ChanomiTalk

Today we practiced reading my self-portrait. I am trying to only look at the Hiragan versus Romanji. It is good practice for me to challenge myself to do this. I feel like in some ways, I am being immersed in the culture by practicing speech, writing, reading, and typing. I find myself reviewing phrases in my head throughout the day, and even in my sleep.
It reminds me of college. My roommate was from Japan. I remember one morning, after having lived in Hawaii for 5 months or so, she woke up and shared that she had dreamed in English. She was so excited because the language was becoming a part of psyche. I look forward to that day for myself to dream in Japanese!!

Today I had my third lesson. Unfortunately, we had a hard time hearing each other so we decided we will have 15 minute lessons everyday until I purchase a new computer. We did cover learning numbers 1 – 100, days of the month, days of the week and the time.

Have you ever heard the saying, “You are what you eat”? People often say, “I’m so hungry I can eat a horse!” Can you imagine turning into a horse? Better not eat a fly then, because you might get swatted.

Seriously, what we eat does have a barring on our lives. We can eat to long life and good health or we can literally eat ourselves to death. We eat things that cause Cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks, Diabetes and many other illnesses. Who wants to suffer with all this? Eating healthy foods can actually get rid of some of these problems and even prevent them.

What kinds of foods do you eat regularly? Do you feel healthy and strong when you get up in the morning or do you feel tired, dizzy or weary and want to stay in bed? If we eat a balanced nutritious meal and drink lots of water we can get up feeling refreshed and ready for our day. And, we probably won’t get tired before 2pm in the afternoon. Let’s try staying away from fast foods and cookies and try leafy veggies, some water or lemonade and some fruit so our bodies can feel refreshed.

Good idea?

Today was a good day. I spent some quality time with a patient of mine that has deabetes. He’s a stern Japanese man who loves sports and likes to watch Mash and Bonanza. During my visit with him we took in some college softball. The Hawaii Women’s team routed two straight teams in efforts to make it to the finals. It was great to watch my patient enjoy himself.

Losing a leg due to diabetes doesn’t seem to discourage him much. Every-now-and-then he complains of phantom pain, but most of the time he’s like he was today…happy.

What do we know about Alzheimer’s? One of my patients has Alzheimer’s, a disease I didn’t know much about until I met him. Alzheimer’s is a deadly disease taking the lives of 22,000 people annually. It is the 6th leading cause of death in America.

The disease comes upon a person subtly and undetected and signs aren’t usually seen until the disease has set in. People of all ages can have this disease and some today don’t even know they have it.

My patient is now in the final stage of Alzheimer’s. He can walk, but, sometimes very slowly. He can’t speak nor does he have total control of his body. He is no longer use to his environment. There are days when he is upbeat and will smile and there are days when he looks lost and confused and can’t seem to stay on his feet very long. It is getting harder to work with him as I have to watch him deteriorate. And it won’t get any better. At this stage in his disease, I would like to keep you posted as there is much to learn about this time to his end.

I had my second lesson today that went very well. I spoke my first four lines of Hiragana by myself and actually knew what I was saying. I enjoy learning Japanese the Nacos way. I’m looking forward to my next lesson.

Cedric