Karma

Before leaving on our travels to Asia, Anne and I signed up for a service that gives us updates on medical issues abroad. Over the last month just about every day we get 3 or more emails from them, stating that the Swine Flu H1N1 has been confirmed in another country (1 email per country).

The Japanese media has also been very focused on the Swine Flu. Most of Japan's cases occurred in the Osaka prefecture. The week (weekend for us) we planned to go to Osaka, several schools were closed and students from the closed schools were told to stay home to prevent any more cases. As a result, when we arrived at Universal Studios Osaka, the lines were short and attendance was low (10-20 minutes waiting per ride instead of 1-2 hours). I found myself thankful for our lucky timing (considering only .002% of people in the area of over 8.6 million people had the flu and all were recovering).

Well, karma reminded me on the next Monday that I should never be thankful or benefit from others misfortunes or health. According to our health consultants in the building (they have an office on the 41st floor) I ate something bad which resulted in a stomach flu. Looking back on all the things I have eaten in the last year, I find it quite amusing what got me sick. He is a list of some of the things I would have expected to get sick from eating (yet I still ate them).

WARNING - If you get nauseous or light headed reading about strange and gross foods, please stop reading now. We will start with the raw foods, salmon, tuna, too many other types of fish to keep track of, squid, whale, crab, scallops, chicken, horse, (yes you read the last 2 correctly - the chicken was pretty good - the horse, not so much) eggs (chicken), and various fish eggs. The raw list actually goes on, but you get the idea. Now to the gross. I have eaten scorpions (a couple different species - some as small as a quarter, some as long as a dollar), silkworms, various animals organs and parts (livers, hearts, gizzards, stomachs, feet, beaks, eyes, skin, kidneys, necks, congealed blood, etc), swallows (the little bird), starfish, and the list goes on in frightening detail.

Yet none of these items gave me any problems. What ultimately did my stomach in was ..... a bowl of rice with some very mild (even by US standards) curry sauce. The US comparison would be like putting a can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup on a bowl of high quality rice. I expected to get sick at least once from my adventures appetite, but the fact that something so mild and basic kept me the sickest for the longest is a true insight to how comical and unpredictable life can be.