Cherry Blossom Adventures

I am feeling a bit under the weather today- not sure if I am coming down with a summer cold, have overslept (highly likely as I slept for 10.5 hours last night) or if morning sickness is making a sneaky comeback. I really hope it is not the latter as that would REALLY suck.

I was supposed to go out today and meet Cat for lunch but she had to do a conference call with an overseas client so I think we will meet up tomorrow or Sunday instead. So instead today I am home all day, except for the half an hour later when I will go the supermarket to buy dinner ingredients as it is my turn to cook. I am actually quite happy to be staying home now- I have been out everyday this week visiting and socializing and it has been super fun but it is nice to have a day at home too. Monday I left fairly early to head to Gyotoku to meet with Zoe and her son and we spent the day in the park which had a bit of a wading area for kids and then we had some pasta for lunch! Hunter (her son) was very good all day and only started to get tired near the end of lunch but he sure enjoyed his pasta. The weather was really hot though and I actually got a little sunburnt on my shoulders!!

Tuesday I was around most of the day at home but went out for Yakiniku dinner to meet with our friend James and his girlfriend Shizuka. They started dating while we were in Australia so we hadn`t met Shizuka yet but she was lovely! I love yakiniku too!!!

Wednesday I made the trip to Fuchu to spend the day with Cassie and Nanami- we stopped off to do a spot of food shopping on the way to Cassie`s house and then headed home to make a yummy salad with whole grain bread for lunch followed up with some yummy fruit for dessert! Nana was a brilliant sharer and I would often end up with her half eaten tomatos in my salad!! It was cute though! Cassie has kindly offered to pass on some of her baby stuff to me as well so Shun &  I will drive out to Fuchu in a couple of months together to pick it up (too much for a train ride home!) and it was so funny to watch Nana try to fit into her bumbo seat and baby rocker chair which she is now to big for! You could tell she loved playing with them though!!!

Wednesday night I headed to Shibuya to meet up with James again for dinner- his parents have been living in Japan for the last 2 years or so and they are heading back to Melbourne over the weekend. James`s parents have always been really good to Shun & I and I knew I wanted to catch up with them before they headed home so we met up at a seafood place in Shibuya which we have all been to before (not together though)- If anybody is near Shibuya or in Tokyo and likes seafood then you MUST go to Kaikaiya by the Sea- it is a 10 minute walk or so from Shibuya station and it is simply the best seafood you will find in Japan (I think anyway!). Shun was a little late due to work but we had saved him a little bit of all the dishes we sampled and we were still ordering when he arrived- the boys enjoyed some beer while I stuck to gingerale! James` mum is Japanese and she usually speaks to Shun in Japanese and James`s dad is half Japanese and speaks a little but understands a lot so the conversation was very mixed!! They are excited about goma-chan and James` mum was giving Shun advice on all sorts of things!!! I am glad we got to see them before they went home.

Yesterday I had a job interview with a company that specializes in doing private lessons for kids. Zoe told me about this company a couple of weeks back and I sent off my information and heard back from them last week. They knew I was pregnant and while that means I might not get much regular work they were interested in having me do some substitute teaching with private students and maybe even some basic translations (not sure how I will pull that off- my kanji sucks). A lot of their regular teachers go on holidays over the summer so hopefully I will get a couple of call ups about doing some lessons.  I figure it is better than nothing. Once we move I will also look for some private students in my area.

After the interview (which was near Chiba station) I met up with another friend Alaina, for coffee. Alaina is getting married back in America later this year and will then be moving back to Japan to live fairly permanently. She lives right out in Chiba, about an hour from me but if we both go about half an hour by train we usually meet up somewhere in the middle!

So as you can see I have had a busy busy week which is why I am kind of enjoying been home doing nothing much today!! This weekend we have very little plans as well- the first weekend since coming home and it will be nice to relax and not have to rush off anywhere.

Oh and we got the apartment!!!!!!! They accepted our application and are drafting up the contract which we can go sign next week. We hope to move the 18th of July if not then the weekend after. We have to start looking for a moving company! And I will need to start writing lists of all the things we will need for the new place. Very exciting! It will be so nice to have our own place again and as boring as it makes me sound I can not wait to unpack!

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I think we have found our new apartment.

Shun and I looked at over 10 different places on the weekend and found 3 places in our budget that were suitable. It took us awhile to make a decision on which one we liked best and which would be the most convenient and in the end we went for the one that was closest to the train station. We thought about going to have another look this weekend but the truth is apartment/house hunting really takes it out of you and seeing as we found a couple of places we liked we just decided to make a decision. (Also I had scoured the internet already and was pretty sure nothing better was going to show up in a week!)

We haven`t signed any contracts yet but we have put a “hold” on the place and will fax over the paperwork tonight and hopefuly will have a response and date set to sign the contract by then.

Here is a floor plan of the place

I was a little worried about storage but it turns out that we get 6.5m2 storage room just down the corridor and due to the size of the actual apartment (76m2) we can afford to add a closet and some other space savers! The enterance also had a large cupboard that was provided and the kitchen had a lot of built in cupboard space. The apartment/ mansion block itself is quite old (30years or so) but the apartment we are in was reformed approximately two years in which the wood floors were layed and the new kitchen/bathroom was added.

The apartment is in Funabashi, a 10 minute walk from the JR Funabashi station (8 minutes or so to the Keisei line). One of the things that sold me on this place was that it was mainly flooring, the huge open plan living and dining room and the fact that right next door is a nice, spacious park with actual grass. Yes literally right next door! And there is a playground in our mansion/apartment building for the tennants which is not quite as nice but is also very convinient! Not that goma-chan will be up and running around in a park from birth but it is nice all the same!

There is car parking if we need it (we have no car at this stage though) and an area for bikes so we are set for transport parking space as well. There is also a little terrace just out our front door which I am not exactly sure what it is used for but I could probably sneak some space for a couple of pot plants to grow vegies or herbs or something! Nobody seems to be using it at all at this stage except for one lone plant!

I have never lived in Funabashi before but in the end the reason we choose the Funabashi apartent over one we saw in Nishi-Funabashi was firstly the closer proximity to the train station and also because Funabashi has three department stores at the station as well as a lot of other places for shopping so there is no need to travel to another train station really for any shopping needs. Also there is a bus from Funabashi station that goes to Lalaport a large shopping mall close by.

So I need to start writing a list of things we need for the new place- even if for some reason this one doesn`t work out we will need to do some shopping either way. We have a lot of furniture and appliances from when we lived in Japan last time (some of our electrical stuff- fridge, washing machine, microwave oven, coffee maker and TV are with my friend Cat though- she has replaced all the stuff now though and is just waiting for us to move and she will send it to us at the new place). We also have a sofa, a dining table, bedroom drawers and a bed so hopefully we won`t need anything as soon as move in although I think a trip to the local recycle shops and Ikea might be neccessary! I love Ikea and I am already planning the trip in my head! We do need a couple of futons though for when family or friends come to stay later in the year- up until now I just threw down a blanket but now we have some extra space I think it is time I invest in some futons. There is one aircon in the living room and space for another in the room to the left of the living room (attached to the tatami room) and Shun`s parents have already said we can take the aircon from the room we are in which is quie new and works well.

Not neccessarily straight away but we also plan to get a bedside table, a coffee table for the living room, a tv holder/bench (the last one we used we dumped when we went to Australia), a book shelf (between my love of books and DVDs and Shun`s love of manga this is actually a neccessity!) and something to hold the microwave, rice cooker and coffee maker! I also desperately want a bread maker so hopefully I can get something with space for that!

Planning a move, while stressful, is actually quite fun. And the best thing is almost all of our stuff is pretty much packed- just need to pack up our clothes and tape up some boxes and I will be done. Plus, I actually like unpacking so that is not a worry for me!

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• First dot point of the day goes to the bank- and the bank lady been such a bitch. Basically for the clinic where I am giving birth we have to pay half of the costs by the time I am 20 weeks pregnant- we decided we would just pay it all at my next appointment and then they refund any that is not used or charge us a little extra when we leave (ie, if baby is born on a Sunday if costs more, or if I stay longer than 5 nights etc)- so I went today to get the money from the bank. Shun asked me to get a bit extra as well to put in our other account and also some for his mum to furikome to his company since he didn`t actually get paid yesterday like we were expecting and instead his first pay is July 25th but that is another story (which means he actually owes his company money for taxes, insurance etc- his mum paid it every month on his behalf while we were away since he did not quit his job and was technically just on unpaid leave). Anyway back to the bank. Now I had the bank card, the bank book, my foreigners card and a copy of our koseki and I had my own “hanko/inkan” or stamp. I needed to go speak to the bank lady because I wanted to take out more than normal and it was impossible to do at the ATMS. I filled in the paperwork, i waited patiently for my number to be called and then went to the window. I explained what I was doing and she said “okay, now stamp here” and I stamped. And then she said the stamps didn`t match and I said “yeah, that is my stamp” and she said “where is Shun`s stamp?” and I said ” he needed it for work so I don`t have it”- then she accused me of not being married to him. Yep, that is right, she said “how can we know you are married to him” so I showed my foreigners card and koseki which clearly states Shun & I are married. THEN, she said well maybe i was trying to steal “his” money because I didn`t have his stamp. I lost it and called her a stupid Japanese woman and that the reason this was an issue is because Japan doesn`t allow joint accounts and how dare she say I was not married to Shun and trying to steal his money because damn it that money is not his it is ours” - then I threw the peice of paper at her and walked out. Yeah I don`t think they will like me much at that bank anymore. I went to another ATM and drew out the limit and had to walk to the post office to get money out of our Australian account to make up the difference. Banks in Japan really piss me off and make things 10 x harder than they need to be. At my other bank a couple weeks ago I had issues before we got our koseki, in which i could not prove my maiden name so therefore could not change my name on my account as maybe it wasn`t me. Even though I showed my old passport they said that it was not a Japanese document so they could not accept it- I couldn`t change my name on my account until the Koseki was done (I couldn`t even do it with my foreigners card). STUPID BANKS.  Shun was very angry when I told him they accused me of not being married to him and stealing his money. The truth is, a lady I used to work with had the same issue once and she actually had the inkan but they still accused her of trying to steal her husbands money. He was a doctor and they didn`t believe she was married to him. Issue was that her Japanese was not so great so she took me along to translate for him- they ended up calling her husband and he went right off at them for accusing his wife of trying to steal money.
• There is a store about 500m from Shun`s parents place called “Doggy Style” and been the immature child that I am, I giggle everytime I walk past it. It is a salon for dogs by the way!
• This weekend is the first “quiet” weekend I am having since coming back to Japan. Our only plans are to go to SILs parents place to take a gift and say thank you (they gave us money for our wedding- We have met them only once) and to go apartment hunting on Sunday. It will be nice to sleep in tomorrow- not that I can`t technically sleep in everyday since I still have no job but still- it will still be nice.
• I have been home pretty much the last two days (except for a trip to the supermarket and the bank) but earlier in the week I was busy, busy, busy! I made two new foreign friends this week- Zoe and Cassie. Zoe I met as she had a private student she wanted to pass over to me (Yay, that is right, I have one lesson a month to teach now 4 stations away- at least it is a start!)- turns out Zoe and I got on really great and she has a little boy so we are going on a picnic next Monday. Cassie I met for lunch on Wednesday and we also hit it off straight away- her little daughter Nana is so cute, even when she is putting her foot in her mummy`s lunch!!! We also have plans to meet up again soon. While I really really need a job, I have to say a life of meeting up with friends and picnics etc really appeals to me! Shame It cant last forever (as we would run out of money-hehe!). Cassie has also offered to give me some of her baby stuff which is awesome!!! I also got to go to Kichijoji (to meet Cassie) which is my old stomping ground- man I LOVE that part of Tokyo. I would give anything to live back in West Tokyo but it would mean we would be too far away from Shun`s parents if we needed help with anything and also the rent is more than a little pricey! When we lived in Kichijoji we paid 90,000 a month for a tiny 1K apartment. With a baby- that just would not work! haha! I also met up with Khea for a trip to Akachan Honpo and managed to pick up a couple of small baby things that I could lug home like a blanket (so cute!), and some other more boring stuff like baby nail clippers, thermometer and hairbrush!
• I almost fainted on the train between Asakusabashi and Akihabara the other day- I think Akihabara station hates me as that is where I threw up on the platform just a few weeks ago. Basically I was standing on the train, started to feel really sick and was concentrating really hard on not vomitting when all of a sudden I could no longer hear anything, my eyes went cloudy and I started concentrating on not fainting. I knew it was coming and I knew that if I didn`t get off and get some air I was going to faint into some smelly salaryman`s lap. In the end some nice guy helped me off and bought me some water and then got on the next train while I waited until I could see again (seriously I could see nothing for about 5 minutes- it was scary). I ended up having to get off the next train I got on as well beacuse I started feeling dizzy again. Pretty scary stuff.
• Shun is going to be working on a big project from July- this is good in terms of it will give him something to do (this past month since going back to work he has not had much on) however it does mean that overtime will come back into play. He has worked for this company before (he does computer systems engineering on projects for other companies- most of it is done from his own office but this one will mean going to their office at Tokyo station) and last time he did insane amounts of overtime which included weekends and coming home some nights at 3am. I do hope it doesn`t get as bad as that again because that was insane.
• We hope to be out of the in-laws place by end of July- YAY! While staying here is not so bad, I am sure anyone reading can understand that it will be nice to have our own place and be able to unpack all our stuff and set up our own place. Hopefully we can find somewhere nice in the next couple of weeks- most likely in Moto-Yawata (where we are now) or in Nishi-Funabashi or Funabashi. Please send us “find good apartment you can afford” vibes!

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This past weekend Shun & I went to Odaiba to stay in Le Daiba Hotel. We received the stay, and dinner on the hotel top floor as a wedding present from some of our friends…sort of like a second honeymoon!

On the monorail- about to go over rainbow bridge!

Rent a cat shop

Puppy dining- right next to the rent a puppy shop!

My “mock”tail

Getting ready for dinner

View from dinner

View from our room at night

Sunday afternoon we met friends in Shinjuku to catch up with Ryomei an old friend who was in town from Germany. I met Ryomei when I was on exchange at Seikei University but Ryomei is based in Germany at the moment for work and I had not seen him in 2.5 years. It was great to catch up. We were supposed to meet up at about 11am for a BBQ but due to the bad weather we ended up meeting up a bit later for dinner and drinks at an Izakaya in Shinjuku. Due to the rain on the Sunday as well, Shun and I couldn`t walk around Odaiba much so instead we went to the movies- Shun`s choice, which was the new Transformers movie. Luckily it is my choice next time!!!

Junni, Cat, me & Ryomei (all friends from university)

Mai, Junni & Cat- enjoying their beers!

Oh and what weekend would be complete without some Izakaya or eating establishment`s “Engrish”

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Yesterday was my 15 weeks pregnancy milestone. Hard to believe that in five weeks I will be half way there. Seems strange even thinking about it.

On Saturday I had a dr`s appointment at my clinic and since I had my boshi techo and insurance they started writing everything in there and did some extra tests like take blood. I also got another ultrasound, this time it was done externally so while goma-chan has doubled in size in three weeks (!) it is not as clear as my last ultrasound. It was funny however to see goma-chan gaining control over his limbs and he was kicking and punching about while laying on his back. He was very low down this time as well but the doctor did not seem worried about this.

He/she grew from less than 4.5cm to approximately 9cm from crown to rump. So he is definitely growing, and growing fast. I still do not feel much movement. I felt my first “real” movement a couple of days ago and it was a bit like popcorn popping inside my belly. Nothing really yet though and very very sporadic.  The doctor did say again though that it won`t be long til I am feeling movement.

I am starting to pop a little bit. While I used to be able to suck my belly in it now seems that there is a bump that is impossible to suck in. Albeit it is still mostly fat or bloating I think. They weighed me at the surgery and I was surprised to find out I had put on less weight since getting pregnant than I thought. Approximately 500g-1kg during the first 15 weeks is not bad I am told. They checked my blood pressure as well which was 118/69 which for me is actually a little high since I have naturally low blood pressure but of course they were not at all concerned since it is still very normal.

I also met the owner of the hospital on Saturday as he was the doctor on shift. He seemed nice enough but I did prefer the doctor I met last time who spoke English like a five year old boy on helium. Next time I will be seeing him again as Shun preferred him to and he was much more chatty. Although, next time I will go on a Friday by myself and apparantly they might be able to tell me the sex if the baby is in a good position. I will be almost 19 weeks by then. If they can`t tell me then Shun wants me to request a 3D scan (I allowed one or two during the pregnancy apparently) on a day that he can come and see as well for a time when I am about 22 weeks. I am excited to find out the sex but I really do think it is a boy- but at least once I know for sure I can start planning ahead and organizing what I need to buy.

Happy to report have had no morning sickness in almost 2 weeks and for that I am really grateful. I hope that is the end of it! I am finding it hard to lie on my stomach now- not because I think I am squashing the tiny baby or anything but more because it feels funny. Not uncomfortable, just weird. So I bought one of those long pillows that you can kind of lay up against and cuddle and it is great!!! I am kind of half lying on it now while I type up this post…

So all in all things are going well on the pregnancy front. We have officially singed up to give birth at that clinic and I will pay a huge sum of money next time I go. We have to pay half by the time I am 20 weeks but Shun and I will just pay it all (430,000yen) next time and then they will either charge us more when I am discharged if I had anything extra (like giving birth on a Sunday) or refund us some if I choose to have a shared room. I have requested a private room though and they seem to think that is fine as they have something like 8 of them anyway. So far I am liking my clinic. It seems to be the norm though that the dr`s are not very informative? If you speak up and ask questions though they will answer them but I often forget all my questions when I go in (Is this mummy brain?) but next time I will write them down.

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Before I get into our weekend and Niigata (and shower my blog with photos) I just want to say I am not insured in Japan and it is a huge relief! Shun picked up my special peice of cardboard today and I have Japanese health insurance so WOO! I am off to my clinic this Saturday with my boshi techo and insurance and maybe I will get to see goma-chan again and hopefully he is doing well in there (yep, I still think goma-chan is a boy!)

Well, over the weekend, Shun & I went to Niigata to visit with Sarah and Ryohei and Nay and Naoki came also. I went up (across?) on Friday a day before the others since I am still currently not working and I figured Sarah could use the extra company! I caught the shikansen to Echigo Yuzuwa and switched to the local train line out to Sarah`s stop and she met me at the station. Her PIL`s house is about a five minute walk from the train station although as Sarah has said, there is not much around there all though I did spot a bakery and a hair salon on the walk up the slope to the house.

Sarah and I spent the afternoon lazing around (me in the comfty chair- oh the chair she had was just so awesome, I seriously wanted to steal it and bring it back to Chiba- I think I may have to get my own!) and also looking at all the baby stuff she has for BG. Once her MIL came home I went down and did aisatsu (greetings) and gave her my Tokyo/Chiba omiyage. She kind of just left us to ourselves until dinner which was a gyoza feast. Oh how i love gyoza and these were really really good gyoza. I wish I could of got a photo!!! After dinner Ryohei taught me the macdonalds religion dance while we were listening to classical music (haha, I know Sarah will hate me for writing that!) and we just sat around talking and planning our weekend.

Early the next morning Nay & Naoki arrived from Shizuoka and Shun arrived a couple hours later on the bus from Tokyo. We went into Nagaoka to see Sarah & Ryohei`s new house where they are moving in just a couple of weeks. I could only see the outside but I am insanely jealous as it does look awesome. We also had a lunch of ramen and a starbucks and international food shop stop off!!! After a couple hours resting back at the house we also headed out for dinner at the local family restraunt.

Sunday was spent playing Mahjong (me, Shun, Naoki & Ryohei)- Naoki and I had only ever played once or twice and Sarah and Nay not at all but I think by the end of it we had all got the hang of it again (of course Ryohei won though!)- I had forgotten most of the rules but they all came back to me eventually and I even won a round (much to the surprise of the boys!). We also went to Ryohei`s work`s 50th year anniversary festival which was nice- I love Japanese festivals with the food and the stalls and it was just a shame about the weather and that Sarah was not feeling 100%.

Most of the weekend we just relaxed and chatted and ate. It was lovely to get out of the city for the weekend and spend it in the country with the girls. I am so lucky to have met Sarah & Nay as we always have such a fun time together even if we can`t see each other as often as we would like. This was the first time Shun had met Ryohei as well but they got on well, in fact the three boys got on really well with their love of ramen and manga. haha!

Here are some photos from the weekend-

There are a couple more photos over in my flickr account also.

Today I met up with Khea for lunch and a spot of shopping and then after that I met up with Ai, my old boss/owner of preschool where I worked, whom I hadn`t seen in over a year. It was great to catch up with them both!!! Ai`s last year has been crazy and seriously I am hoping it starts to calm down for her now.

It is my turn to make dinner tomorrow night and I am making buritos- I will make sashimi for Shun & Otousan as well since I am not sure how Otousan would take only having one plate of something at dinner time. I have to go to the shops tomorrow to pick up some cheese and mince but everything else we already have here thankfully. I like cooking and I am glad to be able to cook once or twice a week. Last week I stuck with fairly Japanese style food but this week I am going with something different.

Well I guess that is all the semi-interesting stuff I have to say for now! Tomorrow I have a meme to post that Vicky tagged me for!

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I was going to write about my weekend in Niigata with Sarah & Nay and there partners but will leave that until I upload some photos I think (although had a fab time!) instead I am going to try and relay a strange conversation that I had with my grandma-in-law (is that what they are called?) and mother-in-law this morning when I was trying to leave the house to head into town.

I really had no idea what was going on but I could of sworn they were talking about inu-no-hi (which I took to mean dog day?), a special pregnancy corset, what day would be best for me and my pregnancy, mentioning a day in July, and one of my female  cousins in law. The conversation was totally lost on me and mainly fueled by Shun`s grandma and my MIL could tell I was getting confused I think and told me to go (otherwise I would never escape talking to “baba”.) I should mention that before the conversation got this involved the grandma was asking me if I had any issues going to shirne or temple even though I am Christian and I said no and figured that Shun & I would be raising the kids billingually and biculturally without this been an issue.

A quick google when I came home reveals that once women who are pregnant reach their 5th month of pregnancy (Which will be in about a month for me) they go to the shrine on this “inu no hi” which might stand for dog fertility day? Apparently you are supposed to go to the shrine on the first inu no hi after you reach your 5th month of pregnancy and it may or may not involve buying pregnancy girdle/corset -I also got the feeling from my reading that this is supposed to help the birth be easier (the visit to the shrine and the girdle) but I somehow doubt considering my starting size that I will be fitting into any kind of Japanese sized girdle, five months pregnant or not. Now my Japanese is not so great, especially when it comes to talking or reading about something I know NOTHING about so please correct me if I am wrong but is this what inu no hi is? And, do you think I am right in thinking that my MIL and GIL want to take me to do this in July? What do you know about inu-no-hi and this tradition? If you had your babies here in Japan, did you do this? I read about it in Japanese online and I only understood about 50% of what I was trying to read so I could be way off on my understanding of this tradition.

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Well this is long overdue considering it is the 11 June today. (By the way, happy birthday mum!)- before I get started though I just want to say I had a lovely day today with no morning sickness AND yesterday Shun spoke to the insurance boss at his work and I should have health insurance by next Wednesday. Shun eventually got fed up (especially after spending 3 hours at the Nakano city hall) and went to speak to the “big boss” (His words not mine) and the “big boss” said he would make sure the paperwork would be sent off immediately. I will believe it when I see my actual little cardboard insurance card but I think I am well on the way to having health insurance (I did enquire at the town hall here about going on my own insurance and they suggested I wait it out and come next week if I still didn`t have it- they were really lovely)

Okay, so a bit over a year ago now I started a list of 101 things I wanted to complete in 1001 days and each month I do a bit of an update so that I know (and anyone reading knows) how I am going…

May was a busy month for crossing things off!

28. Get married

Well we did that! Shun & I tied the knot on May 9th 2009 after 4.5 years together!  I have said it before, but it really was a beautiful day!

33. Maintain the weight loss for six months (4/6)

Okay well in April, it was my 3rd month maintaining the 10kg+ that I lost and I managed to still stay under the 74kg mark for May. Although have creeped up this month already (Half a kilo over :-(  ). Obviously being pregnant is not going to make maintaining the weight loss easy so I kind of have to forfeit this for now. However, after bub comes, and I get back to 74kg or less (I hope) I will begin the six months maintenance again. So this one is not going to be crossed off anytime soon…

36. Get pregnant

Okay, technically this happened in March, but I am crossing it off in my May post since obviously I have only recently announced this. But Yay! We are expecting a baby in December!

63. Visit a city I have not been to before (In Australia)

I am not sure if “Hamilton Island” is considered a city. But I guess the Whitsunday`s kind of is and we went there for our honeymoon!  This was my last thing to cross of from my “while in Australia” section of my list so that was lucky!!! I haven`t done a proper post about our honeymoon yet but we had a great time although it was a little short. I got a bit sick near the end (more morning sickness) but we enjoyed lazing around and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef!

73. Meet at least five other bloggers in real life

I was up to 4 for this one! And then on the last day of May I met Khea when Khea, Nay, Sarah & I went to Ueno park for what was going to be a picnic but turned into a lunch instead! It was great to finally meet Khea after getting to know each other on FB and through blogging. Her & I are catching up again next week for coffee in Shinjuku and it is nice to have made a friend that is fairly close to me!

83. Save enough money in Australia to return to Japan and start up life again here

Well, Shun & I have mangaed to do this through what we saved in Australia (through me working, and my tax return), what Shun had saved in Japan and our wedding money we are pretty set to be able to start our life up here again. We have more than enough to pay the down payments on a new apartment to rent, buy some new furniture if needed (we had a lot of stuff in storage here though already), pay all our hospital costs for baby and enough left over to still have some savings and an emergency fund for a flight back to Australia in case I need to get back there quickly for my family. I had my doubts about this one as I am terrible at saving and Shun wasn`t working much in Australia but it all worked out well!!!

So five things fully crossed off for the month of May and a couple still in progress (study, blog updates for this list etc) and one put on the back burner (weight loss maintenance ). Will update my list connected to my blog now!

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Last week I was tagged by Coffee Grl to do this meme. I need to post about something a little less “controversial” today!

Eight things I am looking forward to:

1. Meeting Goma-chan
2. Niigata this weekend and seeing Nay & Sarah
3. Getting health insurance
4. Having my mum visit in December/January (and then possibly my Dad in January and my brother and Gemma at Easter next year)
5. Finding our own apartment/house and moving into it.
6. Eating real cheese (sometime in the near future I hope)
7. Summer festivals and fireworks
8. BBQ with friends the weekend after next to catch up with Ryomei, an old uni friend who will be in town from Germany!

Eight things I did yesterday:

1. Cry about health insurance
2. Argue with my MIL
3. Watch Gossip Girl
4. Meet up with James to get my license translated
5. Have Vietnamese for lunch with James
6. Ate Aussie beef for dinner.
7. Chat with Sarah
8. Study some kanji

Eight things I wish I could do:

1. Eat real cheese
2. Move
3. Stop throwing up
4. Travel to Korea for a weekend
5. Find some private students
6. Make bread
7. Go to a beach with Shun for a whole week- Okinawa or Guam anyone?
8. Sew better…

Eight shows I watch:

1. Grey`s Anatomy
2. Private Practice
3. The Mentalist
4. The Closer
5. Gossip Girl
6. ER (Although sadly now it has finished)
7. How I met your Mother
8. My Name is Earl

Eight favorite fruits:

1. Strawberries
2. Peaches
3. Plums
4. Apricots
5. Grapes
6. Mikan
7. Blueberries
8. Pineapple

Eight places I’d like to travel:

1. Vietnam
2. Korea
3. Egypt
4. NZ with Shun
5. Mexico
6. New York
7. Guam
8. Ireland

Eight places I’ve lived:

1. Manly, Queensland
2. Birkdale, Queensland
3. Thornlands, Queensland
4. Capalaba, Queensland
5. Chiba, Japan
6. Kichijoji, Tokyo
7. Nakano, Tokyo
8. And sadly, that is all!

Now I have to tag 8 people- let`s see.

Mandy, Khea, Nay, Sassy, Corrinne, Midori, Melanie and Vicky. Don`t worry it is not compulsary though! Anyone else that would like to steal it can also feel free!

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