Happy Birthday!
May your days be long, bright, and awesome!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
"What's the different between a Physical Therapist and a Terrorist?" He asked.
"I don't know, what?" I replied through gritted teeth.
"You can negotiate with terrorists," he responded.
"Ha ha ha-AYUGH!" I laughed as he twisted my neck farther and to the right.
"Relax," he reminded me.
Yeah, right. I was seeing huge black spots and could barely keep my entire body from seizing. I actually have super sore muscles in my core and leg, I had been keeping them so tight.
So, I shall never secretly hope in my heart for something interesting to post in this blog. Heavenly Father hears our prayers, and this is a testament to that.
The other day I went to early morning gym and did some exercising. While in the midst of Electronic-Parade-Version Hymns, Waaaay too happy teachers, and jumping sisters, my neck popped. It felt just like any other popping joint, where something just slips with an audible noise. Normally you feel pretty good right after it happens.
I, regrettably, did not feel good. After the pop, I was no longer able to look up or to the right without enduring severe pain. I actually couldn't keep my head straight without any pain, so I found myself leaning my head to the left.
Not wanting to leave the class during such pathetic exercises, I continued with the gym period, just adjusting each time I had to look over the right shoulder. I assumed I had rubbed a muscle the wrong way, and it would feel better if I stretched it out. After gym, I rubbed my neck gently and returned to the room for personal study.
The pain did not abate. When we set out for breakfast, I asked my companion to come back to the gym with me. She agreed quickly. The pain had gotten much worse, and it was difficult not to change my breathing or cry out. I spoke with the physical therapist at the gym, and he took one look at my neck, heard what I was doing, and said, "You probably just strained it. Tilt your head far to the left and gently return it to center position. Stretch that muscle. You'll be fine."
I thanked him for his time and left once again for breakfast. I tried that exercise, and it didn't seem to help. In fact, after 3 times the pain suddenly increased to the point where I was having difficulty thinking straight at all. I could no longer find any position where my neck was not hurting.
I was worried, and did not hesitate when my companion suggested we skip our service activity to go to the health clinic. By the time we arrived, I asked her to explain the problem while I started to cry. I was getting so frustrated---I had been injured and I couldn't figure out why or how. I couldn't understand what was wrong with my neck, and by this point it was a constant and unavoidable 7 on the pain scale.
We waited for an incredibly long time at the clinic. I was put in as an emergency appointment. The doctor still took 20 minutes to see me (this is probably really fast but I was super frustrated). He grabbed my neck roughly and jerked it around, then checked my reflexes. "Your neck muscles have torn. I'll schedule physical therapy." he responded.
We went through some paperwork, my parents were called for insurance information, and I was put on a shuttle and taken to a physical therapist. He finally gave me a full examinationg WITHOUT yanking my head around in any way.
He announced that my spine had locked up in the neck, in 5 different joints. Normally joints slide on top of each other just fine, but mine became locked side by side and wouldn't move. This was causing the pain and the lack of movability.
He then went through a series of INCREDIBLY PAINFUL twists and turns of my neck. I knew this was necessary and put up with it, but it was not pleasant by any meaning of the word. He did this 5 times, one for each locked up joint, and then apologized---some of the joints were so badly locked up that he had to do them again. This was easily a 12 on the pain scale (of 10). It was difficult, but I dealt with it. This lasted for 2 hours.
I was now able to move my neck, but not without severe pain. This all happened Friday. On Monday, I went back to see him and he was able to make it so I have full movement on my neck, but I have to go back the rest of this week in order to fix the problem and prevent it from happening again. I am happy for him to help prevent this from happening again, but I still wish it had never happened in the first place. It's embarrassing to visit doctors and be sick.
And now, you might be wondering what I was doing when this horrible spinal injury occurred. I would love to entertain you with dramtic tales of me leaping up walls to grab the basketball and make the game saving throw only to fall badly, or jumping down stairs and side-kicking to the face only to have the return catch me at a bad angle. I would to regale such impressive stories of how this all came to be, but I am striving to be Honest this week, and so I am left only with the truth:
A jumping jack broke my neck.
"You can negotiate with terrorists," he responded.
"Ha ha ha-AYUGH!" I laughed as he twisted my neck farther and to the right.
"Relax," he reminded me.
Yeah, right. I was seeing huge black spots and could barely keep my entire body from seizing. I actually have super sore muscles in my core and leg, I had been keeping them so tight.
So, I shall never secretly hope in my heart for something interesting to post in this blog. Heavenly Father hears our prayers, and this is a testament to that.
The other day I went to early morning gym and did some exercising. While in the midst of Electronic-Parade-Version Hymns, Waaaay too happy teachers, and jumping sisters, my neck popped. It felt just like any other popping joint, where something just slips with an audible noise. Normally you feel pretty good right after it happens.
I, regrettably, did not feel good. After the pop, I was no longer able to look up or to the right without enduring severe pain. I actually couldn't keep my head straight without any pain, so I found myself leaning my head to the left.
Not wanting to leave the class during such pathetic exercises, I continued with the gym period, just adjusting each time I had to look over the right shoulder. I assumed I had rubbed a muscle the wrong way, and it would feel better if I stretched it out. After gym, I rubbed my neck gently and returned to the room for personal study.
The pain did not abate. When we set out for breakfast, I asked my companion to come back to the gym with me. She agreed quickly. The pain had gotten much worse, and it was difficult not to change my breathing or cry out. I spoke with the physical therapist at the gym, and he took one look at my neck, heard what I was doing, and said, "You probably just strained it. Tilt your head far to the left and gently return it to center position. Stretch that muscle. You'll be fine."
I thanked him for his time and left once again for breakfast. I tried that exercise, and it didn't seem to help. In fact, after 3 times the pain suddenly increased to the point where I was having difficulty thinking straight at all. I could no longer find any position where my neck was not hurting.
I was worried, and did not hesitate when my companion suggested we skip our service activity to go to the health clinic. By the time we arrived, I asked her to explain the problem while I started to cry. I was getting so frustrated---I had been injured and I couldn't figure out why or how. I couldn't understand what was wrong with my neck, and by this point it was a constant and unavoidable 7 on the pain scale.
We waited for an incredibly long time at the clinic. I was put in as an emergency appointment. The doctor still took 20 minutes to see me (this is probably really fast but I was super frustrated). He grabbed my neck roughly and jerked it around, then checked my reflexes. "Your neck muscles have torn. I'll schedule physical therapy." he responded.
We went through some paperwork, my parents were called for insurance information, and I was put on a shuttle and taken to a physical therapist. He finally gave me a full examinationg WITHOUT yanking my head around in any way.
He announced that my spine had locked up in the neck, in 5 different joints. Normally joints slide on top of each other just fine, but mine became locked side by side and wouldn't move. This was causing the pain and the lack of movability.
He then went through a series of INCREDIBLY PAINFUL twists and turns of my neck. I knew this was necessary and put up with it, but it was not pleasant by any meaning of the word. He did this 5 times, one for each locked up joint, and then apologized---some of the joints were so badly locked up that he had to do them again. This was easily a 12 on the pain scale (of 10). It was difficult, but I dealt with it. This lasted for 2 hours.
I was now able to move my neck, but not without severe pain. This all happened Friday. On Monday, I went back to see him and he was able to make it so I have full movement on my neck, but I have to go back the rest of this week in order to fix the problem and prevent it from happening again. I am happy for him to help prevent this from happening again, but I still wish it had never happened in the first place. It's embarrassing to visit doctors and be sick.
And now, you might be wondering what I was doing when this horrible spinal injury occurred. I would love to entertain you with dramtic tales of me leaping up walls to grab the basketball and make the game saving throw only to fall badly, or jumping down stairs and side-kicking to the face only to have the return catch me at a bad angle. I would to regale such impressive stories of how this all came to be, but I am striving to be Honest this week, and so I am left only with the truth:
A jumping jack broke my neck.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Thought of the Week
Cease to ask what the morrow will bring forth. And set down as gain each day that Fortune grants.
Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Odes
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Letter 9/22/09
Well, one more week down here at the MTC. Things have been really awesome.
For the record, my mailbox number has changed. Please send future letters to Mailbox #227, not 228. You can still send stuff to the old address (technically it's been 227 all along but I still get my letters just fine), it's just that if you send stuff to mailbox 227 I'll get my letters about a day faster and technically correctly. Many thanks to EVERYONE who has been writing me! Your letters completely light up my day, and I love getting news from all of you!
Unfortunately we were running a little late today so I don't have much time for a blog post. I'll try to remember stuff that's happened since last I wrote. Since I have no way of viewing my blog or previous post, it'll be tough to remember where I left off.
Did I mention that Elder Holland spoke last week? His talk was AMAZING. It was a total power house. We get great speakers every Sunday and Tuesday. We also get to watch church videos every Sunday night, if we don't have other meetings.
I'm not sure if I described much of my schedule last time...did I? It's awful busy, but a lot of fun. Things that you normally can put off until you have time in the evening can't be put off here. Seriously. You either have 5 minutes to go to the store, or you can go to the bathroom before class, but not both. That's how finely cut our day is.
Monday we had a Large Group Meeting (these happen every week) where a former missionary speaks to us about a certain topic related to better missionary experiences. He went to Japan, and he had some awesome stories, but I don't actually have time anymore to type them. Suffice to say that Japanese old men chasing missionaries through a forest is HILARIOUS. He also told us some really key things about finding people to teach, and how you need to talk to EVERYONE, all the time.
We also got together with a ton of sisters and arranged to play with each other every Gym period, which we have each weekday. Yesterday we played soccer, and tomorrow we're gonna play kick ball. It should be a ton of fun.
This Sunday I was able to interpret. It was difficult, but very fun. It's interesting to listen to Japanese, then speak English, then have to catch the next Japanese sentence in order to translate that, too. It was great, I hope to do it again.
One of the sisters in my triad companionship is getting a new companion tomorrow. She is teaching me how to read Korean before she goes. We will miss her.
I'm a Host tomorrow, so I'll be greeting new missionaries. I'm very excited!
Uh, was there anything else? I'd love to type more but---
SISTER MISSIONARY LOGGED OFF
REASON: TIME EXPIRED
For the record, my mailbox number has changed. Please send future letters to Mailbox #227, not 228. You can still send stuff to the old address (technically it's been 227 all along but I still get my letters just fine), it's just that if you send stuff to mailbox 227 I'll get my letters about a day faster and technically correctly. Many thanks to EVERYONE who has been writing me! Your letters completely light up my day, and I love getting news from all of you!
Unfortunately we were running a little late today so I don't have much time for a blog post. I'll try to remember stuff that's happened since last I wrote. Since I have no way of viewing my blog or previous post, it'll be tough to remember where I left off.
Did I mention that Elder Holland spoke last week? His talk was AMAZING. It was a total power house. We get great speakers every Sunday and Tuesday. We also get to watch church videos every Sunday night, if we don't have other meetings.
I'm not sure if I described much of my schedule last time...did I? It's awful busy, but a lot of fun. Things that you normally can put off until you have time in the evening can't be put off here. Seriously. You either have 5 minutes to go to the store, or you can go to the bathroom before class, but not both. That's how finely cut our day is.
Monday we had a Large Group Meeting (these happen every week) where a former missionary speaks to us about a certain topic related to better missionary experiences. He went to Japan, and he had some awesome stories, but I don't actually have time anymore to type them. Suffice to say that Japanese old men chasing missionaries through a forest is HILARIOUS. He also told us some really key things about finding people to teach, and how you need to talk to EVERYONE, all the time.
We also got together with a ton of sisters and arranged to play with each other every Gym period, which we have each weekday. Yesterday we played soccer, and tomorrow we're gonna play kick ball. It should be a ton of fun.
This Sunday I was able to interpret. It was difficult, but very fun. It's interesting to listen to Japanese, then speak English, then have to catch the next Japanese sentence in order to translate that, too. It was great, I hope to do it again.
One of the sisters in my triad companionship is getting a new companion tomorrow. She is teaching me how to read Korean before she goes. We will miss her.
I'm a Host tomorrow, so I'll be greeting new missionaries. I'm very excited!
Uh, was there anything else? I'd love to type more but---
SISTER MISSIONARY LOGGED OFF
REASON: TIME EXPIRED
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Letter 9/15/09
Hey, this is Shana. I'll try to post C's blog entries within 24 hours of her sending them to me so that you can all keep updated. Please feel free to contact me anytime through my blog at www.shanalyris.blogspot.com or through my e-mail if you have it. And now, here is C:
Hey everyone! I was originally hoping to have these posts appear on Sundays, but I can only write e-mails on Tuesdays at the MTC. I believe the P-Day (the day we can write e-mails) in Tokyo is Thursday, but I'm not sure, so that will vary a little bit too.
I'm here at the MTC, sitting with my companion, writing some rocking awesome e-mails! This is great. I better tell you a little bit about what happened before my timer runs out, huh?
Just because I'm a glutton for letters, let me point out that you can write me (it'll be like sending an -email for you, but I'll get it as a letter) through Dear Elder, though I'm not totally sure about that link. My mail box number is 228, my mission code is JPN TOK, and I leave October 13th.
I arrived at the MTC bright and early after a refreshing walk with my parents. We figured we were close enough and walking would be hilarious, so we walked. Upon arrival I was carted from one building to another and told to stand in this line or that line, handed several packages and some books. No one really explained anything to me, they just dropped me off at a classroom and said g'bye. There I got to meet the rest of my district; other new missionaries that were called to Japan. We all greeted, met our teacher, and discovered that the missionary day is divided into 5-10 minute increments that span from 6:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night. It's totally bizarre. I've never been so worked in my life. I met two companions that first day, and we were all bewildered together.
Thursday was also pretty neat. A general day is wake up, go to the classroom and study, go to breakfast, return to the classroom and work with your first teacher, go to lunch, return to the classroom and work with your second teacher, go to gym, go to dinner, return to the classroom to either work with a teacher or get self-maintained mandatory study time, then have a companion planning session (to plan the next day) and return to your room to write in your journal, pray, shower, and sleep. It's awesome, but it's super busy and pretty stressful. I love it.
The coolest part about Thursday is that I got moved into the advanced class. Rather than stay here 12 weeks I'll be staying here 6. I got a new companion, too. She had been a solo sister before, but now there are other sisters so she gets a companion! She's super happy about it, and I like her a lot, so it's pretty mutual fun.
Everyday we can eat lunch fast, or use our personal study time to go to practice teaching appointments. These are when we go and teach to a teacher who is pretending to be an investigator. Since I missed 6 weeks of practice, I'm way behind. The rest of my new district is already teaching entirely in Japanese, and they've had a lot of practice at being smooth, relaxed, confident teachers. My Japanese can take care of itself for the most part (I had to learn a TON of new gospel words), but my teaching skills are still lacking.
The food here is so delicious, I can see why people gain weight. Also, they in no way try to make you eat a balanced meal. You actually have to plan pretty carefully in order to eat right. As it is, I really need to get some more fiber and vitamins in my diet. There's way too much temptation to eat unhealthy food. Curse you, delicious cafeteria food!
$10 says I'll be sick of it by next week, though. Any takers?
Anyway, the coolest part here is how much you feel the Spirit. You really do. I was worried the first day (I wasn't feeling too spiritual) but I've just had so many experiences since then. It's really been amazing. I probably will sound like one of "those" missionaries for a while, but please put up with me. It totally rocks here.
People have been going pretty easy on me, even though I'm in the advanced district. I still haven't been in the MTC for a week (It's only been a week?!) so people don't expect me to have the same hymns and scriptures memorized in Japanese like they do. They also don't expect me to have a well thought out talk on Sunday.
Oh! That's something neat about the MTC. Every Sunday you have to prepare a 5-minute talk before Sacrament meeting. There's a catch: you only find out what the meeting "theme" is Sunday morning. So Sunday afternoon everyone writes a talk. The Senpai (advanced districts) assured the kouhai (new districts with new missionaries) that the kouhai wouldn't have to speak on Sunday. No one expected them to know Japanese yet. Since I'm still a new missionary, they assured me I wouldn't speak either. There were still senpai who haven't spoken, and NO ONE speaks their first Sunday.
Well, I guess I broke that record. Guess who got called to speak this last Sunday?
Me, in case you couldn't guess. There was a pretty big gasp and a lot of whispered, "Aw, no WAY..."'s in the crowd when they asked me to come up and give a talk. The theme was baptism. I'm so glad I prepared!
The Branch President thanked me for speaking afterward. I thought it was pretty awesome, but I was super surprised. I guess they're going with the Trial by Fire method sometimes.
Well, that's about all the time I have. If you want to contact me, I suggest using Dear Elder, please. If you want to e-mail me, contact a member of my family. Hopefully they'll have my e-mail address.
See you next week!
Hey everyone! I was originally hoping to have these posts appear on Sundays, but I can only write e-mails on Tuesdays at the MTC. I believe the P-Day (the day we can write e-mails) in Tokyo is Thursday, but I'm not sure, so that will vary a little bit too.
I'm here at the MTC, sitting with my companion, writing some rocking awesome e-mails! This is great. I better tell you a little bit about what happened before my timer runs out, huh?
Just because I'm a glutton for letters, let me point out that you can write me (it'll be like sending an -email for you, but I'll get it as a letter) through Dear Elder, though I'm not totally sure about that link. My mail box number is 228, my mission code is JPN TOK, and I leave October 13th.
I arrived at the MTC bright and early after a refreshing walk with my parents. We figured we were close enough and walking would be hilarious, so we walked. Upon arrival I was carted from one building to another and told to stand in this line or that line, handed several packages and some books. No one really explained anything to me, they just dropped me off at a classroom and said g'bye. There I got to meet the rest of my district; other new missionaries that were called to Japan. We all greeted, met our teacher, and discovered that the missionary day is divided into 5-10 minute increments that span from 6:30 in the morning until 10:30 at night. It's totally bizarre. I've never been so worked in my life. I met two companions that first day, and we were all bewildered together.
Thursday was also pretty neat. A general day is wake up, go to the classroom and study, go to breakfast, return to the classroom and work with your first teacher, go to lunch, return to the classroom and work with your second teacher, go to gym, go to dinner, return to the classroom to either work with a teacher or get self-maintained mandatory study time, then have a companion planning session (to plan the next day) and return to your room to write in your journal, pray, shower, and sleep. It's awesome, but it's super busy and pretty stressful. I love it.
The coolest part about Thursday is that I got moved into the advanced class. Rather than stay here 12 weeks I'll be staying here 6. I got a new companion, too. She had been a solo sister before, but now there are other sisters so she gets a companion! She's super happy about it, and I like her a lot, so it's pretty mutual fun.
Everyday we can eat lunch fast, or use our personal study time to go to practice teaching appointments. These are when we go and teach to a teacher who is pretending to be an investigator. Since I missed 6 weeks of practice, I'm way behind. The rest of my new district is already teaching entirely in Japanese, and they've had a lot of practice at being smooth, relaxed, confident teachers. My Japanese can take care of itself for the most part (I had to learn a TON of new gospel words), but my teaching skills are still lacking.
The food here is so delicious, I can see why people gain weight. Also, they in no way try to make you eat a balanced meal. You actually have to plan pretty carefully in order to eat right. As it is, I really need to get some more fiber and vitamins in my diet. There's way too much temptation to eat unhealthy food. Curse you, delicious cafeteria food!
$10 says I'll be sick of it by next week, though. Any takers?
Anyway, the coolest part here is how much you feel the Spirit. You really do. I was worried the first day (I wasn't feeling too spiritual) but I've just had so many experiences since then. It's really been amazing. I probably will sound like one of "those" missionaries for a while, but please put up with me. It totally rocks here.
People have been going pretty easy on me, even though I'm in the advanced district. I still haven't been in the MTC for a week (It's only been a week?!) so people don't expect me to have the same hymns and scriptures memorized in Japanese like they do. They also don't expect me to have a well thought out talk on Sunday.
Oh! That's something neat about the MTC. Every Sunday you have to prepare a 5-minute talk before Sacrament meeting. There's a catch: you only find out what the meeting "theme" is Sunday morning. So Sunday afternoon everyone writes a talk. The Senpai (advanced districts) assured the kouhai (new districts with new missionaries) that the kouhai wouldn't have to speak on Sunday. No one expected them to know Japanese yet. Since I'm still a new missionary, they assured me I wouldn't speak either. There were still senpai who haven't spoken, and NO ONE speaks their first Sunday.
Well, I guess I broke that record. Guess who got called to speak this last Sunday?
Me, in case you couldn't guess. There was a pretty big gasp and a lot of whispered, "Aw, no WAY..."'s in the crowd when they asked me to come up and give a talk. The theme was baptism. I'm so glad I prepared!
The Branch President thanked me for speaking afterward. I thought it was pretty awesome, but I was super surprised. I guess they're going with the Trial by Fire method sometimes.
Well, that's about all the time I have. If you want to contact me, I suggest using Dear Elder, please. If you want to e-mail me, contact a member of my family. Hopefully they'll have my e-mail address.
See you next week!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
What is this blog? The inevitable introduction
This blog is intended for people to read while I am on my mission. It's a public blog so I would not post any seriously private information, such as addresses, phone numbers, first + last names, or anything of the like. If you need to send any of that information to me, either send it to my usual e-mail address, or send it to my sister Shana, who is moderating this blog. A link to her blog can be found at balgram.blogspot.com. Ideally though, and seriously, just send it to me via e-mail or letter. Anyway.
Many of the posts on this blog have been written in advance, and the blog will update a few times, at least once a week, while I am gone. The current plan is to have a thought/random message or joke once a week (Saturday) and a real post from me on my mission once a week (Sunday).
I wanted to have a comic here too, but that's just not likely, seeing as I never actually uploaded all those pictures I drew.
Thoughts
These thoughts will just be random thoughts, quotes, and other posts that I want to record. Most of the time it will be neat quotes or poems that I like. Some of the thoughts will be totally random, of course. I strongly suspect that this day will be the least cool, which is why it will update on Saturdays, when you all have better things to do anyway. These posts will invariably be short.
Sunday Posts
These posts will depend on my mission situation. If I can use e-mail, I will be sending an e-mail to my family with a section "For the blog" that they can then copy and paste here, updating for me. I've spoken with my sister and she has indicated willingness to update my blog on my behalf. This post will be my current mission life.
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