Cherry Blossom Adventures

Things went smoothly today- we took Dad to the hospital, waited until he got settled in and hooked up (Wasn`t about to let him do another runner!) and we went to see a movie.

On the way back to the hospital Shun said…

“There are a lot of vet animal hospitals in Australia hey”

me- “Yeah, same in Japan though. There is one near your house?”

Shun- “What? An animal hospital you mean? Yeah, but what I mean is that the chain “vet” is very common here…it was even in Melbourne”

me- cackling & laughing “Shun, Vet means Animal doctor- it isn`t the name of the animal hospital! It is short for vetenarian”

At least we could have a couple of laughs today….(The movie we saw, while very good was a bit serious. I enjoyed it but perhaps a comedy would of been better. Extremely well done though- we saw “Slumdog Millionaire”)

Dad has two or three treatments left in the trial. Next week he will have a CT Scan and biopsy to see if the lumps in his lymph nodes are shrinking and the week later he will have a bonemarrow biopsy to see if the cancer is still in his marrow.

We are watching Dirty Harry together now (last night we watched jaws)- two classics from the 70`s I had never seen before. Dirty Harry I guess because of the violence and jaws I never saw as a kid because my mum was afraid it would make my brother & I afraid of the water.

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• ..thinking about how I have fallen off the weight-loss, eat well and exercise wagon- But I hope to hop back on this week. And apart from all the chocolate (and pizza last weekend) I haven`t actually been eating too badly. I didn`t go to weight watchers meeting on Thursday night and the week before I put on 100g- I am pretty sure I have put on more than that since then. I have stopped walking though and I need to get back into that- might have to meet up with mum after work and go walking with her. We can`t take Abbey on long walks yet otherwise I would take her with me- we do try to take her out for 15 minutes each day.
• …going hooping in Southbank tomorrow- so yay there is some exercise.
• …excited because our friend had her baby- a healthy little girl who so far has no name but I have seen pictures and she is adorable. We will be sending the package on Monday! When Shun found out his friend had been there for the birth he was surprised. This is a conversation I have had with him before telling him that he MUST be there when I have kids and it has freaked him out cos he doesn`t like hospitals or blood or needles or anything like that and I told him that if he wasn`t there then I would hold the baby in with my hands until he came into the room and his response was “maji de? sore ga dekiru no?” (Means “really, you can do that?”)- this has lead me to become slightly worried about what Shumpei actually think happens during the birthing process!
• …thinking about applying for a job where I am currently working even though I know I don`t have the skills to get the job I have been encouraged to apply because it would mean they could keep my resume on file for up to 12 months. But since it is government job it would mean having to do a lot of selection criteria etc etc and I am not sure if I want to spend my Sunday doing that. The current temp assignment is until September 12th with possibility of been extended.
• …thinking about what I should do for my Q is for in the encyclopedia of me- I had an idea and i scrapped it so am thinking of opening up the floor to all you dear readers, and let you ask me any questions you want and have a Q is for Q & A…I have done this before but hey, if you have any more questions then you can let me know either in the comments or via email.
• …aware that I haven`t done a July update for 101 things in 1001 days even though I have a couple of things to cross off the list. I will try to get to it this week!!!
• …also aware that I have not thanked all of you for your comments on the last post explaining the in and on to me regarding transport- Shumpei read the comments and now understands. Next time he has a question I told him to post it on my blog and let you all give him the answers so I don`t have to. He starts school on Monday though so hopefully he will be able to ask his teachers too. He is very nervous about starting school for two reasons- one he has to do a test and two he thinks he might be a lot older than everyone else. I doubt it, I am guessing the average age is about 25 and he is only 2 years older than that. I told him he should try to make friends but he is really shy so not sure how he will go- Hopefully he will be fine. I already told him I would make him a bento to take with him!
• …a little bit worried that when I go back to Japan things won`t be the same (within my group of friends etc there)- I was speaking to Cat the other day cos she rang me and it was so good to talk to her. I miss them so much and I miss Japan too- I recently saw pictures of them at the beach and it was so sad cos usually I would be there with them! I can`t wait to see them again!
• …thinking it may be time for bed! Goodnight!

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Shumpei has just made a good point-

Why is it get on the plane, get on the bus, get on the train and get on the bike etc

but

get IN the car?

Anyone care to explain- then I  can give him an answer other than ” sou iu mon da yo” which basically translates as ” just because it is” .

My other response to his questions English language related questions include “because English is stupid, that`s why” (I said that in English actually and he asked why I put “why” at the end of the sentence because shouldn`t it be in the beggining?) or “Ask your English teacher when you start school next week”….Please don`t think I am been cruel because seriously those are the kind of responses he gives me when I ask Japanese grammar questions (Ok well he says “eeehhh…sou iu mon da yo” a lot at least)

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