On one of my first weekends in Yasugi, the other ALTs and I
took a trip to a beach in Matsue. I was really excited because I hadn’t gotten
a chance to see the ocean yet, as it’s not exactly close in Yasugi. The beach
we went to was quite crowded with families, but the water was clear and the
sand was nice.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a big fear of sharks
(I watched Jaws at a young age and was permanently scarred), but fortunately,
there aren’t many sharks in the Sea of Japan. When we got into the water
though, we all started feeling sharp pricking pains on our bodies. But whenever
I looked down, I couldn’t see anything in the water. We had been hearing from a
lot of people that August is the beginning of jellyfish season in Japan, but
stupidly enough, none of us made the connection.
But suddenly, I felt really sharp pains on my wrists and
stomach and looked down to see some jellyfish tendrils stuck to my skin. They
must have detached from the actual jellyfish but were definitely still
stinging. It didn’t really register what they were at first, so I sort of
panicked and asked my friends what they were. They told me to put my arm
underwater and let the tendrils fall off (it’s important not to brush them off
with your hands because you can also get stung there) but with my delayed
reaction, they were on my skin for about 10 seconds. Because of this, I think
the stings were a lot worse than they would have been if I had just brushed
them off quickly. Lesson learned!
I got out of the water and we walked to a policeman nearby
and asked what we should do. The stings had swelled up quite a bit and turned
red, and they felt the same way it does when you burn your hand on a hot pan.
Painful, but not unbearably so. The policeman gave me some vinegar to put on
them, and said they would take a couple days to heal. Within a couple hours,
the swelling had gone down and they didn’t hurt much.
The next day, I just had
dark marks where the stings had been. I thought that those would eventually go
away and that would be the end of it, but damn was I wrong!
About a week later, the stings started to itch incredibly
badly, the worst itching I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never gotten the chicken
pox or poison ivy, but maybe it’s something like that. The stings swelled up a
lot and got very red again too. I put anti-itch medication on them as often as
I could, but that only dulled the itching. It still itched constantly. That
lasted a couple hellish days and then thankfully it was over. Now I just have
some very faint scars where the stings were, but I wonder if they’ll ever go
away completely!
Along with my jellyfish saga, I’ve had run-ins with a few
other critters since I’ve been here. When I went to take a shower my first
night in my apartment, a centipede came running out of the floor drain. Then
the next night, it was a small lizard, chilling out in the bathtub. Both
sightings led to some loud shrieking which I’m sure my neighbors loved. I’ve also seen a few snakes, far too close to civilization
for comfort. The bugs here are basically on steroids… I’ve seen huge
cockroaches, bees and spiders. Lots and lots of spiders. One big guy has taken
over my balcony, but because he helps out with the bugs, I let him stay :)
Finally, the birds! There are so many birds here. What
surprised me the most in my first couple days was the large number of egrets
and herons here. At home in Minnesota, I saw those very rarely, but here, they
are everywhere! There is one tree on the river bank near my house that must be
the heron hangout, because every night around sundown, about a hundred gather
to sit on it. It’s a crazy sight!
There is long road through Yasugi called “Swan Road” because
every winter, hundreds of swans migrate to the fields that sit alongside it.
I’ve seen a couple swans here and there around town already… sitting in river
beds and looking for food. Three of my schools sit alongside or very close to
Swan Road so I’m looking forward to seeing lots of these beautiful swans! Here are a couple pictures of the early arrivals.
In a field near one of my schools
I found this one hanging out alone in a creek bed... hope he was OK
Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post! Haven't been able to get many cool bird pictures yet, and I'm too disgusted to take pictures of any bugs or snakes :)
