I had my first birthday party on Saturday the 26th. After seven years of cooking my own birthday dinner and having to do tons of cleaning because the kids were too young/Kanji was at work or unable to cook, I finally got a 'birthday dinner' presented to me. I was so excited, so touched!
Kanji has been cooking a lot over the last year, so he finally felt confident enough to do it, although it was things he could cook, rather than my old favorites! We had cold noodles, fried chicken, salad made by Amy and Lena's favorite miso soup with potatoes in it. And then cake! The girls LOVE looking through the decoration cake books. They have their next cake planned up to a year in advance. So they wanted to make me one, which means me making it. I usually do, for the 'practice' (yeah right!). But this time, Amy wanted it to be a surprise cake. I figured out a way to do it - I baked a chocolate cake, whipped up some icing and left the three of them in the kitchen with a bunch of lollies they bought.
They fought over which cake to make, so Kanji decided to make three! I wondered why he ran out of icing, but he had sliced the top of the cake off to make two, then divided one into a moon from him, and a butterfly from Lena. Amy decorated the other circle, writing Happy Birthday on the cake.
They got me presents - some very pretty candles for the table, Amy chose pearl earrings and Lena a garnet flower necklace. Kanji got me a book! He got himself a matching one in Japanese, they are books about Birthday personality. I'll be looking you all up sooner or later!
Birthday part two was on the actualy day. I opened my cards and presents - thank you all! Mum got me two cards in the end (there was a card in with the case, Mum!) and a credit card case. It's beautiful with a washy blue ground and a diamante dragonfly, which is a symbol of summer in Japan. Everyone I've showed it to loves it, it really suits Japanese taste. Mum also got the kids a book each, and a message card each, which I put in my card case. I got a book from Maria, which I am a third the way through, emails from Chris and Pete and Jo, and a rimu key holder and newsy letter with photos from Becky, and a card from Chris. All in all I had a lovely morning opening my pressies. I bought myself a new camera.
In the afternoon it was back to the kitchen, as I attempted a pav. I failed. I did manage to make weiner schnitzel, even if I had to slice it myself. So we had stuffed potatoes, schnitzel, peas and gravy, all a bit hot for mid-summer!
And my third birthday was on the next Saturday, when I took myself and the girls to go see Mamma Mia! More about that another day
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Another trip to Oita
After our failure to see the body exhibition last time we went to Oita, we had another go today. It was definitely open - and crowded! A Saturday in the school holidays, one day before the exhibition closed! There were so many people there the air conditioning was stretched to breaking point and it was getting hot in there.
Photos here if you want to check it out. Here is a link to the original German process. The one we saw was not the original, and the specimens were all obviously Japanese.
I was actually rather grossed out (sensitive pregnancy hormones?) and felt like I was just gawking at dead bodies. It all seemed so unecessary - Gray's Anatomy (the famous book, not the TV series) does a better job of describing and picturing anatomy in a way to make us understand our bodies. Plus most of the specimens were clearly elderly with wasted muscles and enalrged bones from arthritis. The organs were beige/grey and shrivelled. And only one female, whose bits ended up in different rooms. Not exactly enlightening. As they say in the Wikipedia article, a computer simulations, with colour and zoom capacity and motion would be far more effective.
In the end, what the kids enjoyed the most was the visit to the beach on the way home! Amy has a ton of summer homework, including drawing pictures and writing a little bit about some of the things she did. Her picture from this day included no plastinated dead bodies - but a picture of her snorkelling in the water, seeing jellyfish, and then seeing another one in the sand, which she poked and prodded in her own little science experiment that she clearly found much more memorable.
Lena has finally made peace with deep water, and was thrilled to go up to her neck. She loved to swim alongside me and we both glided over the sand in the shallow water, ostensibly looking for fish, but mostly looking at each other. She was so cute in her fish-shaped goggles, learning all the things her body can do in the water and calling on me to 'be watching' every few minutes. Amy followed her own course with the snorkel while me and Lena had goggles. Of course, Amy kept finding all the good stuff, and we had to keep going back to where she was to marvel at the latest discovery - mysetrious mounds of sand like spaghetti (perhaps deposited by something burying a hole in the sand?), mudskippers, jellyfish, the occasional big fish, shells and stones. Amy wished we had brought a net and bucket. Maybe next time.
I can't believe how much more FUN we had without the ubiquitous flotation devices. Safety-conscious Japanese have a bit of a mania for them. One kid, swimming in foot-high, clear, calm water, was wearing a life-jacket as well as his ring. But, remembering the lilo scares of my childhood (and distant memories of Jaws?) I am convinced it's safer without them, because the kids will not go out of their depth and are forced to practice breath-holding, balance, swimming and other skills. It was incredible to watch Lena's latent water-baby emerge.
Photos here if you want to check it out. Here is a link to the original German process. The one we saw was not the original, and the specimens were all obviously Japanese.
I was actually rather grossed out (sensitive pregnancy hormones?) and felt like I was just gawking at dead bodies. It all seemed so unecessary - Gray's Anatomy (the famous book, not the TV series) does a better job of describing and picturing anatomy in a way to make us understand our bodies. Plus most of the specimens were clearly elderly with wasted muscles and enalrged bones from arthritis. The organs were beige/grey and shrivelled. And only one female, whose bits ended up in different rooms. Not exactly enlightening. As they say in the Wikipedia article, a computer simulations, with colour and zoom capacity and motion would be far more effective.
In the end, what the kids enjoyed the most was the visit to the beach on the way home! Amy has a ton of summer homework, including drawing pictures and writing a little bit about some of the things she did. Her picture from this day included no plastinated dead bodies - but a picture of her snorkelling in the water, seeing jellyfish, and then seeing another one in the sand, which she poked and prodded in her own little science experiment that she clearly found much more memorable.
Lena has finally made peace with deep water, and was thrilled to go up to her neck. She loved to swim alongside me and we both glided over the sand in the shallow water, ostensibly looking for fish, but mostly looking at each other. She was so cute in her fish-shaped goggles, learning all the things her body can do in the water and calling on me to 'be watching' every few minutes. Amy followed her own course with the snorkel while me and Lena had goggles. Of course, Amy kept finding all the good stuff, and we had to keep going back to where she was to marvel at the latest discovery - mysetrious mounds of sand like spaghetti (perhaps deposited by something burying a hole in the sand?), mudskippers, jellyfish, the occasional big fish, shells and stones. Amy wished we had brought a net and bucket. Maybe next time.
I can't believe how much more FUN we had without the ubiquitous flotation devices. Safety-conscious Japanese have a bit of a mania for them. One kid, swimming in foot-high, clear, calm water, was wearing a life-jacket as well as his ring. But, remembering the lilo scares of my childhood (and distant memories of Jaws?) I am convinced it's safer without them, because the kids will not go out of their depth and are forced to practice breath-holding, balance, swimming and other skills. It was incredible to watch Lena's latent water-baby emerge.
Camping
We were intending to have a slow Sunday after our big day out Saturday, but Kanji told us on Saturday night that we were invited to a family camp at the lake nearby. We decided to go.
It's the same place we've been for the last two years with Lena's kindy group. Not really camping, but staying in a bungalow and having a barbecue. There were five families and a total of twelve pre-teen children. After a brief thunderstorm threatened to ruin our fun, we arrived at about 4pm. One Dad had already started the dinner. Instead of the ubiquitous yakiniku (thin slices of beef and pork dipped in sauce) he had a dutch oven and made a kind of casserole out of onions, potatoes and chicken, all pre-fried, then left to simmer in the oven. The potatoes were especially delicious! So nice to have a BBQ in Japan with no rice anywhere!
That Dad was a sweet-shop owner, so we were treated to some yummy cakes too. One other couple ran a sushi shop, so we got some excellent sushi. One other was a generic 'salaryman' (never did find out what kind, though he is in Kanji's young businessmens' club, so I guess he's a business owner of some sort). And finally our hairdresser and his wife and kids, who I used to teach.
The children of course just ran around and played games of their own devising while the parents ignored them and drank beer. I found some 0.1 alcohol beer, so I got to enjoy the taste of a nice cool beer on a hot summer afternoon, even if I was left just feeling tired. I chatted with the Mums, one of whom I knew quite well, the other a little bit. She, the mother of four, assured us all that the third and especially the fourth child were easy compared to one or two! That matches my theory, which is that two is easier than one. Mothers of one seem to be the busiest! Maybe because while the first one changes your life, subsequent babies just slot in. Plus they play with each other.
So the night wore on, chatting and drinking, with a brief interlude for fireworks. Getting the kids to sleep was every bit as hard as you can imagine! We did leave them until about 10:30, when the older, and more sensible ones were wanting to go to bed (Amy included - she knows her bedtime and pretty much likes to stick to it - she beats me to suggesting that we should have an early night tonight! But she was happy to stay up late playing). I had to lay with them and literally teach them how to select what noises, etc to respond to. "Keep your eyes closed...that's just the toilet door...ignore that...don't sit up every time someone comes into the room..." Of course, most adults can't get to sleep in those conditions, so you can't really expect kids to. Finally they went to sleep, the grown-ups continuted to drink, and me? I went home! It's only a 15 minute drive, and with my hips playing up lately, and the fear of being kicked, there was no way I was going to sleep in the middle of that melange of bodies!
I returned in the morning. Lena had slept through, Amy had woken several times though. Aparently one mother slept in her car, and three Dads where they were on the chairs around the barbecue, including ours.
The plan for the day was to go swimming in a river. I really wanted to go, because swimming just feels lovely, my body feels so light. And it's so refreshing. But it was a very long way, and we didn't leave until about 10. Kanji had to go to work, so we were on our own. The place was quite far, and was a shallow swimming hole by a concrete bridge and roadway. All the kids went in of course, but I was the only adult to brave it in my togs! I think everyone was more worried about me than the kids! It was a bit slippery, but I found sand paths between the rocks that were not.
We weren't there for long though when I dropped my camera in the water. It's sitting in front of me now, two days later, still refusing to move. I think it's dead. So guess what I'll be buying myself for my birthday this year? Hopefully the photos are okay - I have retreived the chip. Then I slipped, but saved myself. Then a thunderstorm started, just as the guys were firing up the barbie again. Since we were exposed, and the road in was very steep and dangerous when wet, we all quickly packed up and left!
We decided to have the barbecue back in town. I should have gone home at this point, but I thought Kanji might be able to make it for lunch, so I stayed. However he never did, and we ended up there until 4pm. 24hours was enough! We went home, then went out for ice cream and to the onsen to wind down before coming home and going straight to bed!
It's the same place we've been for the last two years with Lena's kindy group. Not really camping, but staying in a bungalow and having a barbecue. There were five families and a total of twelve pre-teen children. After a brief thunderstorm threatened to ruin our fun, we arrived at about 4pm. One Dad had already started the dinner. Instead of the ubiquitous yakiniku (thin slices of beef and pork dipped in sauce) he had a dutch oven and made a kind of casserole out of onions, potatoes and chicken, all pre-fried, then left to simmer in the oven. The potatoes were especially delicious! So nice to have a BBQ in Japan with no rice anywhere!
That Dad was a sweet-shop owner, so we were treated to some yummy cakes too. One other couple ran a sushi shop, so we got some excellent sushi. One other was a generic 'salaryman' (never did find out what kind, though he is in Kanji's young businessmens' club, so I guess he's a business owner of some sort). And finally our hairdresser and his wife and kids, who I used to teach.
The children of course just ran around and played games of their own devising while the parents ignored them and drank beer. I found some 0.1 alcohol beer, so I got to enjoy the taste of a nice cool beer on a hot summer afternoon, even if I was left just feeling tired. I chatted with the Mums, one of whom I knew quite well, the other a little bit. She, the mother of four, assured us all that the third and especially the fourth child were easy compared to one or two! That matches my theory, which is that two is easier than one. Mothers of one seem to be the busiest! Maybe because while the first one changes your life, subsequent babies just slot in. Plus they play with each other.
So the night wore on, chatting and drinking, with a brief interlude for fireworks. Getting the kids to sleep was every bit as hard as you can imagine! We did leave them until about 10:30, when the older, and more sensible ones were wanting to go to bed (Amy included - she knows her bedtime and pretty much likes to stick to it - she beats me to suggesting that we should have an early night tonight! But she was happy to stay up late playing). I had to lay with them and literally teach them how to select what noises, etc to respond to. "Keep your eyes closed...that's just the toilet door...ignore that...don't sit up every time someone comes into the room..." Of course, most adults can't get to sleep in those conditions, so you can't really expect kids to. Finally they went to sleep, the grown-ups continuted to drink, and me? I went home! It's only a 15 minute drive, and with my hips playing up lately, and the fear of being kicked, there was no way I was going to sleep in the middle of that melange of bodies!
I returned in the morning. Lena had slept through, Amy had woken several times though. Aparently one mother slept in her car, and three Dads where they were on the chairs around the barbecue, including ours.
The plan for the day was to go swimming in a river. I really wanted to go, because swimming just feels lovely, my body feels so light. And it's so refreshing. But it was a very long way, and we didn't leave until about 10. Kanji had to go to work, so we were on our own. The place was quite far, and was a shallow swimming hole by a concrete bridge and roadway. All the kids went in of course, but I was the only adult to brave it in my togs! I think everyone was more worried about me than the kids! It was a bit slippery, but I found sand paths between the rocks that were not.
We weren't there for long though when I dropped my camera in the water. It's sitting in front of me now, two days later, still refusing to move. I think it's dead. So guess what I'll be buying myself for my birthday this year? Hopefully the photos are okay - I have retreived the chip. Then I slipped, but saved myself. Then a thunderstorm started, just as the guys were firing up the barbie again. Since we were exposed, and the road in was very steep and dangerous when wet, we all quickly packed up and left!
We decided to have the barbecue back in town. I should have gone home at this point, but I thought Kanji might be able to make it for lunch, so I stayed. However he never did, and we ended up there until 4pm. 24hours was enough! We went home, then went out for ice cream and to the onsen to wind down before coming home and going straight to bed!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Typhoon coming
And all that means this time is ballet is cancelled, cleaning out the shed has been postponed - again - and my intention to get some baby things washed thwarted.
Well, the typhoon hurried Kanji up anyway! I have been out there twice in the last few days tossing unwanted items out onto the path - where they are now a typhoon hazard. He's out there now transfering them to the car to take them to the rubbish centre.
And now I should really start dinner - we're having Spam. Kanji brought it back from Okinawa last time he went, but neither of us has eaten it before, so I looked up a few recipes, and I will be making a small spam and pasta salad, and spam and cheese sandwiches on rye bread. Then it's an early night I guess! Once more the 'typhoon' is so far just cloudy skies and a few drops of rain. A welcome respite from the nasty heat, which has drained me of all energy. Time is crawling. When the kids get home from Keio summer school, we'll go upstairs and clean their desks.
Once that damn shed is done, and I have transferred a few things from their room and the spare room into it, I'll be pretty much done! I can get onto more relaxing things, like sorting photographs, which I can at least do from the comfort of an air conditioned room.
Well, the typhoon hurried Kanji up anyway! I have been out there twice in the last few days tossing unwanted items out onto the path - where they are now a typhoon hazard. He's out there now transfering them to the car to take them to the rubbish centre.
And now I should really start dinner - we're having Spam. Kanji brought it back from Okinawa last time he went, but neither of us has eaten it before, so I looked up a few recipes, and I will be making a small spam and pasta salad, and spam and cheese sandwiches on rye bread. Then it's an early night I guess! Once more the 'typhoon' is so far just cloudy skies and a few drops of rain. A welcome respite from the nasty heat, which has drained me of all energy. Time is crawling. When the kids get home from Keio summer school, we'll go upstairs and clean their desks.
Once that damn shed is done, and I have transferred a few things from their room and the spare room into it, I'll be pretty much done! I can get onto more relaxing things, like sorting photographs, which I can at least do from the comfort of an air conditioned room.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Venetian art
I took the kids to Oita today to visit the art gallery and see some Venetian Renaissance and Baroque art. No Titian or Bellini, but there were several Giorgiones and Tiepolos. The girls really enjoyed it - Lena loved having found someone who can draw better than Amy and rubbed that in! The plethora of questions needing to be answered was mindboggling! The Bible stories, mythology, European history, religious practices, clothing, techniques!
We had lunch at the kids favorite, Joyfull, then went to go to an exhibition on the human body, which was closed. So we went instead to the ruins of Oita castle, and walked around the perimeter, hoping one or another of the guard towers would be open. None were. A bit of a non-event, but the girls had great fun pretending to be ninjas. Not that you can hide too well wearing white coordinated sparkly Pumpkin Patch skirts and blouses.
After that I promised to take them to a pirate ship I was sure I had seen on the coast, but I couldn't find it, so we made a brief impromptu visit to a beach. Again those sparkly white pumpkin patch outfits weren't exactly suitable, but we all tucked our skirts into our knickers and went wading. Their joy and glee was uncontainable, I haven't seen them bounce so much for ages! We must go to the beach again.
We finished the day with ice cream, of course, and came home to collapse into bed. I hadn't intended to walk so far - the castle and beach were unplanned - so I had a bit of a sore tummy, which Kanji graciously rubbed for me. Next time I will check the holidays of the exhibitions I go to see!
We had lunch at the kids favorite, Joyfull, then went to go to an exhibition on the human body, which was closed. So we went instead to the ruins of Oita castle, and walked around the perimeter, hoping one or another of the guard towers would be open. None were. A bit of a non-event, but the girls had great fun pretending to be ninjas. Not that you can hide too well wearing white coordinated sparkly Pumpkin Patch skirts and blouses.
After that I promised to take them to a pirate ship I was sure I had seen on the coast, but I couldn't find it, so we made a brief impromptu visit to a beach. Again those sparkly white pumpkin patch outfits weren't exactly suitable, but we all tucked our skirts into our knickers and went wading. Their joy and glee was uncontainable, I haven't seen them bounce so much for ages! We must go to the beach again.
We finished the day with ice cream, of course, and came home to collapse into bed. I hadn't intended to walk so far - the castle and beach were unplanned - so I had a bit of a sore tummy, which Kanji graciously rubbed for me. Next time I will check the holidays of the exhibitions I go to see!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
HOT HOT HOT!!!!!
God it's hot. We're in the first real heat wave of summer and it's a killer! We had such a hard time getting to sleep on Thursday night! We forgot to turn on the air conditioner, but even with all the windows open, we were just dripping sweat. We ended up getting up to clean the air conditioner's filter because it just didn't seem to be working. Friday night was better, but we still needed the fan and the air conditioner, and although we turned the air con off, we kept the fan on all night. Only last night was endurable, and I finally got a good night's sleep. Naturally carrying my own little hot water bottle doesn't help, nor does it help to have the positions I can sleep in limited. I need to keep a pillow between my legs to stop my hips aching, but it gets so hot!
We stayed at home today, but it's Gion Festival weekend, so the fun came to us - six of the floats stopped near our house for dancing. They leave from the shrine in the morning, stop at Youme Town for lunch, go towards the main street in the afternoon, then back to the shrine after dinner. We just have the good forutune to be on the morning route.
We also went last night to the main street to watch the street dancing and procession of the floats. Heaps of people go at that time, so there's a real festival atmosphere, festival foods and always, somewhere, someone we know to talk to. We got back at around 9 to a room that someone - Kanji - remembered to leave the air conditioner on, so we easily got to sleep! Reminds me, I must go up there now and turn it on for tonight.
We stayed at home today, but it's Gion Festival weekend, so the fun came to us - six of the floats stopped near our house for dancing. They leave from the shrine in the morning, stop at Youme Town for lunch, go towards the main street in the afternoon, then back to the shrine after dinner. We just have the good forutune to be on the morning route.
We also went last night to the main street to watch the street dancing and procession of the floats. Heaps of people go at that time, so there's a real festival atmosphere, festival foods and always, somewhere, someone we know to talk to. We got back at around 9 to a room that someone - Kanji - remembered to leave the air conditioner on, so we easily got to sleep! Reminds me, I must go up there now and turn it on for tonight.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Summer Holiday
Cicadas screeching in the garden...summer fruits...fan whirring in the living room...
It's summer and the holidays have begun. They get a full five weeks this year, which some parents are grumbling about but I think is marvelous. We have a very full schedule. Lena has summer school at Keio Academy this week, and they both have summer school there next week. Today Amy and I are going to make soap at the community centre. Tomorrow morning we have an English lesson with a Mum from Amy's class, so the boy is coming too, and Amy likes to teach him. She even gave him homework! Friday I think we're free, except for Summer School and work, that is. Saturday we have a birthday party to go to, and Sunday there is a beach-combing event on. Monday I plan to go to Oita to go to a couple of exhibitions, and maybe some shopping if I have any money left! Oh, and Thursday night I am going to watch the new Harry Potter movie. I am half way through the book.
Amy received a ridiculous amount of homework for the holidays, which upset me a bit because I planned to use the time to concentrate on English. Right now they are practicing English. They like doing their workbooks. We get up at 6:45, get dressed and go to 'rajio taiso' - we stand in a circle with the other members of the 'kodomo kai' group who get together to walk to school, and do some simple exercises to a song. We come back home, eat breakfast, then settle down to do some homework.
It's summer and the holidays have begun. They get a full five weeks this year, which some parents are grumbling about but I think is marvelous. We have a very full schedule. Lena has summer school at Keio Academy this week, and they both have summer school there next week. Today Amy and I are going to make soap at the community centre. Tomorrow morning we have an English lesson with a Mum from Amy's class, so the boy is coming too, and Amy likes to teach him. She even gave him homework! Friday I think we're free, except for Summer School and work, that is. Saturday we have a birthday party to go to, and Sunday there is a beach-combing event on. Monday I plan to go to Oita to go to a couple of exhibitions, and maybe some shopping if I have any money left! Oh, and Thursday night I am going to watch the new Harry Potter movie. I am half way through the book.
Amy received a ridiculous amount of homework for the holidays, which upset me a bit because I planned to use the time to concentrate on English. Right now they are practicing English. They like doing their workbooks. We get up at 6:45, get dressed and go to 'rajio taiso' - we stand in a circle with the other members of the 'kodomo kai' group who get together to walk to school, and do some simple exercises to a song. We come back home, eat breakfast, then settle down to do some homework.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
An Incredible Dessert
It's called Banoffee, which is 'banana' and 'toffee' mixed up.
The amazing thing about it is how you get the toffee. You cook an unopened can of condensed milk in a pot of boiling water for two and half hours! It takes a bit of forward planning because you then have to cool the can for SIX hours until you can open it.
The rest is dead simple! Make a biscuit crust, spread the now-caramelized condensed milk on the biscuit base, layer heaps of sliced bananas on top of that (we used 7, but even more bananas would be nice, don't beafraid to go up to 10 or so) and then whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
It's wickedly sweet and wonderful
It's called Banoffee, which is 'banana' and 'toffee' mixed up.
The amazing thing about it is how you get the toffee. You cook an unopened can of condensed milk in a pot of boiling water for two and half hours! It takes a bit of forward planning because you then have to cool the can for SIX hours until you can open it.
The rest is dead simple! Make a biscuit crust, spread the now-caramelized condensed milk on the biscuit base, layer heaps of sliced bananas on top of that (we used 7, but even more bananas would be nice, don't beafraid to go up to 10 or so) and then whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
It's wickedly sweet and wonderful
Worst Mother Award!
Or, Damned Schools!
In an incredible thirty minutes yesterday afternoon, I learned that my precious child has viral warts, worms and nits. Which is, of course, why I have subtitled this blog Damned Schools! There is a chance I picked up the nits in one the schools I teach at though.
But what a nasty thirty minutes! First Amy told me that the school nurse had caught a bug in her hair and showed the teacher it on a piece of paper. Amy had found a bug in her own hair on Sunday, but since she had spent the afternoon outside chasing grasshoppers I assumed it was a bug bug. Horrified, I asked to see her school notices, since I was sure there would be something about it there if it was nits. And she showed me a health check sheet which said there were some worms!
Lena's friend Maia's Mum was there all along - she's a doctor and helped me read the notice. She was the one who confirmed that the pimply thing on Amy's arm was indeed a 'mizu ibo', a kind of wart that can spread. Any one of these things could keep Amy from the pool that she so loves, so we had to deal with them!
First up was the nits - Kanji got the message from the school, and picked up the special pesticide shampoo. We all used it - I finally realized that I was not getting heat rash or a dandruff relapse but I probably had nits too, gross! Then the comb, then the hair dryer. I washed every towel, sheet and blanket in the house, what a job! Especially since it's raining cats and dogs so I had to take them to the laundromat to dry.
Today we visited the dermatologist, who gave us anesthetic tape to put over the warts in preparation to having them removed sometime later in the week. I haven't even thought what to do about the worms! Guess we'd better visit the pediatrician too. And we've only just finished Lena's dental treatment! Gosh, you just can't stay away from the doctor's when you have kids! After all this, my visit to the OB next week will be a pleasure!
Or, Damned Schools!
In an incredible thirty minutes yesterday afternoon, I learned that my precious child has viral warts, worms and nits. Which is, of course, why I have subtitled this blog Damned Schools! There is a chance I picked up the nits in one the schools I teach at though.
But what a nasty thirty minutes! First Amy told me that the school nurse had caught a bug in her hair and showed the teacher it on a piece of paper. Amy had found a bug in her own hair on Sunday, but since she had spent the afternoon outside chasing grasshoppers I assumed it was a bug bug. Horrified, I asked to see her school notices, since I was sure there would be something about it there if it was nits. And she showed me a health check sheet which said there were some worms!
Lena's friend Maia's Mum was there all along - she's a doctor and helped me read the notice. She was the one who confirmed that the pimply thing on Amy's arm was indeed a 'mizu ibo', a kind of wart that can spread. Any one of these things could keep Amy from the pool that she so loves, so we had to deal with them!
First up was the nits - Kanji got the message from the school, and picked up the special pesticide shampoo. We all used it - I finally realized that I was not getting heat rash or a dandruff relapse but I probably had nits too, gross! Then the comb, then the hair dryer. I washed every towel, sheet and blanket in the house, what a job! Especially since it's raining cats and dogs so I had to take them to the laundromat to dry.
Today we visited the dermatologist, who gave us anesthetic tape to put over the warts in preparation to having them removed sometime later in the week. I haven't even thought what to do about the worms! Guess we'd better visit the pediatrician too. And we've only just finished Lena's dental treatment! Gosh, you just can't stay away from the doctor's when you have kids! After all this, my visit to the OB next week will be a pleasure!
Friday, July 06, 2007
Doula
Well you wouldn't believe it, but I have a doula! A doula is "a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during and just after childbirth. We don't have them in NZ because so many women use a midwife, so they're not really necessary. And I never thought I would have one here, but then one just turned up out of the blue!
Erin is from Canada, and is working at Keio. We teach the technical college classes together on Thursday and Friday. She started in April, and soon after learning I am expecting, told me she had been a doula. At one stage she had started to study towards becoming a midwife, but found the hours a killer! So she has assisted at half a dozen births. Not quite the 1000 or so my NZ midwife Chris has clocked up over her long career, but still, suddenly coming across someone who is on the same page, in the same language, was quite an unexpected bonus. Wasn't I commenting recently on the unexpected things fate throws in your path?
So I asked her to 'be my doula' - just to have someone to talk to and prepare with. Several months ago, I bought a Hypnobabies course. That's a birthing method using self-hypnosis so reduce or manage the pain. They claim that with the right method, you can even achieve a pain-free birth! I'm not putting all my eggs in that basket, though, and I don't really care - I've coped before, it's nasty but it's over soon! But since I used deep-relaxation techniques to get through the first two, including dozing during the middle of Lena's labour, I figured I might be able to make this work. I was not, however, getting around to even opening the folder, let alone listening to the self-hypnosis CDs, hence the doula!
She came around last night for our first session. We talked through the information in the First Class - mostly about the theory of hypnosis, vouching that it works, that anyone can do it, and an overview of the fear-tension-pain cycle (tensing up makes pain worse, and giving in to the fear produces adrenaline, which can slow labour). Then we listened to the first two hypnosis sessions, the first one about creating a Special Safe Place in your mind. I was just going to listen and not do it, but it got into me - I haven't relaxed that much for ages! It worked.
Unfortunately, the second part, about Painfre Childbirth, kept getting stuck and jumping back at the 7minute part! I will sort that out tomorrow, because I am due to listen to the Special Place session again today. I have to alternately listen to each one every day! That's going to the be the hard part, although I'm not really starved for time - I have every morning or every afternoon. I've decided on 9am as a good time, after breakfast so I am not worried about my rumbly tummy.
Well, who can say if it's going to work, or if I am going to keep it up. The baby comes out anyway, no matter what you do! But if it can help me relax, and help me get over my fears about giving birth in Japan, then it was worth the money (only $30, as I got it second hand!)
Erin is from Canada, and is working at Keio. We teach the technical college classes together on Thursday and Friday. She started in April, and soon after learning I am expecting, told me she had been a doula. At one stage she had started to study towards becoming a midwife, but found the hours a killer! So she has assisted at half a dozen births. Not quite the 1000 or so my NZ midwife Chris has clocked up over her long career, but still, suddenly coming across someone who is on the same page, in the same language, was quite an unexpected bonus. Wasn't I commenting recently on the unexpected things fate throws in your path?
So I asked her to 'be my doula' - just to have someone to talk to and prepare with. Several months ago, I bought a Hypnobabies course. That's a birthing method using self-hypnosis so reduce or manage the pain. They claim that with the right method, you can even achieve a pain-free birth! I'm not putting all my eggs in that basket, though, and I don't really care - I've coped before, it's nasty but it's over soon! But since I used deep-relaxation techniques to get through the first two, including dozing during the middle of Lena's labour, I figured I might be able to make this work. I was not, however, getting around to even opening the folder, let alone listening to the self-hypnosis CDs, hence the doula!
She came around last night for our first session. We talked through the information in the First Class - mostly about the theory of hypnosis, vouching that it works, that anyone can do it, and an overview of the fear-tension-pain cycle (tensing up makes pain worse, and giving in to the fear produces adrenaline, which can slow labour). Then we listened to the first two hypnosis sessions, the first one about creating a Special Safe Place in your mind. I was just going to listen and not do it, but it got into me - I haven't relaxed that much for ages! It worked.
Unfortunately, the second part, about Painfre Childbirth, kept getting stuck and jumping back at the 7minute part! I will sort that out tomorrow, because I am due to listen to the Special Place session again today. I have to alternately listen to each one every day! That's going to the be the hard part, although I'm not really starved for time - I have every morning or every afternoon. I've decided on 9am as a good time, after breakfast so I am not worried about my rumbly tummy.
Well, who can say if it's going to work, or if I am going to keep it up. The baby comes out anyway, no matter what you do! But if it can help me relax, and help me get over my fears about giving birth in Japan, then it was worth the money (only $30, as I got it second hand!)
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
My expanding belly
I've decided I'm good at being pregnant. It's all the practice. It's just so much easier this time. I worry less about things. I know what to expect and what I need to do to stay healthy. I'm still eating well, although my sweet tooth is back with a vengeance, trying to make up for the last six months. I found a Bounty under Amy's desk on Monday! Must have fallen out of Jo's or Bec's bag. What a bonus! I stashed it in the fridge to chill and ate for lunch yesterday. YUMM!
Baby is kicking like a trooper, she tends to beat me up when I sit a bit slumped. I don't know if that's because she's getting squashed, or because I can just feel it better when everything is jammed together. She still goes miraculously quiet whenever her Daddy tries to cop a kick in the face!
I am still sleeping well, and grateful for every moment. That's my No.1 reason why I think this pregnancy is easier - I know it's going to get worse, get more uncomfortable, heavier, harder to move, harder to sleep, so I appreciate every realtively easier moment. Hopefully this attitude will last right until the very end - even big as a house, it's easier to cart them around when they are still inside. I appreciated popping into a store yesterday on the way home from work - I know what a chore that is when you have to strap a baby in and out of a car-seat, cope with sudden tears, and negotiate around nap times to get to a shop!
My back is still okay, better than before I was pregnant when I was slack about my sleeping position. I am diligent about sleeping with my back straight, and stuffing pillows between my legs to ease the strain on my pelvis and hips. I find two fat pillows elevating knee above the level of my hip prevents the hip from getting too sore. I am alternating sleeping on the floor and on the bed. My hips have a better time on the bed, my back fares better on the floor! I am having to wake up for one toilet trip, alas, the toilet-free nights seem to be over. Baby chooses this time to practice ballet. The heat also sometimes keeps me awake, but overall things are going well.
I still haven't put on much weight, so I'm not feeling particularly more heavy overall, but I am feeling the weight in a different place. I sit, stand, and work quite comfortably still, although I have to be careful not to overdo it - standing in the station on Sunday talking to the festival organizers, I started to feel ill and faint and had to go to the waiting room to recover. I am a little worried about a school tour my students are taking me on next week, but hopefully there will be ample chance to sit down in the rooms they take me to.
And here is the child herself! Not as good as last month's effort. No nose last month, this month a pig's nose! The next picture is hard to work out, it's a profile, showing the right side of her face, her chin at the bottom - Amy's chin! A button nose (not a pig's, thank god). And no head, but that's the limitations of the technology, not the baby's problem. I think they get the image by rounding out the conventional ultrasound image, not by taking a new image.
Baby is kicking like a trooper, she tends to beat me up when I sit a bit slumped. I don't know if that's because she's getting squashed, or because I can just feel it better when everything is jammed together. She still goes miraculously quiet whenever her Daddy tries to cop a kick in the face!
I am still sleeping well, and grateful for every moment. That's my No.1 reason why I think this pregnancy is easier - I know it's going to get worse, get more uncomfortable, heavier, harder to move, harder to sleep, so I appreciate every realtively easier moment. Hopefully this attitude will last right until the very end - even big as a house, it's easier to cart them around when they are still inside. I appreciated popping into a store yesterday on the way home from work - I know what a chore that is when you have to strap a baby in and out of a car-seat, cope with sudden tears, and negotiate around nap times to get to a shop!
My back is still okay, better than before I was pregnant when I was slack about my sleeping position. I am diligent about sleeping with my back straight, and stuffing pillows between my legs to ease the strain on my pelvis and hips. I find two fat pillows elevating knee above the level of my hip prevents the hip from getting too sore. I am alternating sleeping on the floor and on the bed. My hips have a better time on the bed, my back fares better on the floor! I am having to wake up for one toilet trip, alas, the toilet-free nights seem to be over. Baby chooses this time to practice ballet. The heat also sometimes keeps me awake, but overall things are going well.
I still haven't put on much weight, so I'm not feeling particularly more heavy overall, but I am feeling the weight in a different place. I sit, stand, and work quite comfortably still, although I have to be careful not to overdo it - standing in the station on Sunday talking to the festival organizers, I started to feel ill and faint and had to go to the waiting room to recover. I am a little worried about a school tour my students are taking me on next week, but hopefully there will be ample chance to sit down in the rooms they take me to.
And here is the child herself! Not as good as last month's effort. No nose last month, this month a pig's nose! The next picture is hard to work out, it's a profile, showing the right side of her face, her chin at the bottom - Amy's chin! A button nose (not a pig's, thank god). And no head, but that's the limitations of the technology, not the baby's problem. I think they get the image by rounding out the conventional ultrasound image, not by taking a new image.
A Day in the Life
The alarm goes at six, although I'm often awake before it. But I'm still a slug-a-bed at heart and sometimes the snooze button is put to good use! We all get up at the same time, usually early-bird Amy is the first up, with Daddy, while the lazy ones, me and Lena, sleep on!
From the time I get up until the kids leave for school, and sometimes until quite some time after they're gone, I clean up the living room and kitchen and do laundry. I'm getting fat-bellied and heavy so I often do the laundry now sitting on the computer chair, watching CNN. I can grab the clothes off the mini coat-hanger clothes-lines, fold them and put them on the low table without having to move much.
After that first bit of work is done I write in my blog, check the email and write email, and read the online news (Stuff) and have a cup of tea and some breakfast. I don't usually work until the afternoon, so I schedule some things to do for myself in the morning.
Today I plan to work upstairs between 9 and 10, organizing the tatami bedroom a bit. Yesterday I bagged the winter bedding in vacuum bags, but I have to wait until Kanji has a few spare moments to get the bags into the closet. A lot has to wait until Kanji has a spare moment! The Spare Room waits until the Shed is done, and as Bec can vouch, the Shed is a shambles. Most of it is still full of the junk the prior owners left, with our stuff piled precariously in a heap at the door. I need Kanji to help me move our stuff, so we can toss out their stuff, and finally get our stuff along the walls. Then I will move the old carpet in there, the spare room wardrobe, and the round table, heaters, spare clothes and a few boxes of toys that will probaby become really exciting again once they move position.
THEN I'll be able to move my trade-me flea-market things to the spare room, and have a fairly clear tatami room! But for today, it's a just a bit of re-arranging piles, cleaning up, and starting to pull down the baby things to see what I have and what I need. I'll be able to go through the clothes soon now that the baby is 'probably' a girl. Every month she gets more probably a girl!
At 10 I have scheduled a break! I have a long day today and I don't want to get exhausted. I am going to cook some apples for my lunch, then settle on the sofa, tidy through the girls' school notice folders (you wouldn't believe the volume of notices they hand out!) and figure out some kind of scheme for teaching them English. At 11 I'll showerd and have some lunch, then pick up Lena at 12 and take her to Baachan's.
I start work at 1:10, and it's my least favorite class, a very challenging 'junior university', meaning it's a two-year rather than a four-year course. The students are scraping the bottom of the barrel, they're the ones who didn't get in anywhere else, and they are pretty much coddled through. We can't fail them. They just sit the test over and over until they pass it! You have to be really determined to fail! So they learn that they don't have to put in any effort, and most of the teachers are too afraid to discilpine them, they just ignore them and keep talking, so the students tend to ignore the teacher, and keep talking while you try to explain something or give instructions, which is very frustrating. I tell them to shut up. I'm quite stubborn and I tell them to shut up, but they don't always, and if they do, it's not for long. They are not all like that - half the class work really well.
Between 12 and that class starting, I either go home and rest (again, I'm good at that. This is one pregnant lady who will not get over-taxed!) or I go to the office, if I have prep to do. I do today - we are starting unit six, and I need to copy the teacher's book. Unit six is the last unit I teach! Yay! Only three more lessons! I also need to see how the other teacher is going with the test - we talked yesterday about what to put in it, but he took the job of putting it together, as I had a million things to do at home, while he had compulsory office hours to fill.
After that class I come home just in time for Amy to arrive home from school, and I take her to Baachan's. There is just enough time to check the email, plan what I'm doing in the class and get going again. The next class is at the hospital, I teach the residents. Jo and Bec came to this class with me, and will tell you how un-responsive they can be! Many students get that it's a 'conversation' class, and conversation goes two ways - this class doesn't, possibly because it's compulsory. So it turns into a question and answer session, with me asking questions over and over and over, and them bluntly answering, or me talking away and them nodding. I always have to have things prepared for them to do.
I have about an hour and a half after that class until I have to leave for my evening class. Enough time to get a meal ready, eat and look over what I will teach tonight. I think we are doing time and morning routines today, for which I have just been inadvertenly practicing in this blog! That class is two hours, but it's voluntary students with good study habits and enthusiasm, so it's a pleasure to teach. I get home around 9:20 and pretty much collapse into bed! A few chapters of Harry Potter (I've pre-ordered the 7th book and I'm half way through book 4) and I'm sound asleep
From the time I get up until the kids leave for school, and sometimes until quite some time after they're gone, I clean up the living room and kitchen and do laundry. I'm getting fat-bellied and heavy so I often do the laundry now sitting on the computer chair, watching CNN. I can grab the clothes off the mini coat-hanger clothes-lines, fold them and put them on the low table without having to move much.
After that first bit of work is done I write in my blog, check the email and write email, and read the online news (Stuff) and have a cup of tea and some breakfast. I don't usually work until the afternoon, so I schedule some things to do for myself in the morning.
Today I plan to work upstairs between 9 and 10, organizing the tatami bedroom a bit. Yesterday I bagged the winter bedding in vacuum bags, but I have to wait until Kanji has a few spare moments to get the bags into the closet. A lot has to wait until Kanji has a spare moment! The Spare Room waits until the Shed is done, and as Bec can vouch, the Shed is a shambles. Most of it is still full of the junk the prior owners left, with our stuff piled precariously in a heap at the door. I need Kanji to help me move our stuff, so we can toss out their stuff, and finally get our stuff along the walls. Then I will move the old carpet in there, the spare room wardrobe, and the round table, heaters, spare clothes and a few boxes of toys that will probaby become really exciting again once they move position.
THEN I'll be able to move my trade-me flea-market things to the spare room, and have a fairly clear tatami room! But for today, it's a just a bit of re-arranging piles, cleaning up, and starting to pull down the baby things to see what I have and what I need. I'll be able to go through the clothes soon now that the baby is 'probably' a girl. Every month she gets more probably a girl!
At 10 I have scheduled a break! I have a long day today and I don't want to get exhausted. I am going to cook some apples for my lunch, then settle on the sofa, tidy through the girls' school notice folders (you wouldn't believe the volume of notices they hand out!) and figure out some kind of scheme for teaching them English. At 11 I'll showerd and have some lunch, then pick up Lena at 12 and take her to Baachan's.
I start work at 1:10, and it's my least favorite class, a very challenging 'junior university', meaning it's a two-year rather than a four-year course. The students are scraping the bottom of the barrel, they're the ones who didn't get in anywhere else, and they are pretty much coddled through. We can't fail them. They just sit the test over and over until they pass it! You have to be really determined to fail! So they learn that they don't have to put in any effort, and most of the teachers are too afraid to discilpine them, they just ignore them and keep talking, so the students tend to ignore the teacher, and keep talking while you try to explain something or give instructions, which is very frustrating. I tell them to shut up. I'm quite stubborn and I tell them to shut up, but they don't always, and if they do, it's not for long. They are not all like that - half the class work really well.
Between 12 and that class starting, I either go home and rest (again, I'm good at that. This is one pregnant lady who will not get over-taxed!) or I go to the office, if I have prep to do. I do today - we are starting unit six, and I need to copy the teacher's book. Unit six is the last unit I teach! Yay! Only three more lessons! I also need to see how the other teacher is going with the test - we talked yesterday about what to put in it, but he took the job of putting it together, as I had a million things to do at home, while he had compulsory office hours to fill.
After that class I come home just in time for Amy to arrive home from school, and I take her to Baachan's. There is just enough time to check the email, plan what I'm doing in the class and get going again. The next class is at the hospital, I teach the residents. Jo and Bec came to this class with me, and will tell you how un-responsive they can be! Many students get that it's a 'conversation' class, and conversation goes two ways - this class doesn't, possibly because it's compulsory. So it turns into a question and answer session, with me asking questions over and over and over, and them bluntly answering, or me talking away and them nodding. I always have to have things prepared for them to do.
I have about an hour and a half after that class until I have to leave for my evening class. Enough time to get a meal ready, eat and look over what I will teach tonight. I think we are doing time and morning routines today, for which I have just been inadvertenly practicing in this blog! That class is two hours, but it's voluntary students with good study habits and enthusiasm, so it's a pleasure to teach. I get home around 9:20 and pretty much collapse into bed! A few chapters of Harry Potter (I've pre-ordered the 7th book and I'm half way through book 4) and I'm sound asleep
Monday, July 02, 2007
Introducing Nakatsu
I spend an intriguing day yesterday acting as a guide introducing the town of Nakatsu for a website. Of course, they had already decided where and what I would be introducing, and they asked most of the questions. Basically, I was just the photographic model! The page is not up yet, but here is an example of some previous 'guided' tours. O-net
FinishedPage
First I rocked up to the station where a team of festival helpers were constructing a festival float inside the station. Every July Nakatsu hold the Gion Matsuri. I go every year in some capacity, including helping pull the floats on Wada-sensei's team for three years running before I had a baby to cart about with me. Other years I have worn a yukata (summer kimono) to the Friday night fireworks, or just gone to the main street on Saturday evening to watch the dancing and the floats, or just waited at home - our house is in the ancient part of town, on the festival floats' route, and they come past every hour or so on the Sunday, stop at our intersection and dance on the back of the float.
So this was a good choice of theirs for me to introduce, and I learned some new things - I had thought they stored the floats in a garage every year, but they actually dismantle the whole thing and re-assemble it every year. I had always wondered how they got it in the station concourse! Next we visited the castle where another float was being constructed. Here, as at the station, I kept meeting people I know, or friends of Kanji. My 'guides' were surprised at first, but got used to fact after a while that I can't go anywhere in this town without meeting someone I know!
We took a few photos at the castle, at the red-wall temple where I took Jo and Bec and at Yukichi Fukuzaka's old house, then went for lunch.
We went to Chikushitei. Click on the third link from the left along the bottom to see the room we dined in. This is a beautiful traditional Japanese restaurant, in a 120-year old wooden building that seemed to go on forever with corridors and rooms and inner gardens stretching back from the entrance. Click around the site for our hostess, who was a fount of information - she knew every little detail of the history of the house and area, and filled us in with all the theories of Japanese dining. In fact, she talked for three hours straight and we were late for the next appointment!
The cuisine was eel - Nakatsu is famous for it's 'hamo' eel. We ate it in several different ways - in soup, as sashimi and as sushi, as tempura (lightly battered and fried) and lightly boiled in a broth and dipped in a sauce with ginger and spring onion. They took photos of me holding, dipping and eating it - can't wait to see those photos!
Our last appointment was to learn about Kitabaru puppets. This is a traditional form of Japanese puppetry, with large dolls operated by one, two or three people. The more famous Bunraku always has three people operating the puppet - in Kitabaru, as the puppeteers get more skillful, the puppet can be operated by two people, and masters can operate the puppet all by themelves, using both feet and hands, with different fingers operating the facial expressions, and even using the mouth to pull some of the strings. I saw it performed a few years ago, when Kanji was hanging out with an old friend of his who does Kitabaru as a hobby.
FinishedPage
First I rocked up to the station where a team of festival helpers were constructing a festival float inside the station. Every July Nakatsu hold the Gion Matsuri. I go every year in some capacity, including helping pull the floats on Wada-sensei's team for three years running before I had a baby to cart about with me. Other years I have worn a yukata (summer kimono) to the Friday night fireworks, or just gone to the main street on Saturday evening to watch the dancing and the floats, or just waited at home - our house is in the ancient part of town, on the festival floats' route, and they come past every hour or so on the Sunday, stop at our intersection and dance on the back of the float.
So this was a good choice of theirs for me to introduce, and I learned some new things - I had thought they stored the floats in a garage every year, but they actually dismantle the whole thing and re-assemble it every year. I had always wondered how they got it in the station concourse! Next we visited the castle where another float was being constructed. Here, as at the station, I kept meeting people I know, or friends of Kanji. My 'guides' were surprised at first, but got used to fact after a while that I can't go anywhere in this town without meeting someone I know!
We took a few photos at the castle, at the red-wall temple where I took Jo and Bec and at Yukichi Fukuzaka's old house, then went for lunch.
We went to Chikushitei. Click on the third link from the left along the bottom to see the room we dined in. This is a beautiful traditional Japanese restaurant, in a 120-year old wooden building that seemed to go on forever with corridors and rooms and inner gardens stretching back from the entrance. Click around the site for our hostess, who was a fount of information - she knew every little detail of the history of the house and area, and filled us in with all the theories of Japanese dining. In fact, she talked for three hours straight and we were late for the next appointment!
The cuisine was eel - Nakatsu is famous for it's 'hamo' eel. We ate it in several different ways - in soup, as sashimi and as sushi, as tempura (lightly battered and fried) and lightly boiled in a broth and dipped in a sauce with ginger and spring onion. They took photos of me holding, dipping and eating it - can't wait to see those photos!
Our last appointment was to learn about Kitabaru puppets. This is a traditional form of Japanese puppetry, with large dolls operated by one, two or three people. The more famous Bunraku always has three people operating the puppet - in Kitabaru, as the puppeteers get more skillful, the puppet can be operated by two people, and masters can operate the puppet all by themelves, using both feet and hands, with different fingers operating the facial expressions, and even using the mouth to pull some of the strings. I saw it performed a few years ago, when Kanji was hanging out with an old friend of his who does Kitabaru as a hobby.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Earthquake Storm
My house is shaking! They are pulling down the house next door, but at the same time, the earthquakes are still going(I've counted eight definite ones in 24 hours, and a couple of smaller possibles) and I honestly can't tell which is which now! Earth moving or Earthmover?
Either we're having a lot of after-shocks after Wednesday night's moderate earthquake, or that earthquake has set of an 'earthquake storm'. I just wish it would stop. One is okay, but it's very un-nerving when they keep coming, because you just don't know how long it's going to last. Just when you think it's over - bam - or was that the bulldozer?
Either we're having a lot of after-shocks after Wednesday night's moderate earthquake, or that earthquake has set of an 'earthquake storm'. I just wish it would stop. One is okay, but it's very un-nerving when they keep coming, because you just don't know how long it's going to last. Just when you think it's over - bam - or was that the bulldozer?
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Change and shaking
Change comes at you from the most unexpected quarters! There I was, getting ready for the major change of a new baby, and BAM the house next door comes tumbling down. There is one interesting little effect that this event has had on me, one I would never have expected.
Since about six months ago, when I watched a TV documentary on the Kobe earthquake, I've been worried about our house's earthquake safety standard. In the documentary, they commented that a lot of the losses were traditional two-storey wooden houses. The pictures of them toppled over made me uneasy, as our house is quite old. During the last big one, we were in the hospital - but I felt it less than the next one, when I was at home. The difference between the gentle side-to-side movement and relative quiet of the earthquake while in a safe building, and being rattled about like you're in a maraca is quite striking! Like the difference between our old Hunter St house with its concrete foundation and the shacks I lived in at Uni!
Anyway, watching the house next door come down, I was struck by just how HARD it is to demolish a house! They whacked and they banged at it, shaking our house as well until they forced their way through the floors and roof. Interestingly, I saw that the upper floors were steel-reinforced concrete along with the wood-frame. I hadn't realized they do that, so now I am wondering if our house is constructed like that too.
The upshot of all of this is that I have a renewed faith in our little house, just in time for an earthquake last night! Everyone else slept through it, but I woke up for it, and stayed awake for the three aftershocks...then Kanji snoring...then Amy coughing so I got her medicine and checked the TV to see that the quake was local...finally got to sleep about and hour and half later! I think I'll go have a nap.
Since about six months ago, when I watched a TV documentary on the Kobe earthquake, I've been worried about our house's earthquake safety standard. In the documentary, they commented that a lot of the losses were traditional two-storey wooden houses. The pictures of them toppled over made me uneasy, as our house is quite old. During the last big one, we were in the hospital - but I felt it less than the next one, when I was at home. The difference between the gentle side-to-side movement and relative quiet of the earthquake while in a safe building, and being rattled about like you're in a maraca is quite striking! Like the difference between our old Hunter St house with its concrete foundation and the shacks I lived in at Uni!
Anyway, watching the house next door come down, I was struck by just how HARD it is to demolish a house! They whacked and they banged at it, shaking our house as well until they forced their way through the floors and roof. Interestingly, I saw that the upper floors were steel-reinforced concrete along with the wood-frame. I hadn't realized they do that, so now I am wondering if our house is constructed like that too.
The upshot of all of this is that I have a renewed faith in our little house, just in time for an earthquake last night! Everyone else slept through it, but I woke up for it, and stayed awake for the three aftershocks...then Kanji snoring...then Amy coughing so I got her medicine and checked the TV to see that the quake was local...finally got to sleep about and hour and half later! I think I'll go have a nap.
Monday, June 04, 2007
The House Next Door
The elderly couple who lived in the house next door died several years ago, leaving the place vacant. It's a very old house, which just makes it intriguing and romantic to me. The most intriguing part of it to me was the old-fashioned 'dozou' or storehouse nestled in the front corner. Japanese houses being built of wood, are very vulnerable to fire, and various Japanese cities have been destroyed by fire many times over. One solution was to construct these free-standing, earth or plaster-clad buildings and use them to store the household's expensive items, like kimonos. They are only a few metres square, and two stories high, with a secure door in the upper part, as their other purpose was to protect against theft.
They are very rare these days, so I was always intrigued by the one next door. I imagined going into it and finding all sorts of amazing ancient treasures no-body else valued. Little did I know how little they valued them!
Finally, a grandson of the elderly couple decided to move in. They have a three-year old son, so I am very happy to have another child in the neighborhood. The boy and his Mum appeared at our door bearing a decorative packet of towels as a new-neighbor greeting, and apologized in advance for the the renovation work they were planning.
Well, what renovation work! The first thing to go was the old storage building. I learned from the woman, who I met in the street as she and her son came to watch the 'dinosaur' at work that they planned to remove the whole newer part of the house, the part on our side, including the two-storey section next to our kitchen. The workmen have been busily destructing this past week, meaning we have had to park our cars at the bank to protect them from the dust and debris. On Saturday we felt some huge tremors as large parts of the two-storey section came down. With any luck, they'll be finished by today - and then the building can begin, because they are going to replace the old building with a new section for their family.
This technique of taking down part of a house and re-building is pretty common here. In Baachan's childhood home, there is one room dating from the 100-year old house, a 50-60 odd year section, and a new two-storey section with bedrooms and a new kitchen.
They have left the traditional old half of the house, but it is a shame they had to remove the old storage house. I'd have kept it and, well, used it for storage!
They are very rare these days, so I was always intrigued by the one next door. I imagined going into it and finding all sorts of amazing ancient treasures no-body else valued. Little did I know how little they valued them!
Finally, a grandson of the elderly couple decided to move in. They have a three-year old son, so I am very happy to have another child in the neighborhood. The boy and his Mum appeared at our door bearing a decorative packet of towels as a new-neighbor greeting, and apologized in advance for the the renovation work they were planning.
Well, what renovation work! The first thing to go was the old storage building. I learned from the woman, who I met in the street as she and her son came to watch the 'dinosaur' at work that they planned to remove the whole newer part of the house, the part on our side, including the two-storey section next to our kitchen. The workmen have been busily destructing this past week, meaning we have had to park our cars at the bank to protect them from the dust and debris. On Saturday we felt some huge tremors as large parts of the two-storey section came down. With any luck, they'll be finished by today - and then the building can begin, because they are going to replace the old building with a new section for their family.
This technique of taking down part of a house and re-building is pretty common here. In Baachan's childhood home, there is one room dating from the 100-year old house, a 50-60 odd year section, and a new two-storey section with bedrooms and a new kitchen.
They have left the traditional old half of the house, but it is a shame they had to remove the old storage house. I'd have kept it and, well, used it for storage!
A kick in the chest
Amy had a better time at swimming today than last week, when she was kicked very hard in the chest by one of her 'friends' in the changing room. Apparently, they were calling each other 'snot' and other such creative things, and Amy protested - she is a confident child and not afraid to stand up for herself and answer back. Then the girl, who is a good 10cm taller than Amy and very solid - a little overweight, kicked her in the chest. It winded her and left her in pain for about an hour afterwards.
I was waiting in the car, so we went to see Daddy, who called the swimming club to make sure they knew, and to watch out for it happening again. I was afraid they were going to want to sweep it under the carpet and call it 'just one of those things kids do', which is a response I hate from teachers, etc, because while it is true of many of these situations, it's also true that it's our responsibility as adults to tell the kid in question that that kind of behaviour is unacceptable. I don't expect her to be kicked out or anything, just to be told to not do that. Often that's all that's needed.
Anyway, they were all the best of buddies again this week, but nevertheless I stayed for the whole lesson. (I ususally go home to prepare dinner). Amy didn't want me to come into the changing room, as she felt she would be even more embarrassed if I did. That's a bit sad, because I have always feared the day she became ashamed of me because I underline what is different about her. But it couldn't be helped, because I needed to go in there to help Lena, who was in the class before Amy.
Plus I know better than Amy - hiding is not the answer. A big smile and a conversation is the best method to stop people thinking you're weird. If I chat to the kids like any other mother or teacher, I'm not so strange to them. Usually everyone know's who Amy's Mum or Lena's Mum is, and call out to me or point, and I have to be all friendly and sweet, no matter how stupid the things are that they say!
I was waiting in the car, so we went to see Daddy, who called the swimming club to make sure they knew, and to watch out for it happening again. I was afraid they were going to want to sweep it under the carpet and call it 'just one of those things kids do', which is a response I hate from teachers, etc, because while it is true of many of these situations, it's also true that it's our responsibility as adults to tell the kid in question that that kind of behaviour is unacceptable. I don't expect her to be kicked out or anything, just to be told to not do that. Often that's all that's needed.
Anyway, they were all the best of buddies again this week, but nevertheless I stayed for the whole lesson. (I ususally go home to prepare dinner). Amy didn't want me to come into the changing room, as she felt she would be even more embarrassed if I did. That's a bit sad, because I have always feared the day she became ashamed of me because I underline what is different about her. But it couldn't be helped, because I needed to go in there to help Lena, who was in the class before Amy.
Plus I know better than Amy - hiding is not the answer. A big smile and a conversation is the best method to stop people thinking you're weird. If I chat to the kids like any other mother or teacher, I'm not so strange to them. Usually everyone know's who Amy's Mum or Lena's Mum is, and call out to me or point, and I have to be all friendly and sweet, no matter how stupid the things are that they say!
Monday, May 28, 2007
Universal Studios
We spent an amazing weekend at Universal Studios! We left on Friday afternoon by train, then caught a ferry to Osaka, arriving in the morning. After a long day at the park, we got back on the ferry and arrived back in Kokura on Sunday morning.
FRIDAY We caught the train at 5:30. Fortunately the trip was only 30minutes - but even that was long enough - 8 children can make a heck of a lot of noise even when they are being constantly shusshed! Actually that was the main reason we decided to go with the ferry - we knew we would have trouble with the kids over a three-four hour train trip. We got enough space to sit together only in the smoking car, but the upside was that we got to sit directly behind the driver, which was cool.
I was excited and nervous about the ferry - I had horrible visions of various children running too fast and slipping over the edge! You know how you go all soft and emotional when you're pregnant. Makes me think pregnant ladies should rule the world, if only we didn't keep forgetting stuff (I walked out of a supermarket with my basket the other day, having forgotten completely to pay! 'Excuse me, Ms Customer' goes the door hostess'. Only in Japan will you be reprimanded for stealing so very gently and politely! Perhaps she realized I was having a mummy-brain moment).
One of the Mums knew the purser, and when she told him I was pregnant, he upgraded me to the second best room! I was quite prepared to sleep on a narrow berth - at home I have switched from my soft bed back to the firm futon on the floor, because I seem to sleep straighter. I have no back pain so far, in fact my back is even better than it was before I was pregnant, when my penchant for sleeping and reading on my tummy was affecting my back. But I couldn't complain about the spacious Japanese tatami cabin, with its HUGE window. Downstairs, the others got a TV screen video of the outside of the ship!
We had dinner, which we had bought at the supermarket at the train station before boarding the bus that took us to the ferry. A very healthy Japanese lunchbox - mine had beef, salmon, and 3-4 salads; the girls had rice balls. Then we had a bath! Yes, there is a full-size Japanese public bath on the ferry! Although the last thing I wanted was a rough journey, I was kind of hoping the wind would whip up just while we were in the bath. It didn't, nor could we see through the frosted windows, but it still felt quite like we were on a boat, with the engine noise and shuddering. The whole ship shook and shuddered and rattled all the way to Osaka and back.
The kids slept well, and I was comfortable, but I can't say I slept well. I read myself to sleep, but once I woke again a few hours later it was really hard getting back to sleep. The gentle rocking was okay - we were lying cross-wise, so it was head-up, head-down, but only very slightly; but the shaking and rattling were very off-putting. I think I got to sleep again around the dead hour, for a few more hours before dawn.
SATURDAY Breakfast was bread we had purchased the day before at the station. In the middle of breakfast, we passed under one of Japan's spectacular over-ocean bridges connecting the mainland to various islands. We took the obligatory photos, and Amy loved looking over the edges into the sea. Since it had gotten dark soon after we boarded, it was really our first feeling that we were really on a ship. Lena was a bit more wary, which didn't bother me at all - one less to watch at the edge!
A bus took us from the ferry to Universal Studios. After the obligatory group photo, and finding a locker to store our bags, in we went - and the first person we met was Hello Kitty. USJ has tons of characters, including Sesame Street, Kitty, Snoopy, Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker, Oz, ET, Shrek and characters from other movies.
We came back on the bus, and boarded the ferry. Having no bought food this time, we had to use the ferry's restaurant, which was very utilitarian. Cafeteria-style, with a tray and pre-prepared food covered in gladwrap. The kids had curry, and I had a beef stew and salad and fruit. Then we hopped in the bath again. I was more careful with the location of the children after a brief scare the day before, when I let Lena run off with Maia, and went separately to the bath with Amy, by a different route. When Maia and her mother arrived though, all they had was Lena's shoe. That was a dreadful five minutes as I wandered around the ferry with one lonely shoe wondering where my baby was!
Another sleepless night! It was a little rougher this time, but my main worry was the lovely Japanese paper-screen fittings in the room, which rattled all night! I hunted down one rattle, but gave up on the rest, and I realized that all that would happen is that I would then start to hear the rattles from the next room, and the corridor...visions of a wild and crazy sleep-crazed pregnant foreigner chasing down phantom rattles all over the fery....
We bussed back to the station, and after a drink at the station, some of us visited a nearby famous bakery. I am always wary of 'famous' bakeries here - Japanees seem to have a completely different idea of what is good in bread to me, so I am often disappointed. But I went. First regret. As I walked out of the restaurant door, I turned and saw Lena looking deserted, and told her she could come. Second regret. Because while I selected my buns, she and a friend played with the precious Kitty balloon - which broke away and sailed over the station building. I was so sleep-deprived I nearly cried! Lena was laughing, inspired by her friend who seemed to think it was really funny. I was very angry and hissed "It's NOT funny!". To her credit, the string was still wrapped around Lena's wrist, and the weight still firmly clutched in her hand. The string had actually broken. It didn't really sink in though, until we got back to the restaurant and she saw Amy's balloon. Then the tears flowed.
It was still only 10am when we got back to Nakatsu. We picked up our car, and gave Baachan her souvenir cookies, and went to the 100yen shop, because I had promised Amy that morning that I would buy her some clay to make a fairy.
FRIDAY We caught the train at 5:30. Fortunately the trip was only 30minutes - but even that was long enough - 8 children can make a heck of a lot of noise even when they are being constantly shusshed! Actually that was the main reason we decided to go with the ferry - we knew we would have trouble with the kids over a three-four hour train trip. We got enough space to sit together only in the smoking car, but the upside was that we got to sit directly behind the driver, which was cool.
I was excited and nervous about the ferry - I had horrible visions of various children running too fast and slipping over the edge! You know how you go all soft and emotional when you're pregnant. Makes me think pregnant ladies should rule the world, if only we didn't keep forgetting stuff (I walked out of a supermarket with my basket the other day, having forgotten completely to pay! 'Excuse me, Ms Customer' goes the door hostess'. Only in Japan will you be reprimanded for stealing so very gently and politely! Perhaps she realized I was having a mummy-brain moment).
One of the Mums knew the purser, and when she told him I was pregnant, he upgraded me to the second best room! I was quite prepared to sleep on a narrow berth - at home I have switched from my soft bed back to the firm futon on the floor, because I seem to sleep straighter. I have no back pain so far, in fact my back is even better than it was before I was pregnant, when my penchant for sleeping and reading on my tummy was affecting my back. But I couldn't complain about the spacious Japanese tatami cabin, with its HUGE window. Downstairs, the others got a TV screen video of the outside of the ship!
We had dinner, which we had bought at the supermarket at the train station before boarding the bus that took us to the ferry. A very healthy Japanese lunchbox - mine had beef, salmon, and 3-4 salads; the girls had rice balls. Then we had a bath! Yes, there is a full-size Japanese public bath on the ferry! Although the last thing I wanted was a rough journey, I was kind of hoping the wind would whip up just while we were in the bath. It didn't, nor could we see through the frosted windows, but it still felt quite like we were on a boat, with the engine noise and shuddering. The whole ship shook and shuddered and rattled all the way to Osaka and back.
The kids slept well, and I was comfortable, but I can't say I slept well. I read myself to sleep, but once I woke again a few hours later it was really hard getting back to sleep. The gentle rocking was okay - we were lying cross-wise, so it was head-up, head-down, but only very slightly; but the shaking and rattling were very off-putting. I think I got to sleep again around the dead hour, for a few more hours before dawn.
SATURDAY Breakfast was bread we had purchased the day before at the station. In the middle of breakfast, we passed under one of Japan's spectacular over-ocean bridges connecting the mainland to various islands. We took the obligatory photos, and Amy loved looking over the edges into the sea. Since it had gotten dark soon after we boarded, it was really our first feeling that we were really on a ship. Lena was a bit more wary, which didn't bother me at all - one less to watch at the edge!
A bus took us from the ferry to Universal Studios. After the obligatory group photo, and finding a locker to store our bags, in we went - and the first person we met was Hello Kitty. USJ has tons of characters, including Sesame Street, Kitty, Snoopy, Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker, Oz, ET, Shrek and characters from other movies.
We came back on the bus, and boarded the ferry. Having no bought food this time, we had to use the ferry's restaurant, which was very utilitarian. Cafeteria-style, with a tray and pre-prepared food covered in gladwrap. The kids had curry, and I had a beef stew and salad and fruit. Then we hopped in the bath again. I was more careful with the location of the children after a brief scare the day before, when I let Lena run off with Maia, and went separately to the bath with Amy, by a different route. When Maia and her mother arrived though, all they had was Lena's shoe. That was a dreadful five minutes as I wandered around the ferry with one lonely shoe wondering where my baby was!
Another sleepless night! It was a little rougher this time, but my main worry was the lovely Japanese paper-screen fittings in the room, which rattled all night! I hunted down one rattle, but gave up on the rest, and I realized that all that would happen is that I would then start to hear the rattles from the next room, and the corridor...visions of a wild and crazy sleep-crazed pregnant foreigner chasing down phantom rattles all over the fery....
We bussed back to the station, and after a drink at the station, some of us visited a nearby famous bakery. I am always wary of 'famous' bakeries here - Japanees seem to have a completely different idea of what is good in bread to me, so I am often disappointed. But I went. First regret. As I walked out of the restaurant door, I turned and saw Lena looking deserted, and told her she could come. Second regret. Because while I selected my buns, she and a friend played with the precious Kitty balloon - which broke away and sailed over the station building. I was so sleep-deprived I nearly cried! Lena was laughing, inspired by her friend who seemed to think it was really funny. I was very angry and hissed "It's NOT funny!". To her credit, the string was still wrapped around Lena's wrist, and the weight still firmly clutched in her hand. The string had actually broken. It didn't really sink in though, until we got back to the restaurant and she saw Amy's balloon. Then the tears flowed.
It was still only 10am when we got back to Nakatsu. We picked up our car, and gave Baachan her souvenir cookies, and went to the 100yen shop, because I had promised Amy that morning that I would buy her some clay to make a fairy.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Clinic Visit
I wasn't intending on discussing anything important this time, except to check that Kanji can indeed come to the birth! But I ended up with a hospital tour, so I learned quite a lot.
It started out badly with a grumpy nurse who made things worse by gesturing at me, making me feel like a child. She could have at least graciously pointed the way, instead of curling her finger to indicate 'come'. I hope she realized in the end that, having mastered words like 'childbirth' 'labour' and 'episiotomy' I can understand simple stuff like 'this way please'.
But I got over her and enjoyed the u/s as usual. It's grown of course, no surprises there, and the doctor was quick to reassure me that all was well, baby was 'genki' (healthy, energetic). I kept to myself my comment 'as far as you can tell with U/S, which is not so much really...'. In reality I feel very healthy, no protein, no blood sugar problems, no aching bones, eating healthy, baby moving heaps. I don't need him to tell me we are fine!
Then he asked if I had decided to give birth there, and when I said Yes, he sent me on the tour. I waited in the corridor, and along came his sister, who has some administrative role there (part of which, I found out, was devising the menus, which she assured me were delicious). She speaks English very well - Mum will be pleased to hear! We did switch to Japanese though, as it became clear that my Japanese was better than her English. That happens most of the time these days! I am happy to know that they are making an effort though.
We went upstairs to the nursery, and I knew this was my chance to ask about rooming in. I was assured I can have my baby with me. We looked at the standard shared room (only two beds) and the more luxurious room, 5000yen extra, which has a table to eat at and a fold-out sofa-bed so Kanji or Mum can stay with me! All rooms have ensuite bathrooms, with showers with a little shelf to rest on so you can shower sitting down. There is a separate dining room, but it looks like you can take your meals in your room too. We also looked at the kitchen, were I assured them I eat anything, especially raw fish.
I also got to see the delivery room, which I was very pleased about. Very utilitarian, except the birthing chair is pink. I asked about birth positions, and how high up the chair goes. It can hike up quite high, but you are still lying back a bit. I briefly explained how it worked in NZ, that it's a normal bed and you pretty much choose your own position. One nurse assured me that the standard position you assume on the chair, with legs spread-eagled and holding onto hand grips near your bum, is the easiest or best to give birth in. We fiddled a bit with the legs rest, and I discovered that with them down, I could scooch up into a sort-of squat, leaning back a bit, very similar to how I was with Amy and Lena, but with my feet up by my bum, not up in the air. I told them I would try their method, but asked if I would be able to change positions if it wasn't as comfortable or easy as they insisted.
Next I wanted a blow-by-blow account of what happens directly after the birth. It was not too detailed - even as I asked I knew the problem would be that they would be so used to doing things their way that they are probably largely unaware that there are other ways of doing things. I was told however, that the baby would be wrapped and cleaned, then brought to me for breastfeeding. But at that point they started talking about having the baby in the nursery, apparently to make sure her temperature stabilizes. Rubbish, in my opinion, as the baby's temperature can be equally well monitored when it's with its mother! So I have gotten a bit worried about that, as I kind of missed the start of it - we had also been talking about who can be in the delivery room and how long I can stay. I intend to stay the whole six days, but I will be able to go home after four. And Kanji and Mum can come into the delivery room.
Anyway, as I recall it, after I cuddle and feed the baby on the table, they take her away to care for her, while I 'rest' and I was asking her about how long, and she said 5-6 hours, which is WAY too long for me. I was triyng to see if there were excpetions, trying to be negotiable, not dump on the whole idea and offend them, but just see if they would let me, if we were both healthy, take the baby myself. On the other hand, the doctor keeps saying, 'give her what she wants' so I think I have some wiggle room. It's definitely at the top of the list for the next visit!
It's difficult to reproduce the nuance...I do miss things, for sure, and I know you can't just jump out and attack people's thinking or way of doing things. I have to appear flexible, but I don't think they have any idea how many things I am tolertaing that I would rather not do, how different everything is right down to the littlest detail. And in Japanese, you can't just disagree, you have to gently squeeze the new thinking in. Well, take it slow. I'll make sure next time that it's on my chart that I am to be given my baby when I ask for it.
It started out badly with a grumpy nurse who made things worse by gesturing at me, making me feel like a child. She could have at least graciously pointed the way, instead of curling her finger to indicate 'come'. I hope she realized in the end that, having mastered words like 'childbirth' 'labour' and 'episiotomy' I can understand simple stuff like 'this way please'.
But I got over her and enjoyed the u/s as usual. It's grown of course, no surprises there, and the doctor was quick to reassure me that all was well, baby was 'genki' (healthy, energetic). I kept to myself my comment 'as far as you can tell with U/S, which is not so much really...'. In reality I feel very healthy, no protein, no blood sugar problems, no aching bones, eating healthy, baby moving heaps. I don't need him to tell me we are fine!
Then he asked if I had decided to give birth there, and when I said Yes, he sent me on the tour. I waited in the corridor, and along came his sister, who has some administrative role there (part of which, I found out, was devising the menus, which she assured me were delicious). She speaks English very well - Mum will be pleased to hear! We did switch to Japanese though, as it became clear that my Japanese was better than her English. That happens most of the time these days! I am happy to know that they are making an effort though.
We went upstairs to the nursery, and I knew this was my chance to ask about rooming in. I was assured I can have my baby with me. We looked at the standard shared room (only two beds) and the more luxurious room, 5000yen extra, which has a table to eat at and a fold-out sofa-bed so Kanji or Mum can stay with me! All rooms have ensuite bathrooms, with showers with a little shelf to rest on so you can shower sitting down. There is a separate dining room, but it looks like you can take your meals in your room too. We also looked at the kitchen, were I assured them I eat anything, especially raw fish.
I also got to see the delivery room, which I was very pleased about. Very utilitarian, except the birthing chair is pink. I asked about birth positions, and how high up the chair goes. It can hike up quite high, but you are still lying back a bit. I briefly explained how it worked in NZ, that it's a normal bed and you pretty much choose your own position. One nurse assured me that the standard position you assume on the chair, with legs spread-eagled and holding onto hand grips near your bum, is the easiest or best to give birth in. We fiddled a bit with the legs rest, and I discovered that with them down, I could scooch up into a sort-of squat, leaning back a bit, very similar to how I was with Amy and Lena, but with my feet up by my bum, not up in the air. I told them I would try their method, but asked if I would be able to change positions if it wasn't as comfortable or easy as they insisted.
Next I wanted a blow-by-blow account of what happens directly after the birth. It was not too detailed - even as I asked I knew the problem would be that they would be so used to doing things their way that they are probably largely unaware that there are other ways of doing things. I was told however, that the baby would be wrapped and cleaned, then brought to me for breastfeeding. But at that point they started talking about having the baby in the nursery, apparently to make sure her temperature stabilizes. Rubbish, in my opinion, as the baby's temperature can be equally well monitored when it's with its mother! So I have gotten a bit worried about that, as I kind of missed the start of it - we had also been talking about who can be in the delivery room and how long I can stay. I intend to stay the whole six days, but I will be able to go home after four. And Kanji and Mum can come into the delivery room.
Anyway, as I recall it, after I cuddle and feed the baby on the table, they take her away to care for her, while I 'rest' and I was asking her about how long, and she said 5-6 hours, which is WAY too long for me. I was triyng to see if there were excpetions, trying to be negotiable, not dump on the whole idea and offend them, but just see if they would let me, if we were both healthy, take the baby myself. On the other hand, the doctor keeps saying, 'give her what she wants' so I think I have some wiggle room. It's definitely at the top of the list for the next visit!
It's difficult to reproduce the nuance...I do miss things, for sure, and I know you can't just jump out and attack people's thinking or way of doing things. I have to appear flexible, but I don't think they have any idea how many things I am tolertaing that I would rather not do, how different everything is right down to the littlest detail. And in Japanese, you can't just disagree, you have to gently squeeze the new thinking in. Well, take it slow. I'll make sure next time that it's on my chart that I am to be given my baby when I ask for it.
Baby photo
Well here she is! Or he, or more likely she. This is a computer screen image of a digital photograph of a print-out of a 3D rendering of an electronic image of a sound echo. Nevertheless, kind of cute how she seems to be smiling, even if she somewhat resembles Voldemort in the 4th Harry Potter movie.
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