Sadly

I am sitting at school typing this…I am so unhappy that vacation is over. I know I am lucky to get such a long vacation (especially in this country!) but it feckin sucks that it’s over. (whine whine whine)
I’m feeling quite busy already. I have school, then my evening classes, cooking classes, and a bunch of other things to do this month. I was asked to do a speech about (?) in Japanese for a group of people who belong to International group of the town I live in. It’s for an hour to an hour and a half. Let me say again, in Japanese! I can’t really say no as the person who is running that committee has asked my husband’s uncle to ask me. (I’m not that good at saying no in the first place.) It’s scheduled for the 30th of September. I guess I should look at it more positively and think of it as a good chance to study. When I came to school, though, I realized that I have to be at school that day for the Culture Festival. Now I have to try and get in touch with the person running it and tell her that I can’t do it. I have a feeling that she’s not going to be very happy with me, but work is work. (We also have school the next day, Sunday, too, so I am really feeling busy.)
And then there’s another day in October that I have to teach/lecture citizens of this area for an hour. I’m very happy that it’s a one time thing. (And it’s in English!)
I am sure that the little guy wasn’t happy to be going back to daycare today. I sent him one day last week as I had to teach and do teaching like things all day. He cried when we got there and cried when he saw the teacher and the other kids. I felt so bad for him. I really wanted to cry myself. When I left this morning he was saying that he wanted to be with me and he didn’t want to go to daycare. What can I say-I didn’t want to come to school either. Oh well.
Before this ends up being another negative post, I enjoyed my summer and spending time with Hiroki. He spent lots of time with his cousins, and lots of time watching Tom and Jerry. It’s funny that he likes it so much.


I also tried making a few new things. One was pumpkin pudding (we were given a lot of pumpkin/squash). It was good and not too labour intensive.


Plus the cooking classes, I am glad that I signed up for them. It’s nice to be learning something (double for me-language and cooking) and nice to go there and meet new people. I am looking forward to doing more. The good thing is that I can sign up for a class whenever I want to, it’s not a set time every week. I can also choose the menu for the cooking part but the bread is in a special order.
So that’s fun, too.
Well, should go now, I’ve got to teach the next class.
Edited to add-I just got off the phone with MIL. She said that Hiroki was fine until he got to the daycare and as he got closer and closer, he started to cry. Poor little guy. He was crying about wanting me and saying he wanted to phone me. The only way my MIL could leave was to get the teacher to hold him. I hope he gets used to going back again.

how ironic

You Are a Learning Cook

You've got the makings of an excellent cook, and the desire to be one. But right now, you're just lacking the experience. You couldn't be a top chef yet, but you could be an apprentice.

Are You A Good Cook?

I got this from Granny's blog. It's pretty funny cause I just signed up for cooking classes. My less than tactful hubby has told me (many times!) that I need cooking lessons and therefore I will be taking cooking lessons and learning how to make different types of bread from scratch. Actually, I'm quite looking forward to it-new recipes are always handy!

new do?

This is me after my haircut-not sure if it's a new do or not as I seem to have had this cut before

the pics didn't work so I'm putting them here

The post below refers to these pics.

stupid girl

Well, I did it again...I went and got another haircut. This time I went to another shop around my house. (There was a typhoon supposed to be coming so I didn't want to go too far away) I guess I'd say I'm satisified with it- I don't love it but I don't hate it either (how's that for positive thinking?) I was sick of always tying my hair back and wanted to get a style that's more conducive to my, ummm, hair that goes all weird no matter what I do, so I got it cut shorter and a bit more layered. So far only one person has mentioned it, so I don't know if no one else has noticed or everyone thinks it looks weird or what. The hairdresser was very meticulous, I started panicking once and got myself to breathe by telling myself it's only hair, it will grow back. I am so lame.
But the stupid part is to follow. We all (MIL included) went to a hotel on the beach for one night for our summer trip. It was nice to get away. We basically spent 2 days on the beach, under a parasol, of course. I wasn't extremely good at applying sunscreen on my feet and back and boy oh boy do I ever regret it! My feet got really red and were really painful for a couple of days afterward, but my back-man! I am still in pain (well, only when something touches it-like my shirt, the wind, whatever) Luckily before we went, I bought something called a rashguard (I am not sure if it's correct or not, just guessing from the Japanese pronunciation) for Hiroki and so he had no sun problems whatsoever. Here he is

uninspired

so here are some pics to tide you over

C's list

Hi Sheri, I finally had a chance to sit down and come up with a list. It's not as good as yours, but it's late... Please feel free to delete this post as I'm not sure if you wanted it as a comment or as a post.

Sheri's request - C is for Caro!

In no particular order, my top ten "C"s for the evening...

1. Crafts - I love cross stitching and making cards. Even though I'm not that great, it makes me feel a bit creative and lets me use a different side of my brain. I'm hoping by the time Ella needs Halloween costumes, I'll be up to the challenge!!

2. Cute - this word is the first one which comes to mind when I see my daughter. She is my little cherub and it's hard to keep my eyes and camera off of her! She is so amazing - I find everything about her cute. Can you believe that I actually heard myself calling my husband over to admire her cute little turd one day? Hmmm, maybe I need to get out in public more...

3. Cat - this one's easy - our crazy cat is a definite member of our household. He's not sweet like Lizzie, but he sure has a great deal of character!

4. Comments - I love looking on Miss Ella's blog and finding a comment from someone. It lets me know that people are enjoying the pictures etc. I had to also install a counter to make sure I wasn't just posting for my own enjoyment!

5. Computer - without this invention, I probably would have lost track of Sheri and Danielle years ago. Both are army brats who were in my life physically for a short time long ago, but have been able to remain close even across oceans and countries. It's hard to believe that Sheri left Calgary in 1986 I believe. That's 20 years ago. Holy crap!!! We're old!!!

6. Cheerful - I try as hard as I can to be this way because I hope that if I'm pleasant to someone it might make their day a little less nasty. Although, my husband may disagree that I'm cheerful... Hmmm, he gets me at home... I try though!!!

7. Cherish - I don't think I knew what this word really meant until I had my daughter. It's hard to believe how much joy she has brought to me, my David, my parents and friends. I cherish all my moments with her. I have been so lucky to have this first year of her life away from work.

8. Cuddles - I love when my little girl snuggles up and cuddles with me when she goes for a little nap. Can't wait until she's older and we can cuddle together on the couch and watch some silly cartoons.

9. Cool sheets - mmm - it's been a hot summer so far in Calgary. Not anywhere near as hot in Japan I'm sure, but it's been fairly warm here. We decided to bite the bullet this year and get Central Air Conditioning. I can't believe how much we love it. Instead of our bedroom being 29 degrees Celsius when we go to bed, it's a lovely cool 22... Don't worry, we got the environmentally friendly A/C. I know, it's still evil, but at least we don't go all batty because we haven't had a decent sleep in weeks! Besides, I have a hybrid car - that has to count for something right?

10. Calm - Everytime I turn on the news, I am reminded how lucky I am to live in a country like Canada in Calgary in a quiet suburb at the top of a cul-de-sac. How nice it is to fall asleep to the sound of frogs ribbitting at night and then waking up to the sound of birds in the morning. I doubt I would have a beautiful list like this to share if I lived in a different part of the world.

hee hee

I am at work again, killing time until I can go home…Good attitude, eh? But I am very happy that my shuffle can be used as a memory stick and therefore I can do this at work-doing what I want to do while looking busy-bonus!
There are no students at the school today, and I think tomorrow, too, but summer vacation doesn’t start until Wednesday, so here I am. I am feeling a little sick to my stomach as I had a medical check up today and therefore couldn’t eat this morning. I guess missing breakfast threw me off or something. All of the city employees can get a medical check this week. What you get checked depends on your age-the younger you are, the less you get checked. I just had to give a urine sample, got my blood pressure measured, some sort of heart check, and a blood test. As you get older, you also get to drink barium and have some sort of stomach check (as well as give a stool sample), and I think there’s a hearing test, too.
The urine sample here is different in that you have to do it at home and bring it with you, so you can imagine the cup thing doesn’t work well. But they give you a cup and a little bottle, so you pee in the cup and then squeeze the bottle to get it filled up. (Too much information?)
The heart check was a totally new experience for me when I started working here (this was my third one). First, the women get checked in a separate room than the men. Women go in this little room and have to take off pantyhose or long socks if they are wearing them. I don’t know if you’re supposed to take off your bra or not, the nurse type of person said if you can just lift it out of the way, it’s not a problem. Then, when it’s your turn, you go behind the partition and they hook up your ankles and wrists to some sort of machine, and then put some type of suction cup type things around your heart. I think I was lying there for about a minute? Easy.
The blood test is the usual. Every year I get the results back and it says that I don’t have enough neutral fat in my blood? In my body? I haven’t figured out what exactly that means. Apparently it comes from not eating enough meat or something like that. I’m wondering if it will be different this year as this is the first year that I have had it since I stopped breastfeeding. (Again, too much info?) No idea if there is a correlation or not. I guess I will find out.
Anyway, enough for now, I guess. I need something to write about tomorrow!

tagged

Well, I’ve been meaning to write this for a while. I‘m at school, using the principal’s computer. I am going to (hopefully-I haven’t tried yet) use my i-pod shuffle as a memory type of device to save this and take it home.　{I just tried saving it, I think it works!}
Well, I was tagged quite a while ago by Jazz) to come up with 10 words starting with the letter S, here’s my list.
1)My sweet son and his smile – can make my day so much nicer and will instantly put me in a good mood.
2) Songs –good thing I like music so much because I constantly have songs going through my head, sometimes simultaneously {like last week- Patsy Cline’s I Fall to Pieces and Evanescance’s (sp?) Bring Me to Life} Also, because whatever songs we sing in English class tend to stick, lots of 70s songs lately- Joy to the World (3Dog Night), Saturday Night (Bay City Rollers), Sky High (Jigsaw), and We are the Champions (Queen). It’s umm interesting.
3) Stories-what would life be without books and the stories in them? Also, I think the fact that everyone has a story is interesting.
4) Summer days and the cold food we get to eat because it’s too hot to cook-potato salad, devil’s eggs, cold noodles, tofu, fresh veggies, mmmmmm
5) Simple-as in a simple life, I enjoy simple things right now-going to the library, listening to music, using the computer…
6）Spelling and words-I have always been interested in words and their origins, and I’m getting more interested in word games and puzzles (to keep up my English!). Also, spelling mistakes here are one of my little amusements (“beerz”, the sign on the door that says “close”, and let’s not forget “flesh fruit”- more here)
7) Sleep – because everything looks better in the morning, especially after a good, long sleeep
8) Sentiment- I find myself more and more feeling nostalgic about things I would never have expected to feel nostalgic about-things from Canada as well as things in Japan. Also sentimental movies-I cry now (never did before)
9)Satisifaction-because who doesn’t like to feel satisfied?
10) Serendipity-can’t say that I have had many serendipitous things happen in my life but I like the idea as well as the sound of the word
I want to tag Caro and Lori. C for Caro, L for Lori. Wanna play?

hold on

I'll be posting soon-waiting for summer vacation to start (this is the last week of school)
Write more soon

I like this picture

This is my 3 month old neice celebrating Canada Day. I like this picture!

I'm on a roll

So a little while ago hubby came home with a super-duper do-all scale. I have been less than eager to use the thing. Besides not knowing how to, I really didn’t want to see all of those stats. Last week I took the big step and tried it. The next day I went out for a walk in the morning. Yes, I was most unhappy with those numbers on the scale. But I’m going to try and get those numbers down. I have been out walking/jogging 3 times so far and plan to go out a couple more times this week. I don’t do anything big but even a little bit helps, I guess.
The biggest problem is finding the time to do it. I get up a little before 5am so I can go out walking/ jogging. That dips into my computer time. I already feel like I don’t have enough time to do my own stuff, so I’m not pleased by that but I do need to exercise. I want to get a memory stick or something so I can write my blog at work and then just bring it back home and send it off.
Nuff said.

Conversation Overheard one night last week...

Or would have been if these guys could talk…
"I've gotta find a way to get outta here," she said.
"Mmm, okay, whatever," he said.

So my son is keeping 2 rhinocerous beetles as pets. He got them from his cousin, and he likes having them primarily because he gets to feed them their special jelly (at least that’s what I think)
Anyway, I actually thought we just got one, then last week late on Saturday night hubby heard a noise as he was the only one up late at night (watching World Cup). He said that it sounded like an insect walking around (they are BIG). The next day he was searching the area for an insect. I saw the one insect in the cage so I didn’t think much of it. Then later my MIL said that the female beetle had disappeared. I was thinking ‘the female’? We had more than one? Then I was thinking about how smart that beetle was to wait until the dead of night, make her plans to escape, and the get away! Yea! You go girl! I was so impressed by her escape, really I thought about how clever she was. (All along thinking I hope I don’t step on her~big crunch I would guess!)
So I was pretty impressed all day Sunday, thinking she crawled out of her cage, waited for her chance and got out the door when one of us opened the door. (The cage was in the genkan, or the area near the door.)
This feeling lasted until Sunday night when hubby found her, crawling up my son’s bicycle tire (also kept in the genkan).
I was so disappointed. It’s a little weird, I guess. I wasn’t too happy about keeping 2 big bugs in a small cage (even tho they are bugs I still feel sorry for them) but my MIL went out and bought a bigger cage and jelly to feed them. They have a little more space now and at least there’s two of them, so I feel a little better.

heree comes the rain again

Well, this year the rainy season hasn't been sooo bad (so far knock on wood) but it's definately been cloudy or rainy most days. The other day, when it was sunny was a reminder of summer weather and it's going to be soooo hot! I'm already sleeping in my shorts and t-shirt type of pyjamas, with the windows wide open and barely any blanket. Last night when I was talking to 2 of my (older) women students they told me that they are cold at night without a long sleeved shirt. Hmmm. I am always cold in the winter and always too hot in the summer. They don't know what to make of me!
One by product of the rain is these beautiful hydrangea. They have been popping up for the last 3 weeks or so. I love the ones that are this bluey purpley colour. I have seen others that are reddish pink or white. Got to cut this short for now.

And oh yeah HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Don't have much time-have to get ready for work. This is Hiroki's new summer do. He doesn't seem to mind it too much (even though he said he didn't want a haircut-he wanted to be able to put his hair back cause he likes people who put their hair back)

sleeping

Well, another week of sleeping problems-just getting to sleep on little Mr. H's part. At least that's one good thing-there have been times of problems getting to sleep and staying asleep. And that's when I think he's trying to kill me...
So I got the no cry sleep solution for toddlers and preschoolers earlier this week (I love amazon!) I like alot of what I've read so far (not much yet) but I'm still having a problem with the whole timing thing. The author says that he should be getting 11 hours of sleep a night. He is so not, which apparently goes a long way in explaining his temper tantrums and other similar behaviours. But according to the author, I should be getting him ready for bed an hour before the 11 hours of sleep. So I wake him up at 6:30, that means that I have to have him sleeping at 7:30. That means that I have to start putting him to bed at 6:30. Hmmmm. Not home yet/just getting home @ 6:30. There's also the bedtime snack before bed-so by my calculations-he gets home at about 5:00ish, eats dinner, takes a bath, eats a bedtime snack, I come home, put him to bed... it's too busy, I think. But I'm goingwh to read the book and see what else I can do.
Last week was busy, and a bit disturbing. One of the other ALTs was telling us horror stories of the grade 8 students at his school. They are doing things like hitting/fighting with each other and teachers! and it seems like there's nothin the school can do about it, which they have figured out. I'm pretty sure that if stuff like this happened in Canada, the police would be called. And then at my school, one of the grade 7 students went missing for a day and her teachere was concerned because there was a high chance that she was with her 18 yr old boyfriend(!). The next time I saw her at school, she had bruises all over her arms. where her father had punched her (mom is out of the picture). Now I know that the police would be called in Canada for child abuse. I also think that child services here wouldn't do much about beating-they have a good history of giving kids back to the people who beat them. Sad.
More murders in the news lately-kids killing their parents. More reason not watch tv (not that I watch that much)
Should go 4 now. xxoo

whoa, shock

I know, 2 posts within days of each other. I'd like to be able to start doing this on a regular basis but not sure if I can. Hiroki is at daycare now and I'll be leaving soon to go and get him. This is my schedule for the week-yesterday I went to the big city of Shizuoka (takes about an hour and half by local train) and picked up my PR, or permanent resident visa. I'm happy, I'm sad....Of course I ended up waiting for quite a while but ended up getting it done all on my own (they don't speak English, Chinese, Portugese, Spanish, or Korean) so was happy about that. Also was happy to come back to school at 2:00pm, missing all of my classes and with only 3 hours left of the work day. hee hee.
Today I went to a kindergarten and taught about 60 5 year olds. It was cool. I mostly enjoyed it. I pretty much get the star treatment when I go to kindergarten. I play with the kids, teach them a few things, then the supervisors say,"Come and rest, you must be so tired!" Then I play again, and eat lunch with the kids. After that, we go outside to play. The kids all try to grab me and pull me around (the part I don't like) and after that, the supervisor has me sit and relax and gives me treats to eat and take home. I finish early, so today I feeling pretty satisfied-finished cooking my part for dinner, (MIL cooked some nimono, stuff boiled in fish stock, soy sauce and sugar-today's stuff is yummy stuff like shiitake and fried tofu and some bamboo shoots), done the washing up, and ready to go teach at 5:30.
Tomorrow some more visitors to watch a class. Thursday, elementary school. I think Friday might be a regular day for a change.
Gotta run to get HRH. Love to everyone.

umm, ha ha, (shamefaced)

Well I am here. Not much time to use the computer lately. His royal highness is trying to kill me, I think. He's having sleeping problems and because of his not sleeping he is super cranky not to mention me! Then there's the whole sleep deprivation thing going on for me, too. He has been going to sleep really late at night, or going to sleep early-ish (meaning before 10:00) but waking up 2 or 3 times a night because of bad dreams? or something. Given that I finally fall asleep after 10, and wake up 2 or 3 times at night, get up at 5:00, I was a little out of it this week. So I did some research on the net (thankfully I have mostly free afternoons at work)about kids sleeping. I found a book on Amazon that I'm thinking about ordering about how to get kids to sleep with out crying and one more by the same author about how to get kids to do what you want them to without nagging or yelling etc. I'm interested in what she has to say. I'm not really into hitting for discipline and I would really like to know some other ways to 'manage' the little guy.(Although tonight I have to admit to giving him a little slap on his butt because the little bugger bit me while I was trying to get him into the bath-grrr!) When I read some of her advice, though, I liked what she had to say, but I don't know how possible it all is. Like she says that the optimal time to put kids to bed is between 6:00 and 7:30. I think that Hiroki is tired then, he is always lying down and playing around that time. (and extremely grumpy)Then it's like he wakes up and he's a happy boy again, but impossible to put to sleep. So I think that that probably is a good time frame for him BUT I don't even get hom from work until 6:30 on Mon & Tues, after 8:00 on Weds and home at 5:30 on Thurs and Fri but I go out to teach on Fri night until after 9:00. So I don't know about that. Especially since we have to eat and take a bath before he can go to bed. But I'm thinking of trying to move up his bedtime little by little. All I know is he is going to bed too late now!!
What else is going on here...I've been busy at school because of elementary school visits and kindergarten visits, which I like a lot, and people coming to watch classes which I don"t like but whatever.
And I'm reading a book (or skimming I guess) a book about food, named SuperFoods. There's a lot of food we need to eat every day in order to be healthy, holy crap! I eat school lunches when I'm at school because they are supposed to be nutritionally balanced, but some days I think they aren't really done well. I think there are some days when they need more vegetables. The worst part is that they all have to be high calorie because they are made for kids and they are all active and need to eat a lot. Then there's the milk , which I mostly don't drink, it's 3.6% fat. Most people in Japan drink this type of milk. My friend always says it's like drinking cream. The worst school lunch is agepan , which means fried bread. Yuck. Basically the bread is like doughnuts, only harder. We usually get 2 of these, along with something that doesn't suit it, (like stew or soup or stir fry) and always fruit cocktail with sweet grape jello and sweetened yogurt. The whole lunch makes me unhappy- my mouth usually hurts at the end of it. It would be a great snack, though.
Besides that, not much else. The news is full of people murdering children, some their own. One of the articles I read lately was about a couple in their 20s who left their 2 month old son in the car while they went to play pachinko , which I guess is equivalent to bingo in Canada. Assholes. They left him there for 5 hours and when one of them finally got off their ass to check on him, they found him dead from the heat. Poor little guy.
Anyway, it is getting late and I should probably sleep when I can!
xoxo to you all

Testing to see if this works this time...We went out for sushi, obviously it was fresh fish!!

well hello there

Well, I still alive...just been very busy (and tired) lately. In honour of Mother's Day, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of the mothers reading this, mine in particular.
I have decided today that I'm going to try and say only positive stuff as I'm worried that I always end up ranting here. Hmmm, what can I talk about...?
I'm feeling more comfortable at work now. I'm still not completely comfortable at the new school, but I am feeling much better now. I can tell because when I went to the elementary for the second time, I was wishing that I was going to my regular school where I didn't feel so nervous.
I am really enjoying teaching with one of the teachers I work with. There's 4 of them; one is burned out, I think and doesn't have much energy for classes. He still calls me by the last ALT's name sometimes, it doesn't really bug me but the students notice and they all think it's funny. Another teacher is pretty stressed out, I think. She has taken a lot of time off lately and she's not doing too well. She's the one I worked with before and I thought she just didn't like working with females, but we were talking and she said that she just doesn't want to commuicate with anyone. Oooh, not good for a teacher. Another teacher is a lot of fun to teach with, he's young and energetic and talks to the kids as much as possible in English. The other teacher is very young, as in this is her first year teaching. She keeps asking ME what to do and what do I think.
So we sing English songs at the beginning of every English class. Unfortunately, it means that alot of songs that I wouldn't choose end up getting stuck in my head. This month's songs are Hello Goodbye, by the Beatles for grade 7 and the handicapped class; YMCA by the Village People for the grade 8s, and the grade 9s are singing Karma Chameleonby, yes, the Culture Club. The Beatles I can handle. YMCA is, um, challenging. I can't believe the words to it-something along the lines of telling a "young man" to go to the Y cause he can have lots of fun hanging out with the guys. Uh, yeah. I don't think the students know the background of the band. :P
THe Culture Club is another song that doesn't make sense to me- as in what could it possibly mean-loving would be easy if your colours were like my dream- red, gold, and green Huh?
Anyway, I was quite pleased with myself this weekend. I got my Feb issue of Canadian Living in the mail not too long ago, and of course it had chocolate recipes in it for Valentine's Day. I looked at a Brownie recipe and thought I would make it, bought chocolate for it. When time came to make it, I really looked at the recipe and thought, Shit! I can't make this! There was 1 cup of butter in it and 2 cups of sugar in it!! So I looked around and found a different recipe that might be a low fat type of recipe for Brownies, it has no butter (oil instead) and less sugar (plus I cut back on the sugar anyway, I pretty much always do) and they are GOOD! They remind me of the President's Choice Bite Brownie that I discovered in Canada in my last year there. Yay! I was really enjoying them. (addicted)this so long next time.
Well, I should probably go to bed. I'll try not to leave this so long next time!