Water vs Air (and the fire within me)
It seems I now find myself in the middle of flu season in Japan. Slowly, more and more children are disappearing from classes, whisperings of 'infuruenza' abound. The room is freezing cold from the windows having being left open for the last 5 minutes. I look down at my remaining students and most, if not all, are half-hiding their faces with the ever popular face-mask.
And I scream internally. Because to me, this is all wrong.
Let me backtrack, and begin with a point that I believe you will all be familiar with: it really upsets me how Japanese people don't wash their hands thoroughly, if at all. Which is an issue, seeing as it is now 'influenza season', and for me at least, I have been taught that one of the best ways to prevent the spread of influenza is to wash your hands (plus cover your mouth with your arm when you sneeze and cough; you know, standard stuff). Therefore, this lack of hand-washing is an increasing source of frustration for me. However, it seems to be a cultural tradition here to 'refresh the air' once a day to prevent the spread of influenza, along with wearing face masks, instead of washing ones hands. 'Refresh the air' means opening all the windows for a short period of time to air out the room. It is also the middle of winter. I have many, many feelings about this.
OK let me explain this more thoroughly. Everyday I sit there at school, a strange electronic horn (?) rendition of 'I've been working on the railroad' playing on loop for 5 minutes between second and third period, while all the windows and doors are flung wide open. It feels like being in a pool that is being emptied, with you standing at the bottom. I can feel the warm air being sucked away out into the cold barren outdoors. I feel the cold air snaking up my legs, creeping over my torso, swamping my lungs, gripping my ears, until every inch of my body is being assaulted by freezing temperatures. The music ends, and we are left shivering in the staffroom, the aircon now furiously whirring trying to bring the temperature to it's instructed level, and me being left with the knowledge that if I ever hear 'I've been working on the railroad' back in New Zealand, I will have severe, terrifying flashbacks of suddenly being plunged into a cold, icy room.
And I scream internally. Because to me, this is all wrong.
Let me backtrack, and begin with a point that I believe you will all be familiar with: it really upsets me how Japanese people don't wash their hands thoroughly, if at all. Which is an issue, seeing as it is now 'influenza season', and for me at least, I have been taught that one of the best ways to prevent the spread of influenza is to wash your hands (plus cover your mouth with your arm when you sneeze and cough; you know, standard stuff). Therefore, this lack of hand-washing is an increasing source of frustration for me. However, it seems to be a cultural tradition here to 'refresh the air' once a day to prevent the spread of influenza, along with wearing face masks, instead of washing ones hands. 'Refresh the air' means opening all the windows for a short period of time to air out the room. It is also the middle of winter. I have many, many feelings about this.
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| Please. Just wash your hands. |
OK let me explain this more thoroughly. Everyday I sit there at school, a strange electronic horn (?) rendition of 'I've been working on the railroad' playing on loop for 5 minutes between second and third period, while all the windows and doors are flung wide open. It feels like being in a pool that is being emptied, with you standing at the bottom. I can feel the warm air being sucked away out into the cold barren outdoors. I feel the cold air snaking up my legs, creeping over my torso, swamping my lungs, gripping my ears, until every inch of my body is being assaulted by freezing temperatures. The music ends, and we are left shivering in the staffroom, the aircon now furiously whirring trying to bring the temperature to it's instructed level, and me being left with the knowledge that if I ever hear 'I've been working on the railroad' back in New Zealand, I will have severe, terrifying flashbacks of suddenly being plunged into a cold, icy room.
So not only does it annoy me that the room is purposefully made cold through this weird 5 minute 'fling all the windows open and change the air in the middle of a school day' ritual, but they are also wasting an inordinate amount of energy by having to re-heat the room from scratch... and it's specifically to prevent influenza. They're specifically doing this to remove the 'stale air' and replace it with new, 'fresh' air, because 'stale' air causes the flu. Which it doesn't. The influenza virus causes the flu, at least in my books. Sometimes when this 'refreshing the air' business is going on, I make it a point to go wash my hands thoroughly with soap. That's what will stop the spreading of the flu (and conveniently, a lot of other winter ailments such as colds and coughs). It just baffles me that they prioritise airing out the building over washing their hands to prevent influenza.
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| Real life image of the staffroom after having the 'air refreshed'. No lie. |
Proof that this idea of 'stale air' causing influenza is actually believed (over spreading germs through dirty hands), is when I mentioned to my youngest Japanese teacher of English that I should really air my apartment out sometime. Not for any influenza purpose mind you, but just to change up some of that stuffy air, as my apartment has been hermetically sealed since before the New Year. My Japanese teacher of English looked at me, agreed and said 'you should really do that, or else you'll get influenza'.
HOW. CAN. I. GET. INFLUENZA. WHEN. I. AM. THE. ONLY. PERSON. IN. MY. APARTMENT.
Am I catching influenza off myself!? The only way I can get flu in my apartment is if someone else comes over who has the flu, and gets their slimy flu hands up on everything, and coughs and sneezes into oblivion without covering their mouth (rude). But the funny thing about people with the flu is that they generally like to stay at home to recover if they have the chance. I laughed and told said teacher that I was strong, but continued with my day shaken by the fact that young people such as myself actually believe this whole 'refreshing air' thing.
I should say it's not that airing out a room or a building is a bad idea; obviously I just mentioned previously that I should really do that in my apartment as I haven't let in any fresh air inside since 2018. But that's for the purpose of reducing humidity; preventing mold and mildew growth. 'Stale' air causes stuffiness, but not the flu. So there is some logic to airing out a building or room, but they air out the place in the middle of the day, and by doing so, there is so much wasted energy going into the heating of the classrooms. Not to mention the cold environment that is left behind once all that warm air has been released, which is uncomfortable for me, the teachers, and I am very certain that it doesn't create a great learning environment for the students. Why can't they just air the place out when the kids are gone? It's really a one-two punch of unhelpful behaviours and then wasting a lot of energy in carrying them out. Think of the environment yo!
I also just feel so powerless in this situation about the health risks I am being exposed to. I can't make people wash their hands more thoroughly, unfortunately. I could start wearing a face mask. Wearing face masks here is a popular thing to do, to prevent catching illnesses. I can very obviously see it as a coping mechanism to try and gain some perceived control over their exposure level to sickness. But I am fully aware that face masks only prevent you spreading illness, and they cannot prevent you from catching anything nasty, despite what may be believed otherwise. I don't mind it as much as the whole air thing though, because at least wearing a face mask (correctly) reduces the likelihood of the wearer spreading any sicknesses they may have. I just find it so strange how common this practice of wearing a face mask almost constantly to prevent infection throughout winter is. There are other reasons for the kids to wear a face mask (such as hiding acne or something), but there was a very obvious upward tick in mask-wearers when flu season began. It doesn't exactly help that half the time the kids are wearing their mask completely incorrectly, with their nose exposed, therefore cancelling any prevention of infection or spread of disease. Which then adds another layer of the frustration towards my perception of the management of the spread of influenza. So no face mask for me, unless I'm sick. But whatever, wear a face mask if you want.
This whole saga around flu spread management shows that I obviously I hold my health beliefs quite strongly. It's one of those 'irreconcilable differences'. I see that washing hands (among other things like coughing and sneezing into your elbow etc) is the most effective way to prevent illness. And so when this is not a commonality, but airing out the school in the middle of the day is, it creates frustration within me. Couple this with the fact that in carrying out this 'health behaviour', I perceive a lot of energy to be lost (as well as creating a hostile environment in the form of a freezing cold school), I am annoyed! I don't mind too much about the face-mask wearing, but I do wonder if the kids and teachers know that it won't PREVENT them getting the flu. I just don't understand why washing hands<airing out the building. It all just makes me mad.
I'm alive though, and thus far not infected by the flu. All I can do is keep washing my hands, and pray I make it through until spring. I have gotten sick here once, right after New Years (which I actually think I caught from the hostel I stayed at in Tokyo). Getting sick is part of life, unfortunately, but when it comes to things like the flu... Please, just wash your hands.
Clarifications: I started writing this in the beginning of January. I HAVE aired out my apartment many times since then. I am not that disgusting. Also, I have exaggerated the amount of students who got the flu. Only about 3 that I'm aware of have gotten sick this flu season, but the hysteria is real. Also, I fully take credit for the lack of absentee students being due to my diligent hand washing. You're fucking welcome.
Post script: as of two weeks after publishing this post, one of my classes was sent home for 2 days (and the weekend) because about a quarter of the class got the flu. I am currently smug in my opinions of the lack of effectiveness of airing out the school to prevent the flu. I am also washing my hands constantly and avoiding touching my face like it's the only thing that will keep me alive. Please send anti-flu vibes my way.
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| Viruses. The real culprits. |
I also just feel so powerless in this situation about the health risks I am being exposed to. I can't make people wash their hands more thoroughly, unfortunately. I could start wearing a face mask. Wearing face masks here is a popular thing to do, to prevent catching illnesses. I can very obviously see it as a coping mechanism to try and gain some perceived control over their exposure level to sickness. But I am fully aware that face masks only prevent you spreading illness, and they cannot prevent you from catching anything nasty, despite what may be believed otherwise. I don't mind it as much as the whole air thing though, because at least wearing a face mask (correctly) reduces the likelihood of the wearer spreading any sicknesses they may have. I just find it so strange how common this practice of wearing a face mask almost constantly to prevent infection throughout winter is. There are other reasons for the kids to wear a face mask (such as hiding acne or something), but there was a very obvious upward tick in mask-wearers when flu season began. It doesn't exactly help that half the time the kids are wearing their mask completely incorrectly, with their nose exposed, therefore cancelling any prevention of infection or spread of disease. Which then adds another layer of the frustration towards my perception of the management of the spread of influenza. So no face mask for me, unless I'm sick. But whatever, wear a face mask if you want.
This whole saga around flu spread management shows that I obviously I hold my health beliefs quite strongly. It's one of those 'irreconcilable differences'. I see that washing hands (among other things like coughing and sneezing into your elbow etc) is the most effective way to prevent illness. And so when this is not a commonality, but airing out the school in the middle of the day is, it creates frustration within me. Couple this with the fact that in carrying out this 'health behaviour', I perceive a lot of energy to be lost (as well as creating a hostile environment in the form of a freezing cold school), I am annoyed! I don't mind too much about the face-mask wearing, but I do wonder if the kids and teachers know that it won't PREVENT them getting the flu. I just don't understand why washing hands<airing out the building. It all just makes me mad.
I'm alive though, and thus far not infected by the flu. All I can do is keep washing my hands, and pray I make it through until spring. I have gotten sick here once, right after New Years (which I actually think I caught from the hostel I stayed at in Tokyo). Getting sick is part of life, unfortunately, but when it comes to things like the flu... Please, just wash your hands.
Clarifications: I started writing this in the beginning of January. I HAVE aired out my apartment many times since then. I am not that disgusting. Also, I have exaggerated the amount of students who got the flu. Only about 3 that I'm aware of have gotten sick this flu season, but the hysteria is real. Also, I fully take credit for the lack of absentee students being due to my diligent hand washing. You're fucking welcome.
Post script: as of two weeks after publishing this post, one of my classes was sent home for 2 days (and the weekend) because about a quarter of the class got the flu. I am currently smug in my opinions of the lack of effectiveness of airing out the school to prevent the flu. I am also washing my hands constantly and avoiding touching my face like it's the only thing that will keep me alive. Please send anti-flu vibes my way.
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