The Yuzu Bath and Other Things

I think about this blog a lot because I'm always thinking of what I would say whenever I experience something that is somewhat notable. However, I have been extremely lazy lately with actually transcribing what has been going on in our lives down to the blog. Obviously because we're working we're not traveling very much and there's only so much karaoke that we can talk about until you say "enough karaoke"! Seriously though, I think that is going to be one of the biggest things that Brad and I will miss when we go home. (And in case you haven't figured it out already, Japanese karaoke is very different than what Americans are used to. You have private rooms here, its not in front of a whole bar...)

Brad and I have been lamenting the fact that the sun comes up so late now (6:44am--during the summer the sun came up at about 5 am) and goes down so early (4:29pm), we've even talked about it with our parents. I thought it was somewhat significant until I looked up the sunrise and sunset information for Denver (7:15am-4:37pm FYI) and realized that we actually have a tiny bit more of daytime here!

It's crazy some of the things that you forget when you've been away for awhile. For example: somehow the phrase "see you" has been ingrained in Japanese peoples heads as a good-bye phrase. But I think it's safe to say that it is a fairly uncommon phrase in the US. It sounded so funny to me when we first moved over here. I kept waiting for people to say see you--later or tomorrow etc. Now the phrase "see you " sounds completely normal to me. I wonder how many things like that will catch me off guard once we move back to Colorado...

Before I get to the yuzu bath thing I think it would be best to fill you in on my health. :) I think I'm allergic to Japan. I'm serious! When we first came here in February I developed a rash only on the back of my hands. I thought it was because I was allergic to a certain kind of soap because it slowly went away when we went home for a few days in March. However, I have stopped using this brand of soap and since we moved back here for the long haul, I have had trouble with dry, itchy patches on my face and hands, which then moved down to my calves, hips and now on to my elbows.

I have been to the doctor more times here (with little to no success and many different combos of medication and lotion) than I have in the last 5 years in the US. And I won't even delve into how awkward and frustrating it is to try and get your point across to the doctor about what is going on when there is an obvious language barrier. Luckily there is no such thing as patient confidentiality/HIPAA here because I can have someone call later to fill me in on the details of the medication I'm supposed to take. Still I hope it goes away when we move back or I'm just excited to talk to a doctor who can actually diagnose me with something and help me cure it rather than lessen the symptoms for a couple days at a time!

 Now to the Yuzu bath thing. The Yuzu is an ugly orange looking fruit but is actually most similar to a lime. I had never seen or heard of it until this past August and never actually saw the fruit until a couple of weeks ago. Apparently it's a Japanese custom to put Yuzu's in your bath on the winter solstice to ward off sickness and rejuvenate your body. Brad was given a couple of yuzu's at his school so he brought it home and we decided to try it. Neither of us had ever taken a bath with a fruit before so we just cracked 'em open and let them float. It was really nice and aromatic until I had an itch on my leg which I then scratched, which then started burning and burning and burning and burning. It was seriously one of the worst pains I had ever felt! I quickly finished taking a shower (in which cold water and washing the area I scratched did nothing). Luckily it just needed some time and was completely gone by the morning but that is the last time I ever take a bath with a citrus fruit!

So either we put too much fruit/juice in the water or Japanese people know not to scratch an itch while in the bath with a Yuzu and forgot to fill me in on that little detail. But that is our experience of trying that Japanese custom by ourselves...