diary part 2

This has got to be the smallest bag of popcorn that I have ever seen (45g!!)
The happy boy with the finished product!

Because blogger only allows a certain amount of fotos at one time...

spring vacation diary in pix

This was at a park that we went to with his cousin and her friend. It's not officially opened yet (plus there was a really strong wind!) so there weren't many people.

This was us making soy bean gnocchi. Hiroki was really good at cutting them! And below, the finished dinner.

Well, I don't have much to say. I have been trying to spend as much time with Hiroki as I can. I still have been teaching my private classes and busy trying to get ready for school. I feel so busy and school hasn't even started. *sigh*

Anyway, here are some pictures to give you all your little boy fix.

tagged

I got tagged by Andrea (I miss you too!)-the topic-being a Real Mom. (Oh dear, I just read the rules(?) and it said that I'm to pick one thing that makes a real mom. post a pic, and tag 5 people) but that's not the way I did it. Oops!) Since I am a child of the 80s and also used to enjoy watching Letterman, the top ten format always comes to mind. So here's my top 5 list of what makes a real mom:
5) Conversations about various bodily fluids any time anywhere (including dinner table) -puke, poop, snot, etc do not bother you in the slightest.
4) When asked what book you are reading/like, you either a) can't remember because it has been so long since you picked up a book (read? who has time for that?) or b) can think of plenty of kids books that you like but you don't really want to admit that you aren't reading any adult books now. (BTW, I really love the illustrations in this book)
and in the same vein (vain?)
3) You can't remember the last time you were in a movie theatre to watch a movie made for adults
2) When you do lots of little things to make your kid feel special-giving extra big hugs, giving little treats, sending your kids who live in another country care packages, helping them to get tickets to fly home (thanks Mom!) .
And the number 1 thing that makes you a real mom is-
"Because I say so!" makes so much sense to you now.

Now I'm going to tag Caro, Tigermama, Gina, Lily, and Marianne. I know that all of you are busy and therefore I am not holding my breath for your replies, but if you have a chance...

Also, one more thing-I haven't been leaving comments on anyone else's blog because blogger won't accept my password. Does everyone hae to type their password to leave a comment?! I am geting really annoyed by it all.
Love to you all.

hey there

Well、I am enjoying my last couple of days of free time at work. Because that’s really what it is-only 2 or 3 more days left. The graduation ceremony is on Monday. Monday! Time goes by so quickly. The graduation ceremony here is much more emotional, I think. (Maybe it’s just cause I didn’t feel very sad about leaving my junior high school?) A lot of these students have been together since elementary school and everyone goes off to different high schools. There are entrance exams for high school here, and apparently which high school you go to can have a big impact on your future university/career. (Also high school here isn’t mandatory or free!!) So the ceremony is always in the (freezing cold) gym, and since it’s allergy/cold season now, everyone has the sniffles to begin with. Then people start crying and we have one big sniffle-fest. Oooh, looking forward to it. :P
Then about a week later there is the farewell ceremony. All the teachers know who is moving but it’s a big secret from all of the students. Teachers are told around the beginning of March, but the city employees, like the janitor and secretaries, librarians and ALTs (that would be what I am) find out around the end of March, usually just in time for the farewell ceremony. (Keep in mind that not everybody is happy being transferred or happy with their new placements.) (Most of the teachers know I am leaving and I am continually asked about my replacement-not that I have any idea about who is coming) We have to line up in a special order (ALTs are almost last, depending on who else is moving.) Then we have to go on stage and I think the principal says a few words about us, how long we have been at the school and what school we will be going to next etc. Then I think we have to give a speech, from last year’s experience we go out for a coffee or lunch or whatever. It also is a pretty formal ceremony.
Still don’t have any idea about when my next job is starting. I know I have to go to a big meeting with all of the staff (at least the jr and sr high, I don’t know about the uni-hope not!) I also have to get an x-ray (chest) before beginning. But I don’t know when.
BOY UPDATE: Last weekend Hiroki and I spent hours at the dr’s office AGAIN. He had a fever Fri night and I gave him medicine that night and Sat morn. Actually, I was surprised because he really couldn’t walk by himself. This was the first time I have ever seen him so bad! We went to the dr in the aft because he still had a fever of 38 degrees even after taking medicine. We had to wait 2 hours to see the dr. It sucked. Luckily (?) by the time we got in to see her, his med had worn off and he had a fever of 40.4 degrees! She was worried so she tested him for influenza and gave him a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. He didn’t have either, so that was good, but we had no idea why he had such a high fever. Anyway, we got more medicine (including antibiotics) and by Sunday morning he was soo much better. It was such a relief.
Now he is mostly fine. He has been in a pretty bad mood (read tantrums and crying) I think because he is still a little sick and I think he is pretty tired from not having naps anymore at daycare. They are trying to prepare everybody for no naps next year but all of the poor little guys end up falling asleep at the table sometime in the afternoon (before their snack). Poor things.
We are going to Yokohama this weekend to see Daddy as he hasn’t been able to come back much lately. We will also be in Yokohama the following weekend as we got tickets to see a family concert (one we went to before-but I don’t know if the singers will be the same or not). Busy.
Take care everyone.

for Lily (and everyone else)

Lily asked for pix of the boy's art-here they are.

pix from last wknd

Starfish at the aquarium we went to. I love the colours.
Some of the smaller sharks swimming around.
One of the many pictures I took of the manta rays.
A turtle carrying a fish on its back.

Jellyfish.

more pix

This is a tree that has branches growing down from it and is therefore called an octopus tree.

This is one of the views of the plum blossoms at the park.

The bridge beside the bamboo grove. If you look closely you can see the little guy's arm.

photos

This is us mostly at the hotel but also at the park.

another update

Oops it’s been a while again. Aah, that’s life I guess. So, what’s been going on, hmmm, let me think. Well, I went shopping for some new clothes for my new workplace last weekend. Hubby and I drove to Yokohama so I could help him clean his apartment and in return he took me to a couple of outlet malls. I was specifically looking for another suit as I need at least 1 more. I hate feeling like a freak when I go shopping here. I went bra shopping at the first mall. Why could I not find many bras in my size? (ie-the smallest size!) I mean, come on, this is Japan! Women here are not known for being buxom. Sigh. Anyway, found some. Then I went suit shopping at the second place we went to. In one store I looked at, the regular size was 60 cm waist, or about 24 inches. When I asked the salesperson where my size would be she pointed out a couple of suits that were larger and said that I would need an EX 11 or something like that. EX? As in extra large? I don’t know if that’s what it meant but I was not impressed. In the end I found lots of suits in another shop that were my size and I tried on 3 (I was running out of time) and found one that fit and it wasn’t ridiculously expensive. Good. I think I have to get some more clothes that are not as casual for my new job.
Then last week we all went to the doctors. My MIL is STILL sick with a cold /stuffed nose/ears/ etc. She is going to the ear nose and throat doctor. Then I got another sinus infection. I went to the same ENT doctor to get lots of medicine. The dr is a woman who lived in England for 2 years so was quite happy to speak to me in English. Her English was pretty good, too, considering that she hasn’t spoken for a while. Ironically she told me that when she was observing a medical practice in the UK she felt that drs there only gave patients lots of medicine and little explanation. (I got 4 different meds-antibiotics, anti-histamine, eye drops and a nose spray.) I think it’s ironic because I have always felt that the system here is much like that-lots of medicine given out. I always have to ‘barter’ with the one dr that I go to. He always wants to give be 2 or 3 more medicines that I refuse. (me-What’s this one for? Dr-It’s stomach medicine, in case this medicine makes your stomach bad. Me-I don’t need it.)
We were planning to go away for the weekend. We were going to leave early on Sat morning but the little guy ending up throwing up a couple of times Fri night. Too much phlegm. When we woke up Sat morn he had a scary sounding cough so we ended up going to the dr for him, too.
We went away after that, we went to a city about 3-4 hours away by car. His grandmother ended up taking him by train, just because he loves the train so much. Hubby and I drove. We went to a park that had lots of plum trees blossoming. It was lovely. It also had an old house that we could walk through and look at, too. When we were finished, we went out for ankou nabe. Ankou is anglerfish, and nabe means everything cooked together in one big pot, kind of like a soup. It was good? I’m not sure. Apparently there’s lots of collagen in an anglerfish, it felt kind of oily to me. I liked the hotpot, though. I also tried anglerfish liver sashimi. It was better than I expected. I think it tasted a bit like foie gras or pate.
Sat night we ended up staying at a really nice hotel. It looked nice and it was clean. It was nice to get away, too. On Sunday we went to an aquarium near there. It was pretty expensive but I loved watching the sharks and manta rays swimming around. The tanks are sooo biiig! It was cool and the little guy enjoyed it, despite feeling grumpy because he wasn’t feeling well. (He threw up Sun morn and had a fever all day, poor guy.)
It was a great weekend though.

updates

Here I am again with a little time to spare. Feeling good-I finished my lecture speech thingy and I am so relieved! I ended up only talking for about 45 min but I think that was enough. Lots of people who came to see me laughed when I was hoping they would, so I guess that’s a good thing. It was nerve-wracking to have to do it in Japanese.
What else is new? Hmmm-the little guy has started drawing class. He goes every Tuesday and seems to like it a lot. I have no idea what he is drawing but maybe someday I’ll see the pictures. We’re looking into piano lessons for him, too, as he is pretty interested in it. When we went to Canada, my stepmother (music teacher) taught him to play a small part of Jingle Bells on the piano and he remembered it! (He can’t remember anymore though!) Also want to put him in swimming classes. He’s going to be busy but he will be spending less time at daycare next year. He’s going to go to kindergarten, which finishes at 2:00, so more time for that, I guess. Unfortunately, it’s my poor mother-in-law who has to take him everywhere.
I think this next weekend coming up (it’s only Monday and already I’m thinking about the weekend!) I actually don’t have much planned and can try and relax a bit. (As much as a housewife in Japan gets to relax)
Well, feeling sleepy for now so I’m going to go! Have fun.

here i am

Well, here I am again. Wasting time at work. I love it.
So, after the interview last week, I got some paper confirming that I have a job with the new place. Good, but last week after the interview I watched a class and now I’m feeling a wee bit nervous about the job. I will pretty much always be the main teacher! I think it’s going to be good-it’s just been a while since I’ve done that. It’s better that I’m going to change now, I think, rather than wait longer and be out of practice more. Last week I was feeling scared sh*tless but that has changed to nervousness now. I think that I am going to be much busier at work, which means no time to do this at work, I guess. Anyway, I’ll see what happens.
As for music-(cause I know you are all hanging out to hear what’s going on here musically!) last month we sang Like a Virgin with the grade 8s. It’s pretty difficult to sing, fast and her voice is pretty high. With the grade 7s, we sang Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman. Cool. (It was funny to hear the kids saying ‘Mercy’ and doing that growling thing.) I think that the grade 9’s did Bad Day. I have hardly been to any grade 9 classes lately because they are all doing practice tests for their high school entrance exams. Poor kids.　　This month, we’ve been doing Toy Boy with the grade 8s, Country Roads (sung by Olivia Newton John – help me!) and You Can’t Hurry Love with the grade 7s, and I think Let it Be with the grade 9s. (Haven’t been to a class this month yet.)
Personally music lately-I can’t get enough of Regina Spektor. I have some from when my brother brought me some music last year (thanks Mike!). I also have been listening to music on her website. One listen and I can’t get it out of my head. Catchy-and it’s not just me, the little guy has been running around singing a couple of her songs, too. Funny.
Another group that I can’t get enough of is Sigur Ros, also introduced by my brother. I think I have about 4 of their songs. Like them a lot. No idea what their songs are about as they are in some Nordic language. Can’t figure out why I like them so much. Interesting. (Also can’t seem to get a guitar solo out of my mind-from Saga’s ‘On the Loose’? –no idea why that’s floating around in there!)
I’ve been thinking a lot about what changes will be coming up and what I am looking forward to and what I will miss. I will miss going to the elementary schools. It’s a lot of fun to teach little kids. I am looking forward to hopefully having a conversation with my new students as they are supposed to have a higher level of English. I also hope that it will be fun working with other English speakers in the same office. I feel somewhat isolated at times being the only non-Japanese person at the school. I will soon see.

ch-ch-changes

Back again. Been quite an exciting week. Last week I got a call from hubby’s uncle’s nephew (are we related?). He works at a private university. He asked me if I wanted to work at the university. I have been asked before-two other times. A couple of years ago I went to an interview there and decided that I couldn’t work there as the pay was less and I would have more responsibility and they asked me about staying late (which I don’t want to do with the little guy). Then last year they asked me again but basically nothing had changed, so I said no. Anyway, last week I went to meet the vice-principal there and had a chat. He asked me how much I make at my current job. I told him, and he thought about it for a bit and said that they could pay me that much. Every time I thought about working there before I was interested because I think that there’s more teaching involved on my part, rather than, ‘Let’s listen to Sheri say it again…’.Also, as an ALT, I don’t really feel that I have much stability. Probably my job is safe as long as the same Mayor is in office, but it could change. Add to that the fact that some other teachers or citizens(?) feel like we have a pretty good deal going and that they are somehow getting rooked because they have to work longer hours etc and have more responsibility. Of course they don’t see our side of things (we will never be accepted here, we can’t be in a a public job in which we would have power over a Japanese person, etc {no joke-that’s true!})
Anyway, tomorrow I am going for the interview which is supposed to just be a formality and I’ll be starting there in April (looking forward to heated/cooled classrooms!). I haven’t given my notice for this job yet and I feel a little bad about it. I was talking with one of the other ALTs and he said that I shouldn’t really worry about it too much and that if they can’t find another person to work for them within the next couple of months then there’s a problem with them. Hopefully everything will work out well. I have a feeling that I will have less free time at work to do things like this but that’s okay.
Another thing that has been keeping us busy is car shopping. MIL and I are going to share a car. We have been looking at cars and trying to get the best price possible. Hubby is pretty good at looking up all of the minute details of everything and he doesn’t hesitate to tell the salesman that we were shown a price of _______ somewhere else. It’s good. First of all, car shopping in Japan is fun. They let you look around for a bit, then you sit down and they talk about prices/options etc. While they are doing this, (almost inevitably) a woman (I know) brings you a coffee. (Or a good place lets you choose your drink and then they bring it to you.) Some places bring chocolates or snacks, depending on the company, time of year etc. Then you can sit and drink your whatever while going through the details. There is always a play space for kids, too. (No experience of car shopping in Canada, so no idea) We’re looking at a Suzuki Swift, mainly.
Also, last week was our 10th wedding anniversary. We went out for lunch and hubby gave me an impressive gift of earrings-I was totally NOT expecting anything like that. It was very nice.
The whole job thing is causing me a great deal of stress right now but I hope in the end it will all be worth it.
One more thing-I have to give another speech type of thing (but this time in Japanese!!) about the differences between Canada and Japan (more about lifestyle, I think) so if any of you expats have some ideas of what I should talk about, please let me know!
Have fun!

rndm

Things are calming down a little bit here but everyone in the family (myself excluded, I hope) is ill. MIL has been sick with mostly a cold for ages and she was just out of it for the weekend. The little guy is mostly better but is still coughing and pretty stuffed up. Hubby went to work this morning and then back to bed as he isn’t feeling well, either. I am really tired but I’m sure that’s it. (I am NOT sick.)
It was hard to convince the young one today that he should go to daycare. He didn’t go at all last week and was trying to not have to go today, too. This morning he was saying how couldn’t possibly go back as he is still coughing and his nose is still stuffed up (as he coughs and sniffles on purpose.) Poor guy, I felt bad for him, but MIL can’t take care of him and I had to go to work today. The longer his holiday, the harder it is to get him to go back.
I had an interesting school lunch today. It was individual lasagnes, which was okay (I have eaten better), along with some weird, flavour-less soup-veggies and fake crab and fish cakes in it.) The salad portion today was veggie chips, thinly cut lotus root and burdock, and deep-fried with lots of salt. (Good but not a lunch thing, I think.) Then the starch portion was, I’m not kidding, a chocolate sandwich. Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate. I also have fond memories of going to some French school when I lived in Calgary and we all ate Nutella on our bread and I remember thinking how luxurious the French were. Chocolate spread on bread, mmmmmm! BUT we did not eat it for lunch, it was a snack. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised as this is the place that you can get strawberry and whipped cream sandwiches. (Those haven’t made their way into my school lunch yet!) Dessert (we don’t get one every day) was grape jelly （jello）with iron added to it. There were lots of tasty things but they didn’t blend well to make a meal.
I think that it is ironic that here the kids’ lunches are high calorie because they feel that kids need a lot of calories. I don’t disagree, it’s just kind of strange that kids’ lunches in North America have started to become more calorie conscious as people are getting bigger there. I don’t feel that low calorie necessarily means healthier, either, it’s just interesting the way trends go.
I do have to say that when I went back to Canada I felt like a normal size again (not like the elephant feeling I get here.) But people here are getting bigger. I don’t know how long they will offer high calorie lunches. Maybe sometime in the future they will have to cut back on calories here, too. (Everyone drinks milk at lunch {besides me} and it’s 3.6% milk fat. Most people I talk to have no idea how high that is in fat.
But anyway, that’s it for now. Gonna leave early, pick up the boy, maybe try and prepare dinner a little before I teach my private class.

house of sick

Oh boy has it ever been a long time since I last wrote here. Of course I went to Canada and had a great time there. The flying part of it was not the best time for me or the little guy, but we managed.
But Hiroki truly surprised me in Canada as I expected him to be shy and clingy. He wasn’t at all. He soaked up all of the attention he got from everyone. He had so much fun and he was so much fun! And on top of that, he spoke to everyone (except me) in English. And he mostly understood what everyone was saying to him in English, too. It was so cool. I am so glad that we had a chance to go and see everyone and so glad that Hiroki can remember who his relatives are now.
When we got back, we were busy with the New Year’s celebrations going on here. The 1st of Jan we had all of Hiroki’s cousins and aunts and uncles in Japan over, as well as hubby’s aunt, uncle, cousins and spouses and their 4 kids. It was a little busy.
New Year’s celebrations last for about 3 or 4 days here, so we had something to do everyday. Then we went to Yokohama and Tokyo to meet some friends (hi Tigermama!) and hang out a little.
Back to school-it was so fast! Time at school here has been short, too, as I have been going to elementary schools, kindergartens, and taking time off due to someone being sick. (I had a sinus infection, MIL has had a bad cold for a long time, and now Hiroki has got a really nasty cold and fever, poor guy.) So I have had little computer time. (I haven’t checked my mail for a very long time!)
This last couple of weeks I have been making frogs with my grade 7 students. Of course, I can’t just make them with one class, I have to make them with all of the classes-6!) The grade 7s are still pretty new to English and don’t feel confident when they get told that they are going to make cookies from my all English recipe and all English instructions. Hee hee.
I feel bad for them, though, because the cooking room at the school has got to be one of the coldest rooms in the school! And to top it all off, they have to wash their dishes in the cold water (no hot water taps in most public places in Japan, including schools!). Their hands get so red from washing the dishes in the cold water, and drying the dishes doesn’t work well either.
Anyway, I have to go and teach again soon, and then I’m taking the afternoon off to take the little guy back to the doctor. Hopefully it won’t take too long this time!

boring update

I got a little computer time again today. Not much to say, really, so I’ll report on the music in my English classes. (Everyone is looking forward to finding out what we are singing, right?) Well, no real surprises-grade 7 and 8-Wham’s Last Christmas, and grade 9 an English version of a Japanese singer’s Christmas song. (Tatsuro Yamashita’s Christmas Eve) What is surprising is that I actually don’t mind Last Christmas, and I have no idea why. Last month Fridays were bad because I had 3 classes of We Built This City and that was it for the weekend, it was stuck.
I think I complained too much because the grade 9 teacher told me that he didn’t mind if I picked this month’s song. Personally, I picked Bandaid-Do they know it’s Christmas as my first choice, but this one isn’t too bad. At least it isn’t Mariah Carey, which I was really worried about. (Sorry to anyone out there who likes that music!)
Anyway, not much else to say for now so I am going to go and play on the internet. (At least it LOOKS like I’m working.)
Have fun everyone.

my arab prince

again

I am at work. An hour and a half left of work on a Friday afternoon. Yay. Looking forward to the weekend! Tomorrow is Hiroki’s little performance for daycare. He is going to be a little bunny. His teacher made his costume. I haven’t seen him in it yet but he went to school yesterday wearing it and my MIL took some pix of him in it. Hee hee.




I don’t know what else he will be performing but he has dropped a few hints here and there. (singing some songs and doing what looks like the end of a dance.) Tomorrow should be interesting.
This week has also been a busy week but also I have been tired after getting Hiroki’s little present (after coughing in my face several times I did catch a little bit of a cold from him-it hasn’t been bad but I’ve been feeling worn down all week) I had 2 elementary school visits this week, and I used a lot of energy there. Evening classes. Then last night I decided it was time to give Hiroki a haircut-his hair has been getting longer and longer and bigger, too. It doesn’t look very good when he gets up in the morning after sleeping on it (going to bed when it’s wet doesn’t help either) He refuses to let us fix it. If he wears a hat all day it doesn’t stand up so much by the end of the day, but…
I thought it would be better before his little performance (and before our trip to Canada!) so I took the opportunity last night (no evening class) and cut it. This is what his hair looks like now.


Well, I don’t have much else to say for now. I’d really like to be reading a book right now. I have seen other teachers reading in the staff room here but I don’t feel very comfortable doing it. (Instead I spend my time surfing the internet- at least it looks like I am doing work?)
The countdown is own- 2 weeks till I’m back in Canada! I’m so excited!!!
That’s it for now!
xoxo

one week

Well, here I am again. I still feel so busy even though I practically didn’t work last week. Last Sunday, Hiroki had a fever which just got worse on Monday, so I took the morning off to take him to the doctor. Like I said before, going to the dr’s here is a pain because of the no appointment system. And there is no way of knowing when his dr will arrive at the office (although I really can’t complain, because I think that she never goes home or has holidays, she goes to her hospital on her time off and people go there if they have an emergency-like a high fever in the middle of the night, etc) We went early and wrote his name on a list and still we were number 15. Anyway, the dr didn’t arrive till late (around 11 ish) and so I ended up not being able to take him in to see her. She gave him medicine for a cold, enough for 3 days. I worked in the afternoon and then taught my evening class.
Tuesday was a regular day work-wise, I went to school then I taught my evening class. Hiroki stayed at home cause he still had a fever.
Wednesday I took the day off to go get my driver’s license renewed. The first time you get it renewed here you have to be there for a couple of hours to watch a video and listen to a lecture. I had also heard that you have to do some sort of group work activity thing that I was NOT AT ALL looking forward to. This was something on my list of things to do before going to Canada. It was a pain because I had to take 2 trains and a bus to get there, and I was worried about doing it all alone, too. Anyway, I didn’t have any problems and the video and lecture were so very obvious that even if I didn’t understand much Japanese I would have been able to do it. The video showed us that drinking and driving is bad, not wearing your seat belt properly is bad (still no law to wear seat belts in the back seat, tho!), don’t speed, don’t use a cell phone and drive, etc. Really dumb. The video was 20 min and the rest of the time we got lecture about the new point system and if we do something that makes us lose points blah blah blah. The man giving the lecture was, as my dad used to say, drier than a popcorn fart. He kept going over the same thing-be careful at crosswalks, look both ways at crosswalks, don’t run out from crosswalks, etc. When he finished I had an awful headache.
Anyway, in the afternoon I met my friend for lunch and we went shopping. Then I went home, made dinner and went to teach my evening class. Hiroki stayed home all day because he still had a bit of a fever.
Thursday was a national holiday here. We didn’t end up doing anything special. Hiroki was still under the weather a little, and it was a little cold and rainy. No evening class. Yay.
Friday I ended up taking the day off again as Thursday night Hiroki was coughing so much that neither of us got much sleep. We went to the dr again. After lunch I went and got my haircut while he was sleeping. At night I taught my evening class.
Saturday I can’t even remember what we did, I guess nothing special.
Sunday Hiroki and I went to the library in the morning, and on the way home we stopped to play on some slides, walked to a grocery store、did some shopping, walked to a toy store and had a look, managed to leave with no crying (and no toys), Walked about 2 kms, no problem for me but I was amazed that Hiroki could do it. Ate lunch and Hiroki had a nap. I made cookies, got some computer stuff done, felt very productive.

....2

Oh boy-got some free time again today! Yay! So at the beginning of every English class in junior high school we sing English songs for whatever reason…pronunciation? Listening? I don’t know. We’ll sing the same song for a month. Usually we are pretty limited in our choice of songs as they can’t be difficult for the students. Last month it was Billy Joel’s Honesty for the grade 9s, which I thought was pretty hard to sing. I had also never really paid much attention to the lyrics before. Not one of my favourites. The grades sang a song called The Tide is High/I Get a Feeling or something like that. The Tide is High being the Blondie song. It was sung by Atomic Kitten? And with the grade 7s, it was another Atomic Kitten song-a remake of Eternal Flame. Last month’s songs weren’t really bad. The month before was Micky-a remake of the Toni Basil song by Bewitched? For the grade 9s, Bad Day by Daniel Powell? For the grade 8s, and very sadly, On Top of the World by (Retching sounds) The Carpenters. I really don’t like their music.
Anywhere, this month is Ob-la-di-Ob-la-da for most of the grade 7s, and A-Ha’s Take on Me for the other 2 grade 7 classes. I never knew the words to that song as I couldn’t understand what the man was saying in the really high parts, but the kids actually sing it. The grade 8s are singing some Backstreet Boys song – I’ll be the One-never heard of it. The Grade 9s are unfortunately singing We Built This City by Starship (more retching sounds)
Oh well. I am already making suggestions for the next month-probably Christmas songs, so I am suggesting that we NOT sing Mariah Carey. Oh well.
In other things that are happening here, there have been a lot of suicides lately. Mostly by kids who were being bullied in school. It’s so sad and I just can’t get it. I feel like every day there is a new suicide being reported on the news.
That’s it for now-gotta do some work.

Back

Well, here I am again. I’ve been thinking of all of the things I have experienced lately and wanted to say. I was quite proud of myself a couple of weeks back as I went to the eye doctor by myself and did it all in Japanese. For the most part, I didn’t have any problems. My last eye doctor visit was when I lived in Canada, so it’s been a while.
Going to the eye doctor or even regular doctor here is quite different. First of all, there are NO appointments! It’s really inconvenient. Usually when you go, you have to plan on being there for at least a couple of hours to go through all of the steps. (reception-nurse-doctor-reception to get prescription-getting medicine) When I went to the eye doctor, I got there about 5 minutes before the office opened, about one hour before the doctor started meeting patients. I was number 17 (I had to take a number). Of to course I had to fill in a form (much of which I couldn’t read-had to get the receptionist’s help). Then I waited for about 30 minutes. Next they called my name-and then the nurses did different checks-the glaucoma one (puff of air in your eye),checked my contact lens fit, then checked my vision using the chart thingy, and then I got to do it all over again without my contacts. The thing that surprised me at first is that this was all done in front of all of the other patients that are waiting to see the dr. They don’t use an alphabet chart here, they use circles that are almost shut (it looks like a circle) and you have to say whether the opening is on the left, right, top or bottom. Okay, I can handle that (was nervous about mixing up left and right though). {For Hiroki, they gave him a C figure and he had to make it the same as what he could see.} Then waited again to see the dr. Got into see him and the nurse helping him decided that I needed help. They wanted me to put my head in the usual thing-chin on the bar, forehead on the other bar-got it, no problem. The doc was shining a light in my eyes to check them. The nurse is pushing my head into that machine saying, “Just for a little bit-you can do it” or something like that and I was just getting annoyed. My head automatically pushed back against her hand, so of course she just pushed harder. So I told her that I didn’t really need her to push my head and that I could do it all by myself (I had managed up to this point). Thankfully she backed off.
I was there to get new contacts and so I got the prescription for them and the nurse let me know that I would have to come back in 3 months to get the next prescription and get my eyes checked all over again. Huh? 3 months?! So I asked if it was possible to get more and she said, if I ask, the doc might let me have 6 months worth all together. But I would have to come back immediately after that or he wouldn’t want to give me another 6 months worth. I was really lucky, I guess, to get a whole 6 month supply of contacts! My one question is what do people who work do? It’s so difficult to get there and see a doc without waiting forever. Oh well.

The other thing I have been thinking is weird is when I was walking to the station a while ago to catch a train to work, I said good morning to the (retired) crossing guard who is almost always there, stopping cars to make sure kids can cross the street safely. He said something about the weather getting cooler. I couldn’t hear him well as I was listening to music, I asked him to repeat it and said something back to him. Then on the other side of the street, there was a man walking the same way I was going and he said to me, “You couldn’t understand that, could you?” “You don’t know Japanese, right?” which in itself I don’t find very strange, but he said all of it in Japanese so I was thinking hhmm?

Enough for now.