I am still working on Noah`s 4 month letter and will hopefully have it up tomorrow- If I manage to find the time to upload the recent photos of the little koala munchkin.
Today however I have a guest post over at Michelle`s blog Warsaw Mommy- another woman raising her adorable little boys in a bicultural/billingual environment married to a Polish man living in Poland. Wow that was a mouthful! She also had to be careful about her kiddies names as both sets of grandparents needed to be able to say them!!! This is the same reason we went for Noah`s name since it is easy enough to say in both languages!
Check out the post here in which I talk about how I have perfected the “nod and smile” needed to survive the sometimes ridiculous comments received by some Japanese people – except when old obaachan comment that I should wear a scarf so that my breast milk doesn`t get cold because then Noah won`t drink it. Apparently. Yes, this really happened! Oh the joys of living in Japan!!!!
Popularity: 4% [?]
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!
It’s my pleasure to play ‘host’ to you
I’ll look forward to the little koala munchkin’s 4-month update. I think it’s a lovely idea.
hahahahah…..thats up there with the comments one gets in the summer to cover up your pregnant belly because the baby will get cold.
haha that’s a great one! Did you answer by saying that the baby prefers his milk cold?
I loved your post – very well written!!
Some of the things old Japanese women come out with hey!! I was told that it’s a blessing that Leilah has black hair because otherwise she would look too foreign and get bullied at school…
You should have smiled sweetly at her and said “You Japanese women with your small boobs might have that problem but, being a foreigner my bigger boobs provide insulation to keep the milk warm so I don’t need a scarf.” She what she said to that…
As Nay said, that was a very well-written post! You should be proud! Speaking of names I’ve been thinking over the last few days that if I ever have a little boy that I’d love to call him Noah, hope you don’t mind! It’s such a lovely name!
Interesting post and after reading it I’ve got to give you props for not losing it! If I had children I don’t know how I would deal with those kinds of comments! Taking the high road is probably the best way, but I would find it difficult not to make a snappy comment.
Hi there!
I saw your guest post over at ‘Warsaw Mommy’s’ site, and ended up writing a lot more than I intended. I went ahead and posted it over there, but wanted to come check your bog out and leave the same message.
I KNOW we relate in a very special way. There is being an ExPat in a country that speaks English as a main language, and there is living in a Country whose first language is not English. They are worlds apart, believe me and I know you understand. I’d love to keep in touch!
Tsai Jin,
Shauna (Hur Su Lan)<<<<my Chinese name…means beautiful flower. <3
P.S. I am having trouble getting my comment over here, maybe b/c it is still waiting for her to publish it. Or go check it out!!