Graduated!!!

Lena Graduated!!! At first the doctor said 'shuu...something' a word I don't know, but I had NO trouble understanding what she meant! Then she congratulated Erica for graduating.

Meaning, she has STOPPED taking medicine for asthma, and no longer needs to go in for monthly check-ups. Thank GOD and it's only about five years after I thought she should stop!! Well actually it's probably not that long and I could probably check somewhere on this blog, but it certainly FEELS that long!

I immediately went out and celebrated by spending money.

Getting to this point was a long journey, even without counting the comedy of errors in getting to this particular check-up:

After missing the appointment last Tuesday, we went in on Friday morning. The system here is appointments in the afternoon, drop-ins in the morning. If you miss your appointment, you can't reschedule (too much trouble for the nurses to track down the doctor to check her timetable), you have to come in again as a drop-in. So on Friday, the girls took the morning off school, and I crossed my fingers that we'd be finished by 10am for Erica's Observation Day at Kindy. One of those lovely, more onto-it nurses you wish you could be blessed with all the time twigged that we had the wrong day, and our doctor wasn't in that morning, so asked me would you like to just see whoever was there, or would you prefer to come back next Wednesday when she is here? I chose Wednesday, partly because the kindy class observation day start time was looming down on me, also because I had forgotten to load my wallet with this month's health budget cash, but mostly because I really wanted to see 'our' doctor, because she had been tantalizingly mentioning stopping, and had halved the doses already, and I thought a different doctor would just do repeats to not step on her toes. 

Roll on Wednesday and I get all the kid in the car, school bags ready, health budget firmly ensconced in my wallet, and off we go... only to see that it's paper recycling day. Mum will remember last time we did it, and she suggested we go back and get the papers, and and I said "NOOOO!!!" because you have to sort them and stack them and tie them up and well it just takes forever. But luckily at the beginning of this month I did all that, so it was ready to go, so we swooped back home and Amy and Lena helped me bring the stuff out to the road - three stacks of magazines and newspapers and two bundles of broken-down cardboard boxes.

The driving down the road, I saw some bags of clothes and realized I'd forgotten to put the old clothes out for recycling! I decided to flag it, but then realized I didn't have my 'doctor bag' with all the insurance and hospital ID cards in it. So back we flew again, only for me to realize the doctor bag was in the car all along. Oh well, the clothes got put out! Amy threw them out the window of the car as we passed the specially designated power pole.

We finally got the hospital, Erica was wonderfully well-behaved, while Amy and Lena stunned me with a full-on, claws-out cat-fight over who got to hold the iphone while they scrolled through the photos! Shame on you girls! How embarrassing!

Amy is on one puff a day for another two months, Erica had a bit of a lingering cough this month, so she is continuing, and got some cough meds thrown in as well. And Lena got to stop!!! She couldn't believe it at first, she checked with me two or three times. Then of course she immediately turned to her sister and skited about it. Sigh.

More blatting around ensued: combini trip for snacks and Erica's kindy lunch (which I didn't have time to prepare), girls to school, Erica to kindy, me to the chemist to pick up the meds, then to the camera shop to deliver some old disposable cameras we found, then to the combini again to get me an iTunes card, since this month's medicine and hospital bill was so low, to the big drug store to get cheap cereal and bananas for breakfast, to the cheap clothes store to get some clothes: $40 for jeans, a belt, a tank top, a lacy knit over-top, and a necklace. Not bad!

And now to some of that useful stuff, I suppose. I HAVE to fit in some laundry today, between typhoons. And send some jewellery and accessories to Maria to sell on trademe, and sort some photos, and clean a bit more of the spare room maybe, so I can work on some more stuff to send to Maria on Friday.

Typhoons and Time

Typhoon news: stupidly humid, cloudy sky, rain off an on all day, but not a breath of wind. Typical northern Oita typhoon! I was told Mt Aso protects us from the worst of it - they usually come up from the south-west - and I think there might be something in that!

TIME is on my side for once. THREE hours of work this week!!! With all the running around after the kiddies, it certainly doesn't feel as 'free' as it looked on the weekend. I still haven't done anything useful... well I'm going to go and do something useful now then, get Erica to bed with time to read her a book!

Babysitting

Here's me and Kanji at the izakaya we found on May 28 after about an hour of sad trudging through the city finding out just how many restaurants have a holiday on a Monday, including my first choice and favorite place, Bistro de Moulin. Walking towards it, we were already planning what to get - the 3000yen course or the 5000? Definitely the cheese board, and he'd have one glass of beer while I had one glass of champagne, then we'd share a bottle of wine. Suddenly he said, "What if it's not open. It's Monday". Oh horrors, I thought, having already planned out that cheese board and champers, and I started to get ready for the disappointment and plan other venues, while he tried to reassure me it would be open. It wasn't. Neither was the next place we tried, or the next. We were walking in circles by now, going round to check some place or another, doubling back to try another, checking menu boards on the way, going past one place to check another then coming back - the one we finally chose was one we had initially passed by, then came back to. It's a newish place, with the benefit of having private booths with seats, not tatami.

The food was fine, your nice 'modern' izakaya type stuff, not down-home smelly old guys type place (though the mizuna with EVERYTHING was a bit much!) Above, from left to right is chilli ebi, a sashimi platter, and a gobo salad (crispy shaved burdock root. Man that sounds rude!). I had wanted some nice wine, but izakayas and beer just go together so I was happy with that.

The best thing by far was the fried cheese. If you can't give me a cheese board, at least give me fried cheese! This is the BIGGEST fried cheese I've even seen, as fat as my fingers, but melted all the way through. I think I will go here again just for this dish.

Kanji outside the bar we went too after the izakaya. His friend drew that picture on the wall.

But what I REALLY wanted to talk about was the babysitting.

This was the first time NZ Grandma babysat while we went out. Usually, the kids stay with Baachan for the night. Now, I can't fault Baachan - she's nearly 80 yet she takes them on, all three of them, feeds them, bathes them, and well I don't really care where or when or how they sleep, as long as they do, and I'm not there!! As she's gotten older, she's more likely to take them out to dinner rather than cook, or to call her daughter to take the kids shopping, but she still never says no, which I love her for!

But there is a difference in how the two grandmas see their role, how they react to problems, and how much they value the idea of me and Kanji as a couple going out.

First of all, we left Erica with a fever... my mum didn't blink an eye at this. Sick kid, so what? I would NEVER have been able to leave a feverish kid with Baachan, she still thinks of fevers as near death, while Mum sees them as, well, just a kid being a bit sick.

We got two calls from the kiddies that night, one to say goodnight, and one to tell us Erica was being sick. Lena called, and I could hear the commotion in the background, and got put on to Amy, and to Grandma, who APOLOGIZED for Lena having called us, she would never have let her call us if she'd known, but while Amy and Grandma were dealing with Erica, Lena had decided the best thing to do was to call Mum. If it had been Baachan, it would have been Baachan calling us, expecting us (me) to return home forthwith.

Because Mum not only viewed a sick kid differently, but viewed a parents' night out differently: to her, our night out together was important, and the kids should not expect to call us in the middle of it with random concerns, and especially not expect us to rush home at the slightest sign of trouble. She even told them off for calling us, and, as I said, apologized for disturbing us. I think if it had been Baachan, we would have had to come home pretty much straight away, acting all concerned, even if we did think she only had a slight cold...

In Japanese society, while the idea of 'couple time' is unusual, the idea of mothers having time away from their kids is almost completely unheard of. It's as if Baachan sees us as 'just popping out for a minute' but always ready to swoop back in if the chicks call for us. The moment a problem crops up, she'll call, with the expectation that we (I) will soon return home and fix everything.

We were so used to this that we groaned when we heard that second phone call, so sure it would beckon us home. It was an unexpected delight to find that, despite the illness and chaos, Grandma was coping just fine thank you, and you two stay out!!

So we did!

Tonight

Erica's asleep on the sofa, Kanji is watching awful Japanese variety shows (lo-ra!) with Amy and Lena, and letting them taste his wine (YUCK!), I am steaming from a hot bath lubricated with red wine.Fridays are often like this, K is home early, we eat together, we have no obligations the next day, so everyone is relaxed, the kids ignore their homework, and we all ignore the clock!

Jiichan is back in hospital, the cancer has come back and we're going to see him in Kurume on Sunday - Father's Day.

And I've finally seen some photos of my adorable first great-niece, Isabelle, what a little treasure! She looks like Erica, dark and fat!

Life goes on.

Erica just wet herself. Guess who cleaned it up and changed her?

While we were watching that section on Music Station where they get kids to listen to the songs that were popular when they were born. It's fun because I have kids in shogakko, so that means they often play songs from when I was living in Japan before I got married, when I listened to quite a bit of J-Pop, so I actually get that "ooo natsukashiii!!" feeling! Nevertheless I always guess them wrong, and K gets them right. And my kids know NONE of them. I don't play much old music, I think I'll have to start catching them up on the history of music!

Busy Weekend

Phew! What a busy weekend! I'm trying not to go out to save money, but stuff just came up. Going out twice in a weekend happens sometimes, but three times is rare, plus I added in a trip all the way to Oita first thing Monday morning, dropping in for a chat with Jo and Katy on the way back. No wonder I spent the rest of Monday flat on the sofa playing video games while diligently ignoring the scattered detritus of three days of no tidying up!

Friday night was Mari's birthday party. She was 23. She's a New Zealander with Japanese parents come to experience life in Japan as an ALT. So it was mostly ALTs, all in English and funnily enough, mostly talking about teaching, though Mari and I also compared notes about growing up bilingual in NZ and Japan. We went to the Turkish restaurant. They just started a new chicken kebab. I was so eager to try one that I went the day before, picked up my pita chicken sandwich and promptly rushed off, having forgotten to pay! Even when I went back to pay, they hadn't realized. Well maybe they just thought I was charging them for the five minutes of English menu proofreading I did while waiting for the chicken to grill.

I had the kids with me that night too, Kanji was working and since we already had them lined up to go to Baachan's to stay the night on Saturday, they had to come. They were pretty good, or rather Amy was, Lena was 90% good and Erica about 40%! Nothing got spilled or broken though (and I blame the owner, Sevki, who likes kids and it was HIM who gave her the life-size lamb to play with and the BEACH BALL!).

Saturday was a combination date night with my hubby, and a night out with some of the Keio staff, so half English half Japanese, and I managed to completely avoid the subject of teaching! It helped that the occasion was the 'Japan debut' of the 'band' of one of Keio staff (I say 'band' cos it was actually just him, he left the other half of the band in the US, though another Keio staff member played guitar with him for one song, and his wife, who also works there, sang with him on another song.). He was really good, I would love to hear the full band live!

Dinner out with hubby first was at a adorable little Italian/fusion restaurant/bar tucked behind the station. We did consider going to it during our last date, but it seemed too full and lively and we didn't want to walk in there, skulk our way to the only table left and compete with the drunks for service all night. But at 6pm on Saturday evening, it was nearly empty, so we got a good table, got personally shown the wine selection (all chardonnay, no sav. blanc alas) and specials board by the chef/owner, who goes to one of K's clubs. We had some superb food, great oysters, a squid and broccoli dish that is about ten times as yummy as it sounds, and a cheese board. Well you know I am instantly happy once a restaurant has a cheese board and some chardy.

I wore some fabulous shoes. Spike heeled black suede ankle boots that had me in pain after the first block. I really need to get a handle on the shoe fetish. Luckily though, I just happened to have a pair of jandals stashed in my shiny silver handbag (gotta be prepared, girls!) and changed into them. And it was when I was changing BACK into the killer heels before we arrived at the 'live house' (Japanese for gig venue) that K sneaked a little kiss... more about that later...

There were several bands on that night, and knowing several radio and live music people we knew half the people in the club and had a great time catching up and introducing people. We also got rollicking drunk, if the bottle of wine and two of beer at the restaurant weren't enough. We could have done without the final handles at Garden, I think, but everyone was going there and it was a good chance to actually chat with people without having to scream at them.

The bands were at the Biliken club, which is basically the only live music venue left now in Nakatsu since Tropicoco burned down last year, and Gate closed a little while ago. The only other place is the studio Player, which has a few tables guests can sit at, but is a bit crowded if your fan base is more than, say, ten people. Which leads us to the main topic of conversation on Sunday night...

I slept until midday on Sunday, what a TREAT!! I woke up lots, I just kept reminding myself that I had absolutely nothing to get up for, and drifted back to sleep. Bliss! I picked the kids up at 5:30 for a 6pm outing. This evening was the whole family, family friends, Indian curry and speaking Japanese all night. It was folk music event (picture 4 50-yr olds taking turns to sit in the corner and gently strum Japanese folk favorites from the 70's).

The Indian restaurant is in an old house, so there are two main restaurant sections, and just one small tatami room, but as we had six kids between us, we got the tatami room. Cue loads of curry, naan, beer and wine, and the conundrum of what on earth to do about the lack of decent music venues, and how sad it is that Troppies went, and why he left in the end and all that gossip... and why Gate closed down, and all that gossip.... and could we open a new place, and what kind of food could we have (how about NZ food? someone said, but I said Nah, NZ food is not interesting!), how much a month's rent is and how many gigs/patrons you'd need to cover it and how we could take turns working there... Ah, pipe dreams you say, BUT you never know, these are guys in their 40's, with the business contacts, confidence and energy to pull off something like this. I sure hope they do, I said the FIRST thing you have to do is have a Halloween party!!!

Oh, and that little kiss... We were SEEN and our friends were reporting our little dalliance back to us less than 24 hours later as we sat down to dinner. Damn small town. 

Dead Guy

Anyone following the Guy/MacDonald murder case?

I don't usually follow a murder case so closely, but something about this one is just fascinating me. Maybe it's because it's close to somewhere I used to live:

(The murder happened at the Red A pin, I lived on the road centre right called Nannestads Line.)

Or because it was so mysterious when it happened - a young handsome guy, Scott Guy, a dad with a pregnant wife, all round good guy, popular, successful, no enemies or criminal back story, is found lying dead one morning in front of his still-running car, shot in the neck. No one has the slightest idea who did this, who would want to do it. It's like the first scene of a particularly good episode of a crime procedural drama, when you are left thinking, "How the hell are they going to find out who did it?" No motive, no robbery, no witnesses, no murder weapon, no fingerprints, no leads. For nine months, the family periodically put out pleas for information, and then...

The case took a sensational turn when Guy's brother-in-law (his sister's husband), who was a pall-bearer at his funeral and his best man at his wedding, was charged with the murder, the motive apparently being jealousy and hard feelings about the future of the farm they were both working on.

Or because it's such a cliff-hanger whodunnit. I'm totally undecided as to whether MacDonald did it or if he's just being framed by bored policemen. The evidence rests on a pair of boots that are now gone, whether or not MacDonald knew more than he should have about the murder, and a previous bullying campaign MacDonald waged against Guy's family in order to intimidate them into leaving, including notes and vandalism. Okay that last bit sounds a bit suspicious...

Before the police determined that Guy had been shot, everyone thought he had had his throat cut and that was the story going around, but apparently this Ewan MacDonald was saying he had been shot. So right now in court, there is an awful lot of minute testimony going down about exactly how much of the body he had seen, and who said what to whom and when. Getting people to remember the grapevine nearly two years after the event!

Awaiting the next turn of the screw...

Blat

Got my Green Machine back again Monday. I think I might have kept the Stream a weeee bit too long this time, it was a bit of a jolt at first, though after the first trip and stop, I was once again converted.

The Green Machine being a 660cc 3-door (plus rear door/boot/vertical hatchback), high roofed, high seated tin can on wheels with seat covers like something of one of Air New Zealand's cheaper plane seats circa 1987, and doors that go 'clangggg' when you shut them; but with powerful, light steering and a wheel base so tight you feel like you could do a 360 on the spot. It's a Mitsubishi Toppo, and I think it's called that because it can spin like a top. Obviously it's a much better vehicle for driving and parking in the narrow streets and tiny spaces in our old part of town, the old castle town. Issues include a missing passenger side visor, a driver's side visor hanging by one screw and often falling down obscuring my view, and sticky doors that threaten to not open at all (that's happened in the past). The automatic door lock button on the key is broken too, but I think that if I unscrewed it and replaced the battery it would work again. It's just that a little job like that is not a priority, in fact it's so far down on the priority list that it comes after 'blob on sofa wondering what to do next'.

And the Stream is a long, sleek, 5-door, 7-seater with all leather interiors, fully automatic with doors that make a comforting 'whump' when you shut them, and hard, fast, COLD air conditioning, a feature which is going to have me back at Jiichan and Baachan's several times over the summer I think, begging to borrow it again! You blat around town in the Green Machine, while you glide around in the Beige Beauty. But it's looooong, and heavy to turn, and while it has a backing camera, the front bonnet is so fashionably sloped that I can't see where the car ends (and the concrete wall begins).  Its size also means I have to turn around to do up Erica's seat belt, whereas with the Toppo, I can reach behind with my left hand and do it! So despite all the comforts of streaming along in the Beige Beauty, I am keen to quickly switch back to my little Green Machine.

Best Kid

So tempting to call this post Karate Kid, but that's just too cliched, so I chose the Japan title.

Erica has started Karate lessons. Amy and Lena had the option too, but declined. Here's my little fighter giving it her best:

She's learning the 'kata' for the first year, form, positions, how to bow! Almost the whole first lesson was how to bow. VERY disciplined, which is just what my little tearaway needs. She was told on the second lesson (above, still no other students in the class) to not hit or kick other people, something we all know from the movie, right?

We were also given a list of rules, or rather lifestyle guidelines, including things like 'be friendly', 'study hard' 'take care of my body': All five numbered 'one' in that odd Japanese manner:

She missed her third lesson with a cold, and for her fourth, I was in Kyoto and she went with Baachan and Aunty Mie. She did not participate in the lesson, but apparently the teacher told them this was quite normal for kids her age, and to just keep bringing her along anyway. So we turned up again this Monday, and he sat her down on the chair and told her she could watch, but she had to sit still and quiet (quite impossible of course!).

There were four other students in this class, so I think watching them finally convinced her it would be more fun to join in than to sit and watch, and she joined in, in the end. Sensei is very strict, but gentle. He even gave us new Mums a little mini-lecture - don't use his name as a threat at home, but do tell them to sit up straight 'like sensei said'.

He likes us to be there for the lesson - it's only 40 minutes, so there's no time to go somewhere and come back - but not to join in the reprimands and keep saying 'shh' 'sit down' 'do it right' etc etc while he's teaching! As a teacher I totally get that, but Baachan had a bit more trouble with it! Kept interrupting to add her piece. I suppose it's hard for her since the teacher is her nephew. That's why she is tagging along - and paying the fee, yay! She let slip yesterday 'and you can take her when I can't go' which I was kind of expecting... damn cos I was hoping it would be the other way around, especially since it's twice a week. Well it means if I can't go, I can ask her, but it'll be me. Sigh, another naraigoto/soccer mom (what DO we call that in NZ?) thing to add to the schedule, but maybe my little Princess will turn out to be a super fighter. She certainly already has the voice for it:

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I'm done, Mum's packages are sent, and I think that's a record! Usually the PO and I have a more leisurely relationship. It helped that Mum threw me the last of the Japanese money in her purse, which happened to be just enough to buy the noodles and send two packages.

One contains clothes and shoes that she knows she doesn't need until summer, and I only realized when I got to the PO that I really have no idea what it is that package, so if it contains any contraband, it's your call Mum!! I think it's the receiver who gets done for importing... In the other were the 'Kluski' noodles and the green tea, plus the glasses case (that turned up in my handbag), the paulownia wood fan and the garish green embroidered handbag. Such random stuff we feel such a strong need to 'send on'! You'll be glad to hear I 'forgot' to put in the blue swirly polyester shirt Baachan gave you in a mini-fit of generosity.

The green tea is for my brother, who actually drinks it. Four funerals' worth (we always get green tea, a hanky or black funeral money envelopes, and some salt, as a return gift at funerals and obviously Kanji's been to four in the last year or so! Mostly parents of club colleagues, no-one close).

The 'Kluski' noodles are Italian egg noodles, which you apparently can't get anymore in New Zealand. When Mum saw them she got quite excited, so we bought them and attempted to make her famous 'one pan dinner', a dish she used to cook when we were kids, a good 'mop-up' dish with the noodles, meat, cabbage and whatever else, flavored with Chinese soy sauce. So when we told my sister Jo that we had eaten that, well she just HAD to have some too. 'Kluski' was the brand name they were sold under, and they stopped selling it a decade or so ago I think. So I send home two packages of that, enjoy your 'one pan dinner' guys! Good old traditional kiwi cooking, haha ha!!

This was all to make Mum's check in smoother of course. We are well aware of that 20kg weight limit, and the fact that while you just might get away with it - if you are very sweet, have a kind check in lady, and the flight is less than full. OR you might get a nervous or downright bitchy check in chick, a full flight, and everydamnone else trying to 'get away with it' too. I've been charged for going one or two kilos over, and the cost is at least twice what you pay to post it, even by the most expensive postal option, so it's worth it to weigh that bag, send stuff on, or at the very least work out what you would take out if you need to. I tend to pack now with this in mind, in my larger canvas clothing bag, everything is in separate bags. And in my suitcase, I will even package books, magazines and food into 1kg packages, for easy removal and posting (there is a PO at the airport in Auckland).

Mum's bag was found to be just one kilo over the the amount they would let us get away with (23kg on a 20kg ticket). Mum's preparation was more in the mind, than in tidy packages, so we had a few hairy 'can anyone see my bra' moments and we jostled the baggage, but it only took five minutes, and we even managed to stuff it all into her carry-on bag, which itself still managed to weigh in under the requisite 7kg. We were certainly having a much better time of it that a couple further up the line from us, who we watched, all the way from the back of the queue to the front, as they desperately re-arranged their belongings. A suitcase, a backpack, and two large cardboard boxes, plus a baby car-seat and stroller. The cardboard boxes were all nicely taped up, and they had to unpackage them, tear off the tape, gut them, and stuff the excess into any bit of backpack they could find a space in, it was obviously the only item coming in under 28kg (the limit for any one piece of luggage). They finally got finished as we approached check-in, and reminded me once again why it's a good idea to weigh before you go!

Lazy sunny summer Sunday

We are just blobbing around, being Sunday.

Here are the kids reading their library books. Amy has started going to the library to supplement her Japanese reading material, and was kind enough to take her baby sister with her. She loves it! And apparently is quiet and well-behaved, even reporting back to us over dinner tonight how you have to "nizuka at the shoshokan". I'm wondering if all that would fall through if I was there... luckily I am not. Much as I LOVE libraries, I hate Japanese ones, it's too depressing when you finally find the 'English' book section and 90% of the books are English learning texts and the other two are books about Japan. Today I managed to get Lena to tag along too, and I went to pick up some items from Cosmos (milk, bread, eggs, noodles for lunch), then just managed to get in a cup of tea and some cheese on crackers before they all came home again.

The thing about this blobby Sunday is that we all keep thinking of what we would be doing if Grandma was still here. We know what she WAS doing today - playing DrawSomething with us!! We are up to 175 now!

We probably would have thought of something to do, somewhere to go, instead of just hanging. 

I think if Grandma had been here, we might have cracked open a bottle of wine, being a warm sunny afternoon, and my cold finally clearing up. We'd have had something different for dinner, because with her input I probably would not have done a 'clear the fridge and freezer' type meal (chicken burritos).

There's no cold tea bag sitting on the little ceramic tea-pot shaped tea-bag tray.

Grandma's chair lies empty, the pillow from my bed still on in.

The big pot is finally back in the cupboard, after serving as Mum's "hot, soapy water" receptacle for a month.

The genkan is minus a few pairs of shoes (but plus two more, as Amy and I bought matching jewelled sandals today)

'Her' room still smells faintly of her perfume. This won't last much longer in this wicked humidity, but it's nice while it does.

The laundry is not yet hung.

The flowers ARE watered, Lena has turned into a watering machine! Yay! But we all stand around those pots of dying crysanthemums and wonder what to do.

Wow, April 19?

Six weeks?

Actually I don't think this is my biggest hiatus, I think I went for a few months a few years ago. So no need to declare it all over!

And I will catch up, actually, I think, because I really would like to blog all of Mum's trip to Japan. It will take ages, but well, I have time right now. I'm down to four lessons a week now, with unspecified proofreading on top, and the AFWJ Pres job, which is what you make it. I have a lot of ideas there too...

Ideas, ideas... for photos, the spare room, the shed, my stuff, my hobbies, my jobs, OH and yeah I joined the swimming club again, so back in the pool!!! Oh, suddenly I feel all busy again.

But not today. I came home from Kyoto with an awful cold, someone stuffed my head full of cotton wool and I feel all weird and every now and then my body decides my lungs should really be on the outside and tries to put them there. So I'm going to harrass my kids into cooking dinner - one can cook the rice, the other one can go down to the shop and get some fried chicken and I just might get busy and saute some spinach to scramble with eggs just so I can say they ate something green today.

Then put them to bed and watch the Jubilee on BBC.

Goodnight!

Erica Says

Walked up to Grandma at the airport to carefully say "Welcome Grandma"

While I was brushing her hair a new show came on Discovery with 'die thingy mans' (soldiers)

Next was a jungle. First she asked me if penguins live in the jungle. I said no. Then I said 'but monkeys live in the jungle'. 'Not jungle, jumple' she said. 'No, it's jungle' I said. 'NO!!! JUMPLE!' she insisted. She  then said she'd show me and ran off to get a pen, and then some paper. She settled herself down at her desk, and a few seconds later called out 'Mum! How do you spell jumple?'

We picked up Baachan at the Stand, and Grandma said something to me. Erica told her to speak Japanese to Baachan please! We explained that Grandma can't speak Japanese, and said, with a very puzzled expression, 'But I can talk Japanese!!

Man flu?

I really shouldn't blog in the evening when I am tired and just want to get it over with, like last night! I ended up taking the path of least effort, deleting things that would require extra explanation, and just plain forgetting really important stuff, like my poor husband upstairs suffering with influenza.

But if you thought this was going to be a rant about bloody man flu and how the world comes to a halt for poor bloke to moan and suffer, you're wrong. I can't. He's could win a prize for stoic endurance, actually came downstairs mid-fever to make his own meals, and diligently tells me he doesn't need anything... the only things I've done for him so far is make the bed and buy a newspaper.

This wouldn't be so bad, only I'm extremely selfishly worried that it means that I will be expected to be just as strong and silent when it's my turn (hoping desperately that my turn won't come, as I am booked solid for the next six weeks). Whereas I, you know, prefer to act like the world has come to an end and everyone should wait on me hand and foot.

Meanwhile the Great Living Room and Study Clear-Out continues at the same snail's pace. Lena and Erica are playing some variety of fetch. Amy is blobbed in my computer chair. Swimming starts in 20 minutes, but I think we will be giving it a miss this week. I'm going to leave you now, check facebook, turn on some music, check on Kanji and see if he wants some ginger lemon drink, stand in the hallway for ten minutes and contemplate where to put all the furniture on Sunday evening, go get some milk for my tea, realize it's getting late and serve dinner, and then lament that I didn't have time to clean up my computer desk as I head out the door to Haradas' English lesson.

(edited to add:
Ha! foiled again. Tired children plus germs meant I decided it was a better idea to just cancel everything. So I DID get the computer area cleaned up...)

Mid-week

I spent most of the day cleaning.

Do you know how often I can write that sentence? Almost never. I finished the bathroom, did laundry, cooked dinner, cleaned the freezer and the shelf above the kitchen sink, which is always a disaster.

The tatami man is coming on Monday, so the living rooms have to be gutted. Amy and Lena are in the middle of clearing out their desks for removal, which of course means the room looks like a tornado swept through. I (I sheepishly admit) have not yet started on my desk area...

And I am once again happily suffering from my own variety of the mid-week hump day - only it's actually more like Sunday night as I contemplate my very short work week of two days. I must search out some more work, but not until after Mum goes, I think. She is in Oman now, probably having the time of her life, very hot, in a desert somewhere or enjoying the shopping in Dubai.

Another good thing about work is that it stops me drinking, I was drinking too much over the spring break, that Journal drove me to drink in the end!!! But I can never drink on a work night and try to avoid it on a school night too, as I am useless the next morning. At least I'll save some cash. Until I make that order from Wassy's, Mum's Sav...

Budgeting

I would seriously ask myself why I got such pleasure out of a bit of economical shopping and buying food for the next three dinners for ¥3000 (with ¥1000 left to buy fish on Friday night for the fish'n'chips hanami excursion), but I think I know why. It's the satisfaction of plinking those shiny ¥500 coins into the savings tin for Mum's trip to Japan and our family trip to Huis ten Bosch (minus hubby, he costs too much).

Or maybe it's the satisfaction of knowing that if I am careful and stretch it out all week I can indulge a little at the weekend, include a meal out, or a hungover trip to MacD's (and the wine to get me hungover in the first place).

Or maybe because I worked hard - four stores in the rain. Or because I estimated the cost before hand and got it nearly all right, except I thought lettuce would cost less and pumpkin more.

Or maybe it was just the most energetic thing I did today. I did not make it to swimming...

Anyhow, for future reference or fellow madwoman budgeters, today's haul:

Shinsenichiba:

Chicken breast meat: ¥184 and ¥214 (budgeted ¥300)

3 pumpkin quarters: ¥285 (budgeted ¥600)

potatoes: ¥100 (budgeted ¥100)

lettuce ¥299 (budgeted ¥200)

Fadie's:

Chips (crinkle cut french fries): ¥299 (budgeted ¥300)

Cosmos:

Tea bags: ¥198 (not budgeted)

Little Mermaid (bakery):

5 butter rolls: ¥500

Half a crusty loaf: ¥225

Small French loaf: ¥120

total ¥895 (budgeted ¥1000)

Youme Town:

Cheese: ¥248 (budgeted ¥400)

Oh, and..

Youme Town:

Japanese champagne, half bottle: ¥498

Six pack of not-even-happoshu fake beer (Nisshin Super Sounama): ¥498

I suppose I should add the menu!

Today, pumpkin soup with bread and cheese

Tomorrow, spicy chicken wrapped in lettuce leaves with chopped tomato, crushed corn chips and parmesan cheese

Friday, fish'n'chips in the park

Annual 'Last Day of Spring Break' post

Only it's technically the day after the last day, which wasn't even the last day really as the girls went to school in the morning to collect their text books and learn what teacher they have this year. Amy has the same teacher again, which is fine as he's okay, but she'd prefer the other sixth grade teacher because she's also the music teacher, so it would be easier for her to ask permission to practice the piano every morning. Lena is in the second class - again - which annoyed her because she's been in the second class in every grade so far. (a random, not an academic assignment). She was upset because her best friends are in the other class.

Busy spring break! Hanami and hanami and out for dinner and something then a day off then another hanami and a night in then another two picnics yesterday. More about those another time when I get the photos sorted.

Our little world has changed again as it does every April. I'm down two classes, and with no Journal to do now, I will have to look for some more lucrative ways to pass my time - after I finish the spring cleaning and Mum's visit is over. We now have nothing on a Monday, juku on Tuesday, nothing (cooking and English at home) on Wednesday, swimming for all three girls on Thursday followed by us teaching the Harada family English.

And I joined the swimming club! Chance to go tomorrow, though I can see myself rewarding myself with a glass of wine for my efforts. Or maybe I should be telling myself I am not allowed a glass of wine tomorrow night UNLESS I get in that damn pool.

Annual 'First Day of Spring Break' blog post

Only it's not the first day of Spring break. We've had several of those so far, including last Thursday, Lena's birthday, when the kids came home before lunch, and the weekend, of course, which just 'felt' different because we all knew it nearly a holiday, and then Monday, when they went to school for five minutes or so to do god knows what, and finally yesterday, which was technically the first day.

I spent that day trying to catch up to myself (work and housework); we also went to the hospital and then spent the evening at a friend's kid's birthday party. It was a bit of a sad occasion actually, as it was also partly a farewell party for the Dad and step-mum, who are leaving Japan.

This morning, we all slept in until 9am, then I said to everyone that we had to tidy the living room before we could do anything else. Lena said, and I kid you not: "Hey, we should do this every day!". Wow. Well! Only ten years of hard slog and constant nagging, and finally, the kid gets it. So I replied, "YES, every morning, and every evening too before we go to bed!" Please!!!!

Actually I had my first Mummy-tantrum on Tuesday morning, when I put the fear of god into them swearing they would NOT leave these rooms in a tremendous mess every day these holiday, or I would jut throw everything out that they dared to put down anywhere but in its rightful place (into the back yard, not into the actual trash, so it's retrievable but still a bit dangerous). At least they are old enough to now to understand that it really is more pleasant to be in a tidy room, and getting to understand how much their behaviour with their everyday items contributes to the mess, or not mess.

First picnic today too. After the room was tidied, I sat down with them at the table, and said "Good morning" in a tone that they said made me sound like a teacher! So I decided today's lesson was going to be shopping for a picnic, and I made them a list and off they went to Youme Town, bringing back bread and cheese and lettuce and tomatoes (while Erica ran away to the neighbor's house and I did some work on the computer).

Amy spent the morning practicing the school song on the piano and the afternoon looking up online intelligence tests and signing up for a brain training program. Where did I get that child? Lena spent the morning playing with her fake horse on the ipad and the afternoon playing with a friend. Once the friend left, she also took the intelligence test and beat Amy! Not a result any of us were expecting, but good for Lena! Erica fiddled about in the adventure-playground-that-would-be-a-garden-if-I-had-a-green-thumb in the morning, then played Stray Souls on the ipad in the afternoon once Lena had abandoned it for her friend. I fiddled with convention photos all day.

And Amy and Lena cooked dinner! The rice was already made, they added salad (I cooked the broccoli) then they toasted ham steaks in the oven to eat with pineapple. They are now watching Disney while I type, I hope I didn't leave it too long to chase them into the bath and a movie has started!

Shopping Day with Lena

Just got back from a shopping day in Oita for Lena's 10th birthday. It was sufficiently different from the trip with Lena - they are different children after all!

We went straight to Park Place, and started off with lunch. We went to Capriccosa, my favorite Italian restaurant and ate a margarita pizza and spaghetti carbonara. We know now to order prudently at that place - too many times we've ordered too much! Nice to see they have introduced a 'regular' size now.

Then we went straight back to the car to change out of my shoes. Sky high wedge boots were a bit ambitious for shopping! I need to wear those only to places where I can guarantee I'll sit down. I also got an ominously sore knee (do I really have to say goodbye to heels forever? Hope not!). I picked up a mall map and walked with it in front of my face to pretend that I was mincing gingerly along because I was trying to find out where to go, and not because I was wearing stupid shoes.

So, with sensible shoes on, we hit the shops again. Lena found what she wanted almost immediately in Jusco. I insisted we check out the specialty stores there as well, because we have a Jusco in Nakatsu! Amy had got her beautiful dress and cardigan at the Gap last year, so I really wanted to get Lena a beautiful dress there too. But no, we breezed through the stores, with nothing catching her eye and doubled back to Jusco and got a pair of shorts (she loves shorts and specifically wanted some) and a pretty top.

On the way we went into the Indian import store Malalaika and she immediately set eyes on some blue sparkly earrings. Again, nothing she saw subsequently matched them. She's a pure instinct shopper.

We also checked out the hobby/fun/junk store. She also had in mind ONE specific thing here, that she had seen at our local Jusco's hobby/fun/junk store, a little battery operated fluffy moving snake thing. We could not find it, so she suggested we visit Nakatsu's Jusco on the way home! We could have just gone there to start with, although that just wouldn't have been as special.

Just before we left, we ate parfait:

The snakey tail-like thingy was not there either, so we came home. She's planning on enjoying the rest of her night with a bowl of popcorn and a movie (Blu). I've promised them pizza later and K is out now buying me wine. Should be a relaxing night for all the family!

Grandma Food

This all starts with a Cracked.com article, here:

Scroll down to the first drawing, and this quote: "Those jars are there to indicate her ability to take care of herself. She opened all those jars without the help of a man because she is self-sufficient."

Read more: The 6 Most Baffling Classic Rock Songs About Women | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-6-most-baffling-classic-rock-songs-about-women_p2/#ixzz1p0IQDgnP

Well really it started in the kitchen yesterday as I wrestled the tapenade jar. No, actually, it started months ago when I was wrestling the pasta jar, failed, and passed it to my handy, biceps-equipped husband to open for me. Only someone must have left out the 'feel shame if can't open jar' gene from my husband, because he handed it right back, saying "I can't!" So I did. So when the tapenade jar wrestlemania began in the kitchen yesterday, I knew not to bother my snoozing hubby. I did it myself. Because I am self-sufficient.

Anyway, the lovely tapenade (from olive-growing Takamatsu in Shikoku, where I went last weekend) went onto a wee cracker sandwich I was preparing as a snack. Usually I have butter and cheese for a cracker snack attack, but I was out of cheese. My second choice is butter and Marmite, lots of it so it squeezes out of the cracker holes in black and yellow worms. But I was out of butter. So I was doing a little taste test - which was better: plain Marmite, tapenade or guava jam.

I got the guava Jam from Raul, who got it from his wife Ana's grandmother in Mexico. I love food from someone's grandma somewhere. I loved MY grandmothers' food - my paternal grandmother decorated wedding cakes and made tiny flowers out of sugar. My maternal grandmother made fantastic vegetable soup, the most amazing meat stews, and simply perfect stewed apple. I used to love staying at her place just so I could have her perfect stewed apples on my weetbix in the morning. My mother remembers her maternal grandmother's borscht and homemade spaghetti. I remember her (Big Nana, we called her) pocket-full of aniseed lollies.

I wonder what my kids will remember of my mother's cooking. I hope it's the beetroot. I wrapped up a jar in multiple layers of packaging tape, plastic wrap and tea towels and brought it back to Japan with me. Mum's coming in May, and she's bringing her recipe with her. Apparently we can cheat a little and use tinned beetroot, and just add her special flavorings. Then maybe I can send a jar back to Mexico to Ana's grandmother to puzzle over.

(PS the guava jam won the contest)

Zest for Life, Aichi, 2007

The most significant different with this convention is the fact that I was pregnant, which made for quite a different weekend.

I had only just found out, so it was too early for it to be widely known, but one woman guessed - she said I just 'looked' pregnant! Since this was Solveig of the magic camera, I think I believe her!

The strongest memory is of the onsen, which I managed to visit FIVE times, due mostly to my being pregnant! The onsen was on a high floor of the facility, with lovely views. I went in on Thursday night after dinner, Friday night, Saturday morning and night and Sunday morning! This onsen was the first time I learned that some people, inexplicably to me, showered AFTER the onsen, to 'wash it off'. ??

The Board meeting was held in the hotel - woohoo! Which meant we early arrivals had an extra night in the same hotel. I stayed with Victoria, who soon guessed my delicate condition due to my not drinking! Not hard to pick when I am up the duff.

Kiwi Louise was my roommate for the next two nights, and I met Juliet for the first time. Great roommate! She was concerned about waking me after partying, but I sleep through anything, and don't snore - I'm the perfect roommate!

Dinner on Friday night was a mixer - we had assigned seats to encourage people out of their cliques, and it was a great idea, I wish more conventions would do that. I ended up sitting beside Ms. B, who had been posting on femail for several weeks before the convention about how she was going to bring her Pride and Prejudice board game. I re-read the book especially just to play, so it was nice to sit down next to her. We played the game later on in the hospitality room. She died a year later, of a sudden heart attack, making my time with her all the more poignant.

There was a quiz after the dinner - Victoria and Alison were on my team, and I can't remember who else! Irish Maryann was quiz master.

Saturday night's dinner's theme was Pretty in Pink, which was designed to fit in with the whole convention's theme and goal of charity for breast cancer. It was, hmm, interesting, to see a room full of grown women dressed in pink! I had a pink, black and white skirt with a net underskirt (another hand-me-down from sister-in-law) which I wore with a pink cotton twin set.

I was in the cabaret! Typically, for anything involving me, it was a disaster. Well, okay the act itself - a quiz show all about New Zealand, which I did with Louise - was great, but the sound system was no good, and for reasons I cannot fathom, the tables were gathered at the far end of the room near the buffet, leaving what felt like an acre of space between the stage and our audience. Throw in thick Kiwi accents and obscure subject matter, and many people had no idea what was going on! Fortunately the people on the stage who entered the quiz did, and we awarded prizes with a Kiwi theme, including a Buzzy Bee toy, to Marie and Vivien.

The panel discussion on Sunday was Zest for Life, and I recall Kyushu's Barbara talking, with her usual irrepressible energy, and also XX, who broke down a bit admitting her marriage was a failure. (She's doing really well now by the way). I don't remember singing, so maybe I managed to escape early enough.

Another unforgettable thing was my bloody suitcase! It was stupidly heavy, but I had thought I could pull it on its little incorporated wheels, however it was on its last legs, or rather last half of one rickety wheel. By the time I left though, just about everyone knew I had a bun in the oven, so I had a lot of help hauling it into a taxi, and from there onto a suburban train and all the way through Nagoya station! One of my helpers still occasionally reminds me not to bring that bloody suitcase!

Uminonakamichi Convention, Fukuoka 2006

Which brings me to 2006, which I still think of as my favorite convention so far.

Victoria, who was Kyushu Rep at the time, called me one day and asked if I would be willing to help organize a convetion in Kyushu next year. This was just before I went to Narita, so I had attended a grand total of ZERO conventions thus far - so of course I said yes! At Narita I kept asking people there what they liked about conventions and writing notes in my diary!

We were four to a room, and my roommates included Susan, and I think Christine and Denise. Correct me on that if I am wrong! Four to a room was a mammoth squeeze, but it was of no consequence - I was hardly there! I still remember the champagne toast we had in that room as the weekend began. Cheers "Southern Comforts" and the Kyushu district, I had a wonderful time hosting that convention!

I drove - it's still the only convention I drove to. Since Victoria and I both endured the marathon cross-town train journey the year before only to arrive late, we pushed for finding a meeting room in the hotel. I still feel guilty for forgetting Michelle's Starbucks cup in there after she so kindly brought us all coffee! I had no experience with Starbucks at the time and just thought they gave out nice mugs every time...

I was in charge of several things at that convention, including the tour on Saturday afternoon, a wine tasting event on Saturday evening and the 'Miss Uminonakamichi' pageant on Friday night. Since I hate beauty contests I wanted it to be much more about personality and luck than about looks or presentation. Dinner was out on the lawn overlooking the bay. The rain stopped just in time. Each table was provided with a bowl of M&Ms, and each person had to choose one. Then they opened the quiz sheet, and had to answer the question that corresponded to the color they had chosen. The table then chose the best story-teller to be their table's contestant in the finals. The finalists told their story to everyone over a mic, with the winner chosen by applause volume, if I remember rightly. The winner was Solveig Boergen, the photographer, which I thought was just fabulous because she spent the whole weekend diligently making other women feel, and look, utterly beautiful with her fabulous glamour shots (She was still establishing her business then, and did glamour shots of women as well as baby photos. She gave us a great deal, and took some superb photos of me!). I believe she won all the chocolate, and a sash and tiara, and got to draw the Early Bird and other prizes on Saturday night.

The tour was a disaster. I think it would be fair to say it was the most pathetic tour ever offered at an AFWJ convention. We drove ourselves in two vans, and drove over the actual umi-no-naka-michi (literally a road running between two islands with the sea on both sides) to Shikanoshima, famous for a memorial to the memory of the lost souls of the original Kamikaze, the wind storm that destroyed the invading Mongolian fleet in the 12th century. I had previously visited the site, and there was a great lookout, a very sombre and ancient memorial and gravestones and a really cool stone map of the world, which I thought I could get everyone to stand on, on their own nation, for a great photo.

However, I had not had the opportunity to revisit the area since my first visit six years before, and found when we arrived at the site that access was closed off! After last year I am no longer surprised at how long it can take to get things back in shape after an earthquake, especially rarely visited obscure historical sites, but at the time it had never occurred to me that there would be damage from the earthquake the previous year, and that the area might still not be repaired. I was very disappointed. We ended up visiting a shrine, and having a wee splash at the beach by the umi-no-naka road. The guests did not complain, and said it was a lovely day trip anyway. I suppose they don't know what they missed.

My next job was the wine tasting, and I was seriously RUNNING back into the hotel after the tour to get it together - I had just enough time to shower and change into my 'wine tasting' dress and rush around gathering toothbrushing glasses from the guest rooms (more on that later). By a stroke of luck, that year I was working with a guy who was teaching English just for the cash, whose 'real life' consisted of being a sommelier (and a cyclist). Well, fantastic! I got him to put it on, and all I had to do was make sure he got the money to buy the wine. He was fabulous, he led us through the language used for wine-tasting - 'cucumber notes' and odd things like that. Thank you Adam!! The wine tasting happened on the pool, which was covered for the off season (it was June, but Japanese only swim in July and August). It was held with no help from the hotel staff, as we wanted to avoid corkage fees, which explains the tooth-brushing glasses! I could not acquire the appropriate amount of glasses, and I did not want to use plastic so somehow I happened upon the idea of using the room glasses! Someone remind me if you know whose idea it was!

I just remembered what I did Saturday morning - Charmaine and I crossed the bay in a ferry to go to a flea market!

After the wine tasting the race was on again, this time to get ready for the cabaret dinner. Uminonakamichi's theme was Southern Comforts - we brought people to the southern-most island of Japan, and referenced both the South Pacific and the American South. So the cabaret theme was Mardi Gras, and we asked people to wear a mask. We also held a mask-making workshop and left a few 100yen shop masks and mask-making paraphernalia in the hospitality room, just to make sure everyone would have a mask and no-one would feel too pressured to come up with something. I changed from my wine-tasting-friendly white, red and black shift dress to a black cocktail dress I inherited from my sister-in-law (I wore another black cocktail dress I inherited off her to the convention the year before).

Three things stand out for me from that cabaret:

1) I won the photo contest, with that photo of naked Amy jumping for joy at the beach. Actually it wasn't a surprise, because the voting was conducted by delivering two red stickers to each convention goer, which they were to use to stick onto the photo they liked the best, with the photos displayed in a clear file folder. I had had a wee sliver of time before or after lunch (which was provided that year, as we decided to add a buffet lunch since there was just nowhere for guests to go) to visit the hospitality room and saw then that my photo was miles ahead. It was cool to win something though. I think I won booze.

2) The convention committee performance: Charmaine had worked SO HARD on preparing special songs for us, from the musical South Pacific ("Some convention evening... you will meet a stranger, across a crowded room...), BUT the sound system didn't work, and we ended up singing a capella, which was okay, but we lost the rhythm, and sang a bit too slow, and it sounded a big choral. Shirin did her best washing 'Japan' out of her hair, but I still feel we didn't do as well as we would have if we'd had music!!! I had practiced so much singing those songs!

3) The male dance troupe. MEN turning up at an AFWJ convention cabaret is pretty rare! Young, sexy dancing men? Unprecedented! It was the tap-dancing students of Kyushu member Barbara, who I'd seen dancing for the first time the previous year. Boy did they get the crowd going! I think it was THE best disco we've ever had!

We went to karaoke after that, I think... or was that Friday night? They had a wee karaoke box in the hotel, which was totally cool and kept all the karaoke fans happy.

The hospitality room that year was a guest room, but with no guests in it. Crafts and books and brochures were spread out over the beds, along with the mask-making equipment and photo contest folder. I think we also sold crafts on behalf of members that year. People gathered in the lounge part of the suite room, or on the floor, or perched on the edges of the two beds. After dinner on Saturday, I plugged in my portable DVD player and threw on some Abba and Boney M. As the crowd began to thin out, I put on Nature's Best, a compilation of NZ music, while me and Louise danced and sang the night away. We were so late up we decided we'd best not crash and bang our way back to our rooms and went to sleep in the hospitality room beds!!

Good thing I did because I staggered back to my room the next day for a recovery nap, to find my bed was BROKEN. I sat on it and just like Goldilocks, it toppled over. A little birdie told me it had happened when X-san sat on the it day before. I'm sure I don't remember it happening! I was hardly in the room!

After recovering a bit from that stupendous hangover, I headed across the lawn to an outbuilding where the panel discussion was being held. Beverly and Tamah were talking about legal steps to take to protect your life in Japan. And I was treated to my first hand-holding and song-singing session. I'm not too fond of this bit, it feels a bit embarrassing to me somehow; I love all my AFWJ buddies, but I don't necessarily want to go round hugging everyone (unless it's Friday night, I'm tiddly on champers and happy to see everyone after a year) and especially since there are TWO songs, and a long history about the spat that resulted in their being two songs, sheesh! These days I slip away before any hands get held...

Narita "Gateways" 2005

My first convention was in Narita in 2005. I was a convention newbie, but somehow that information had been left off my name-tag (newbies usually have some kind of identifying mark so people know to be nice and welcoming to them!) so I was on my own a bit!

The Board meeting on Friday was held in the middle of Tokyo. For those of you unfamiliar with Tokyo geography, Narita is about an hour's train ride from Tokyo! We ended up arriving late for the dinner, and had missed the ice-breaker activity. At the time I wasn't the least bit bothered, as it was my first time, so I didn't know what I was missing, but now that I know how much nicer and pleasant it is when the meeting is either in the hotel or at least very near, I always have my fingers crossed that they do us a favor of finding us a room there!

The Friday dinner that year was al fresco, it was a lovely outdoor area of the hotel. I think I sat at a table with Louise George Kittaka. I knew the board members, and quite a lot of people's names from the yahoo group femail, so I kind of felt like I knew people. I also spent a lot of time that year with Victoria Yoshimura, who I knew from Kyushu, and by extension with the Slimforce group. I also spend pre-dinner drinks with them on Saturday at a bar in the hotel, when I was just wandering around and happened to bump into them.

My roommate situation that year was a disaster, but again I was all starry-eyed newbie-ish and didn't really notice. I was in a room of three, pot luck. Upon arrival I realized 'three' meant two normal beds - and one camp stretcher. Luckily for me I arrived second and scored a bed. I drank quite a bit that night and staggered back to my room, using the bathroom to change. One roommate was watching TV from her bed while the other roommate was trying to sleep on her cot. I went to bed and roommate No.1 proceeded to chatter away to me. Like I said I was a bit tipsy and a newbie, thought well this is just what it's like, so I chatted back a bit, between laying my head down to strongly hint that I was ready to sleep now. Roommate No.3 said nothing, but I caught her at reception the next day - booking another room. She would rather pay than spend another night with us! I didn't feel too bad, as I was not the one watching TV or initiating the conversation (I was ready to go to sleep) but was still rather surprised! On the second night again Roomie was watching TV when I got back, but I had had even more to drink that night, so it didn't keep me up at all! I did ask her why she was watching TV, she said something about having kids at home, and not much time, and she liked it, which is fine, but I think she should have noticed that the other two people in the room were trying to sleep! Roomie 2 apologized to me for leaving, and tried to make it clear that it was 'just her, I have trouble sleeping' and I still wonder if she thinks it was as much me as the other person, although I had every intention of heading straight to sleep!

I had spent my night in the hospitality room, with smoke breaks in the lobby, and a few drinks there too once the hospitality room had closed for the night at about 1am. I had caught a group in the elevator who were heading out to karaoke earlier, but I felt like I might be missing something of the actual AFWJ convention if I left, so I stayed. I enjoyed chatting to random people in the hospitality room. I remember sitting at a table with three Germans who I thought were so kind to continue to speak in English for my sake! It was a seminar room, with long tables around the edges of the room holding mountains of goodies to eat and drink, books and magazines to give away and brochures and maps of the local area and places to eat and drink. We sat around tables in the centre.

On Saturday morning I attended a flamenco dancing workshop, then went on a tour to Narita temple, walking all through the old town. I thought I should get out and see some of the area I was staying in! Lunch that day was a box of rather ordinary sandwiches at the hotel. I remember meeting Candace for the first time out by the pool while we waited, but I ate lunch with Vicky M. I'll eat anything so I was happy with the sandwiches, but you could sense the polite disappointment, and the frustration of the convention committee, who did their best, and provided lunch because the hotel was in an out of the way place, with no restaurants nearby.

The Saturday night cabaret theme was National Costume (the convention theme was Gateways, with the idea that being close to Narita made it easier for travelers to get to). I wore all black, of course, with a bone carving. All the other kiwis there wore all black too! We all looked rather elegant, although one had added stuffed sheep to her shoulders.

I still remember that cabaret as one of the best. There were several dance performances, and I love watching dance. There was flamenco, hula, tap and Indonesian dance. I also was treated to my very first Bonnie comedy, Aunty Mary that year. That woman is SO funny!!!! I videoed it all, and have NO idea where that tape is now!!

I only caught some of the panel discussion, and I don't recall the topic. I had to catch a plane back, so had to leave early, though I remember popping by to see part of it but missed the famous singing. More about that next time...

I also missed the optional lunch, which was held in a restaurant popular with some of the locals, but a little out of the way for attendees who needed to head back to stations and airports. One person told me she spent three hours on trains that day!

Conventions

Every year I get as far as the above title, sometimes I even get as far as creating separate posts for the separate days, but I never get around to posting!!!

I'm busy, I'm tired, and also, I think, I feel like I have to catch up on the rest before I can update the first. There's history, you see, and I can't talk about the latest one now without referring to all that history! So I am going to catch up!

I've been to six conventions, in 2005 (Narita), 2006 (Uminonakamichi, Fukuoka), 2007 (Nagoya), 2008 (Kagoshima), 2011 (Odaiba, Tokyo) and 2012 (Takamatsu, Shikoku). They were all fantastic, all fun and all follow a set pattern, while being quite unique in the details.

Some things they all have in common:

A raucous Friday night dinner party with excited friends happy to be seeing each other again; casual, often al fresco or buffet dining and often a quiz or games session thrown in,

Workshops on Saturday, including art, crafts, dancing, exercise, and local tours,

A formal Saturday dinner and cabaret, often a sit-down multi-course meal, and a cabaret show featuring acts from club members, usually including music, comedy and dancing. The dress code is often themed to match the official convention theme,

A hospitality room - a space set up for attendees to just hang out and chat with each other, usually filled to the brim with donated food and drinks, and second-hand goods for giveaways,

And a panel discussion on a set theme on Sunday morning, often a theme that fits in with the convention theme.

Several other features are more hit and miss:

Roommates: do you scramble to find one ahead of time or throw yourself into the pot for a random placement? Will it be 2, 3 or 4 person rooms? Roommate disaster stories abound, but success stories are much more common.

Hospitality room: will it be a public space in the hotel, or a private room? Will it be a guest room occupied by a convention committee member? Will it be all day and all night, or have restricted hours? What other spaces does the hotel provide (karaoke, bars, smoking rooms?).

Lunch: will it be provided or are we on our own?

Sunday lunch: often presented as an optional extra, but not part of the official fee - will it be offered at all, and if so, where and how much?

Board Meeting: will the convention committee find a room at the hotel for the Board, or are they on their own? This has been quite important to me, as I have been on the Board for seven years now, and always attend the meeting at conventions!

Spring, Shopping, and Irrepressible Four-Year-Olds

Spring! Open doors, heaters off, windows down in the car, no jackets needed outside, but by far the strongest indicator is the fact that I a) cleared the table of 2-3 items b) put the kettle on c) gathered up some items to take to the laundry and d) helped Erica with her sleeve, IN BETWEEN getting my bra on and actually get my top on, without dying of cold.

She's off again today, final day of illness I hope, but I don't mind having my little side kick around, she does funny stuff like twirling round and round on the spot singing a song, just to see what would happen if she turned round and round on the spot singing a song. We went shopping.

So we went shopping. Shopping in Japan with a kid is such a treat. Japanese people haven't forgotten how to be nice to kids, or more importantly, how to ENJOY them.

First stop, Post Office. When we finished, Erica turned around, hands in the air, saying "Where's my present?" I turned around to look back at the busy staff and told her they were too busy. She was happy with that and off we trotted, but it just show how used she is to getting a present from the staff, usually a couple of balloons.

Next stop, the bank, where she took off to the area between the main entrance and the ATMs, where I was, to practice some floor-tile challenges of the sort only a four-year old can dream up. She came back with three balloons and the ATM helper staff lady beaming from ear to ear giving her a cheerful goodbye.

Then we dropped by the chemist, a huge shop with three gaggling young lady staff, one customer (me) and Erica. Guess who became the most interesting thing happening? She was rewarded for existing by being given a present - a little plastic pink elephant-shaped money box, which she proceeded to HUG, which of course delighted the gaggle of girls and sufficiently rewarded them for the generosity.

Finally we went for a bit of clothes shopping, which is a bit of challenge for poor Mummy in Japan, due to the fact that the XXL clothes that fit her are made for 5-foot tall soccer-ball bodies, NOT tall, broad-shouldered busty booty-toting bodies. The shop I went to, the cheap one, has kids clothes too, and a very convenient mini-arcade in the back corner, behind the kid shelves, back where the noise and running will bother no-one but Mummy shoppers anyway. I wasted ¥300 on rides and games for her, while go back to check the shelves. I ended up with new pants, sweater and sweatshirt, she ended up having a fantastic fun morning with a new friend she made back there.

Grudges

I had my first go at holding a grudge. I can't say I recommend it. I woke up in my usual morning cheer, but with a nagging feeling that I should be mad. Like I have to nurse my anger and cherish it carefully to justify stomping around last night and refusing to make eye contact with a husband who really didn't do anything wrong and would have been ready for a loving apology-and-make-up session a few hours after the (minor) incident.

We hardly fight at all, and it's never big, and always over soon. My little annoyances are over quickly with a short burst of nagging, after which I bounce back pretty quickly. His, he deals with by bottling it up and pretending he's not really mad, which fools no-one, or well okay, it fools Erica, and Lena would probably allow herself to be fooled, but Amy and I are sensitive to it. Sometimes it annoys me that we have to deal with it long after the fact, but I usually totally ignore it (not him) because I don't think his silliness should intrude on my normal good cheer or upset the kids. But he then gets over it a few hours later with the help of a nice meal, a few beers and a lovely chat with the family. We used to fight bigger when we were first married, but even then it wasn't very often.

But I was SO tired from this flu and the follow-on, and had just got home from the hospital with Erica again, and I just could not be bothered pretending to be all cheerful and pretending he wasn't really fuming over there in his corner, and tired of the fact that he 'needs' the time (and the beer) to get over it, and since I was already not very keen on eating, and would have to put in an effort just to enjoy it anyway, I just could not sit down and eat. I went back to the computer and ate after he had finished. By that time he had put on a Twilight movie 'for the kids' which annoyed me more, but again I just did not want to go there, so I ignored it, but finished up dinner and saved a poor frightened Erica from her spot near the sofa where she was diligently NOT watching the screen and took her bed.

Which leaves me this morning feeling like I somehow have to defend my decision to hold the grudge by exaggerating how awful he was or how upset I was. Dumb idea. I just can't be bothered. Hope he just forgets it all!

Edited to add: he came home, and all was conveniently forgotten. Nice.

Fevers and then more fevers

I had the oddest night Friday night. My fever broke, and I knew that that was what was happening, but I still found everything strange! I remember thinking, hey, I took those pills (with codeine in them) at 8pm, they can't still be doing this to me, they don't usually do this to me anyway, they only have a spit of codeine in them, not enough to get wasted like this!

Then I'd fall asleep again. Hot and cold. Chilly and wrapping up in the blankets while simultaneously being so covered in sweat that my pants were literally sticking to my legs like I had just got out of a swimming pool. Sorry, TMI, but if it helps, it was that sickly sweet sickness sweat, not the smelly underarm BO type! I'd touch my legs and think, that's so weird, then nod off again.

I woke up to a much lowered fever of course, and everything was hunky dory until just after lunch, when Erica suddenly came down with a new fever. One minute, she was singing to herself, doing a puzzle at her new desk (just a fold-out picnic table) then suddenly she told me she was cold. She nestled into my arms, and I could feel how hot she was. 38.5, that quick! She was asleep in no time, leaving me utterly convinced she had pneumonia because she had coughed so much before bed the night before, and that therefore I was going to be spending the next two weeks in hospital and would have to miss the convention.

Luckily her lungs sounded fine when I took her to the hospital after she woke up, and I just got a prescription for antibiotics. Her fever was down to normal again by evening making me wonder if I hadn't imagined it all. But that was after I'd dosed her up with a bit of everything, antibiotics and fever meds, plus her normal anti-allergy and anti-asthma meds, but not the cough medicine because I felt with all the rest in her, that was enough!

Meanwhile Lena runs a low fever nightly, it seems. She's been like this since she got a cold - every night, about 37.5. Either she's always been like this, and I didn't notice (it would explain why she's the only one of my kids who goes over 40 when she's sick) or her immune system is still running on overtime staving off all the colds and flu. Or she has some dreadful disease, so I am totally NOT going to google 'long-running low fever' I am just going to hope it goes away... and tell the doc about it on Tuesday at her usual monthly asthma check.

Blah

Can't believe how long it's been since I posted so I'm just filling the space! We have flu. My turn now, Lena seems okay, Amy's fever did not go higher than 37 so we didn't take her to the doctor because she HATES the up-the-nose flu test more than she hates being sick! I got Erica tested though, and she's on Tamiflu so I can only assume that's what Amy had, which means we sadly had a flu party last weekend...

So my turn, and I finally have an actual fever to show for it, an essential element to be taken seriously as a sick person in Japan. And by an incredible stroke of luck I have the next four days off work. Lucky me. I have an essay to check and the online Journal to upload, wine to order and reports to load into my ipad, but that's about it, I think. I'm SO not going to go check my to-do list, lol!

If I feel better tomorrow I might load some photos of the party

The Tuesday masquerading as Thursday

I had my Thursday classes today, because they have some event on Thursday. I totally got the run-around though - turned up in my classroom to a bunch of kids who had no idea English was on this morning. I showed them the schedule, but theirs was different. So I went to check at the office anyway. After making a few phone calls, the manager confirmed that it is indeed English time, and I went up again just in time to catch another teacher heading to the room. No, it's English now, I said, and again schedules were consulted. My bad - wrong class. YES I had English, but with the Denshi group. I had walked in on the Kikai A group. I had recognized the students of course, as I teach them on Fridays, but had failed to twig that they were Friday's group not Thursday's. Of course, they didn't tell me, they were as confused by my confident statement that 'Thursday is on Tuesday this week'.

Which left me wondering where the heck Denshi had got to. The other teacher helped out a little bit, as in he stood by and hummed and hahhed and sucked his teeth a bit for moral support. I settled on the noisiest room with lights on - voila! I found my Denshi. And walked in on ANOTHER class who had no idea English was today. Several had their textbooks on them, some more had them in their lockers (tsk tsk, that means they never take them home to study!) and I only had to photocopy an extra 8 copies in the end.

Then at the end of the class, I sat at my desk, calmly waiting for them to pack their bags and leave... only they didn't. Finally one student, whose head is screwed on a bit tighter than the others, told me they had their next class in this room... so off I went again upstairs and downstairs searching for Kenchiku.

View of all three floors of the lecture block, with many classroom doors, taken from where the other teacher and I 'conferred'

Another round of phone calls, another mid-corridor conference while eyeing up classroom doors and a room was settled on, and voila! again, the students turned up. With textbooks too!

The manager actually apologized at the end of the class!

All in all, I think I like having Thursday on Tuesday. The afternoon was less rushed without the kindy transfer, although of course if Tuesday was really Thursday, I suppose I would do it that day anyway... well, only four more OIT classes until spring break, and a chance for me to get this house decluttered!

Fun Fun Friday

Lena said we must for sure play a board game tonight, as it's Fun Fun Friday, but so far she's too swamped in Disney shows and seems to have forgotten. It's 7:32pm and they are just eating their instant curry dinners. I seem to sway on Friday between giving them take aways or instant food, or going all out and cooking something really fantastic.

But it's always family night on Friday night, sometimes we watch a movie, or play games, or just eat a long leisurely dinner at the table. Now that the kids are older, they really LOVE that, and love to sit and talk with us. Unlike most other nights of the week, on Friday we are all home. Except tonight, Kanji went to the kodomo-kai meeting (meeting of parents of kids who live close and walk to school together). I sent him off with a kiss and a sincere thank you - it's normally the Mum who does stuff like this.

Tonight's plan is to make peppermint chocolates and a "Pin the carrot on the snowman" game for a party tomorrow. Amy has been set with the job of designing the snowman. I am right now trying to persuade her to just let Erica draw whatever she wants, and we'll use what works and discard what doesn't. If I can tear Lena away from the TV for long enough, I'll set her to work on the carrots and twigs. And I will search for a peppermint bark recipe that suits what I have already bought (ten blocks of Ghana) and crushed (twenty or so mini-candy canes, crushed to powder, I rock!!)

And that's our Friday. Other projects on the Go include a colour Journal, music blog post for AFWJ, and trying to get all my iphone photos onto a USB stick so I can finally take them off the phone without fearing I will lose them all, after which I will finally be able to see if the phone sound works, after which I will finally be able to take the phone to the shop and get them to fix it.

Birthday party tomorrow, and fondue party on Sunday! Happy Weekend everybody!

Bad Day, Bad Week

Things that are annoying me:

A certain person in a certain club who is being mean... and all the hand-wringing that results.

Stupid doctor laughing at me - same one who told me off a few years ago. The guy has no respect.

Not being able to find the Rawleighs.

Having done exactly 1, ONE, kitchen task on my Official Kitchen Spring Cleaning Week.

Mess. Particularly the way how once it starts, everyone thinks they now have carte blanche to just throw EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE!

Okay, No. 4, probably the one you want to LEAST hear about, ha ha ha!

On Tuesday, I ended up standing in a cold classroom. Watching Amy's and Lena's observation lessons - Lena's class were doing 'how to make friends/not make enemies', Amy's class were doing a survey. They were both diversity/anti-discrimination/anti-bullying type things.

Wednesday morning I took all the kids to the doctor for their monthly asthma check, which I had forgotten about on Tuesday because of the observation lesson! I had time too, I just forgot - suddenly it was not a normal Tuesday, so my brain died. Lena had some more checks for her sore tummy. She had an x-ray and an ultrasound. I kidded her about her 'baby' - "Oh my God, it looks like a goat!!" (it did too). But I was pretty thrilled to get same MORNING x-ray and ultrasound for a total cost of $30. Moments like this I LOVE Japanese health care! Erica was also checked for her cough - all fine. And Amy asked, and was allowed, to drop one med - the allergy med. Not that she ever has it anyway.

Wednesday night we were BACK as Lena had a major asthma attack. Well, the doctor said it was mild, but he's not her mother. It was HER worst, anyway. Actually I stayed very calm and helped her to not panic - she nearly lost it a few times, stood up to have a panic attack and I managed to calm her down and get her breathing more evenly. It seemed to take FOREVER to get seen, but was probably only 20 minutes. She had a nebulizer treatment and we were sent home with patches, which got her through the night and she's right as rain tonight. Maybe it was just a panic attack brought on by this systemic abdominal pain she seems to have. Poor thing.

AND back again today for the flu shots. YES I KNOW we are late in the season for them, sorry, we just didn't have time/money before. Don't laugh at me meany doctor. Don't tell me it's too late in the season then ask me if I want to continue. Only Amy and Erica got them, as Lena still has a fever. My student gave them to them, I'll have to hassle him about it in class next week (he was not the meany doctor, the meany doctor was the same one who harrassed me several years ago for taking Amy off her meds, which I did after the NZ doctor told me I could).

So much for the week of cleaning. Wanna know what I did? Cleared the shelf above the recipe books of detritus. That's all folks. Well, I still haven't done the colour Journal or Stanley (more about him later) so I have flagged it for this week. Journal and Stanley tomorrow, plus write a gazillion emails re. problem No. 1. Go to work then come home and do more work at home. Skating on Saturday then a movie night with pizza and ice cream (and wine!). Lie on my bum all day Sunday and DO NOTHING. Maybe clean next week...

PS, still haven't found the #&'%&# Rawleighs