5 things to do when you're sick

I am sick. It’s official. It came out of nowhere. Some coworkers couldn’t make it into work today because of illness, but I felt great. I suppose I did have some minor “blahs” to the heavy rain all day, but aside from that, was ready to teach and excited about hitting the road early in the morning for my first training run in several days (looks doubtful that run will happen).

I am feeling worse with every passing minute and will crawl into my cocoon (aka…bed) soon. I was however able to construct one piece of (out of 2) IKEA furniture that was delivered to our place this evening.

I decided to come up with a list of things to do when you suddenly become sick, but definitely have to go to the work in the morning:



1. Drink boat loads of water, herb tea and other hydrating fluids.

2. Take some over the counter cold medicine (not sick enough to necessitate a trip to the emergency room). Unfortuantely, cold medecine in Japan is pretty weak compared to what I am used to in Canada and really doesn’t help much. I suppose the placebo affect might be worth something.

3. Build IKEA furniture (but then realize you are too weak to finish the second book shelf).

4. Feel sorry for yourself (I’m really good at this one)!

5. Go to bed….night folks….


DOWN with being sick....especially on cold rainy nights!

You can follow me and my sick self on Twiter: @jlandkev

From Kobe to Canada

After a painful, yet uneventful flight, we ended up in lovely and frigid Canada. We have been calling a small place outside of Ottawa (the Nation's Capital) our home away from home. It's been great so far!

I've been catching up on food I've missed, Tim Hortons and some great beer.

I've encountered one major dillema. I haven't been able to continue my Tokyo Marathon training as I had hoped. I tried running this mornin, but at -19c outside, I gave up in under 15 minutes. Hopefully it will warm up a little bit so I can try again tomorrow , but I'm not holding my breath.



Last night we tried some of Beau's Brewery"s "Lug Tread" which is a German style beer. I also had it with some amazing pizza from a shop in Cornwall called North End pizza! This is heaven!



Yesterday I had a chance to tour Beau's Brewery which is an awesome craft brewery located in a small town called Vankleek Hill. It's just outside of Ottawa. I picked up some beer, toured the facility and had a great time. There will be a You Tube video about it once I get back to Kobe.

On another subject, I'm more than a little pleased with the fact that my Christmas video on You Tube has been featured and is doing better than I could have ever expected! Thank you everyone who watched it.

Cold Combat and Ankle biter Damage

Yep! I'm not feeling well. I've been fighting a cold all week. Not so much a cold as a tease of a cold. I've been on the cusp of a full blown cold for days now. I've been self medicating (not a fan of medical systems anywhere when an ailment is minor) and I think it's almost licked. The complete lack of energy I have makes work hard though. Contending with little ankle biters is demanding enough when you are in top fighting form. When you are weakened, they sense the opportunity to pounce...and they doTo tell you the truth, one of the main reasons I've gotten back into my old hobby of serious weightlifting has been to make my job easier. I've found that if you are in good shape, being an elementary school teacher is much easier to do.


I came across a picture I wanted to share with the world. Since I've come to Japan, I've become a huge fan of ramen noodles. Not the instant Cup Noodle shite! I hate that stuff. It always leaves me with a serious case of gut-rot. I mean the good stuff from a restaurant. A few weeks ago, I dragged my wife to yet "another" ramen joint and had some REALLY spicy stuff. Check it out:


Note the mound of red chili pepperon top of it. The reason why the broth is red is due to all the hot peppers as well. it actually reminded me of Korean food. Good stuff indeed!