ok, one thing i did decide to write about happened at the end of august. i am such a big baby. how am i ever gonna have this kid??

anyway, on the evening before the movers were coming to pack up all our belongings, i was closing windows and preparing to go and pick up yoshi from work. suddenly i heard this big whomping, crashing sound. i thought 'that doesn't sound good.' and went to look out the front window. sure enough, across the street where a new house was being built, this huge truck was on it's side. it was kind of a big truck for hauling things around and it had a kind of small crane on it. i suppose they were using it to lift sheetrock up to the second floor. well, i don't know what i thought i could do at 8 months pregnant, but i grabbed my cell phone and raced across the street. one of the workers was there and in a panicky voice was trying to tell someone over the phone where he was 'in toda-town!' he squeaked, and a voice from under the truck yelped 'saiwai-town! saiwai!' omigod, there was someone under that huge truck. i gave the man on the phone a semi-address (well, my own, but just say in front of that) and gave a couple of nearby landmarks. then, from under the truck i noticed a foot in a tennis shoe wiggling about. omigod, there's a man under that truck!! actually, he was pretty lucky (yeah, we all know it's not lucky to get trapped underneath a huge truck, but c'mon). i don't know how it happened, but when the truck went over him, he managed to fall into a concrete ditch which protected him from getting squashed by the truck. and since he could still move his foot, things were probaby going to turn out (painfully) well. but he was in pain. you could hear it in his voice. and he was rational enough to tell his co-worker he'd given the wrong address to the ambulance.

thing is, people don't really seem to get involved here. i ran across the street, even though i knew i couldn't do anything. i did give an address, though. then this lady from a business across the street came over (i think because she saw me there), but all she really did was distract the guy with the cell phone. (he called his boss and then talked to the lady). well, i'm no expert, but i have heard that you should talk to someone when they've had an accident. i really didn't want to get down in the ditch, but i walked close enough for the man under the truck to see me. i asked him 'are you ok?' (yes, sometimes japanese really is inadequate...) and he answered 'yes, i'm fine.' (see?) then we could hear sirens, and the ambulance came. well, i really didn't want to get in the way, and yoshi was waiting for me, so i left.

poor yoshi was really busy that i had to wait about 20 minutes for him. it was his last day of work, lucky him...we had plans to have dinner out (well, couldn't cook at home) so we went to nagasaki champon. when we got to the restaurant, i promptly shut the end of my thumb in the door. 'oh shoot!' (no, really, i said shoot.) i tried to pull my thumb out, it really was only my nail caught in the door. but it wouldn't come out, and then i knew i was in for a world of hurt. i opened the door and took out my rapidly reddening thumb. yoshi came over and said 'what?! what?!' i showed him my thumb. silly kristin. how did i manage to close my thumb in the door. really, i don't know. but it hurt. i wanted to go to the hospital, but i also wanted yoshi to have dinner. it hurt so much that tears came to my eyes, but i insisted we have dinner first.

poor yoshi. the man behind the counter of the restaurant asked me what was wrong and i showed him my thumb. then he actually scolded yoshi and told him to take better care of me! can you believe it?? we ordered our food, but the pain actually made me lose my appetite. we got a box for my order and then i insisted on going to the emergency room. once there, there wasn't much the doctor could do for me, especially since he didn't want to risk an x-ray because of the baby. so, he straightened it out and wrapped it up tight (which is what he would have to do to it if it were broken), but then my thumb just fucking hurt. that's right, fucking. hurt. as we were about to leave the hospital, an ambulance drove up, sirens blaring. yes, it was the man who had been trapped under the truck. it had been at least two hours since his accident and finally he was in the emergency room....

since it was thursday, yoshi had a french lesson. we just had time to get there so i went along and waited for him. omigod my thumb hurt so much. i tried to forget it. if i think about the pain, then it hurts. it was sooooo bad. i tried deep breaths. i tried lying down. i tried using the internet. nothing worked. after class we were supposed to have a going away party, but i was in too much pain and everyone insisted we go home. so yoshi and i returned and went to bed. i had started crying on the way home, and after going to bed, yoshi said 'give me your hand!' he took off the bandage--immediate relief. i'm not sure why, but probably because it was wrapped up so tightly and my poor little thumb was trying to swell up and begin to heal. i don't know if it was broken or not, but half of my nail turned black. it's been more than a month, but my nail hasn't fallen off. i really thought it would.