long time

I can't believe it has been so long since I have written.
A few things have happened but nothing really exciting.
We did get away for a couple of days to the lovely countryside
south of here. It was cold and windy but great to be out and about.
I'll try and get some photos up as soon as possible.
The weather is still rather warm, considering it is the
end of November, unfortually the house we are in
is very old and gets very cold. Sometimes it is warmer to
sit outside than in the house!!

Will try to write more!!!!!

Time Flies!!!

This M, my oldest boy

All the kids in my messy kitchen

D at his sports day, this was way back in June sometime!!!

So I have finally found out how to put photos, hope you enjoy. Will start to take more now that I know how to use them!!!

I can't believe that it is half way through October and I haven't posted anything.
We have been busy but not interesting busy! Spent most of the first week rearranging
the rooms.....again. The kids joke that this is my hobby. It isn't but I get so fed up of this
house, I really want to move but that isn't going to happen anytime soon...no money, so I
keep moving things around hoping to make this place more livable!

D has mid term tests from tomorrow, poor kid is really miserable about these tests, he hates to
study.....doesn't everybody!!

Noise

We live a semi rural area. Yesterday we went into the city. We have been toying with the idea of moving toward the city. Better schools, more choice in shops, better public transport. But after yesterdays adventure I think staying where we are is a lot better. The noise of so many people and cars crowded together just drove me crazy! Japanese shops have this terrible habit of blasting music in the stores, with tape players screaming at you to buy the cheap meat or vegetables. I like the idea of calm background music and I always thought the idea was to make you relax so that you spend longer in the store therefore spend more money. Here I want out as quick as possible! Add that to kids screaming, parents yelling and after a few hours I had had enough and was happy to get back to the peace and quiet here. Until this morning when I was awoken at the unearthly hour of 6am (this is a Sunday!) by birds, magpies, screeching outside of my window. From what I could see a crow had attacked a magpie and another magpie was screeching at the crow. All very interesting but not at 6am!

Colds and the like

September so far has turned out to be an awful month.
The lovely cool days haven't arrived in earnest, sure we had about
a week of cooler weather but last week saw highs of 35C.....again.
This has put a dampener on getting any work done in the house.
I tried to clean up the kids rooms but only did a tiny bit!
Then just to make things worse M came down with really
horrible cold. I think allergies are what started it but then he
got a sore throat and was feeling sick all day. Poor H also seems to
be rather snuffly and last night was coughing like crazy. And today
I feel awful, headache, sniffles and feeling rather sick. Would love
to crawl back to bed but that is impossible.
This has made me feel rather miserable. Every year I look forward
to September, the cooler days make me feel energised after the
intense heat of August. Japanese seasons use to be very reliable.
What is going on? I really hope that this year is just a fluke and not
setting a trend!

Sunday afternoons

Growing up Sunday afternoons were always a down time. No shops were open, nothing on TV (I'm talking about prevideo and DVD era!), just a time to day dream, read and maybe panic if homework wasn't finished! Now Sundays are as busy as every other day. In Japan there is no concept of a day off. Even if the schools, offices and factories are closed all the shops are open and packed. I guess for working Moms it's a chance to do the weekly shop. I use to shop on Sundays, the best deals are to be found, but the stress of fighting crowds to get meat or fish just a few yen cheaper wasn't worth it. I now try to shop on a Monday, when it is quieter, the kids are at school so not moaning and whinging for something in every shop.

So yesterday afternoon I tackled a job I had been putting off for years. I sorted socks. I can't believe that I kept so many odd socks. One large draw full and a laundry basket. These had been hanging around for the past 10 years or so. Why? Did I think that these odd sock would suddenly grow a mate? I honestly don't know. It took me two hours, managed to get a few pairs out of it, but from now on I am going to be on top of the sock problem!!

Where does the time go?

I was talking to my oldest son the other day. He is 15, in his first year of High School and a lot taller than me!! We were talking about his future, his dreams and hopes. He shocked me by saying that he wanted to go to England to study. He wants to be a forensic scientist, but in Japan there are no courses for this. You have to join the police force there is no separate division for forensics. Of course it would be great if he could get into university in England, I'm happy that he has some vision and goal, even if he isn't sure how to get there. But where is my baby boy? Where is the cheeky little toddler that wouldn't let me leave the room with following me all over the place, yes even to the bathroom? The past 15 years have gone really quick and I worry that the next 15 will go even quicker. How does one deal with this, our kids growing up in the blink of an eye, I don't feel older, but the aches in my back tell me differently. I know that this is how history has marched on, the kids grow and leave, but how does one deal with the emptiness left behind? I guess now I can understand these old ladies I see in my neighbourhood with their little lap dogs.
So I am going to try and be with my kids more, really enjoy this time together because it really does only come once.

I want to write more but there is a thunderstorm rolling in!!!

Life, woes and stress

I always knew that living in Japan was going to be difficult, but I thought it would get easier.
I would learn the language, understand the culture and make friends. But after 16 years here I still can't read or write, have a hard time with anything but very basic conversation. Still have a hard time understanding the idea of group mentality, of pushing people to keep going beyond normal limits. And friends, well my students like me, until they quit, then I never hear from them again. My best friend in Japan is from Zimbawa. So I'm wondering what to do. My husband talks about having goals for the next 10 or 20 years, but honestly speaking most days I'm just happy to get through the day! I would love to go back to England but we would never make enough money. Unless we won the lottery!
So life is tough and the one thing that would make it easier is learning some Japanese. But it seems so hard. Some people manage it, but I seem to learn some new word or phrase one week only to forget it the next. Also my son tends to translate for me, showing off I guess...well he is 15 so I guess it's normal! That makes me kind of lazy!

So a lot of stress. Yesterday I had to go to the hospital for a biopsy, but I have to wait until Saturday for the results..... I think waiting is worst than having the biopsy. Just three more days.

My son just came and told me that Prime Minister Abe has resigned. After one just one year in office. Is this the start of the swing door prime ministers? I remember a few years ago the Japanese changed their prime ministers every few months. The poor kids who were studying about the Japanese parlimentary system were getting so frustrated because the names kept changing very quickly! Lets hope things settle down this time!!

End of Summer Holidays but not the Heat

Back to school yesterday. Kids went okay. I'm exhausted, I think the last few weeks of intense heat has totally me!! It is still hot but more manageable, only 31C today instead of the 35c we have been having!!
The house is a total disaster. I don't know if it is me, this house or the Japanese way of living but I seem to be buried under a load of clutter. I throw out as much as possible but there still seems to be more and more stuff. On Sunday I cleared off a couple of bookshelves and managed to throw away two big bags of trash, out of date magazines (really out of date one was dated 1995, I was keeping for the recipes which I have never done!), workbooks that my eldest did in first grade, he has just started high school!! I'm hoping that as the weather cools down and I get a bit more energy that I can get things sorted, before it is too cold to move. I don't deal with extremes very well.
September feels like a new start. I guess growing up in England this time of year was the start of a new school year. And the freshness of new clothes, new book bags, books and pencils has stayed with me. So this month I want to restart some exercise, I did almost nothing in August, just to hot but I hope to pick up a bit this month. I am so stiff from not exercising. This morning I did a bit of weight training, i have very little upper body strength. I hope to get on my exercise bike a bit later. I need to make this a habit.
More another day.

Homework

What are your memories of summer holidays?
Days of fun, playing outside, trips to the beach, or visiting relatives.
Or homework. Japanese kids in elementary and junior high schools are given
homework for the summer. Not just do some reading kind of homework but pages
of copy work, math drills, a picture to paint and a diary to keep. Part of the
problem is the set up of the school year. The begining of summer is the end of the
first term, so when the kids go back in September they start the 2nd term. All that has
been studied in the first term needs to be remembered to build the 2nd terms work on.
So this summer has been a long hard slog to get kids to do study everyday. But who
wants to study when there are places to go to and things to do. This year has been harder
than ever because of the intense heat. I have no energy to help out or to make fun things
for the kids to do after they have finished their work. Also it really is hard for the kids
to concentrate in this heat. I have the air conditioner blasting away but it is still hard.
Anyway almost finished, I hope that the last few days of the holiday we can go out somewhere.
At least let the kids have a couple of days fun before back to the grind of school!!

Birthday

August 15th was D's 13th birthday. So now I have two teenagers. HELP!
We went out for lunch, to an all you can eat place. Very nice but I think we over
did it, the kids went mad with the cake, they had a least 4 pieces each!
D got a couple of games for the game cube. He isn't into the games as much
as the kids but enjoys racing games...but after watching him I said he wasn't
getting his drivers license!!
The heat here is really bad and is driving me crazy. It is constantly 35c and over.
According to the news two places set a new record of 40.9c. Also at least 9 people
have died from heatstroke!! I will be very happy to see this heat wave end but no
rain is forecast until next week!!

summer festivals and heat

It seems to be getting hotter and hotter, or maybe I'm just getting old?
Last weekend was the summer festival in the local city. We didn't attend. Although the
dancing and the floats are very beautiful, the atmosphere exciting, standing around for
hours in 30C plus heat, with no toilets, is not my idea of fun. Sunday evening was the
firework display. Thought about going, but to get a good place to watch one has to be
at the place in the afternoon, then there is the old problem of the kids getting bored,
trying to find toilets that aren't dirty and smelly, trying to keep cool and just waiting and waiting
until about 8pm when the show starts. The display lasts about one and half hours, then trying to get the car out and avoid traffic. Last time we went it took 2 hours to drive home, usually it takes about 20 minutes. If my kids were into fireworks I would make an effort, but they
aren't that interested.
Summer is passing, in one way very quickly.....3 more weeks and back to school, in another
way to slowly, the heat is really killing this year. The beginning of the week we had incredible
thunderstorms. That helped to cool the evenings down....a bit. But the past few days almost no clouds at all, although this evening there is a nice breeze.

Cool Mountain

Last Monday we took the kids out to a mountain stream. Very nice and cool.
With tempretures soaring into the mid 30c the past couple of weeks anywhere cool is welcome. This was a very nice place in the next prefecture. Up in the mountains, where the water was wide but shallow. There were open sided huts to sit in, plenty of shade from the trees and beautiful cool water. The kids got their swimming stuff on and took off with their Dad for a good couple of hours of splashing fun. They caught a few river crabs and found some baby frogs. I sat with my feet in the water for a while, until they were really cold. Then sat and played cards with M, who at 15 decided that playing in the water wasn't that "cool". It was a nice break and a chance to get out of the heat. Most years we go to the beach but I always feel that the sea isn't so clean and always far to hot unless you are in the water!
The extreme hot weather didn't last. We had typhoon number 5 come past. We weren't hit to bad, but some areas got really hit bad.... again. Friday was really bad here. Even though the typhoon had already passed by we had very heavy rain and high winds plus a thunderstorm that seemed to go on forever, well at least 5 hours, which when you are terrified of storms feels like forever!!!
So a busy week and now a mountain of laundry....which is not cool!!!!!

Heat!!!

Summer has arrived!! The temperatures have been soaring, yesterday was 35.8C.
As the temperatures rise so do tempers! The kids are on holiday and they are bikering everyday. I want the two older ones to get on and do their homework but it is to hot to think......good excuse!
The next problem is what to cook. I don't want to stand in the kitchen and prepare food in this heat. The Japanese love cold noodles, soba, which is a buckwheat noodle and somen, which is a very fine noodle. Served with a soya sauce dipping sauce, omelet, sliced ham and cucumber. It's nice enough but once or twice a week is okay. I would live on salads, but the kids don't see it as a real meal, hubby thinks it's rabbit food and just for half a lettuce I paid
$1.

Summer Holidays

So the summer holidays have started. Kids finished at lunch time on Friday. They came home with a load of homework. I feel so sorry for them, surely holiday time is holiday time. My 4th grader came with a list of dates that the teacher will be at school to give extra lessons. Sorry not going to that. Also he has a card for the radio exercises, but there is no way I'm rolling out of bed at 6am to take him for morning exercise. I have a hard enough time getting up during school time, holidays are for sleeping late!! The only good thing is that the school pool will be open a few days and it's free for him to use. So that is a few days taken care of.
My oldest boy has asked for the latest Harry Potter book, so that is on order from Amazon. He wants to see the movie tomorrow so I guess we will take the other kids to see something, wonder who will pay for all this!!

Typhoon 4

We got really lucky this time. This massive typhoon missed us, but still managed to dump a lot of rain here. Some places were not so lucky, two people were killed and 60 plus were hurt.
The up side is that it is very cool here. Just had a nice walk around the neighbourhood with my kids. Something unheard of at this time of year!!
We have another free day tomorrow. Then four days of school and the holiday starts. I'm really looking forward to doing something with the kids. They really need to get better at English! So I'm going to surf the net for some ideas!

Road Trip

We really wanted to go to the beach last week. It is really hit and miss with getting the right time to go to the beach. To early and the water is on the cool side, to late and there are jellyfish which can give you a really nasty sting. July 16th is "sea day" in Japan, a national holiday to admire the sea, which makes a lot of sense. Even those who live in land locked areas are actually very close to the sea. But being a national holiday means that everybody goes, and it is just no fun spending the day picking your way over bodies to try and get your toes in the water. So we planned to head out last week but it rained, then rained and then rained some more! But we promised the kids a day out. So we headed south, to an area that has more rain than here, if that is possible, to a nice hotel for an all you can eat buffet. Lots of lovely food, roast beef, crab, three different curries, pasta, pizza, and of course ice cream. The hotel is on the top of a mountain and I'm sure the view is lovely but of course it RAINED!!!!

Tanabata festival star festival

Today is the 'star festival' or tanabata in Japanese. The festival comes from an old Chinese tale called Kikkoden. The story is a about a weaver princess and a cow herder prince who lived in space. When they got together they forgot about their work. The King got angry at them and seperated them by the Amanogawa River, the Milkyway. They can only met once a year on July 7th, thus the star festival. People write wishes and tie them to bamboo branches.
I think this year my wish will be for the rain to stop. After complaining that we weren't getting enough rain, we are now getting to much. Yesterday was incredible, it just poured and poured. It stopped for a few hours this afternoon but not long enough for the ground to dry up. And now it is raining again. The kids are miserable because they can't get outside and I have a mountain of laundry which needs doing, but I'm fed up of having clothes hanging around the living room. I have dryer but it costs to much to run it and it makes the house even hotter. Their has to be something good in all this rain but I can't see it.

counting down

The kids are counting down the days to the summer holidays. This first term has been hard for us. (School year runs from April to March). We went from part time schooling and homeschooling to fulltime school for D and half days for C. A big change and a lot of adjustments needed. I'm trying to think of some ideas to get through the summer. We won't be going anywhere, maybe to the beach but most of the time will be spent at home. So after the load of homework is done I really want to focus on the kids English. Try to get their reading and writing a little better. I'm also looking for some easy science and craft projects that don't take forever to do and won't wreck the house. Better get my thinking cap on!!!

Heat, humidity and tests

D has finished his end of term tests. He is not confident about the results so we will have to wait and see.
I'm going crazy with the weather. It's not just the heat,which is bad enough, but the humidity. Just breathing makes me drip with sweat. We should be getting a good thunderstorm with lots of cooling rain but so far nothing! One thing that I'm always amazed at is watching the OLs (Office Ladies) going off to work in their cute uniforms wearing stockings in this heat. I know the offices are air conditioned but going to work and coming home they must be very uncomfortable. I feel hot just seeing them!!

Rainy season???

So much for the rainy season. It just isn't happening in northern Kyushu.
We've had a few showers but no where near the down pours we should be getting.
The forecast is for storms from tomorrow but every night this week the weather forecast has said that it will rain and it hasn't. I hope it does tomorrow as the tempreture will drop, today was about 31C. Far to hot and that is just the begining.
D, who is in the first grade of junior high school started his end of term tests today. Poor boy, there is a lot of material to cover. It's all memorisation, about 8 subjects altogether.
Two more days and he is done. I wonder who is more stressed, him or me.

Rainy season

The yearly rainy season, tsuyu in Japanese, has well and truly arrived. This year we haven't had prolonged days of rain as yet but 3 days of rain is enough to drive one crazy. It's the humidity that really drives me up the wall. Everything feels damp, clothes hang outside or in the living room but don't really dry, they smell so I end up washing them again. The bathroom has to be scrubbed down every other day and the extractor fan run otherwise this awful mold starts to creep all over the place. Actually mold is a big problem at this time of year. Also food spoils very quickly, so I tend to put as much as possible into the fridge.
This rain is necessary for rice to grow and the years that we don't have enough rain means a rise in the price of rice and in the worst years, when there have been droughts, imported rice. So I look at the aijsai(hydrangea) in my yard and tell myself that it is only for a few weeks. But then the real heat starts, which is another post altogether.

I'm back

Well I never really went anywhere but my poor computer died on me.
I'm not sure what happened, either I got a virus or it could be the cup
of tea that my son spilt on it. Needless to say I've been without internet
accesss for a couple of weeks, talk about withdrawal. I never realised
how much I use the internet, not being able to read Japanese and not
having newspapers or magazines, the internet is my lifeline. Information
on almost any subject at our finger tips, isn't life great!!

Tests and Sports Festivals

Last week my second son, D, had his first tests at Junior High School. The week before he spent all of his free time studying. Poor boy was going to school with black rings under his eyes. Unfortually even with all that study his test scores were very low. He just doesn't know the kanji (chinese script that is used for writing here). All rather depressing .
Also both D and C have sports festivals over the next two weeks. D's is this
Sunday and C's the Sunday after. This means hours of practice, running and dancing outside in the heat. And it has been hot, tempretures in the mid 70F, about 27C and humid. I reallt struggle to understand the value of these sports festivals. Most kids complain about all the practice they have to do, they are so tired after. The elementary festival seems more like a chance for the parents to out do each other. The mothers compete to see who has prepared the best "Obento" or lunchbox. We live opposite the school so I don't bother, we just come back and eat here!
My 5 year old daughter lucked out yesterday when one the girls I teach gave her a load of toys. The girl is only 7 but she said that she didn't need these toys as they are for little kids, so what is she?

Junk

Japanese people seem to keep things way past there usefulness.
I was looking for some coffee cups at my MIL's house the other day.
That is always my first place to look if I need something. She lives
alone but has so much stuff. She could eat a full dinner everyday for
at least 2 months without doing any washing up and still have
plates, rice bowls and soup bowls leftover. She just keeps everything
"incase". Unfortually I tend to be the same. We have attracted mice, they come in from the fields. So today I tried to clean out one of our cupboards . In the back I found a word proccesor, which no longer works, two key boards from old computers and a box of books form when my oldest was in first grade, he has just started high school. So I am throwing out. They have to go, I need the space and I'm so tired of living in trash. But will I? I have a clear memory of looking at these things last year and resolving to throw them out, but they are still there. Why? Because I might need them one day!!!!

Japanese problems

I usually don't watch the news. Most of the Japanese goes over my head and I get very frustrated at only understanding half of what is going on.
This morning hubby had the news on, when a rather grisly story came on about a 17 year killing his mother. I wondered why all the fuss, unfortually this isn't the first time a child has killed. So I decided to check out the Japanese newspapers. It turns out that the kid turned up at a police station with his mothers head in his school bag. According to the police the boy said that he wanted to kill some one, anyone.
This news has left feeling sad and sick to my stomach. What are we doing to young people, what kind of future are we creating? Will anywhere be safe? This poor woman was visiting her sons apartment when he attacked her. I can understand feeling vulnerable when with strangers but we should feel safe with our own kids. I'm also wondering if this is yet another case of those closest to the kid not saying if anything was wrong with him. In Japan mental problems, even depression, are not talked about and outside help is seldom asked for.
Sad day.

Mothers Day

Yesterday was Mothers Day.
In most families it is a day to remember the work that Mothers do.
In my family I just work. Somehow the kids haven't got the idea of
Mom having a day off. When I say that I want a day off, everybody
seems to think that means me not working. What I would like
is a day where I don't do anything, no laundry, no cooking and
definitely no cleaning. So what did I do yesterday? I srubbed the bathroom out, cooked lunch and baked cookies. In the evening my 9 year old made me a card, and he helped his sister make one as well. That
was sweet. But Mothers Day was just another day for me.

Weather

I'm English and like most English people I enjoy talking about the
weather!
The weather in Japan can be very predictable, this time of year should
see us having warm days with the nights being at bit cooler. But the past few days have seen very extreme weather. In some areas the tempeture rose to 30C, in one city (couldn't catch where) it actually hit 32C. These are tempetures are what we expect in August. Of course it only lasted a couple of days. An awful storm managed to cool things down and keep me awake all night!
One of my students said that she thinks this summer will be very hot, which means lot of thunder storms and typhoons. Really not fun at all.

Celery

A friend gave me some celery yesterday. Five massive bunches of the
stuff. What am I should I do with it all? Today I threw together a soup
that had a load of celery in it and a salad with even more. Went to the
local store and bought a small tub of cottage cheese, cost me $2. But
I love celery and cottage cheese.
So my center piece on the kitchen table is two large containers of celery.
Kids will hate me before the week is out!!!!!

The end of a long weekend

Today is the last day of the Golden Week holiday.
This holiday is taken by most offices and factories
around Japan. People flock to destiantions both
at home and abroad. The news reports the tail backs
on the major highways and the long queues at airports
and train stations. Everybody is going somewhere.
But when they get there all they seem to do is stand in line.
I heard from one of my students who braved Kyoto one
Golden Week that she spent 3 hours waiting for the
toilet and even longer to get lunch!
So we don't do Golden Week. We stay home and relax.
Get some cleaning done, read a bit, watch DVDs and
just hang out together. It's a nice change from the
hetic pace that comes with school schedules. A nice
breathing space and a chance for the kids to get energy
to face the next couple of months at school.
Well had better go and see what my kids are up to as
they are rather quiet.