Monday, June 5, was the beginning of a strange run of days.
I unintentionally woke up very early, around 5 a.m., and stayed awake for a couple hours, just laying around and browsing social media. Eventually, I grew tired again and passed out.
When I finally got up for the second time, I showered, got ready for the day, and ate two big bowls of cereal for lunch.
Once I finished eating, I stretched and got ready for kid’s practice.
That day, we had a small bunch with only six kiddos showing up. As usual, they briefly fielded groundballs and pop flies before playing a game.
Practice went on as normal and after it concluded, we went back to the apartment. Upon returning to my room, I finished editing a story, set it to publish, and walked to the store.
While traveling along the same path as always, I came across a surprise.
Near the train tracks, there is an elongated temporary building/tent. On normal days, it seems bland and doesn’t appear to be anything special. However, this time, it was open for business and looked completely different.
To my utter surprise, the inside featured an entire arcade. Out of all its possible uses, I never would have expected this temporary structure to be a full-fledged gaming center. My mind was genuinely blown.
Just outside the tent, there were even more options. They had a couple small stationary kid’s rides and two punching machines similar to what you might find at a bowling alley.
Further along, in what was normally an empty, open space, there were several massive inflatables set up, as well as a couple harnessed trampoline stations.
I stood there for a moment to take a couple pictures, still in shock that the area was no longer empty and barren as usual. On the contrary, it now seemed lively and fun.
The highly unexpected entertainment area would have been great for kids around the ages of my nieces and nephews, and it made me wish they could have experienced it.
I kept on walking, and a minute or two later, I made it to the store. This time, I bought bread, sub style bread, two jars of jelly, two bottles of milk, a pack of kielbasa, a box of chicken wings, and a bottle of BBQ sauce for roughly $15.
Thankfully, with only a small number of items, the walk back wasn’t too bad.
I made it back to my room and unpacked the groceries. When they were all put away, I decided to prepare pierogis for dinner, a solid option.
After I finished my meal, I went into cleaning mode. I washed the dirty dishes, tidied up my room, vacuumed, and showered.
For the rest of the night, I wrote stories and took it easy before falling asleep.
The following morning, around 6 o’clock, I got a call from Jocelyn. For the next two hours, I stayed up and helped her with her homework. Once we were done, I passed out for several hours.
When I woke up again, I read through emails and multiple sports articles.
Suddenly, while I was reading, I could hear someone calling my name. At first, I thought I was crazy. Surely, no one around would be calling out for me, right?
Just to be sure, I looked out the window. Although the voice sounded like Taku, there was no one outside, and I no longer heard the voice.
I sent him a message that said, “Am I crazy or did I just hear you say my name?”
A few minutes later, I heard someone say, “Kyle…Kyle…Kyle Foster!”
I immediately jumped up and went to the window. Sure enough, there was Taku standing outside and calling my name.
When he saw me, he was beyond ecstatic and begged me to let him inside. I met him downstairs, opened the door, and asked him what had happened.
He began by profusely thanking me, over and over, incredibly grateful that someone finally let him inside. Then, he began to explain what happened.
Taku told me that when he went outside to throw away trash, he got locked out because he failed to bring his keys or phone with him. Unfortunately, the poor guy got stranded for nearly an hour.
He also said that while he was outside, he repeatedly kept going back and forth, from the front of the house to the back.
While he did this, there was an older Polish woman sitting on the balcony the entire time. Taku said he explained to her that he lived on the third floor and asked numerous times to please let him in. Sadly, the only response he received from her was “nie,” meaning “no.”
Luckily, somewhere within that time frame, I randomly happened to open my window, which was the only reason I was ever able to hear him. The rest, as they say, was history.
He thanked me several more times, genuinely and profoundly grateful.
Not long after I went back to my room, Taku replied to my message from earlier. He responded by saying, “Your head is normal. My head is crazy. Thank you so much. You are the biggest savior of my life,” with a few laughing emojis.
It was a crazy situation for the poor fellow, but ultimately turned out to be funny for the both of us. The voices that made me think I was crazy were, in fact, very real, they just happened to be Japanese.
Sadly, the rest of the day was not quite as eventful.
I had previously felt subpar, but now I was starting to become sick.
While I originally had intentions of going to the baseball field or lifting, I simply did not feel good enough to do so, which was disappointing.
Throughout the rest of the day, I intermittently wrote and edited a story.
When dinner time rolled around, I had to make myself get up and cook noodles. Reluctantly, I ate and then showered, which momentarily made me feel better.
By the time I went to bed, however, I felt legitimately sick. With a sore throat, fever, headache, body aches, and runny nose, I was not having a great time. I thought if were able to sleep, I would wake up and feel better.
This turned out to be false.
I agonizingly tossed and turned the entire night. Even when I was able to eventually fall asleep, it was off and on until the afternoon, not quite the quality I was hoping for.
When I fully awoke, I felt horrible, and all my symptoms worsened. I knew something had to change. I needed help getting better, so I got ready and walked to Biedronka.
Using Google Translate, I was able to take pictures of medicine boxes in order to decipher what would be the best option for my needs. After some deliberation, I ended up grabbing two small boxes of what seemed to be Ibuprofen.
While I was waiting in line to check out, another brand caught my attention. I used Google Translate, once again, to check what symptoms the product helped.
As it turned out, the medicine was designed for every single symptom I was dealing with. This seemed like a logical solution, so I chose the latter brand instead.
I checked out and walked back to the apartment.
Eager to test the efficacy of the medicine, I ate cereal for lunch and immediately took a dose.
Afterward, I was on my phone for a while when news dropped that Leo Messi was signing with Inter Miami in the MLS. The greatest soccer player in the history of the game choosing to come to a much lesser league in America was gigantic, seismic news.
I spent a lot of time reading about the Messi deal and then spent a few hours working on my own stories.
When dinner time rolled around, I made two kielbasa hot dogs and took more medicine.
The rest of the night was spent writing and failing to fall asleep.
First, I made final edits on a story before publishing. Then, since I was still wide-awake and ready for more, I ended up writing another story as well.
Through the wee hours of the morning (June 8), my sleeping schedule was so utterly ridiculous that I cannot provide the details. Just know, as someone that commonly has a crazy sleeping schedule, this was the worst it had been in years, and that is saying something.
After I woke up, I got ready and made sandwiches for lunch.
I waited around for a while until it was time to get ready for practice. Then, a few minutes before we had to leave, I did my daily stretches.
For that practice, since Greg was out of town, Witek and Maciej were in charge.
We began with a peculiar warmup before playing catch, doing various fielding drills, and finishing up with two rounds of BP. The practice was certainly different, but I respected their effort to be organized and structured.
In regard to my own practice performance, I would say I had a decent day. Considering the circumstances, I was quite proud of myself. The lack of normal sleep, along with trying to recover from sickness had me feeling tired and sluggish. Although I did not have the same stamina as normal, I was still able to push through.
Once practice was over and everyone was ready to leave, Marcin drove us back to the apartment.
I sat on my bed and contemplated what I would do next. Although I still was not feeling close to 100 percent, I wanted to be exhausted so I would not be able to endure the same insane sleeping schedule as the night before.
I made a plan that, I hoped, would make me even more tired and allow me to go to bed at a decent time. So, I went downstairs, grabbed the bike, and rode to the gym for a work out.
For that session, I did my typical “day one” workout which consisted of leg curls, leg press, side lunge, back lunge, calf raises, and 200 abs.
Once I was finished, I rode the bike back to the apartment. This time, the ride was absolutely brutal.
Since I had just completed a leg workout and the returning route was more uphill, I had a much tougher time making it back. Safe to say, my plan to be exhausted was successful, but the question remained, would I be able to go to sleep at a decent hour?
I finally returned to my room and quickly showered.
Afterward, I made two kielbasa hot dogs and a serving of pierogis for dinner. It was a different combo than I typically made, but it turned out well.
I finished eating, cleaned dishes, and then spent time talking on the phone with my mom and Jocelyn.
Unfortunately, my mission to go to sleep at a decent hour was a failure. By the time I was finally able to pass out, it was incredibly late, and the cycle continued.
Glad you were me to go get some
Meds for your sore throat, headache and fever!
Hope you are feeling better