- I have been suffering from hideous heartburn on and off for a couple of weeks- but today has been the worst. I have had it since I ate breakfast and still have it even now- I took the medicine the dr gave me after every meal today (as directed) and still have it. Tried milk (and I don`t like milk much) and that didn`t seem to work either. I am hoping it is a temporary thing but I have a feeling it will be with me until this baby is born. That is still 4 months away…. Mum is sending me some Zantac I think as it is a prescription only drug here and my doctor wouldn`t give me a prescription for it- instead he gave me something else. I have heard “tums” are good? We don`t have them in Australia and I don`t think they are available here are they? (Update: Just spoke with mum and she is sending Mylanta as Zantac is apparently no good while pregnant)
- I finished a scarf for my friend Junni last night- I started this in Feburary last year (2008) and while I took it to Australia I didn`t even do a stitch I think. I picked it up two nights ago and finished it last night. I made Shun a scarf a couple years ago and then three of our male friends put in requests and Junni`s was the last one. I feel bad that he had to wait to long but he will be all set to use it this winter. He is a snowboarder and he actually had a pretty bad accident earlier this year while boarding (snapped his arm) and ended up in the hospital for a couple of weeks. He says he is going back this winter though… Now I need to find another knitting project although really it is too hot to knit at the moment. The only reason I picked it up was because obviously the sewing projects I had in mind did not work out (Although a message posted on MIJ lead to several offers of sewing machines- my “new” one should arrive next week- a Brother (brand), fairly simple and hardly used AND all I have to pay is postage. Hopefully it won`t take me long to figure it out) – I need another crafty project to keep my hands busy I think and I have even contemplated hand-sewing. I figured a tag blanket for the baby (they are about the size of a facewasher) might be a nice idea. Otherwise I might have to pull out my jewellery making stuff and wire up some earrings and bracelets. Is anyone after earrings in a particular colour bead? I will take orders!
- The apartment has this tiny little flying bugs- they arn`t biting anything but they are annoying the hell out of me. I think there is only 2 or 3 but they are impossible to catch and driving me insane. I am not sure why they are here, they are seriously not much bigger than a pin head but man are they annoying. I think they must have got in through the front door or through the veranda when Shun goes out for a smoke. I don`t know how to get rid of them…
- One of the things on my 101 things in 1001 days was to learn how to use photoshop- with all my spare time at the moment I thought it was time i started so I have started a mini online course and have done the first two lessons (the course is free, basically just powerpoints walking you through stuff) – so far I haven`t done much at all BUT when I do I will be sure to post my progress. I also have a book I bought a couple of years ago (when I got Photoshop CS2) that I have been reading through as well hoping it will help me out.
- I did up my lesson plans for my private lessons on Saturday – I go to families houses and usually have lessons with their children for 45 mins to an hour. One family has two kids so I do 45 mins with the daughter, 30 mins with the son and then 15 mins conversation with the mother. The next family I do 1 hour with the daughter then 30 minutes free conversation with the mother (who uses English in her job, she just likes to brush up). I have really enjoyed doing the relief work this month- this weekend will be my last weekend of it though as their regular teacher is coming back from holidays. I miss working with kids (although I know I will have my own soon enough) and helping them learn- the kids in these families are a bit different to those I worked with in international preschools but they do remind me of the two girls I used to teach privately who were a bit older (11)- I wish I lived closer so that i could still teach them. A lot of people don`t like working with children, especially in ESL, but i much prefer it to adults. It is more effort though and thinking about what they will learn each week and what their targets are. Conversation lessons don`t take much planning, if anything at all, because the conversation will flow well enough if you start with something basic. Last week I spoke to the mother of one of the one girl about billingualism in children and how it works.
- I managed to cross everything off my to do list for today (I am a big list maker) including washing the futon covers and sheets for baby (as the bed will be here next week or the week later I think), cleaning the stove top and more. I find if I have list then I get the satisfaction of crossing something off then I am much more likely to do the next thing on the list. Sound strange? Maybe. But it works for me.
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
I don`t have any recommendations for heart burn as I really haven`t had any, perhaps the milk I drink everyday is keeping it at bay?
Is the tag blanket the kind that has the different color ribbons attached to the sides in loops? I was think of making one but not sure what material I would want to make it out of. That and shopping for the ribbons I would need.
I sort of know how to use photoshop (and illustrator) since thats what Taka uses for his job but if I don`t use it for awhile I tend to forget how and then I have to ask him to teach me how to do things yet again.
I agree with teaching kids to adults, but I don`t really care for teaching kids that are just starting school or younger, they tend to wear me out and frustrate me with their constant picking their noses, hands in pants, crying, or over activeness. But I do agree planning their lessons is a lot easier since you really just need 1 grammar point (more like phrase) that they can mix different words with, whereas with those who are older you have to be more focused on explaining the grammar.
No advice for you on the heartburn front – maybe you could ask Sarah for some advice? I’ve had it a few times in my life and it’s not nice. I can’t imagine having it all day…
Glad to hear that you were able to get a new sewing machine. It must have been so dissapointing to bring your old one all the way to Japan and then not be able to use it. I am looking forward to hearing about your new sewing adventures!
Can’t wait to see some of your photoshop work!! It’s a program I would love to be able to use but looks way too difficult for me…
I can not believe that goma chan (kun?) is going to be here in only 4 months!! 4 months really isn’t that long at all!! How very exciting!
Tums saved my life when I was pregnant as I got heartburn days after my morning sickness finished (at about 24 weeks) so I never got to have a proper blooming period. Do you want me to send you some? My Dad used to send me boxes, always assuming that this box would be the last but I always ended up needing more!! (Well until Joey was born, obviously..)
Heartburn: For me, milk does not work. Made it actually worse sometimes. But plain yoghurt kind of helps (well, sometimes). I did take the doc’s medicine (the one I showed you) for two weeks and even though I finished it up, it does not get as bad as it got before.
Be careful with alcohol (haha), fat (said the one who served a creamy soup- shame on me) and sweets (grrr). Find the sweets part a bit hard to follow, might make things easier to eat sweet things after a “real” meal. Might help not to lay down directly after meals (doubt you do that anyway), as it is “re-flux”…
also carbonated drinks make it worse for me. Therefore had to stop drinking the “western” mineral water that had helped me through all the morning sickness.
Do not know if any of these helps, maybe you can figure out a few “triggers” and avoid them?
Hope you find some rescue soon, because, yes, it is awful!
I 3rd and 4th Tums….
I had Brenda (Slime) send me some from the Military Base grocery store.. I still have some left but am wary about sending an open bottle through the post. If you havent managed to get any relief by Sept I’ll bring them with me for you on the shinkansen.
Sorry to hear about your bugs.. i’d take them over my suzumebachi tho!! i hate summer in japan with all the creepy bugs
hope we can catch up on skype soon
Melanie- You are lucky with the heartburn!!!! Wish I didn`t have it! Was your morning sickness bad early on? I had that too- I can`t seem to catch a break but overall my pregnancy has been fairly textbook so far.
I like teaching young children in groups (preschool) but for one on one classes I enjoy elementary aged 8 and over…I am not sure I would like teaching really young kids if it was an eikaiwa situation but the international school system is a bit different and that is where most of my experience with kids that age is.
Tag blanket is one of those ones with all the ribbons- I already had a fair few ribbon scraps lying around so just picked up three pieces that had some texture to add in as well. I might try hand sewing it next week…
Nay- The heartburn was not as bad today! Got it abit after lunch but that was all- not all day like yesterday.
I find it hard to believe goma-chan will be here in less than 4 months too- crazy how fast the time has gone. I hand sewed a bib today- will put up a picture eventually. My hand sewing is pretty crappy though- am much better with a machine.
Midori- Thanks for the offer- mum is sending me something. Plus going to cost-co next week with a friend so might see if they have anything? Especially as Sarah said they have them on the army base so cost-co might have them, who knows.
THat would of sucked moving on from morning sickness to heartburn- I at least had a two month gap!!
Eva- I am writing down what I eat to see if I can find the triggers, so far no luck
there seems to be nothing in particular that causes it. Sometimes all I might have had is water and it comes up- will try and stay away from the foods you mentioned though.
Milk doesn`t really work for me either. I tried it yesterday and it was no good. Shame
Sarah- Suzemebachi would be much worse! Especially for me considering the allergy! LOL. Thanks for the offer of tums,, i will see if I can get some at cost-co. Plus, mum is sending the mylanta next week which should help a little as well (I hope!)
Hey Lulu! Sorry for not coming by recently, this summer seem to be a bad start but I should learn from you– make a list, and stick to it. I used to think I was organized. When I have indigestion I usually have a nice cold glass of milk- has that helped much?
AH.. I may know what the tiny little bugs are, when we were renting a town-home, we had them too, esp during their hatching season, they turned out to be termites? I hope they are just gnats though–
And photoshop is the “BOMB”, lurv it, but you know– when I switched computers I lost my license number and I am grinding my teeth at having to buy another– graphic software is VERY expensive.
With teaching– congrats on the two classes, word of mouth will spread, you’ll see, soon enough you’ll have yourself a nice salary! I like working with Jr. H.S. and up than with kids- I think I got burned out teaching kinder….
Starting off is hard but you never know, you may be the next NOVA = )
do you think the bugs might be fruit flies? usually come in with bananas, if you don’t eat them fast enough, but any fruit really might bring fruit flies in your house. easy enough to get rid of them, i usually just get rid of any fruit that’s out, don’t leave any food garbage in the open and then smack the flies. there are how-to’s on the internet for catching them. hope you get rid of them soon!
Yeah the little bugs sound like fruit flies to me. I’ve caught a few recently in my apartment, they just love the fresh fruit of the season.
I would love to learn photoshop, maybe someday I’ll be able to. Right now I’m trying to concentrate on learning japanese.