seen him in person! Anyway, we jumped into a taxi and headed to Shinjuku Nichome (Tokyo Gay Town essentially). We headed straight for my favourite bar: Dragon. Hot men in pants serving you drinks and snacks? What's not to love. Tak went to get us a drink and I found a seat. I was quickly summoned over by him because two Japanese girls at the bar wanted to meet me. They said they loved my hair, my eyes and my skin haha! I really hoped they weren't straight and luckily they were a couple, a very cute couple who could speak a little bit of English.
We all sat down together and chatted away. Soon my good friends Naing and Bunny arrived and we were reunited after 2 years :) I was so happy to see them again! We managed to gather a good group of us before heading to Arty Farty (one of the gay clubs in Tokyo). As we were arriving the bingo was starting. We bought our drinks and got tickets! My numbers came up one by one! I was going nuts at the prospect of winning and eventually I did! I got my prize and I thought he said 1000 yen drinks coupons. Which was a shit prize, but I realised it was 5000 yen! That's like 40 pounds! Drinks were on me... for me. ahaha
We headed to the other gay club and it was pretty packed. There is this REALLY weird law now in Tokyo that you can't dance in clubs unless they have a license. Don't me ask me why, I really don't understand. We ended up going to the Conveni to get more beer and drink on the street like twats. We went to arty farty for a little bit longer before I got a taxi home. I had SUCH a good night and made so many new friends! Got a few guys' numbers too aha! Awoopa!
It was pretty cool inside but everything was so overpriced and all stuff that only a collector would appreciate. The jewellery was literally extortionate. But then it always does seem so in this country. Maybe it's cos it's actually decent here unlike the cheap shite back at home. We made our way to the Park Hyatt. The bar/grill was on the 52nd floor or something ridiculous. It took a wee while to actually find it but when we did it was worth it! Had to take like 3 lifts. We got to the front desk and the woman very kindly informed us that we could not wear shorts in the bar. I thought the jig was up, but she asked our waist sizes and informed us she was going to fetch us some trousers to wear. I could not believe it! Only in Japan, eh.
I walked into the bathroom cubicle to change and the seat automatically stood up, I honestly shat myself but then again I was in the right place so it was aight. We headed out in our mismatching trousers and shirts into the bar. It was like a dream, so nice inside. I had been to see it last time but I definitely could not afford anything last time. We were sat next to the piano and were informed a jazz band would be performing later on. I looked at the menu and could not believe how expensive some things were. 60 pound for a steak? I'd rather have 60 drinks at GHQ thanks. I quickly scanned for the cheapest thing on the menu, which still sounded pretty delicious and ordered a beer.
The atmosphere was really nice, dim lighting and we came just in time for the sun going down. So we could spot all the light in the skyscrapers going on. It was really pretty, honestly. Our food came and it was so oishii. We just sat chatting forever and relaxing. It started to get busier and busier and eventually the jazz band came out. Once we were finished we changed back into our schemey shorts and headed downstairs for a taxi. Whilst walking through a corridor on the 41st floor I heard a big commotion in front of us and saw lots of teenage girls screaming and surrounding this older gentleman with a beard and cap on. I heard a strong australian accent and realised who it was. HUGH JACKMAN. My heart started racing, the biggest celebrity I'd ever seen was Jodie Marsh and I really wish that story wasn't true. I whipped my phone out and took a couple photos. I wanted to ask for one too but I was too scared he would get his Wolverine claws out and slash my face.
My darling Hugh ran off after his cute little son and we headed to the elevator. I don't know why I was being such a little fangirl about it but it just felt so exciting to have seen him in person! Anyway, we jumped into a taxi and headed to Shinjuku Nichome (Tokyo Gay Town essentially). We headed straight for my favourite bar: Dragon. Hot men in pants serving you drinks and snacks? What's not to love. Tak went to get us a drink and I found a seat. I was quickly summoned over by him because two Japanese girls at the bar wanted to meet me. They said they loved my hair, my eyes and my skin haha! I really hoped they weren't straight and luckily they were a couple, a very cute couple who could speak a little bit of English.
We all sat down together and chatted away. Soon my good friends Naing and Bunny arrived and we were reunited after 2 years :) I was so happy to see them again! We managed to gather a good group of us before heading to Arty Farty (one of the gay clubs in Tokyo). As we were arriving the bingo was starting. We bought our drinks and got tickets! My numbers came up one by one! I was going nuts at the prospect of winning and eventually I did! I got my prize and I thought he said 1000 yen drinks coupons. Which was a shit prize, but I realised it was 5000 yen! That's like 40 pounds! Drinks were on me... for me. ahaha
We headed to the other gay club and it was pretty packed. There is this REALLY weird law now in Tokyo that you can't dance in clubs unless they have a license. Don't me ask me why, I really don't understand. We ended up going to the Conveni to get more beer and drink on the street like twats. We went to arty farty for a little bit longer before I got a taxi home. I had SUCH a good night and made so many new friends! Got a few guys' numbers too aha! Awoopa!
Day 8: The World's Worst Hangover
I woke up at 7am, dazed and confused! My head was throbbing and I think I may have still been a little bit drunk. I downed about 2 pints of water and then started to read the letter on my table:
"Hey dude,
I found you asleep in the elevator, helped you get into your apartment... I left a bottle of aquarius in the fridge for you, help you rehydrate in the morning, I suspect you might need it haha."
It came from Will, the Australian boy who lives next door to me (he's also here for his elective). If he hadn't found me and dragged me home who knows where i'd be. Probably still in the elevator lol.
For some reason I thought it was THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to get to the hospital asap and be there for the morning meeting. I stumbled into the shower and almost slipped and died. I ran to the hospital and got sat down at the meeting, everything seemed so blurry. Dr Saito (who was out with me) was there too and looked a little bit worse for wear too. After the meeting I bought more water and then sat in the staff room for a bit. A couple of the night shift doctors surrounded me and asked me if I was feeling better/if I was hungover. I asked how they knew I was hungover.
"You came into Jikei ER last night drunk with Drs Funamizu and Saito..." I could not believe it. We came in and Dr Funamizu said it would be best if I had an IV drip put in but then apparently we disappeared. So awful, they all found it funny and I thought my consultant would be mad but he was just worried for my safety (so that's okay lol). I felt so embarrassed, but moreso hungover so I took a lie down on the bunk bed in order to feel a bit better. I ended up going home not long after just to literally sleep the day off. I have never experienced a sake hangover and I don't think I want to experience it ever again!!
I decided to go explore Takadanobaba later in the evening just for a spot of dinner. I found a cool wee restaurant and when I sat down the staff politely pointed me to a touch screen computer where I was supposed to select my meal. Why not just ask me what I want? Ah well this is Japan I guess. It printed out a little ticket for me and I gave it to the waiter. Soon after my enormous meal came out and I almost threw up thinking about eating. Soon after I had to go meet my friend Nikita after work. I had to take a couple trains to get to the proper station. It was getting quite late at night and people turn crazy in the train stations cos of the last trains home. Hundreds of people just stamped past you to get to their trains. Was a little bit scary actually!
I met my friend at his bar and then he took me in a taxi (my first time in a Tokyo Taxi, was fun) to this really cool bar. It was really dark inside and full of cigarette smoke. There was a really cool looking drag queen in the back (completely randomly, I didn't even think this was a gay bar). We just relaxed and chatted it was nice! I was shocked to find out this location wasn't even that far from my place so it didn't take me too long to get home :) I started the day and ended the day with alcohol inside me, yaya.
"Hey dude,
I found you asleep in the elevator, helped you get into your apartment... I left a bottle of aquarius in the fridge for you, help you rehydrate in the morning, I suspect you might need it haha."
It came from Will, the Australian boy who lives next door to me (he's also here for his elective). If he hadn't found me and dragged me home who knows where i'd be. Probably still in the elevator lol.
For some reason I thought it was THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to get to the hospital asap and be there for the morning meeting. I stumbled into the shower and almost slipped and died. I ran to the hospital and got sat down at the meeting, everything seemed so blurry. Dr Saito (who was out with me) was there too and looked a little bit worse for wear too. After the meeting I bought more water and then sat in the staff room for a bit. A couple of the night shift doctors surrounded me and asked me if I was feeling better/if I was hungover. I asked how they knew I was hungover.
"You came into Jikei ER last night drunk with Drs Funamizu and Saito..." I could not believe it. We came in and Dr Funamizu said it would be best if I had an IV drip put in but then apparently we disappeared. So awful, they all found it funny and I thought my consultant would be mad but he was just worried for my safety (so that's okay lol). I felt so embarrassed, but moreso hungover so I took a lie down on the bunk bed in order to feel a bit better. I ended up going home not long after just to literally sleep the day off. I have never experienced a sake hangover and I don't think I want to experience it ever again!!
I decided to go explore Takadanobaba later in the evening just for a spot of dinner. I found a cool wee restaurant and when I sat down the staff politely pointed me to a touch screen computer where I was supposed to select my meal. Why not just ask me what I want? Ah well this is Japan I guess. It printed out a little ticket for me and I gave it to the waiter. Soon after my enormous meal came out and I almost threw up thinking about eating. Soon after I had to go meet my friend Nikita after work. I had to take a couple trains to get to the proper station. It was getting quite late at night and people turn crazy in the train stations cos of the last trains home. Hundreds of people just stamped past you to get to their trains. Was a little bit scary actually!
I met my friend at his bar and then he took me in a taxi (my first time in a Tokyo Taxi, was fun) to this really cool bar. It was really dark inside and full of cigarette smoke. There was a really cool looking drag queen in the back (completely randomly, I didn't even think this was a gay bar). We just relaxed and chatted it was nice! I was shocked to find out this location wasn't even that far from my place so it didn't take me too long to get home :) I started the day and ended the day with alcohol inside me, yaya.
Sunday 2 September 2012
Day 7: Raw Chicken and Sake
Another day at Jikei! Again I went to the case conference except this time Dr Takeda wasn't in so I just sat and pretended I knew what was going on. I absolutely didn't! Again, it was a different team in today so lots of new faces/new friends to make :) There were 2 cute little Japanese female doctors working today and they were very keen to try speak to me in English. One of them was literally about 5ft tall so I towered over her. A really funny male doctor was in too, and he had massive hair. There wasn't much going on so I told them about the Scottish Medical Education system! They were shocked to hear I paid no tuition fees. Apparently medical school in Japan costs 200,000 pounds... AHA oh well can't win 'em all.
The doctors were a lot of fun today so it made the day go a lot quicker. They were trying to tell me lots of jokes in "English" and some of them just didn't work aha. By lunch time I was literally ravenous, and we ordered Thai food today. They sure do love eating food that isn't Japanese at this hospital... After lunch Professor Ogawa (the boss) came down to say hi and told me he wanted me to go see some "LIVE ENDOVASCULAR SURGERY"i.e. the patient was completely awake. Apparently it was some sort of revolutionary historic surgery going on and it was being performed by one of the most famous surgeons in Japan. The cute little doctor said she would take me over and show me where to get changed etc.
We walked along and she took me to the men's changing room, and I got my white scrubs on, mask and cap and waited for her at the other side. The clogs were all about 5 sizes too small. She came running round the corner in her mask, cap and scrubs to take me upstairs and we headed up to the operating theatre. This must have been some famous guy cos there were cameras everywhere and apparently they were video links to a massive audience of other famous surgeons. Felt a bit out of place aha. I watched for a good hour or so and it was pretty interesting! But surgery does get a bit boring. I headed back to the doctors room and my feet were fucking killing me so I had a wee lie down on the bunk bed to rest my eyes.
2 hours later I woke up and realised i'd missed most of the afternoon lol. No matter, there was still time to see more patients and spend time with the cute doctors. I was getting very excited about finishing work because I had planned to meet 2 of my other doctor colleagues and they were taking me out for dinner and drinks. It came by relatively quickly and I ran to get ready when the clock struck 6.45pm! They were waiting in the reception and we walked the 5 minute walk to Dr Funamizu's favourite restaurant. It specialised in all different kinds of chicken, and I didn't realise until we got there but most of what they served was raw chicken! I'm not one to turn down food, and I assumed it was going to be absolutely fine to eat. So I went for it, Dr Funamizu was very surprised how easy it was to get me to eat it! I have to admit, it was absolutely delicious! Just tasted like raw fish tbh. I started drinking lots and lots of beer and after a while Dr Funamizu ordered lots of sake for us to have! What a bad idea.
We just kept doing lots of shots, over and over. We created a rule that if you left the table, you had to do two shots when you came back. Another bad idea. I think we just got a LITTLE bit carried away because we destroyed 3 bottles of sake and I had 5/6 pints of beer. I got absolutely mashed and I literally have no idea what happened the rest of the night. All I know is that the three of us went to the hospital ER and demanded they put drips in our arms and my consultant was there to witness the embarrassment. So ashamed of myself (but not really). It was an AMAZING night! :)
The doctors were a lot of fun today so it made the day go a lot quicker. They were trying to tell me lots of jokes in "English" and some of them just didn't work aha. By lunch time I was literally ravenous, and we ordered Thai food today. They sure do love eating food that isn't Japanese at this hospital... After lunch Professor Ogawa (the boss) came down to say hi and told me he wanted me to go see some "LIVE ENDOVASCULAR SURGERY"i.e. the patient was completely awake. Apparently it was some sort of revolutionary historic surgery going on and it was being performed by one of the most famous surgeons in Japan. The cute little doctor said she would take me over and show me where to get changed etc.
We walked along and she took me to the men's changing room, and I got my white scrubs on, mask and cap and waited for her at the other side. The clogs were all about 5 sizes too small. She came running round the corner in her mask, cap and scrubs to take me upstairs and we headed up to the operating theatre. This must have been some famous guy cos there were cameras everywhere and apparently they were video links to a massive audience of other famous surgeons. Felt a bit out of place aha. I watched for a good hour or so and it was pretty interesting! But surgery does get a bit boring. I headed back to the doctors room and my feet were fucking killing me so I had a wee lie down on the bunk bed to rest my eyes.
2 hours later I woke up and realised i'd missed most of the afternoon lol. No matter, there was still time to see more patients and spend time with the cute doctors. I was getting very excited about finishing work because I had planned to meet 2 of my other doctor colleagues and they were taking me out for dinner and drinks. It came by relatively quickly and I ran to get ready when the clock struck 6.45pm! They were waiting in the reception and we walked the 5 minute walk to Dr Funamizu's favourite restaurant. It specialised in all different kinds of chicken, and I didn't realise until we got there but most of what they served was raw chicken! I'm not one to turn down food, and I assumed it was going to be absolutely fine to eat. So I went for it, Dr Funamizu was very surprised how easy it was to get me to eat it! I have to admit, it was absolutely delicious! Just tasted like raw fish tbh. I started drinking lots and lots of beer and after a while Dr Funamizu ordered lots of sake for us to have! What a bad idea.
We just kept doing lots of shots, over and over. We created a rule that if you left the table, you had to do two shots when you came back. Another bad idea. I think we just got a LITTLE bit carried away because we destroyed 3 bottles of sake and I had 5/6 pints of beer. I got absolutely mashed and I literally have no idea what happened the rest of the night. All I know is that the three of us went to the hospital ER and demanded they put drips in our arms and my consultant was there to witness the embarrassment. So ashamed of myself (but not really). It was an AMAZING night! :)
Saturday 1 September 2012
Day 6: Free Hamburgers for Breakfast
I was running a tiny bit late this morning and when I arrived at the hospital the Case Conference meeting had already started. It was literally only a couple minutes past 8am so I thought they must have started pretty sharpish. I slid past everyone in the dark room whilst someone was explaining a CT scan (in Japanese- not a clue what they were on about) and I spotted Dr Takeda at the back of the room smiling at me! I told him I was sorry for being late and he said "OH NO I forgot to tell you on Wednesdays we start at 7.30am, i'm sorry!". YAS ya dancer! I got off with it aha.
He pointed over to a table at the side of the room and said "You want a hamburger? Or ramen? Or curry? Or pork cutlets?" I was so confused. I looked over and there was literally SO MUCH TAKE-OUT FOOD. FOR FREE!!! They must have a money tree in the back garden, honestly! I had actually skipped breakfast so this was a godsend. I sneaked over and grabbed a hamburger and a bottle of coke. When I opened it up it had fries, onion rings and a big piece of fried chicken as well as a huge burger. I was in heaven! Why did I even bring money on this trip? lol! Dr Takeda did what he normally did and translated what was going on! Again, very interesting cases.
It happened to be the day of the Junior Doctor's presentations, because they were finishing at the ER. I sat through 4 what-I-assume-were-very-interesting cases. It came with handouts so I could kind of follow what was going on. Dr Takeda was telling me what certain things meant in English on my handout so that was good. When all the talks were finished, the 4 junior doctors who were leaving the ward made little speeches saying how thankful they were to all their staff followed by lots of bowing, it was so interesting to witness! They love making speeches of thanks in this country!
When the presentations were over I spent the day in the ER with some really really cute female doctors. They were trying so hard to dictate everything in English, and we learned things from each other. Everyone was so helpful, again! It had essentially been different staff i'd been working with each day which was good because I got to meet everyone who works in the ER and befriend them!
For lunch, we had "Indian" but Japanese Indian if you catch my drift. They love a curry in this country and although it was nothing like the Indian takeaways you get in the homeland it was pretty good. IT CAME WITH A BAKED POTATO. That's how different it is here! There were lots of ambulance calls in the afternoon so I was kept busy. I took a lot of patients for CT scans and actually got to do that thing where someone counts to three and you lift them onto a bed! I felt like I was George Clooney or some shit in ER. My feet were starting to get used to all the standing, though I had quite a lot of blisters by this point.
One thing I have noticed since starting. When one of the 4 phones on the main desk goes off people literally dive to answer it. There was one time when no one was in the room and like 4 people just appeared out of nowhere sprinting to pick it up. They sometimes fight for who answers it!! Hard-working people! :D
He pointed over to a table at the side of the room and said "You want a hamburger? Or ramen? Or curry? Or pork cutlets?" I was so confused. I looked over and there was literally SO MUCH TAKE-OUT FOOD. FOR FREE!!! They must have a money tree in the back garden, honestly! I had actually skipped breakfast so this was a godsend. I sneaked over and grabbed a hamburger and a bottle of coke. When I opened it up it had fries, onion rings and a big piece of fried chicken as well as a huge burger. I was in heaven! Why did I even bring money on this trip? lol! Dr Takeda did what he normally did and translated what was going on! Again, very interesting cases.
It happened to be the day of the Junior Doctor's presentations, because they were finishing at the ER. I sat through 4 what-I-assume-were-very-interesting cases. It came with handouts so I could kind of follow what was going on. Dr Takeda was telling me what certain things meant in English on my handout so that was good. When all the talks were finished, the 4 junior doctors who were leaving the ward made little speeches saying how thankful they were to all their staff followed by lots of bowing, it was so interesting to witness! They love making speeches of thanks in this country!
When the presentations were over I spent the day in the ER with some really really cute female doctors. They were trying so hard to dictate everything in English, and we learned things from each other. Everyone was so helpful, again! It had essentially been different staff i'd been working with each day which was good because I got to meet everyone who works in the ER and befriend them!
For lunch, we had "Indian" but Japanese Indian if you catch my drift. They love a curry in this country and although it was nothing like the Indian takeaways you get in the homeland it was pretty good. IT CAME WITH A BAKED POTATO. That's how different it is here! There were lots of ambulance calls in the afternoon so I was kept busy. I took a lot of patients for CT scans and actually got to do that thing where someone counts to three and you lift them onto a bed! I felt like I was George Clooney or some shit in ER. My feet were starting to get used to all the standing, though I had quite a lot of blisters by this point.
One thing I have noticed since starting. When one of the 4 phones on the main desk goes off people literally dive to answer it. There was one time when no one was in the room and like 4 people just appeared out of nowhere sprinting to pick it up. They sometimes fight for who answers it!! Hard-working people! :D
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