For the last couple of weeks, my contacts have been bothering my eyes. They would become a very dark shade of red and hurt, so I would just start wearing my glasses. After a couple of days of glasses wearing, my eyes would get better and seem to be fine. After another day or two of contacts, though, they would be back to hurting. I finally got sick of this cycle and scheduled an appointment at a nearby clinic.
I had a pretty good handle on what I needed to say, but I hadn`t a clue what kind of crazy talk they might respond with, so I brought my dictionary just in case. I walked through the front door and up to the desk. One of my school`s administrators had already spoken with them, so they knew I was coming. I let the nurse at the front desk know who I was and gave her my information. Luckily I didn`t have to wait, and I went right into the eye-care side of the building. Then the giggling. I didn`t have just one nurse person doing the little eye tests, I had three. For every legitimate question like `What brand of contacts do you wear?` I got a `Do you like to eat at McDonald`s?` and other such delightful questions.
Normally I am entertained by this game, but for a moment I had hoped that if I was in a doctor`s office with a legitimate problem that I wouldn`t have to be the funny foreigner. Right then I just wanted to be the guy who`s eye hurt. Me and the Japanese three stooges went through all the classic eye tests, one by one. The eye chart, the air puff thing, all with the incessant giggling. `Yes, I can speak a little Japanese. Yes, I realize how amazing that is, and also understand why its so funny. No, I don`t drink Coca Cola... but maybe you should go get one.` My patience and sense of humor were both falling fast. I was relieved when the optometrist finally arrived and dismissed the opening act for a bit. The eye thing was no big deal, he said, but I shouldn't wear my contacts for a few days, and put some special eye drop things in every few hours.
You might notice that some of the punctuation is a bit off today. The keyboard at work is Japanese style, and I can`t figure out how to make quotation marks and a couple other things... sorry.
I hate wearing glasses.
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