Vulnerable

For me, the last couple of days have been all about vulnerability. Yesterday due to a miscommunication between me and Sanshiro we ended up eating very late and I had a little run in with hypoglycemia. For those of you who don’t really know what hypoglycemia is; Your blood sugar drops below the level necessary for your cells to function correctly. You sweat, you shake, you get dizzy and just when you need it most… your brain stops working. So I decided to order a pizza. I have seen the dominos right down the street from my apartment, there was pizza there, I just had to get them to bring it to me. Now I am smart enough that I know to keep emergency numbers on hand. I have the number for the police (110) and an ambulance (119) but no idea what the number is for dominos. No phone book, no idea how to call information and my brain is slowly losing the ability to reason out the difficult task of ordering pizza. I was hosed. Eventually there was a solution, it involved a weeping call to Shane who works in the office of student services at school (he gives it out for emergencies, which now includes “will you please call dominos in Suginami-ku and order me a pizza”) Together we still couldn’t work out the logistics, but eventually I was saved by some chocolate in the refrigerator and a walk to keep the simple sugar from making my blood sugar swing too high in the opposite direction. My entire retelling of this interlude is to make one point. I am a competent and confident woman, and all of a sudden I couldn’t even order a pizza, It made me realize that I am more vulnerable here than I was at home.

Now my second bout with vulnerability came this evening. My drawing class lets out at 7:30, in Tokyo right now the sun sets at about 6:00 which means I have to commute home after dark. This is fine from school to the bus stop (main road plenty of lights and businesses) and from Shibuya station to Takaido station (packed train but safe enough). The problem comes when I get off the train. My walk home from the train station takes about twenty minutes and it is mostly walking paths and back streets with few or no street lights. Now, Japan has very little street crime, but every time there is a story about a stalker or an attack they plaster it on every news source in the country. It does not engender a feeling of safety when you are dragging your tired ass home from school in the dark. Luckily for me on my way home I pass plenty of people just out strolling. Elderly people, women, high school kids pretty much anybody, so I would guess I am safe enough.

Anyway I am about to wrap up the entire vulnerability theme by exposing one more weakness to you. My first drawing class assignment. It is the last picture. We had to draw our hand. The one on the left we had to draw first without looking at our hand and the one on the right was second and we drew it while looking at our hands so we could add more detail. I am quite pleased with myself that although they both look slightly deformed, they are easily recognizable as hands (as opposed to some random amorphous appendage). They both have four fingers and a thumb and everything.

My other pictures are from my further explorations of Shibuya (yes I have finally worked up the nerve to leave the station and actually look around outside). I have included one picture I took tonight after I got off the bus on my way home from school. Oh, I also seem to have found converse nirvana I did not actually have time to shop there today but I will be going back (Oh, yes…. I will).

Hugs,
Liz