Things One Learns While Recovering From a Sprained Ankle in a Foreign Country

1. Ingesting seven month old jelly beans, while a new low, really does the heart good.
2. When you are in the vicinity of a mountain, wear appropriate footwear because you may find yourself accidentally climbing down said mountain
3. Upon hurting your ankle while accidentally climbing down a mountain, don`t continue to walk on it hoping everything will be fine. RICE, man, RICE!
4. Worry about your taxes after you`re healed. That`s just too much stress at once.
5. Though you may find yourself being X-RAYed without a protective lead-jacket by equipment that clearly states it should have been replaced 2 years ago and though you may be put into a plaster cast despite the absence of any broken body parts, it is completely possible to go into an inaka (rural/countryside) hospital and make it out alive.
6. The quaintness of indoor and outdoor shoes is lost on those with a cast. You spend 5 minutes getting the damn shoe on at home only to take it off 5 minutes later at school and struggle another 5 minutes to put a different pair of shoes on. But we wear outdoor shoes outside and indoor shoes inside. No exceptions. Not even for a cripple.
7. Discovering a way to make pasta despite a cast and crutches is a very liberating thing to do
8. Having a friend make you Mexican food for dinner is a very wonderful way to spend a weekend if you find yourself with limited mobility
9. Hitchiker`s Guide to the Galaxy is an enjoyable read
10. In case you haven`t garnered enough sympathetic looks and gestures by crutching around school for two weeks, pass out during a lesson. They`ll really worry about you then.

Now that I find myself happily without a cast or crutches (a fact that almost made me cry in the doctor`s office) I will be making my way to Tokyo to meet my parents at the airport. We`ll be taking Japan by storm for the next week or so. Their guide will be yours truly--one without much skill in the language, in traveling, or in walking without looking like a hunchback. The trip of lifetime.

Ikimasho! Let`s go!