Soberbooking

and blogging, and blogging and blogging and blogging and blogging. And thinking about Tumbling. Yes, that is five different blogs I am thinking about, plus the Tumblr idea, which is more nostalgia, once I get some old stuff scanned...

I'm not drinking tonight, so no drunkbooking, maybe some soberbooking, or just booking (I might pretend I'm drunk). I have too many things to do tonight, too many things to do tomorrow, plus I have only 27yen left in my purse for this week.

It's a peaceful Friday night, Erica is playing with the kittens, Amy and Lena are doing homework, I think. K is in the kitchen cooking. I couldn't for the life of me think of something to cook this morning, (plus all my money for the week was GONE on late fees for DVDs I forgot to return - ¥2700) so he decided to cook something. Now he's preparing salmon with vegetables and butter wrapped in foil and baked. He cooks well, but has no idea about timing and children's empty stomachs!

I had a funny week. After PANIC on Tuesday after losing the calendar, I finally got it finished at sent off. OH SHIT! Just remembered I had better give them MY address to send it too, or it'll end up with last year's mailer! I'll just pop out and do that, and I'll be back.

Okay, that's that done. I only had one essay this week, so I actually found myself BORED. Not that I lack a mountain of household chores to do. And I clean forgot about my blogs. I'd just sit at the computer checking my mail boxes and thinking there had to be something I was supposed to be doing!

As the first line of this blog suggests, I found the answer. Two down, three to go. Then trademe things to send, and a kitty corner to create. A cookbook to create and a house to declutter. Recipes to sort and old photos to scan. Really, I have no business being bored, none!

The kittens: they are now double the size they were when we got them (400g --> 800g) but still have rather nasty ringworm. They are absolutely adorable though! "It's so fluffy I could die!".

Drunkbooking 101

1. Wake up, get onto facebook and reply to every post

2. Cook dinner and do laundry IN THE MORNING to minimize distractions

3. Check fb again at lunchtime, and during breaks at work. Comment on everything. Make some semi-controversial comments about a subject you feel indifferent about. A good debate is interesting and instructive. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES comment on any subject you feel passionate about. Being attacked and offended is not fun, no many how many wines you've had.

By the time you actually get that first glass in your hand, you should have a dozen or two shiny little red notifications to work with!

4. Post cute pic of kids and/or kittens.

5. Update status with something interesting, dammit! Preferably a question.

6. Keep commenting on everything. Laugh a lot. Post update of a hiccup to see how many likes you get (good indication of how many other drunkbookers are out there).

7. STOP. Or pick a close friend or two to have a super stupid long dumb conversation with, but for God's sake otherwise, just STOP!

7.1 Go back, just for a minute... just to see...





10. Wake up next day. Do not check facebook at all, ever again. Swear not to drink again either. Yeah right.

I did it!

I spent the whole day quite sure that I would be heading this post 'thwarted'.

All I have wanted since about June was to come home from work on a Friday afternoon, and enjoy a nice glass of wine before the sun went down.

There's something special about that hour, the moment of transition between day and night. And there's something special about those first two glasses of wine, and the gentle buzz and happy feeling that result. It's a tiny slice of heaven when the two combine.

Easy enough you say, just waltz in, ignore children, head to fridge, grab glass, uncap wine and drink away, BUT no....

It has to be PERFECT you see. There can't be laundry hanging around, waiting to be hung, folded or put away. Dinner must be prepared, the room tidied. Then I can relax and enjoy the moment. So, too many times I've rushed home from work, then spent the next hour, or even two, trying to catch up and clear things away before I can truly feel I am in that 'now I can sit down and relax' space. So I've managed to fail every week, sometimes because it was too hot outside, with too many mosquitoes, sometimes because it was raining, sometimes because we got home too late, sometimes because I was finishing up laundry or taking too long cooking something.

And when the sun clouded over as I drove towards home today, I was so sure I would be adding today to the long list of thwarted Friday afternoon sunshine wines, but NO! I did it!

A tiny sliver of sun shone into the yard for just long enough to light up one glass of champagne.

(Grudgingly, I have to be thankful to the gardeners who trimmed that big tree in the corner. I usually despise them for promising me they'd just 'cut a little' then butchering the whole tree).

Time...

Funny how when you unexpectedly get some, you don't know what to do with it.

Waiting for homework to finish, no essays to do, AFWJ business 'booked' for tomorrow morning.

An average day. Thursday is much, much better since they kicked Erica out of daycare and Kanji moved back to the main gasoline stand. Now he just turns up at home at 8:30 and I leisurely trot myself off to work, no running around trying to find the right towel, two pairs of clean knickers, the right cup, etc etc, then doing the drop-off and crossing my fingers that sensei won't have something to chat about as I watch the clock... merely preparing a bento seems like child's play after that, and even easier today since we had NOTHING in the house so I instructed K to buy her one at the combini.

Lovely bunch of new students, and I have pointedly NOT asked for a photo sheet this year. The last two years I've had one, and managed to not remember any names at all. I think I relied on the photos too much and didn't make an effort. This time, I've gone back to my old system of visual cues, mnemonics and puns. Taisuke looks like Woody Allen. Kenta has pretty eyes like the Kenta last year did. Daiki reminds me of that friend of K's who hugs him a lot. Takahiro is short and thin (while the name means tall and wide). And much less nice ones, like 'pizza-face' and 'cone-head'. But IT WORKS dammit!

I was supposed to spend the afternoon sipping tea at my computer screen and proofreading a medical academic article, but it never turned up. I'm a bit annoyed about that, because if they send it to me now, with the original Friday deadline, that means I have one awful Friday ahead of me. And if it doesn't, well, that was rude, not to mention a loss of cash!

Karate again tonight. All the other students have been upgraded to the other class, although all of them started after Erica. So it's just her and Sensei. The first half of the class is fine, when he is more gentle and instructing her. But then towards the end he starts getting tough (part of the game), she starts to cry. Can't win any fights if you burst into tears anytime someone smacks you. I wonder if he wants to kick her out, but can't because Baachan's his auntie. I'm quite determined to be the most stubborn in this fight.

Kitties are still sick. I think it's ringworm not mange now, and little Cinnamon has it worst. She doesn't eat at much as the others and is a whole 100g smaller. I hope they don't have to be shaved.... they are very very cute now belting around the room, up on the sofa, on top of the cage. They are terrified of the vacuum cleaner, no prizes for guessing that one, and happily really hate getting squirted with the water bottle, so the shoji are still in one piece - I caught Genki very delicately pulling at a tear in the paper with just one claw.

Monkey party was a success.... promise some photos from that!

A Lull in the Proceedings

Kitty update: I can't see them right now, but I can hear them... one is scratching on the Princess tent, trying to 'catch' a piece of elastic. One is under the computer table, climbing up on the speakers. THUNK there goes one falling behind the sofa against the door. schuk...schuk... Erica's hardhat skidding across the floor... PLOP one falls onto the sofa... clatter! as one dives into the peg basket and knocks it over!

They've grown about 1-200g each in two weeks, and are about two months old. They tear around the room like maniacs, jumping on each other and stalking things with their little bums wiggling. We have a spritz bottle of water ready to squirt them when they try scratching the paper doors or tatami, or climb up the screen doors or paper shoji doors.

They got mange... the Vet calls it 'kabi' which also translates as 'mould' but it looks like mange, caused by mites, so I guess it's the same thing. Apparently they inherited it from their mother (who I saw the other day, looking like a new lady, fat and healthy! And hopefully not pregnant again). I've given them two baths, and that is to continue, twice a week... forever? A wet kitten is a pitiful thing. Without that fluff, they are bony rattish creatures. It takes over an hour for their fur to dry. They get so cold and shiver, so I wrap them up in a blanket with a hot water bottle and cuddle them for half an hour after the bath. I've been treating the mange sites with cream and lotion, but from today we have switched to medicine. And yes, I DO remember how to give a cat medicine, it came right back to me!

Meanwhile the human children have been busy too. Amy just came back from her school trip to the Peace Park in Nagasaki, where they visited the museum and some sites associated with the nuclear bomb. They spent the night in 'school trip hotel' and then went to Huis ten Bosch the next day! She left early Thursday morning, and Lena also had a field trip that day, she visited a car factory, airport and courier depot. AND Erica did not have daycare, but Keio kindy that day, so both her and Lena needed a packed lunch (normally I have NO lunches to do on Thursday) and all this on the first day of a new semester at the college.

That's why this is the lull... it's full on tomorrow. Erica's super-duper Monkey Party is on Sunday, but Yuki, her birthday twin, can't come! So we've invited them tomorrow, and made an extra cake, so he will come tomorrow with his sisters. I will be baking and making all day, and preparing for the party. It's her fifth, so even though she won't start school until she's 6 & 1/2 here, it still feels like a big deal to me! We've invited all her kindy class (only six in the class so no big deal) plus a few others. At first I was going to continue into an evening barbecue, but then we were invited to another barbecue, which I am REALLY pleased about now! It'll be SO good to just leave the house, go to someone else's and just sit on my butt drinking beer. SO much to do in the 45 hours between then and now, but I'm focussing on it as my reward for a party (two parties) well done!

Message from Genki:
"5____ww7777euussssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss  z                                ı

y"

Little Kitty-cats

What I thought I would be doing today: cleaning out the downstairs toy closet and computer cupboard, maybe going for a swim, definitely taking the kids for their swimming lesson, making Oakhill Potato and the Frankfurter dish and finishing the day chatting with Mum and my sister Jo over a wine.

Ticked off that list: wine.

What I never dreamed I would actually be doing today: being interviewed for a TV soft news piece, adopting three kittens and nearly setting fire to the kitchen...

**************************

I was feeling out of sorts this morning as I drove around town shopping for a mini desk for Erica, doing some banking and the shopping for those dishes I was going to cook. I had watched a TV ad for Proactiv, which I hated firstly because it was set in a school room, with the teacher touting the product, and secondly, because one school boy asked "I thought it was formulated for 'gaikokujin' ('foreign') skin?" to which know-it-all teacher replied "It's been re-formulated for Japanese skin!". Only problem is, what exactly is 'foreign' skin? Chinese? Indian? Norwegian? Kenyan? Peruvian? Proactiv is an American product presumably sold to Americans, a population which includes every ethnicity on the planet, including Japanese. 

The 'specially for Japanese skin' line is just a marketing ploy that feeds off, and feeds into, the notion of Japanese people being "unique", which just bugs me.

It didn't help that the other two YokoYamas in town did not sell Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, only the CabSav and Gewurtztraminer AND I passed a Nationalist truck on the way back. There are blessedly few ultra-nationalists in Japan, but they make themselves heard, driving around town in big black buses with tinted windows (shame, boys, shame!) blaring nationalist songs from a loudspeaker. I rely on general Japanese non-violence, but honestly, those trucks scare me! If any violence is going to start in Japan, it'll start with them. I don't think it's a coincidence that they were out today, with the trouble over those stupid islands and the awful anti-Japanese protests in China.

So I was very out of sorts this morning, and getting a little frustrated that my main goal for the day - to clean out the toy closet - was not getting any closer to being done. I got home in time to air out the mini desks (which were wet, but hey, for 800yen at the second hand store I was not complaining!) and have some lunch and do all the laundry before I had to go pick Erica up from kindy.

It was when we arrived home that I heard the kitten crying. We have a lot of stray cats around here, so every year there are kittens somewhere. At first, I thought it was one of the May lot, that Mum and I and the kids tried to catch/watch. But at the same time I knew the cry was too young, and wondered if another litter had been born. The house in front of me is currently unoccupied (the old lady went to live in a care home) so I surmised that a mother cat had had a new litter over there. I wanted to see the kittens if I could, so I followed the sound. I checked over the front fence and over the side, before I realized it was coming from MY shed! I opened the door to check, and yes, the plaintive MIAOW was coming from within! 

I moved away the kerosene cans, the Christmas Tree, the spare table and the iMac boxes, and I saw a tiny gray kitten poking its head out from between an old shelf and a plastic storage box. I also heard hissing, and at first I thought that this bold little kitten was calling for aid AND telling the world to piss off at the same time. Then I saw the mother cat, and two more kittens, inside the plastic box. The best thing to do was scoop up the kitten and give it back to its mother. But not before I had a wee cuddle and let Erica have a hold too.

A hour later, Lena came home, too late for the swimming lesson (which I had already given up on because I cannot find Erica's swimsuit), but carrying with her a meishi (name card) from TOS, the local TV station. She said that she had met this woman in the street who wanted me to call her. So I thought maybe this is another model scout, and I would call her later. 

It was only when I remembered about the kittens and told Amy and Lena about them, so they could go and have a look, that Lena told me that the TOS lady was looking for stray cats. Amy and Lena leapt out to the shed to see, and I got the story from Lena that the TOS people were here specifically to report on the stray cat problem in our neighborhood, and were wandering around looking for stray cats. 

This was all too bizarre to be true, so of course when I walked out the front gate, the TOS lady was right there at the end of the drive. It was just that kind of day. We spent the first ten minutes talking about bilingualism - turns out she is married to an American, has three children, is from Usuki and just moved back to Oita last year. She wants to do a piece on bilingualism sometime, so at first we chatted about how I kept up my kids' English. Once we got all that over I told her about the kittens in my shed. 

She immediately called her cameraman, who was off somewhere filming god knows what, because they specifically wanted to catch some stray kittens on film for their news report. She made sure the cat was not mine, and I assured her that I had just found them an hour ago! Before long, I had a cameraman in my shed, filming the cats, and they also decided to interview me, for my opinion on the local cat problem and how I came to have three kittens in my garden shed!

So, I will apparently appear on TV tomorrow night, as long as nothing important happens. Bonus - Rie, the news lady, being fluent in English, interviewed me in English. I was relieved, because I was panicking about how to say it all properly in Japanese! Sorry people who want to confirm that we do indeed speak Japanese... it was just too easy to say yes to English!

Part II

Camera crew gone, kids still checking the kittens every five minutes, and Kanji comes home. 

And wanders into the kitchen, as he does. "So, I'm going to be on TV tomorrow" I said. "eee?" he said.   And in one moment, me, Amy and Lena tell him what had just happened. Next minute, they all went out to the shed to view the kittens again. 

When they came back in, we had to talk... and answer the question the TOS interviewer asked: "What are we going to do with these kittens?"

"Call someone to take them away" K suggested. We all groaned. There must be another way! I suggested that we should find someone to take adopt them, there must be some place we can take them where they can find a home... but I already know that they put them down within a week. Even the verb he used, 'tsutete' means to throw them out. 

For a long time I've wanted a cat, but even so, I never thought I would keep these ones. They were too young. I think its better for kittens to stay with their mother for the first 3 months, and I judged these kittens being about a month old, so I thought the best thing to do was to give them back to their mother. At the same time, I knew I would never see them so close again. She would abandon this nest that had grown so dangerous. And they would end up like the last bunch of kittens, and the ones before that, too old to be caught, let alone tamed. 

It was the girls who went out to the shed again to see them. But it was I who encouraged them to pick them up. The mother had gone, so I said it was okay to pick them up for a cuddle. Besides, there were only two, and the other one was stuck behind the box. So I shoved some other boxes aside so I could remove the box, and get the last kitten (still aiming to leave them with their mother). But then we had the box in our hands... and I could see K was relenting... and then...

And then we had them inside. I guess once they had crossed the threshold there was no going back, even though at the time I still thought, "well maybe we should given them back to their mother... " We saw her a half hour later, passing the front door on her way to the shed, sniffing around for her babies. Then she just sat down on the path. This is exactly what she did when we Kanji and I saw her when she was still pregnant. She just flopped there. I don't think she's very healthy. I feel so guilty for stealing her babies, but I also hope that I gave her a chance to regain her health! I'm just a dedicated nanny! 

In the meantime I've read some websites, and learned that I got them at just the right time. They start to wean at 4 weeks, and the Vet judged them to be about 6 weeks. The websites say that for stray cats, you have to adopt them before 8 weeks, or they can't be tamed. I also have the sick one - she was weak and shivering just 12 hours ago when I met her, but after the milk and cat food I've fed her, and the medicine for her eyes, she's come to life! I'm pretty sure she'd have died soon, like the runt of the last litter in May, who I never saw again. Justifying baby theft.... saving kittens... 

The next thing to do was consider what to do with these kittens we suddenly found ourselves in possession of. K and I have both kept cats, so we knew we had to do vaccinations and stuff, but were a bit non plussed about what to do with such wee ones. So we called Yuko, our good friend and major cat lady. She was in the bath (this is important, because I started cooking dinner), but when she called back, she told us to hightail it to the Vets RIGHT NOW! 

So we all piled into K's van, the kittens still in the box that we had pulled out from the shed, and headed for the Vet's. Kanji seemed to know exactly where to go, and the Vet's reaction when he saw us was not 'hajimemashite' (nice to meet you) but 'hisashiburi!' (long time no see!). He commented that the kids had gotten older, while I tried to place him, but I gave up trying when he saw Erica and said 'oh, you have another one!'. I still don't know how we 'know' him! Small towns...

He weighed the kittens, judged their age to be six weeks, sexed them as girls (with a maybe on the little one), and gave them a birthday (August 1) so he could set a care schedule for them. He de-flead them with spray (we go back every month for that treatment, 1000 x 3), booked them in for their shots and even scheduled the spaying for February (18,000 each, eek!). He gave us eye drops for the little one, and a shampoo for the spot of mange on her left leg, with instructions on how to administer them. He explained about litter boxes and litter, then undid all his sales talk by accidentally showing us his newspaper version in the back rooms, but recovered by giving us a litter box! And he told us exactly how much to feed them, how to prepare it (pellets soaked in boiled water) and how many times a day, and most importantly, that they don't need milk! 

Unfortunately my babies don't like that food he recommended. Kanji just told me that his cat didn't like it either. So for today, I've been feeding them the melted pellets with extra water in a dropper with the end cut off. Now they love me and miaow whenever I walk past the cage. I will buy them some canned kitten food tomorrow, because as much as I love being a much loved Mama cat, I do like kids who feed themselves. 

We also bought a cage, so they have somewhere safe to sleep with a litter box and a food bowl (that they have no idea how to eat out of) and a water bowl (that they keep ever-so-cutely stomping their delicate little paws into) and furnished it with some hot water bottles, some old towels, and a Hello Kitty blanket. They are calmly sleeping now. Until I walk past the cage again. 

*************

OH and the kitchen?? When we left in a hurry to go to the Vet's, I left the sausages boiling on the stove. The ones I had bought to go in the Frankfurter dish that I didn't have time to make, and then decided would just go in bread with some cheese and tomato sauce. I remembered about them at the Vet's and we spent a very stressful ride home worrying - I came home just in time to hear the first peep of the smoke detector and fine one very ruined pot and absolutely inedible sausages. 

A typhoon and a holiday

On one side, a fan blowing full bore to keep us cool, on the other side, my children nearly being blown away as huge gusts blow through the house. I just went and closed the storm doors in the kitchen so Lena and Erica could finish eating their carrots without their mayonnaise ending up all over the room.

The sun is shining bright and I'm hot and still sweating (I'm SO sick of sweating!) so I think it's okay, then suddenly we all get blown away again. Not typhoon weather, where's the rain? But the wind is whistling in the sky, so I really can't decided if I should take Erica to karate or not! For ME any excuse not to go is a good one, but I don't want to look silly if everyone else is out there being normal!

We slept in the living room last night, the first storm in two years that I've taken that precaution. Mostly because Lena said she was afraid, and she was sleeping under the window. The upstairs bedrooms have windows looking out over the small cemetery and a large empty lot, so we feel like sitting ducks for flying debris. Downstairs though, has storm doors all across the south side, and bars on the windows to the east and west. Once we close off the corridor from the living room, we're in a pretty secure little box.

And that was the extent of my storm preparation. I must go fill a bath with water, just because I felt I really should have at least done that last night. But we've lived through several large typhoons now, and while you might have to endure a few hours without power or water, they don't tend to wreak much more havoc than that. The supply lines don't fail, the supermarkets don't empty. Famous last words??? Nah, this one is well on its way to Korea. I'm sure the kids will be at school, and me at work tomorrow morning. Though we might sleep downstairs again tonight!

Oh, and once again I am swearing to get some blog catching up done! I have finally given up on the photos, I will now be preparing photo essays in InDesign and uploading them to Issuu as magazines to leaf through. I'll add single photos to the blog, and vids, cos I love looking back at the vids!

Monday Monday

This morning I was thrown out of bed, and rolled down the stairs into chaos.

The first few weeks of the summer holidays are full of anticipation, excitement and hankering after things to do and places to go, leading up to the long empty days of obon, the only time you get that 'what day is it?' feeling. And the last two weeks of desperately trying to fit everything else in, finish the homework, finish the craft, START the projects I thought I'd have time to start, and pack, shop, prepare, order, sort and get ready!!!

I truly thought yesterday that we had nothing today. I was more than a bit wrong about that - Erica had kindy, Amy and Lena had to go to school for 'Step Up' (apparently school kids in Oita are a bit thick, and apparently an extra 10 hours of school during summer is going to fix that), all at 9am, so when I did wake up (at 9am) and remember all of this, it resulted in a bit of an unholy rush! I dropped Erica off without her rice, went back and made that, corrected an essay, boxed the rice, dropped it off, went shopping at Fadie's and Shinsenichiba, got home to pick up Amy and Lena, went to Gooday to look for snorkels (for the Miyazaki trip), and Youme town for cottage cheese (for the pumpkin and eggplants cannelloni), dropped the kids off home, back to Youme Town to buy a pop-up tent, picked up Erica, and finally got home.

Then we had an afternoon far more suited to the summer holidays. Long, and hot. Amy doing her origami mosaic, Lena doing her papier mache ballon houses, Erica pestering both of them, and me doing laundry and cooking the cannelloni while we watched all three hours of the Olympic Closing Ceremony.

They only have another seven free days: we are going to Miyazaki for three days this weekend, the following day is my birthday and we are having a party here, then the next day is our only chance to go to Fukuoka to see the girls' photos in the exhibition. And since I have work on Thursday and Friday I have to get ready for all that tomorrow! Wish me luck.

Wada-san modeling part III, on location

 Wednesday afternoon, we turned up at 4:50 at the studio, but he asked us to get back in the car, then led us to this little place, a little old building that had been turned into a cafe.

Amy by the wood pile











Lena enjoyed wearing her dress again, with the addition of this sweet hat.

Amy was the first, above, seated on a park bench. Below, a sweet one of all three of them.

Erica outside the old windows, we could read the cafe menu through the glass




Then all of a sudden a lady in a kimono with an umbrella stepped out of no-where. Bottom, I had to the be the photographic assistant!

Double-Booked

Seems I am failing at the summer scheduling. I've managed to double book us twice last week, with one more coming up and then Kanji threw one in a double-booking on top. That was just him saying Amy could work on Saturday, while actually we were going to Kunimi. Well, his mistake, and he quickly called back to cancel.

I thought Aki, the computer guy, was coming on Monday evening, so I made curry. Can't have him slave over the hot computers for hours and not feed him! Then Kanji came home and called him (why he didn't call him earlier, I don't know) and he couldn't come, so we arranged for him to come Tuesday night (I threw together a Greek salad and made a chicken mix to put in pita bread). Then Mai-chan texted and said yes, she could do the piano lesson on Tuesday.

Since the piano and computer are in the same corner of the room, that made for an interesting evening! Me and Kanji just sat there drinking beers and barking orders at the children, and invited both Mai and Aki to my birthday party on the 28th.

Thursday was much, much worse. On Sunday I had arranged with Maia's Mum for them to come over on the 9th, and we could have dinner together then go to the festival. I was looking in my diary at that moment in time, and nothing else was written there except 'Toro Matsuri'....

I had completely forgotten that I had agreed to go help set up the festival, and while I KNEW we had karate on Thursday, for some reason my brain did not connect 'Thursday' and 'the 9th' despite it being on the page in front of me!

I handled this in a very Japanese manner, quitting nothing, burying my head in the sand, and hoping for the best. As the day progressed it seemed obvious even to me that I was going to conveniently 'forget' about setting up. Then Kanji came home early and saved me from the karate lesson. We were free!

Then Sevki called and was adamant that he had to give me a bottle of wine NOW. And I should go to YoumeTown NOW and go meet the girl in a white t-shirt with a heart on it to get your wine. Luckily, just at that moment in time we had all decided to go get ice cream, so I ordered Erica a Bear-shaped parfait, handed Amy my wallet, told everyone 'chotto matte' and ran outside to meet the wine-toting heart-t-shirt girl. I love how Maia's Mum reacted when I returned a few minutes later and plonked a bottle of wine in the middle of the table outside the ice cream shop. So cool. "Oh, wine, how nice. Turkish, you say? How unusual. Hmm, what's that writing on the bottle, must be Turkish!" Like you have wine with your ice cream at the mall every day.

Speaking of Sevki, his birthday party is on the 18th, and I have strong hopes of going - no one parties like Sevki! But the Bon dancing by Baachan's house is on the same night. Bright side thinking: once at Baachan's the kids invariably insist on staying, Erica especially. Home is so damn boring. All I have to do is turn up early, let them turn on the charm, casually ask if they might stay, as if it meant nothing at all to me, and then run away gleefully jumping for joy. Wish me luck.

Broken Chronicle

My camera just decided to stop working on Thursday, swear I didn't do anything to it! This is the one I bought just at the end of May, because the one I had before had stopped working during at the School Sports Day after I was a little too encouraging with the sometimes-sticky lens, the lens that got sticky when I left it face down on my udon tray in Takamatsu, only for the udon to slosh out and splash it: this being the camera I had bought in the New Year Sale last year after getting the one before it stolen at Disneyland in Hong Kong. Which is the one I'd bought to replace the one I'd broken when I dropped it into a river while pregnant. At least I wasn't responsible for the breakage of the first one - a friend kindly took care of that for me, though leaving it on the edge of a table with the lens open was probably not a wise choice on my behalf.

But everything seems to be breaking on me lately! Why do appliances break in sets? Microwave, dishwasher, mixer and blender all went together last year. Going out in sympathy? Not counting lightning strikes, I seem to be having just one thing after another go wacky on me lately.

iPhone is playing up. We made an effort to get it fixed, went to the shop, who got us to call the helpline. Between me not understanding the polite language and Kanji having no idea how to work the phone, we failed. It's okay, I said, I can handle no sound in the apps and the sticky home screen button. But now the alarm and phone sounds sometimes don't work. Nor the vibe. What good is a phone if no-one can call you?

Need new glasses. Okay, so in this case they did not break, I left them on top of the car when I was putting on sunscreen and then left them there. I blame Kanji of course. It was his clever idea to put sunscreen on RIGHT NOW and not when we got there, and then he finished of course, while I was still pottering about trying to get it on the kids, then I got Erica into her carseat, still unfinished, and by this time our friends were ready to go, so into the car I hopped and no more glasses!

Car door stuck again. This happened last year too! I can handle the passenger's side door being stuck, not the driver's side though - but last year after we got the passenger's side door fixed, the driver's side got stuck, so fingers crossed it doesn't get stuck again soon, or I'll be climbing in to drive through the back door over Erica's carseat, eek!

Smashed a heater clearing out the shed, and one electric fan gave up the ghost this year.

Washing machine making ominous noises, a huge GYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE when you turn it on. Dodgy.

My Wifi router broke. This was before the lightning strike, so I can't blame that. After our friendly computer guy showed me what to order online, I did so, only to find in the confirmation email that I had inadvertently ordered two! This was not a language fault, it's pretty bloody obvious when you have two of something in your shopping basket in any language. It was language though that made fixing it near to impossible. I tried replying the the email - got that email back. No contact email anywhere! I went back to the website and found the contact button, filled in all the fields, but still they two routers turned up next day. I gave one to the guy who fixed our computer. Then found another one in the cupboard that I think belongs to AFWJ...

The tape player doesn't go. That doesn't sound like a big deal of course, except that with no TV, I was going to listen to the books on tape that we inherited a while ago. So I went out and bought another one, a little cheap one... only it doesn't go. And I lost the receipt because I bought it the day before the Gion party. Yes, yes, I do really need to be a bit, no a LOT more careful with receipts!!

So next I tried the MD, as I also inherited a collection of audio books on MD. No luck. Hopefully I will soon be inheriting a new tape/CD/MD player off a friend. With my luck, it'll be broken by the time it gets here.

Obon Happened.

As it does.

A major family holiday in Japan, and I never plan a single thing. Or rather, I've learned to not plan a single thing, and wait for the inevitable phone call from MIL.

So Monday was the main family dinner, and we did get a few days warning about that one actually, she told us on Friday. We spent the morning cleaning up, trying to get through the mountain of laundry after the weekend! Fail.

We went round to Aunty's house at about 5, her daughter is back in town for the holiday and my girls like to play with her. Nothing much for me to do except fiddle with my phone and read a magazine. Kanji came at about 7, and we waited around for Jiichan and Baachan, who were late and arrived closer to 8. The kids were getting SO hungry, but we all had to pile back into the cars first and go pay our respects at the family grave, carrying back lit incense in the car to put on the family altar.

Then the eating could begin! We had a mixed feast of sushi, pizza, chawan mushy (savory custard), clear soup, onigiri, chips, renkon (lotus root) salad, gobo (burdock root) salad, potato salad, and tomatoes. And no-alcohol beer. I know some bloggy/facebook friends moan about obon spent with families who sit around and drink all day - I'm kind of jealous! Everyone in our family still works - the Stands are not closed during the busiest days of the year - and everyone's driving, so no-one drinks at all! Aunty used to provide beer, but stopped bothering a few years ago, now she gets non alcohol beer and we all politely drink that for 'cheers' then move on to our favorite soft drink. The whole thing is over in 3-4 hours.

Finally Kanji's sister came round with her two kids, though not until after a bit of phone wrangling by him and MIL. They brought donuts, which we hardly needed, though the kids ate anyway. At some point we agreed to go with Baachan to her family home in the mountains the next day, so after another slow morning making a very small dent in that laundry pile.

Then Mr. Wada phoned again, and we arranged the next modeling session for 5pm the next day. Then Kanji turned up just as we were leaving to ask us if we could go to the Okidai Bon Dancing event that night. See how stuff just happens?

The trip out to Yabakei was interesting, seeing all the flood damage. Part of the road washed away, and we had to take a detour. Most of it was cleaned up, but you could the houses that had been inundated, with a too-clean outdoor area in a mud-wash color. We didn't stay long, just long enough to scoff the proffered grapes and pears, and play with their new long-haired chihuahua puppy.

I think I'll do another post with photos for the Bon Dancing. Different... it's gone from a nice little summer party and barbecue with friends, during the middle of which the kids dress in their yukatas and pop off to the festival, to just our two families this year, or rather just me and the other Dad, and some bentos! The Mum recently took over a restaurant, and was working her butt off there, so no party, but the girls all wanted to get together and go to the dancing anyway. Amy and Lena stayed the night.

After beers at the 'party' and a nightcap or three, I was feeling pretty shattered on Wednesday morning, so when Kanji called to say that another friend wanted to go to the pool,  I declined. Not with Amy working (doing some lunch-time shifts at the friend's restaurant) and the modeling at 5pm. I thought that was that, until 2 seconds later I got a call from Amy and Lena to beg! They already knew about the plan, and Amy had been told not to work today. I couldn't say no when all their friends were already set to go. And I couldn't make Erica stay home (she was home with me, but overheard the phone call). And I didn't want her to go without me because she's mental in the water presently - crazy about putting her head under the water continuously, with hardly a break to breathe, so I have to keep an eye on her like a hawk.

So.... off we went to the pool. More photos from that later. It ended when a thunderstorm came over. We are getting one almost every day this summer!

We got back in time for the photographer - a location shoot this time, at a very picturesque cafe right near where I work that I had no idea existed. It was shut for the day, but I could peep at the menus - coffee, ice coffee, toast, cheese toast, aaaah, that's why I've never been there, old fashioned Japanese cafe menus are very uninspiring!

Today, back to work! The other day when I mentioned going to the beach this Friday, Lena actually stomped her feet and complained! "When will I ever get my homework done!" But then when she's home she just plays with Erica or swans around, helps with laundry, which she has decided is 'fun', or does sit-ups (I casually mentioned that I could do about 80 at her age, so I think she's been practicing on the sly!)

THIS fabulousness

Here's my new summer living room with the shiny new things finally installed! The piano (below) is on the left, and the computer (close-up below as well) is in the corner, a little dark. Sofa on the left and media centre on the right with the dysfunctional tape and MD players. Usually the shoji are at the other end of the window to keep the computer corner cool. The wicker chair sits in the cross breeze between the front and back doors, plus with fans from the other two directions it's the coolest spot in the house - I thought until today when I figured out the genkan was. I am seriously considering moving my wicker chair out there for my afternoon tea! What a bloody granny.

From the other direction.... a bit more cluttered, with Erica's tent and Amy and Lena's desks. But better than it is right now - but it's still not bad enough yet to take a true 'after' shot so you'll have to wait for that. I will happen! 

Gratuitous cute shot. Erica on 'Grandma's' wicker chair. It rocks! I mean, literally, not as in 'it's cool'. Though it is cool, if you mean temperature-wise.

From fabulous to frazzled, with a fire at the end

Today was supposed to be fabulous, with the piano and new computer arriving. I was going to get a blog written and my work done first thing in the morning, I'd be all good and do it before I opened the box even if it came early, and then I'd have the rest of the day to set it up, and I'd spend the afternoon catching up on Olympic videos online...

Instead I ended up frazzled and frustrated by anything electronic or technical, despite the new blender (aka mikusa in Japan) arriving also, meaning I actually had three new toys today! First, neither of my two printers cooperated with me in getting the paper I was proofreading printed - one's out of ink, the other seems to have a dud USB cord. So while I was fiddling with that, I turned the computer a bit to see the USB port and CLUNK the internet cord got pulled too and knocked off the smoke detector onto my head. Picking up the pieces, I noticed the battery was gone, and commented to Kanji, who just said Hmm. Suffice it to say that him getting annoyed that I got pissed off that all he had to say to me after my techno failure+headouch+battery emergency was Hmm, actually upset me more than him only saying Hmm.

So I didn't get my work done until after lunch, but still the technology wouldn't cooperate with me! Word on my old dungary laptop is in Japanese, and while I found where the 'track changes' function was, it just wouldn't work!! So I tried other computer, where Word is in English, but I had to transfer the files manually because it doesn't connect to the internet. Then the USB stick wouldn't work. I finally got it over there on a flippin CD, and have been WALKING between computers with a CD in my hand to get my work done!

Finally time to open the shiny fabulous new iMac! Very big, very pretty, and of course I'm very happy with it, but.... I figured my chances of getting Wifi connected today were minimal, and only unboxed the router so I could tick the 'Well I tried' box. I did try plugging the modem cord into the Mac too, but that didn't work either. I managed to hack my neighbor's Wifi, but the connection is too slow, then I got an error message - you can't watch this in your country. Bastards. I am so SICK of things just NOT WORKING!!! GRRRR!!

And then the goddam piano saga... I made a big mistake last night when I bought it, and okayed a delivery time of 4-7 - just the exact hours I would be out at the kids' campfire event at their camp. So I turned up at the store at 4pm in the van, thinking I might pick it up if it hadn't already gone.. I was getting really agitated because I needed to be at the campfire, but they kept saying 'chotto matte kudasai'. Wait while I see where it is, wait while I get it... wait while I call someone to see if it can be delivered tonight or in the morning (had to press for that one, instead vague statements about them maybe being busy). Wait while I get someone to help you get it in the van. I shouldn't complain, they did a good job of securing it in the van, it's still there now, waiting until Kanji gets home for us to get it inside. As long as it's all set up by the time the girls get home tomorrow!

But wait, there's more! The small tape deck/radio I bought does not work. And I lost the receipt during clean up for the party. And I tried the MD player on our stereo and that doesn't work either! So no books on tape and no books on MD either. I'm almost afraid to use the new blender! What more can go wrong?

Oh... yeah, the wind blew a photo off the windowsill in the kitchen and smashed the glass and I got a bit in my foot. Okay my house hates me.

And the fire at the end? The campfire, which was great. They fed us parents this year, and we sat around and watched their performances. Each team had a nation theme. The girls totally won!!! The three female teachers had NZ, South Africa and the UK. They did a haka, Shakira's world cup song and the Spice Girls. Jacob was also amazing with a self-written song about Australia. Ken and Kevin, come on!!! Step up!

Two very different days... and Villa Maria

I think what I like about the holidays the sense of freedom from normal schedules, and thus the freedom to do what we want, and how as a result, the days are so unpredictably different.

Thursday I did absolutely nothing all day! Well, apart from a mad rush to Baachan's at 8:30 to pick up Amy for her school session, and waiting around for the tatami man to come and take away the burnt mat, then bring the new one back, and shopping for butter.. And a brief trip to Baachan's again at 3pm, to find the kids all gone to eat ice cream with their auntie and I was not going to complain about that. Oh and karate at 6:10.

But honestly, I did nothing nothing nothing in between, unless you count napping, crunching ice, reading magazines, and finding ways to eat Marmite as a thing. It's wonderful having a day like that. It's not that I didn't have anything to do - laundry to wash and dry and fold, yukatas to iron, Christmas decorations to de-mold, recipes to sort, cupboards to tidy, my wife to kill and Guilder to frame for it - I'm swamped!

But I ignored it all, I didn't even turn on the computer to check email. Utter Bliss.

Friday was AFWJ Journal mailing day. The boxes arrived Thursday night - over 400 copies in four large and one smaller box sat in my genkan overnight. From late morning (after spending the first part of the day helping Amy and Lena to get ready for camp, and bringing them there, and then coming home to find Amy's hat and bringing it back to her) I spend most of the day putting them into envelopes, and sealing them with selotape. Some also had extra newsletters to insert, and some people had to get an extra payment sheet and some had to get two copies. Two trips to the post office to send the overseas copies, then to Kanji's shop to get the wagon to bring the boxes to the courier's, then stickering 383 envelopes and swiping each one separately then finally leaving the shop feeling very, very light indeed at 5:30!

My other goal for the day was to visit all five branches of YokoYama in town in a search for Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc wine from New Zealand. When Katy mentioned that her local liquor store in the wop wops had it, I thought it was just a wonderful fluke. I often check out the shelves at the stores to check for NZ wine, but almost never find it. Then when I asked her where the store was, she said it was YokoYama. NOT just a small local shop as I had assumed, but a chain! A chain that has FIVE shops in and around Nakatsu, including one ON MY BLOCK!

I was quite prepared to take an hour visiting all five (some are a bit far, on the way to Usa), but I found it at my local!!! The one I had least expected to have it, as it only has a tiny tiny wine section. Woo-hoo!That means all five have it. I did not visit them all after finding the stash at my local, I might as well exhaust this supply first! It's a little more expensive that the Satellite Sav Kristin can get at her local supermarket (1280 compared to 800), but it's still a reasonable price.

Being on a shopping high, I decided to go look for a piano.. After checking Yamada and Best Denki, I went back to where I had started two weeks ago, and bought the shopworn, discounted, older model from Deo Deo. It was only 50,000 and in perfect condition. It's a standing one though, with a stool, so we will have to make room for it, but seeing how sad she was about losing her beloved piano, I think she deserves something a little nicer.

Another Busy Day, yeah we've heard that before...

Summer holidays, you know how it is!

Thursday 19th July, summer hols begin with a BANG - lightning strikes the house, taking out the TV, DVD players, piano and computer. An interesting summer on the cards...

Friday 20th July, I work as usual, but the holidays begin for real for the kids. They drag home a tonne of homework, and I am pleased that they are old enough now that I don't even have to look at it, let alone decipher it and direct it. They do it themselves!

Saturday 21st July, a frustrating day spent trying to get back online after the NTT man came with a new modem the day before - and utterly failing, with either of the functioning computers! Hello wine bottle, my friend.

Sunday, 22nd July, I have no idea what I did this day, judging by the wine consumption the night before, probably not very much!

Monday, 23rd July, Amy's modeling debut (post to come).

Tuesday, 24th July, work again, a funny divination class, my new occupation?

Wednesday, 25th July, modeling again!!! This time back at Mr. Wada's studio.

Thursday, 26th July, karate and Giongurumas out already! Let the fun begin!

Friday, 27th July, BEACH - we went snorkeling at Nagasakibana in Kakaji-machi

Saturday, 28th July, Kristin and co. over for the night, lots of yukatas, ice cream, pool, Gion, wine and conversation

Sunday, 29th July, GION party, a quiet one this year!

Monday, 30th July, back at Wada's for more photos

Tuesday, 31st July, pool day! We went to Kampo no Sato.

So, THAT was July!

Lightning Strikes

I have the best excuse for my absence, our house was hit by lightning!

And it's been such a busy, eventful week away, with floods, volunteering, mud, a reggae festival, more mud, lightning, modeling and divination! I have so much to catch up on!

It happened on the 19th: I had just picked up Erica from Aiko kindy, and taken her home. Normally I would take her directly to Keio kindy to catch the afternoon session, but this day I wanted to keep her home so she could take a nap, so she would be happy and energetic enough to do both her swimming and karate lesson in the evening.

When the storm started, the first thing I did was rush around closing all the windows. We've had nearly daily storms in the last few weeks, thunder and lightning has become almost routine. And one thing I know is that the rain is very heavy and strong, and will wet everything inside, eaves or not, so the first line of duty is rushing around getting all the windows closed (in this heat they are, of course, all open). Next I fielded a telephone call from Kanji telling me to close all the windows!

During the previous Saturday's monster storm, when I swore I saw a bolt of lightning hit something in the graveyard next to our house, I had turned off all the electricity. This time I didn't think of it, the daily storms were making me a bit blase perhaps. Our plugs and cords are set up for easy removal, more for power saving and fire safety - for example, the computer, screen and printer were plugged into a power adapter separate from the phone, modem and Wifi station, so those things would not be turned off even if I unplugged everything else. Behind the TV, the stereo and phone shared one cord, the TV and other things shared another. Still, I should have actually unplugged them all, because we lost so much!

So I had gone to finish my lunch (Erica had eaten earlier at kindy) and Erica was also, by a HUGE stroke of good luck, in the kitchen; she was getting ice out of the freezer to munch on at the time. We were listening to the storm, as you do, cringing a little at the loud sound.

No words can describe the shock of seeing lightning in your own house. I saw the flash in the living room from my seat in the kitchen. I instantly knew what it was - disbelief settled in later on, but at the time I had no doubt about what it was. Erica screamed before me. Later she told her story - Mummy's face went red. She didn't see the flash, but she saw my face lit up by it! I screamed too, and of course went to her first, to pick her up and do my best to comfort and calm her, while also trying to think of what I had to do.

Holding her, with her body plastered to mine, hiding her face and motionless, I crept gingerly into the living room. I could see all the power was off, and I could see smoke hanging in the air and could smell it. I think some of that was from my fried egg from lunch... but it was enough to put me on alert at the time. I went over to get my iphone, which was in the middle of a reset, and I hadn't completed the sign-in information. There I was, kid clinging to be in abject terror, diligently pressing 'next' and answering dumb questions about networks, while the storm continued to thunder around us, frightening us more with every rumble. I gave up in disgust, threw it on the sofa and decided we would just have to go round to Kanji's shop in the car.

Another HUGE clap came when we were in the genkan, making Erica AND me scream again, but I had to put her down because I realized I had to check upstairs to make sure there weren't any fires. I didn't relish having to wield a fire extinguisher while the storm continued with Erica down by the door crying and screaming, but if I had to do it, I would!

There was nothing though, so we were safe to escape, and I really wanted to get out of there! It just felt unsafe, like the whole house was electrified or something. The rain was coming down in sheets and we both got soaked on the way to the car. I took off down the drive, only remembering to belt her in when I thought, god now wouldn't it be Murphy's law if we got hit by a car today, lightning or no, you can't risk her riding in the front seat with no belt on. I checked the house again from the outside as I drove away, no signs of smoke anywhere.

We arrived at the shop to find Kanji was not there! M-chan offered to call him for us, which he did, and I stepped inside to talk to him, telling him what had happened. This was odd. People who live with two languages like me know what it's like, how you have to practice what you want to say sometimes, or at least give it some consideration how to say things, before a meeting or shopping for something and things like that. You just do it automatically after a while. I realized I had no idea how to say 'lightning struck the house' in Japanese, I know enough about the language to know you can't just swap verbs and use the equivalent of 'strike' in Japanese - it's 'sutoraiku' when referring to baseball, or'tataku', which back-translates at 'hit'. Both of which I suspected were wrong; in the end I settled on 'keru' or ''kick', don't know why. But not only did Kanji understand me (and repeat back, just naturally, the proper verb choice, which was 'ochiru' or 'fall') but M-chan and T-chan, who were in the office understood what I was talking about too - they kept saying 'maji? maji?' ('really?).

I arranged to meet Kanji back at the house. I left Erica in the car at first, still kind of scared of the house. We went in, and I checked first for fires again. I asked Kanji to call the power company, thinking they'd send someone to check the damage. Do you do anything else? I brought Erica inside, and assured her it was safe now. We checked the power and it turned back on, then we went around checking the appliances and electronics. Sad, sad news:

In our initial assessment, we found we lost 2 computers, 3 DVD players, the TV, modem and phone. I was still high on adrenaline from the shock, and just kind of accepted all of this. I expected the power company to call round, but they didn't, once we told them the power was on again. In retrospect, I wish I had called the fire brigade just to check everything, just to have some authority tell me everything was okay, because it was very unnerving being the house, not knowing what was broken and what wasn't, and still worried about wiring in the walls catching fire.

I was so buzzed, there was nothing I could do but clean. I removed each electrical item, unplugged it, and plugged it in again to check at a plug I had determined was functional.. I found that one computer and one DVD player were okay, but that the electric piano was gone. And this is when I lost it. I just cried! I kept thinking of how Amy would feel knowing her beloved piano was gone. I was trying not to cry, but Erica saw me and called Kanji!

Since such a catastrophe had occured, I felt I had to cancel the rest of the day. But then, we would not be doing anything else except just sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves, so I decided to go on with the swimming and karate lessons. I picked the big girls up from school as usual, and gave them the bad news. It wasn't until Amy got home and saw her piano that she got upset - she actually lay down beside it and gave it a hug! She said that we had to get exactly the same one to replace it, and put on that scratch and that black marker streak, and make sure we slotted a coin in somehow, like Erica did when she was a baby, so that the piano would rattle when you shook it, and a certain button would only work if you picked up the piano and rattled the coin back to the other end of the piano...

We promised we would not throw out the piano, we would keep it, for now, in the shed, until she was ready to part with it.

Meanwhile I had to contend with the loss of much of my data (I had all my photos and most of my documents on an external hard drive) and Kanji had to face the loss of all his stored TV shows and movies, as well as the brand new digital tuner/DVD/HD recorder he had bought only six months ago.

At first we were fairly cheerful - we'd claim insurance, and end up with a whole room full of new toys, right? Wrong. We were only covered for EXTERNAL damage in the event of a lightning strike. Bloody cheeky insurance company. They know fully darn well that an antenna and a couple of roof tiles isn't going to cost them much, but a roomful of electronics will! And who's going to check the fine print of their lightning strike coverage, or change their plan because of it?

We hadn't started using the aircon yet, so we only found out a few days later that they weren't working anymore either. Kanji is still working on the insurance, I have to make a claim using AFWJ's insurance, because the power adaptor for the Journal computer got zapped as well. MUCH paper work to do, while in the meantime, we get to win all points in the Setsuden (power saving) game! Amy entered us in the contest. How can you not win when all your stuff is dead?

Biting Critters

I'm itching and scratching and it won't stop!

And I'm sitting here with stinging palms from trying to catch a THING which may or may not be a gnat, the latest icky bug creature I have to be horrified about, after what happened to Vicky today.

It's most probably mosquitoes, our annual nemesis and scourge of summer. For two nights this week, we had one in our bedroom. You hear it buzzing by your ear, but you just know that if you turn on the light to try to find it, it won't make an appearance. So you try to get back to sleep, hoping there's still some juice in the 'earth no mat' (does anyone have any idea why the heck electric/potion mozzie repellant thingies are called that in Japan? Apart from 'electric/potion mozzie repellant thingie being a really dumb name?), and hoping that not being able to currently hear it means it has actually gone. Which it never has, of course, it's always just before you drift off that you hear that bzzzzz again.

So we spent two sleepless, ITCHY nights, making me wonder just how much blood one mother mozzie needs - does she just keep topping up with fresh blood until she finds somewhere to lay her eggs? Or were there more? There probably were on the second night, when we found the balcony door open in the morning.

It could also be dani, bedbugs, but I don't think so. They leave a particular kind of small red bite, and don't attack for only two nights. Nevertheless, the mattress and bedding has all been changed and 'aired' (if you can call it that on a rainy damp day, and inside!). I will have to vacuum them too, I suppose.

Kanji's theory was that it was a flea. Apparently he caught a flea on himself. Instantly rang me to report it, and I supposed I was supposed to react with great interest and panic and DO something... all I did was sigh, swear under my breath at why I always have to 'do something' and vaguely tell him I didn't think animal fleas bit humans. He calls me later to tell me some site on the internet says they do. He also found out that if you place a basin of water with a splash of sake in it in the room, it'll attract the fleas. So he rushes home to put the plan into action. I must say I was VERY relieved when the plan turned up no fleas after an hour (and did not DARE suggest that you probably have to leave it a bit longer).

And then there's lice... are head lice really more prevalent in summer, or do I just think about them more, because of all the bugs and itchiness around anyway? My head just seems to be itchy, so I checked Amy's head - nothing. Maybe it's just sweat rash, or prickly heat. Prickly heat is a better term as it sums up perfectly the feeling you get of your skin just prickling all over, usually around the face, neck and arms. 

At least it's not a mukade. That's a centipede, but that word in English is almost cute, I much prefer the Japanese word, it seems to sum up the true evil of the creature better with those hard consonants. Lena had the bad luck to the be the first to sight one this year, behind the cabinet in the kitchen, near the laundry pile in the corner there that is supposed to be in a basket only I can't find it. I was in the shower at the time, and when I got out, I found all the laundry piled in the hall, and Amy telling me that the mukade definitely isn't in the laundry. She had gone through it to check! I can only imagine how you would do that, picking up each bit in one finger and one thumb, shaking it out a bit while taking a big step backwards and shuddering... what a sweetie, to do that for poor Lena, who was freaking out so much that I had to actually tell her off for being such a wet blanket. We are ALL horrified by mukade, Lena, not just you, and you know what? That mukade is terrified of us and hiding right now, so we are NOT going to be able to find it!

Usually I blame my old house, but this week I heard the mukade horror story from hell from a woman whose house is only 5 or 10 years old - one bit her on her face in bed!  I've only seen one upstairs - crawling across Erica's bed when she was three months old. I had her in my arms, feeding her at the time when I saw it, which was better of course than seeing it crawl ON her, but I still set off the Daddy alarm, and escaped downstairs while he hunted and murdered it.

ugh enough about bugs

8:31

and every intention to get off to bed, NOW, after a sleepless night last night thanks to one stupid annoying mozzie.

Weird things happening last night, like Lena getting up to check the balcony door, and saying it was open, and me thinking she was just sleepwalking, or it was shut but not latched, and going back to sleep, only to find the balcony door open in the morning. So that's where all those bloody mozzies came from.

And speaking of blood, Erica had a nosebleed - she did this last summer too, every day. And yes, I put towels down, but she's in a rolling stage, so she managed to get her undersheet and blanket too! So all of that was washed today, but not until the other catch-up loads went through, so only hung right now on those double-wide hangers inside because it's apparently going to rain again tonight!

I sometimes wonder what on earth I would do without that strip of wood around the walls in a Japanese style room, just above head height. If I was rich, in a big old house, and it was the 'zashiki' I guess I'd hang pictures off it of calligraphy scrolls and ancient buddhist priests. But this is a small house full of people, so it gets used as a convenient rainy-day "just until I get around to putting them outside" laundry hanger.

Once when my sister-in-law came over to clean up a bit before I got back from the hospital or NZ or something, she made sure to quite specifically tell Kanji that this shelf thingy needed to be dusted inside. Dear thing, she thought it being completely full of dust meant that I didn't know. Do you think Japanese people will ever get used the idea that sometimes we know fully darn well something needs to be done, but just don't want to do it anyway?

Amy just handed me some grapes. I love summer fruit! Waffling on here, waiting to sleep, just waiting now for the girls to get their pyjamas on.

To add to the weird things last night, Erica woke up with a BOING, which she never does, exclaiming at about 6am that it was SUN. I kind of sleepily told her to get some clothes on then... then drifted off to sleep again. Only to wake myself with a BOING half an hour later when the plastic set of drawers crashed over. Amy told me what had happened, and I quickly checked Lena and Erica - sound asleep of course, couple of sloths those two. Wonder where they get it?

This is Erica's drawers, she must have unbalanced them rifling through them. They are set in a place where they can't fall on anyone sleeping (I'm a bit earthquake paranoid in that way) but still would have hurt a bit if she had been standing in front of them. Their backs are to the end of the bunk, so I'm musing ways to tie them on. The first thing I thought of was kimono ties - another sign of summer is that the yukata box has been dragged out, the girls excitedly trying them on to see which ones fit them this year.

iphone sync finished, grapes finished (the girls are still working on theirs). I'm going to take out the chicken for dinner tomorrow and chill a bottle of wine. I'm going to be SUCH a good girl tomorrow, and do all the laundry and cooking in the morning, then go for a SWIM before work, just so I can come home, and sit straight down and have that glass of wine. Already looking forward to it.

SILENCE

From me, that is. June started all gung-ho, but well, what can you say, LIFE intervenes, doesn't it. And facebook. Twice I've sat down now with a nice glass of wine on a Friday night, intending to use that sweet spot in between glasses 2 and 3 to write and gotten totally distracted by such fundamentally important things as someone's new hammock, or a recipe for pie.

We spent the weekend in Munakata with Kristin and family, and Christine and Nao. We had a 4th July barbecue with hot dogs and hamburgers. We went to see a lit candle rainbow at a Tanabata festival, with some dancing. Then came home and drank wine while trying not to be driven mad by the sound of seven kids thumping and squealing and the dog joining in. We stayed the night, which was a 'trial run' of this summer's intended road trip - to see if we could actually fit our stuff, mattresses, tent, ground sheet, food bag, toys, beach bags, blankets and pillows, plus us, in the car and not forget anything.

Sunday on the way home, we went for our first beach visit this year, yay!!!! It was just one of those lovely afternoons with the kids - chatting away in the car, going on an adventure down strange streets that look like they go somewhere on the map, finally finding a beach, the swimming of course, being given watermelon by complete strangers, AmePote chips in the car, a lovely refreshing onsen, arriving home while it's still light, for a quick dinner of frozen pizza, fried eggs and chips then flopping onto the sofa to watch a movie.

Today I went swimming for the second time since signing up for the pool in April, 800m today. Amy and Lena have an open school this afternoon, Baachan is going to pick up Erica from kindy, and it's ham steaks and pineapple for tea fitted around juku and piano lessons.

 I've designated Tuesday "blog day" (as opposed to AFWJ Day on Wednesday, and "work" day on Monday, job hunting and getting things ready to sell at auction), so I have to fit that in sometime (oh, how about now? good idea) PLUS find those damn health check coupons I got a few weeks ago, so I can go get strangers to poke and prod me in all my naughty bits, which is, of course, preferable to dying of cancer of those naughty bits.

Flood, pumpkin and an award-winning portrait

Nakatsu flooded. Finally. Only been waiting for that, since, well, since I moved to this house with the stream out the back, sea to the north and rivers on both sides. Every rainy season, and every typhoon season, one town or another somewhere in Japan gets it. The news is so sensational you get the feeling that entire areas of the country are underwater, but when you look more closely, it's just a few houses along the river bank in one isolated obscure town. So I figured our time would come, we have a nice big healthy river running through town, looking for all the world like it would be quite happy to jump the banks and come visit us all.

And today was the day. Actually, there was no water at all in town, and the stream behind my house wasn't even high. But 'Nakatsu, Nakatsu' was all over the news, because a few years ago the city incorporated a bunch of mountain villages inland up the river, and THEY flooded, along with a bigger town 'next to' our town (actually an hour's drive away), Hita.

I've only been as far as the river in town to look, and then only to reassure myself it wasn't ready to overflow any time soon. There are locks on the river to help regulate the flow past the main parts of town to the coast. I heard our beautiful local landmark Aonodomon was flooded, and part of the cycling road (the former railway) was washed away. I hope to get a look sometime! Maybe Saturday if we go visit someone...

In other news, we got a pumpkin. In Japan, people often give you random vegetables, especially in season. Quite a big one, so I decided today would be pumpkin day! Lena swanned into the kitchen this morning, and said, "pumpkin soup!". I thought she has read by mind, but she was just reading the school meal menu. Yep, I picked pumpkin soup day to have pumpkin day. Never mind, I was not to be thwarted! As an extra challenge, I decided to not BUY anything. I ended up with just under a quarter of a pumpkin boiled up Japanese style, just under a quarter cooked with a cream sauce and topped with cheese, a quarter put aside for pumpkin tempura on Friday night to pop on top of our Takamatsu udon (another random food gift) and somewhat over a quarter went into a pumpkin risotto. Which the kids hated, so now there's a little on the stove for Kanji, and FIVE bowls of it in the freezer for my lunches for the next week!

I can't write pumpkin without thinking of Erica, whom I have always nicknamed Pumpkin. At one point I thought up some suitable vegetable nicknames for the other two, but forgot them! So we tried again today, starting with Tomato for Lena, cos she likes them, and Carrot for Amy, because it was the first thing she saw when she opened the fridge. Actually, it was the second thing, the first thing she saw was Ginger Flower, so she decided she liked that better, and I decided Ma Petit Chou suited Lena far better than Tomato. Little cabbage.

Half way through my immensely unpopular dinner, which also featured soggy frozen chicken, Baachan called, or rather she called Kanji and he called me, to tell us about some prize Amy and I had won in a photo contest. Which made no sense at all to me, until I remembered our little modeling gig last year!

The photographer did submit a very caravaggist/18thc-romantic-painting-like portrait of me and Amy to the photography contest, and WON! How bizarre to think we were on wall somewhere with people saying "Oh, such lovely lighting" (and thinking "god she could have at least brushed her hair"). And upon winning, he presented us with a poster-size print. Baachan is sweetly proud, and will photocopy a copy for us - while she gets the real thing framed and sticks it on the wall in the Stand so she can tell everyone how like the Mona Lisa I look.

Meanwhile, Lena burst into tears. She's the one who wants to become a model, after all. But, as I reminded her, she was in the shop window for 3-4 months!! Then Amy got upset that Lena was upset, and Lena got over being upset about the picture only to be upset that she had made Amy upset by being upset, and then Erica packed a paddy because she didn't want to leave, because she loves Baachan.... sigh!

Nothing else for it but to buy everyone ice cream on the way home. It worked.

Mud, lawns, and being RIGHT, dammit!

I heard a wonderful sound floating through the windows on a drowsy hot June morning the other day while I was work - that of a lawnmower.

At first it was just background noise, then after a while I recognized it, and realized that it had also made me feel kind of relaxed and content.

It's a sound I associate with lazy Saturday and Sunday afternoons in summer in New Zealand, hanging out at home, sunbathing on the patio, or reading a book on the sofa; or (later on in life) cracking open the wine for a gentle afternoon slipping into evening.

The scent also reached me, a scent that still transports me instantly back to school days, and grass fights. Whenever the grassy fields that surround NZ schools are mowed, out come the students to throw handfuls of grass at each other (or stuff it down their shirts, when they're a bit older and searching for any excuse to 'accidentally' touch another body).

It's a sound of perfect suburban contentment - and one entirely unfamiliar in Japan.

Apart from small patches in the middle of a Japanese garden, no-one has lawns here, except committed hobbyists and frantic foreigners. And no institutions have them. Schools here are surrounded by dirt, with a huge sandy field for sports.

When it rains, this sand turns quickly to mud. The worst is Erica's daycare. The sand there is thick, like a sandpit, all the way up to the entry way - there's no path, you have to walk through the sand. I've learned now to store my work shoes in my car and wear sneakers or sandals to drop her off, but at first, I made the mistake more than once of dropping her off in my work shoes, and getting coated with sand and mud.

But the small university where I teach is different, more progressive.They teach architecture and technology and computing and engineering and tick the right boxes in many ways, including having actual LAWNS all over the place - in the quadrangle where students hang out at lunch, in the more decorative areas surrounding the main lecture building, and EVEN ON THE SPORTS FIELD. This last example is simply amazing in Japan. Actually having actual lawn to play sports on is almost unheard of.

This is why I heard a lawnmower that day, working there. And it sounded just so right to me!

I've heard all the reasons - the excuses - as to why dirt, and not grass, is necessary at Japanese schools. And I've heard the other side - that grass is actually much easier to maintain that most Japanese think. My friend's husband studied about it. And I think my college's example is a case in point - this is a school that prides itself on modern, environmentally friendly solutions. We only use air conditioning for two months a year. Most of the interiors are lit naturally, and artificial light is kept to a minimum. They even switch off the office lights during the lunch hour! I'm pretty certain that if grass was really so horrifically expensive, environmentally destructive and impossible to maintain, they wouldn't do it.

I think what's really going on is institutional inertia. Generation after generation of people who accept the 'wisdom' of those who have gone before, without ever questioning it. My husband is now the President of the PTA, but even so, we have no power to change anything. He just wants to go on doing what was done before.

The most frustrating thing is KNOWING I am right, and 'they' are wrong. To be sure, many of 'them' also know I am right, but feel more comfortable going along with the status quo, but still!

When you live your life in a foreign country, all of your assumptions are called into question. There is no such thing as 'common sense'. There is no consensus about what is right. Part of learning how to live in a foreign country is accepting that fact. Along the way, your views and opinions change. Sometimes you simply accept that there are two (or more) ways of doing something, and no-one is right. Sometimes you reach the conclusion that 'they' are right, and your own culturally accepted way of doing things was not the best choice after all.

But then there those other times.... the times where no matter how long you've been here, or how many times people have tried to explain something to you, you just know, that you are RIGHT!

And this is one of them.

Come on Japan, you NEED lawns!!!!

Show Tunes

Amy and Lena have really gotten into show tunes lately. Kids love musicals! We caught the tail end of Singing in the Rain last week. I remember watching that movie as a kid, on a Saturday afternoon on TV, the only other choice in NZ being cricket or rugby....

The one song that stuck with them though, wasn't the title hit, but another one called 'Good Morning':



They like Dirty Dancing too, but again, not the classics - they like this one:

I suppose this one is a bit of cliche..




Another one they sing a lot is this one:



I'll add more as I hear them singing them! I hope this post will be a nice little memory for them in years to come.

Here's one!

 

Bikes, Bands and Bitches vs. Beauty, Babies and Business

Mid-life crisis sucks.

Here I am, half-way to dead and still nothing much to show for it. I think the only consolation is knowing that you're not the only one, that this particular existential crisis, like the rough teen years, seems to affect all but the most smug and the most ignorant. If you're gearing up right now to tell me it didn't happen to you, all I have to say to you is 'give it time, baby, give it time'. I was a smug non-crisis type only two years ago, then smash, down came the house of cards.

It appears to hit men and women a little differently. I'll give you, oh, three seconds to take another look at this blog post title and decide which set of three applies to men, and which to women...

I decided a few years ago, that hit with the mid-life crisis, men did one of three things - they got that bike they had always wanted, they picked up their guitar again and had another go and being the rockstar they always wanted to be or, they had an affair. Bikes, bands or bitches, and I stand by that 'bitches' because any woman who knowingly sleeps with a man who she KNOWS has a wife and family at home RIGHT NOW is indeed a bitch.

With my man, it was bands, and I remember commenting to another guitar widow, 'Well at least they're not having an affair'. Only the lead singer of one of the bands did have an affair, with a go-go girl, for god's sake, but maybe he's just greedy and is right at this moment in a bike shop somewhere coveting his next piece of eternal youth.

Actually the band thing was a stellar choice, in my opinion, I had a lot of fun with it, revisiting my own teenage punk era and becoming the No.1Groupie. It revitalized our social life, as we had been heading down different roads, me with work colleagues, him with his club, but the band thing we always did either as a couple, or even as a family. While the band fizzled out, we still go out for a date, and go see a band!

And women's crises seems to revolve around beauty, or rather the loss of it, and babies and business, or work, and the balance between them. Haven't had a baby yet? Gotta get one. Or at least obsess a bit about it before deciding you're okay without one. Got one and devoted your life to it? Gotta get back to work! Worked your butt off? Quit and spend more time with the family. Or toss all that and go get a facelift, go on a diet, or buy a new wardrobe, wear shoes that are too high or skirts that are too short just to prove to yourself that you've still 'got it'.

I'm definitely in the 'got to get back to work' camp. Not that I haven't worked all the way through, part-time at least, but in a kind of jobbing around manner, always with the idea in the back of my head that one day, I would figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up, and go and do it. Only I woke up one day, all grown up, and still no idea.

Anyone else have any idea where my life went and what I should do with it when I find it again?

Funnies

At Amy's request, a few of today's funnies:

Erica: While explaining to Lena why Erica wasn't sufficiently horrified at her mentioning that someone 'died' in their imaginary game, I pointed out that for four-year olds, dying just means lying down, going to sleep, and then you go to the hospital and the doctor fixes you. And what they are REALLY afraid of is their family going away and their being left alone. In order to prove this, I said to Erica, "What would you do if Mummy went away". Without skipping a beat she replied, "Go to the toilet with Lena." Guess she's used to Mummy going away!!

Lena: During today's English lesson, we learned contractions and apostrophes. I told them to NEVER use them with plurals, to which, of course, they replied, "What are plurals?". "Books," I said, "and sofaS and..." and we went on to add more and more plurals. "Bums!" Lena said, then Amy said "bottoms!" and I said "boobs". Then Lena said "We'd better not say the next one..." We didn't, we were too busy laughing at Lena.

Erica again: During the same lesson, Erica had completed her lesson, and gone off to play with her toy kitchen. She brought over the tea cups and tea pot and prepared to pour us all tea. "Oh, I don't WANT any tea!" Amy said, annoyed at the intrustion. "It's okay, it's a TOY" Erica replied.

Amy: STILL doing the same lesson, while we were all heads-together examining a map, Amy decided to ambush Lena with a big "BOO!". Lena didn't move an eyelash. Amy said, "Lena, why didn't you get a fright?"