I'm not sure what it is about being sick that makes people say and do strange things to me but today has been one of those days. Remember: I have an active imagination and pride myself in that. Making up stories? Not this time around. What I write here is the straight-up truth.
I've been drinking hot water with lemon and honey all day. It burns going down. I tell myself this is a good thing. There's no doctor here so I'm self-medicating. It's all natural so I'm fine with it. I'll let you know how if it's made any difference tomorrow. But, I digress. I stepped into the small kitchenette (five feet by six feet, I kid you not) to boil some water on the two-burner gas stove that I do believe I've seen used at camp sites. In other words, it's not a stove-stove....if you know what I mean.
Lo and behold, Mrs. K., one of the local women who does the cooking in the evenings is already boiling water. I ask if she'll fill up my giant mug as I cover my mouth with my arm and croak out the request. She's shocked at how bad I sound and I say, "I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just a cold." Get this. To this she replies, "I think of you as a god. You're not supposed to get sick."
Whoa. This is a problem. I laugh (always a good way to deflect) and say that I am most definitely not a god, at which point a giant cough comes out from me. I must say, the timing couldn't have been better. "Gods don't get sick, right?" I say to her.
If I may switch gears here for a minute. There's a rule ingrained in everyone who lives in Japan. If you were born and raised here, this was drilled into you from a very early age. If you come to Japan as a foreigner and you don't know this rule, you're out. You make this mistake, you're so, so, so out. The rule is "never take a compliment" which is defined by making sure anything good said to you is denied through self-deprecation. What do I mean? Anyone saying to me, "oh, you're Japanese is so good" is to hear the right response of "oh, no no no no no. I'm still learning," or "I'm sorry you have to listen to such poor Japanese" or something equivalent. "You're handsome" is to be met with "no, I'm not" and an explanation of why you're ugly. I'm not kidding.
So, with this rule of self-deprecation hanging over me (which I don't mind--it's part of life here) now try applying it to "I think of you as a god." This kicks up the self-deprecation requirement multiple times. First, I'm clearly not a god. Second, this is a huge compliment and I have to be careful how I turn down my so-called divinity. Third, she's concerned about me. I appreciate that. I do, however, have to gently but firmly knock down any notion of amazingness (if that's a word) and let her know I'm really just me. Yes, I appreciate the fact that she appreciates me. At the end of the day, I want our mutual respect to be enough. Don't make me into something I'm not, Mrs. K. I can't handle the pressure.
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