How I managed to wake up all sniffly and sneezy after a night of rain is beyond me. Am I now allergic to rainwater? When will the madness end? When?

I may never go to a doctor again. Masami had a high fever and other assorted fun symptoms over the weekend and when she went to the clinic, the doctor refused to test her for the flu, apparently on the grounds that...well, we're not sure. On the grounds that if she turned out to have swine flu, he didn't want his clinic to be associated with it? We're not entirely certain what happened there, but it hardly seems like good doctoring. She was back at work today, but is still feeling under the weather.

Meanwhile, Andrew's baby girl is in the hospital due to a horrible and very scary bacterial infection. She had this huge lump behind one ear that two different doctors assured her parents was "just a bug bite", right up until they decided to hell with this and brought her to the ER, at which point the doctors there wanted to know why they had waited this long to bring her in.

So next time I get sick I'm just slapping some leeches on my body to draw out the ill humours and hoping for the best.

Want.

And swine flu has hit Tokyo. This should be fun.

There was an interesting article in the paper today about how the panic about swine flu is pushing other, rather more deadly diseases aside. Oh look, here it is.

Groups: Swine flu focus bad for other diseases
By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER and FRANK JORDANS – 1 day ago
GENEVA (AP) — Diseases killing millions of people all over the world are being neglected at this year's World Health Assembly because of fears about swine flu and its potential to become a pandemic, health campaigners said Wednesday. Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was upset that discussions were postponed on fighting Chagas disease, a scourge in Latin American countries. Cancer and diabetes groups said non-communicable diseases responsible for 35 million deaths a year needed greater attention. And hepatitis campaigners were disappointed that a first-ever WHO resolution addressing that disease was dropped from the meeting's agenda.
Health officials from some poorer nations also could not understand why the diseases hurting them most were a distant second to swine flu.
"Malaria, drug-resistant tuberculosis — they are killing people every day," said Dr. Sam Zaramba, Uganda's chief medical officer. "If all the emphasis that has been put on swine flu had been put on malaria and TB, we would have made a bigger impact on health."
Zaramba and other African officials said they had to fight hard to get tuberculosis back on the agenda of the five-day meeting.
So far, the swine flu virus that has infected more than 10,000 people — mostly in Mexico and the United States — appears little more dangerous than seasonal flu. Most people infected do not need treatment, but the concern of many of the world's leading health authorities is that the virus may somehow mutate into a more lethal disease.
WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said some issues had to be dropped when the agency's 193 member nations decided to shorten their annual meeting because their ministers were needed at home to prepare against a possible flu pandemic.
But he said the assembly was still taking on a "broad agenda" that went far beyond swine flu to deal with improving basic health care and tackling global killers like TB.
"H1N1 influenza is not taking up the major portion of discussions," Abraham said, using WHO's preferred term for swine flu. "And just because a topic is not discussed here does not mean WHO programs are going to stop. They will continue exactly as before."
To fight the global swine flu outbreak, WHO has redirected some of its own staff from other health programs. The agency recently sent a memo to staff asking for volunteers to work on swine flu, saying "a sustained effort will be needed in the weeks/months to come to maintain this operation."
Health campaigners called it a missed opportunity for a number of diseases that could use greater global attention.
"This is the irony: it's been 100 years since the parasite causing Chagas disease was discovered," said Gemma Ortiz, a senior advocacy officer at MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders. "Yet we're still stuck with two drugs from the 1960s for treatment and no tests to see if it's cured."
Ortiz said governments were preparing to pledge 10 years of action to develop better treatments and diagnostics against Chagas, which spreads mostly by blood sucking "kissing bugs" that live in the cracks of thatch-roofed mud walled homes and emerge at night to bite sleepers.
She called WHO's decision to drop the disease from the program "a shame."
"It's hard putting 15,000 who die a year on hold, or that 14 million suffering from this disease are ignored and silenced because other preparations are going on," Ortiz said.
The World Hepatitis Alliance, representing over 200 patient groups worldwide, said a resolution by Brazil on tackling viral hepatitis also was dropped and won't be taken up again until 2010 at the earliest.
"Viral hepatitis has never been properly addressed at a global level and the consequences have been disastrous," said Charles Gore, who heads the alliance. He expressed hope that governments and WHO would ensure that a "comprehensive, coordinated approach is adopted before another million people die," which is the annual toll from hepatitis B and C.
Meanwhile, cancer and diabetes advocates said non-communicable diseases also needed greater funding, better medicine and more attention.
"Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases cause 60 percent of all deaths worldwide," said a joint statement from the International Diabetes Federation, International Union Against Cancer and World Heart Federation.
Swine flu has killed 80 people since April, according to the World Health Organization.

I can definitely see being irked by this. "Right, no, I'll just go back to Uganda and watch people drop dead of malaria, while you concentrate on rich people getting the flu. It's cool."

I, personally, would like to see allergies making the list, but I guess since they're not actually deadly, that will not happen anytime soon. But the end is in sight, I'm sure. Rainy season is just around the corner and one day in the next few weeks I will wake up, unable at first to identify why I feel so funny, until suddenly I realize that it's because nothing itches. I'll start wearing mascara again and will reduce my kleenex consumption, and lo! It will be glorious.

Nope, he delivered to my house. A shame about me being in the shower, but surely being greeted by a towel-clad dripping foreigner made his whole afternoon?

I think I'm getting back to normal, it's nearly 11 and I've hardly done anything yet today. Mind you, I'm waiting for a delivery, so I don't want to hop in the shower/run out for errands in case I miss it, but I'm beginning to suspect that they are delivering it to my work address instead of my home, so I guess I might as well get on with things, yes?

I fixed the video links, so if you were having trouble viewing it before it should be better now.

Weekend pictures.

It's windy that high up.

Fly, monkey!

I can't believe I forgot to link this video. My bad.

Parliament. It's a very pretty set of buildings, isn't it? Actually, Ottawa in general was very pretty. It sort of reminded me of Victoria, while Toronto was more like Vancouver but with older buildings and less overall dampness. I managed to sit in on one of the Question Periods on my last full day in Ottawa. Despite getting there early, I still wasn't seated until around 2:40, with the question period starting at 2:15. I'm fairly certain there has to be a way to be more efficiant about that, but sadly, there was no "how can we make your experience more enjoyable" questionnaire to fill out afterwards. Anyway, I walked in in the middle of a debate and was promptly shocked by the behaviour of our (well, your) elected representatives. Sure, it made for entertaining observation, but if my students acted like that, they would receive a ten minute lecture on Manners and Respecting Others, and then they'd get the same lecture again in Japanese from Masami, and no one would get any stickers at all that day.

Because I'd missed most of the period, I decided to stick around at 3 for a vote or two. The way they do it is they call every single member by name and they either stand up or remain seated to register their vote. The high point of my day came when Justin Trudeau's name was called out and there was an excited, downright girlish "oooh!" from the galley. We Canadians love us some Trudeau. Then the side that won the vote gave themselves a standing ovation for a good three minutes, making rude gestures at the losing side in the process.

Dear Canadian Politicians: Oh dear lord, grow up!

Before Parliament I'd made it out to the National Gallery, which was full of beautiful paintings and baffling modern art. I will never really believe that suspending a shovel from a ceiling truly deserves to be under the same roof as works from the Group of Seven.

A surprising number of parents have asked me/Masami if I have swine flu. Actually, yes, I do! I thought I'd come to work anyway and infect your children, just for kicks. Those new shoes aren't going to pay for themselves, you know!

Annnnnnnnnnnd cockroaches.

Finally got the pictures up.

It's summer here. Well, Canadian summer, but since I just got out of Canadian spring, I'm really feeling it. 27 degrees by noon!

Japan has reported its first case of swine flu, brought in from Canada. On Friday. Not me, I swear. The flight was actually out of Detroit but the people who had it were flying from Ontario. If I cough at work tomorrow, do you think my students will run screaming?

Probably not, they're kids. If I had adults, though...

People keep asking if I'm glad to be back. Maybe? It's definitely nice having my own place again. Being a guest for that long is kind of exhausting. And my shower. Oh god, my shower. If there is one thing the Japanese do better than Canadians, it is bathrooms. It is a bit odd and quiet not having anyone to talk to, but I'm sure I'll slip back into hermit mode soon enough.

I ran into a couple of students yesterday at the supermarket. Their reaction was encouraging. Surprise (which I get anyway, even if I haven't been on holidays. "Wait. You have a life outside of work? You eat and stuff?") followed by smiles. Bursting into tears and wailing "noooooo!" would have been about as bad as "Oh thank GOD you're back!".

My apartment is in one piece, more or less. The knob to one of my gas elements is broken, leaving me with one burner. That in itself doesn't bother me so much, as stuff gets broken (remind me I owe my brother a beer glass, ok?), but surely leaving a note would have been appropriate? Meh. The place no longer looks anything like it did when I left, as I have suitcase debris all over the bedroom. Really should get on that.

I still have a lot of updates to write about, but first I need to go find food and forage for ice cream.

Blargh. After a 10 hour flight, I apparently get to sit on the runway until some overworked health officials have time to board our plane and test everyone for fever and flu-like symptoms.

Can't. Wait.

This is ridiculous. I bought another pair of shoes today. They were expensive and don't even have the practicality of the Fluevogs to justify them. But I just couldn't help myself. They're so pretty.



In Vancouver now and the beautiful weather has finally broken. It is pouring out and is supposed to keep on doing this for the next few days. Whee. At least I have a cute new raincoat to see me through it.

Everyone around me is sick. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I'm terrified of catching a common cold and not being allowed on the airplane/into Japan because of swine flu panic. I think I'll be spending the next few days obsessively washing my hands and drinking lots of lemon ginger tea. Think healthy thoughts for me.

I think we have all come to the conclusion that my Canadian adventures are not really going to get talked about until after I'm back in Japan and have nothing else to do than sit by the computer. Lord knows I won't be able to go out and spend money.

We went to a Weakerthans concert last night and while it was very good, it really made me feel old. I mean, I'm on vacation, so it's fine to be out late, but what about people who have to work? Why must concerts start so late? Open the doors at 7 pm instead of 9 and let us all go home before midnight.

Kim is kicking me out tonight so I'll be crashing at Flash's. I'm looking forward to showering standing up again. Clawfoot bathtubs are gorgeous and fantastic, but not so fun when they don't come with a shower curtain. We are going to make boozy cupcakes in preparation for tomorrow's bonfire. Here's hoping I still have eyebrows after the weekend.