Biggest news in Matsubaby History, since last year when a certain Aussie couple visited us.... KELSEY AND KATIE LEIGH ARE HERE!!! They are here for a week, gracing us with all their beautiful glory! Tonight we went out to dinner with most of Erin's teachers and had some great conversation, a bit of jerk chicken, a dash of sweet strawberry desserts, some clever hand puppeteering, and hopefully a glimpse into Erin's life in Japan.
We haven't updated in a while but March is a crazy, crazy time. This is the end of the Japanese school year so our students will all be graduating into high school and junior high school... which is a really big deal. In any case, in the last week the Matsubabies have been throwing graduation parties, giving speeches in Kumamoto-ben (our local dialect), hand-coloring hundreds of cards, and doling out sweets for one and all.
Personally, in the Japoakland life, it has been decided: I am going back into the hospital during Spring Break-- I'll be admitted on March 27th for my FOURTH and hopefully LAST knee surgery of my life. Backstory, in 2005 I tore my ACL and had reconstructive surgery in college. Fast forward to Japan, tore my ACL again and my meniscus. Had another ACL reconstruction in Japan, as well as a meniscus reconstruction surgery in the spring of 2009. The surgeries were performed radically differently from America, which was both a shock to my system in terms of pain management as well as hospital life, doctor mentalities, and physical rehabilitation. I was in the hospital pretty much entirely from February 15-April 9th... and was depressed, missed all the spring cherry blossoms, and cried over being FAT by Japanese standards. Luckily, this surgery is just to take out the big screws that are in my bones right now and will only have to be in the hospital for one week. The weird thing about Japanese hospitals is how they love to keep patients in the hospital for as long as physically possible. In America, these same surgeries are out patient and they just send you packing with a big bag of pain killers after a few hours. But in Japan, they like to feed you a 1200 calorie/per DAY diet plan, make you do physical therapy the day after your surgery, and make sure you can bicycle for up to an hour before they send you packing. It's so different. Anyways, I am dreading the last week of March...
Anyway, the Matsubabies would like to send a big, warm, cyberspace welcome to Kelsey and Katie Leigh! We're so excited to meet another member of the Riley Clan and can't wait for a fun week. Pictures to come....
Japoakland. off to sleep!
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