Here's to my health...

The past week has been uneventful in respect to actual events. I haven't gotten out much due to the fact that I'm still not feeling well. Mainly, though, it's because I can't sleep.
I have been taking Mucinex (good stuff, by the way) but it's keeping me up at night. It's not getting rid of the constant drainage that is tickling the back of my throat and making me cough all night. It seems like right when I'm about to fall asleep, I'm coughing again.
So today I get a phone call around 3:30 from Casey, saying that I need to come to the lab, and Tanaka-san would take me to the University clinic to see what they could give me. It turns out that they weren't open, so instead Hara-san and Tanaka-san went with Casey and I to the drug store to get various medicine. This was after a big 'group meeting' in the hallway outside of the lab with about 6 of the lab members discussing what they thought I should take. One student even tried "hand power" on me- I remember hearing that he did this to Casey once... he touched my back and told me that I wouldn't cough for awhile. I actually didn't, but when I did cough again, I haven't stopped since.
So I should clarify that the coughing has gone down quite a bit in the past 2 days, but the drainage and staying awake at night is starting to frustrate me quite a bit. I also didn't mean to worry everyone so much- I was content staying at home, drinking gallons of OJ and taking Mucinex and Vitamin C pills. Now even Kaneda-sensei is concerned... he called Hara-san while we were driving back from the drug store and insisted that I get some porridge-type soup and eat that whenever I am hungry. Hara-san and Tanaka-san kept telling me how worried he was. I am not dying, I promise!!! I am grateful that everyone is so concerned, but I am honestly getting better. It is a slower process than I would like, but at the same time, it could be much worse.
In other news, there is no other news. I guess it's time to medicate myself and hope for the best. Hopefully I'll be better by Sunday so we can go do something... today is my official "four weeks left" mark and I need to make the most of it.
I'll write back when something more noteworthy happens. :) (cough...hack...)

-Ashley

Chinese New Year in Kobe

Yesterday, Casey and I made a trip to Kobe to go to Chinatown for their New Year's celebration. It was quite an eventful day.
We got there, grabbed lunch (awesome food by the way) and then made an attempt to try and see the entertainment that was happening near the main Pavillion. It was at this point that I was reminded of my height (or lack thereof). Why do all the tall people stand in front? There were a bunch of shorter people, like me, who couldn't see much of anything. There was a rather large guy in front of us taking pictures, and everytime he did he would take up about 80% of my view. I missed quite a bit of what was going on, until finally after about an hour, the photographer left and a really nice older man let me stand in the front row. Of course this was when the tamer entertainment was going on- I missed the martial arts demonstrations and the little monkey doing tricks. However, I did get to see some neat dances, and a Shogun demonstration. I posted pictures on Yahoo under "Japan Trip 10: Kobe- Chinese New Year" if you'd like to check it out.
After the demonstration, we went to try and find the parade with the huge dragons... we did manage to find it, but it ended shortly after we got there. Casey and I were pretty cold at this point so we went to Starbucks and grabbed something warm to drink. Then we headed to the Port of Kobe and walked around looking for the Sweets Harbor- we weren't really sure exactly what that was, but it sounded like fun. On our way there, we ran across a street entertainer who kept me captivated for about 30 minutes- I took a ton of pictures of this, too. Anyone who juggles with fire gets my respect! :)
We decided to go search for the Sweets Harbor again, and ran across some kind of dance competition going on... with girls (the youngest were probably 6 or 7) doing dance club moves in little tiny skirts and outfits that you normally see on people in their 20s at a club (or strippers, for that matter) wearing. I was shocked, not only by their outfits, but at how well they could dance! I could learn a lot from those little ladies. It was still pretty weird, though. The pictures are a little blurry so I decided not to post any at the moment.
We found the Sweets Harbor. It was a neat little area, set up like a village, with a bunch of different shops and tons of varieties of sweets. Normally this would be heaven for me, but for once in my life I had some kind of self control and didn't buy anything. That paid off because we went and had a nice dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Pretty soon after dinner, we called it a night and came back home. Good thing, too, because I started feeling pretty lousy and the cough I have had for a few days started getting worse. I've been hanging out at home today, relaxing and trying to get rid of whatever bug I managed to catch. I think with rest and some Vitamin C, I should be back in business by tomorrow or Wednesday.
We have quite a few things planned in the next few weeks, so I'll be sure and update when something noteworthy happens.

-Ashley