Cherry Blossom Adventures

I missed Things I love Thursday yesterday because I had visitors and a friend and her daughter stay over, so playing catch up today while baby naps!

Things I loved this week

• Home made ricotta cheese for the lasange for dinner.
• Sunny weather yesterday, despite the fact rainy season is DEFINITELY upon us.
• Baby napping so I can blog.
• Sleepovers with friends- was great having Cassie over (and I can`t link to her today because her blog is down- hope it gets fixed soon hun as it looks like her account was hacked!) and having extra hands to help with Noah and I always have fun spending time with her and her daughter. She is such a lovely house guest too – not only did she watch Noah while i had a shower this morning but she also did the dishes at the same time while simultaneously making sure her daughter ate breakfast. Yeah, she rocks!
• 2 year old speak from Cassie`s daughter Nana- “dope” for soap (Like, “where`s the dope?”, “mukit” for music oh and when she talks about Noah she always calls him “A Noah” or “Its a baby Noah”- so cute.  Can`t wait til Noah starts talking!
• Chiba Peanuts playgroup 2nd meeting success- had lots of fun at the oyako cafe the other day and some new members join too. English playgroup rocks!
• Seeing Nay, Naoki and Leilah for a bit yesterday- Leilah has changed already and getting so big! So cute in her little black and white outfit.
• Been all prepared for father`s day this Sunday. I am prepared because I thought it was 2 weeks ago but still!! Shun`s first father`s day!
• Recent videos of Noah- I will eventually get around to uploading them!
• Aircon- it has been so hot but I am glad we have aircon. I can`t leave it on all the time though but it is nice to flick it on and cool down the room for an hour.
• Looking at houses/apartments online- not that we can afford to buy one right now but looking is fun too!!!
• My mum getting time off work to come to Melbourne while I am there later in the year for  a wedding.
• Parcel from Australia with some stuff for Noah.
• Baby sign
• Bonus day (not sure if it is Bonus Day for others in Japan but Shun`s work bonus came in today- most salary men in Japan get two bonus`s a year!)
• six month birthday for Noah tomorrow- yep, my little koala munchkin will be six months old! Hard to believe that this time six months ago I was sitting on the sofa, probably watching re-runs of ER, without a baby but that I had had him by 11am the next day…(he came FAST!)
• Cooled teething rings and frozen wet face washers- Noah is grumpy a lot because of teeth coming in (yet we still have no teeth) but If I give him one of them he will happily sit and chew for awhile which is a bit of a lifesaver.

Oh and onto rants because, well, what week would be complete without some?

I went to go do Noah`s Polio immunization today. For those not in Japan, Polio, at least in most cities, is only administered 3 times a year to all the babies in the area. You don`t make an appointment- you just go, get a number, line up, take bubs temperature and go in. They still do the oral version too (same in Australia, right?). Anyway I went today for it but turns out If I want to do Noah`s 3rd DPT shot on time (10 days away) then I can`t do Polio. Shun rang the clinic previously to make the DPT appointment- usually I would just ring and make the appointment but it was going to be our first time there (although then I got sick and went anyway, oh and then Noah got constipated so we went again!) so Shun rang to make the appointment etc etc. He asked and said we wanted to do Polio today at the cattle call but that the 3rd DPT shot has to be done within 8 weeks of the 2nd (or you have to start over again) and they said the appointment he took etc would be fine, blah blah blah.

I go to get Polio, want to double check first (AGAIN!) and they say, no no, if you want to do DPT in 10 days you can`t do Polio today. And then I said well maybe I would do Polio and reschedule 3rd DPT shot and they look at Noah`s baby health book and say “no no, then it will be more than 8 weeks” and so yeah. a wasted trip to the community centre to line up with all the other mums to get the Polio.

DPT seems to be more important so I am glad we will finish those shots up first but I had been hoping to have his 2nd Polio in October (another cattle call) before we went to Australia but now he will have his 1st in October and his 2nd next February when we come back from Australia. Good thing Australia doesn`t have a Polio problem I guess.

I wish that we could do all the immunzations at the same place and they would just put a schedule in place when the baby is born- would make it a whole lot easier. I would rather do Polio at a clinic instead of a cattle call too but there is no choice for that unfortunately…

****************************************************************************

Anyway visiting from FYBF- HI and welcome!

It is Flog  Yo Blog Friday over at Mummy-Time so go join in!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Or more appropriately titled Lulu`s sewing blunder #32

Turns out there is a different foot for zips. I attempted to make a little zip purse on the weekend and couldn`t for the life of me figure out how people do zips so figured I would just give it ago by myself.

Bad idea.

Why didn`t anybody tell me you need to change machine foot (feet?) for that.

Such a shame as I was just about to consider a career in dress making. Oh well I guess it is back to the drawing board for my career search…It truly is a shame that I am a crap sewer and also a crap writer otherwise I could of had one of those cool crafty blogs that everybody loves.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Had a crap day.

But just ate toast with butter and vegemite and it was damn good. It is definitely my comfort food. That and chocolate of course.

I wish my comfort food was something like vegetable sticks or rice crackers though so that I wouldn`t have to feel bad for eating it.

I never eat butter when I am trying to lose weight but after the day I had the butter was worth it. So was the chocolate I ate before it. Toast is also my sick food- I live on toast when I am sick. That and lemon C drinks which unfortunately you can`t get here.

What is your comfort food?

In other new somebody did a search for a cherry blossom futon cover and ended up on my blog- so yeah, if you come back and have found out where you can get one, let me know, because that would be cool and I want one now that you have brought it up.

Popularity: 9% [?]

I am actually enjoying my commute to work. I was driving when working at the hospital but now that I am in town (temping for a government department) I leave home just before 7am and catch the train into the city. I didn`t realize how much I missed catching the train (Since I did it most days in Tokyo once we moved to Nakano) because it gives me time to do things like read, journal and listen to music- things that I don`t do so much of at home but used to do a lot of in Tokyo because I caught the train to work each day (Mind you it was a 10 minute train ride instead of the current 40 minute one.)

The Pros-

- Time to do the things mentioned above (Read, journal, listen to music, reply to phone messages, study Japanese flash cards and I am thinking I might start doing some knitting on the train too!)

- Shun will start English school in town next week and we will be able to catch the train in together ( I will get off one stop before him!) but he will probably sleep if he gets a seat and it is hard to get seats together so I might still be able to read etc except on the off chance we can sit together and chat (and get lots of weird looks cos we don`t speak ENGLISH- which people assume that we mustn`t speak English at all then and often say things like “Oh they arn`t speaking English” or ask each other “Why arn`t they speaking English I wonder?” Yes, seriously people say that)

-Almost always get a seat (I did in Tokyo too cos I was traveling in the opposite direction to the main route!)

- Fairly cheap (Cheaper than gas and car maintanance and parking at least)- although $7.20 a day is not very cheap (It is $30.20 I think for the weekly which I am using now)

- Good for the environment (especially since I walk to the station and back home most days too)

- I don`t have to drive

Cons

- People that use all the leg space in the four-seater areas and keep bumping you with their legs, bags etc etc etc.

-Smelly people- I really do wonder how people don`t know they smell. It is usually not so bad in the morning just in the afternoon.

- People that talk on their phones- this just hardly ever happens in Japan and when it does people keep their conversations brief and quiet- not like hear where you hear about how the girl sitting next to you hooked up with some German guy at some backpackers in the city and how “Kylie” cheated on her bf with his best friend etc etc- Seriously if I wanted to hear about that shit I would watch Neighbours!

- No time to listen to the radio (which I loved doing when I drove to work because I never got to listen to the radio in Japan)

- People that leave their rubbish on the seats

- Commute is a little long but would probaby take me longer if I was driving in so I guess it is ok.

I have decided I want to i-phone though. I think it would make my train travel journey so much better- I wonder though if I was to buy one whether I would be able to use it back in Japan? Will have to look into that (and fast cos my mobile broke today and I have no idea why)

How do you get to work, uni etc? What are your pros and cons? If you catch public transport do you use this time to catch up on your hobbies that ften get left behind because you spend too much time on the internet like me?!

Popularity: 17% [?]

OMG, am currently looking for wedding entertainment and am having a giant freak out because I just realized that Shun and  I will have to do a “first dance”. Crap.

I do not dance and come to think of it neither does he.

Do you think anyone will notice if we skip it?

Popularity: 28% [?]

Despite my best efforts this past week, I found out I put on weight at my Weight Watchers meeting last night. Only .5 but it is still a bit of a blow. I know that that last week I wasn’t so good….I didn’t walk as much as the previous weeks and I had quite a few meals out which always makes it hard to control portion sizes and what you eat. But this week, since Sunday, I was really careful. I walked everyday for at least 45 minutes and I planned out my meals and tracked what I was eating.

I am determined this week to lose 1kg or more…my next meeting is next Thursday. So far in the four weeks since I joined I have lost 1.9…..Which does not seem like much to me. I did lose about 1 kilo in May also because I gave up alcohol and coffee So altogether in a six week period I have lost 2.9kg (I can cross it off on my 101 things to do in 1001 days). The problem is I had lost more, but I put on so it really doesn’t seem like much.

I really hope that my hoola hoops arrive today or on Monday so that I can do some extra exercise in the garden, hooping away! I also want to go to a Pilates or yoga class. Plus keep up the walking. I think aiming to walk 4 times a week, about 45 minutes each time is a good aim. Especially if I want to do a class as well. I will be walking tonight with Dad.

I was so pissed off at myself last night because I had put on, and before that I had been doing so well, losing about a kilo each week (Although I missed last weeks meeting because I took dad to an appointment). My biggest problem is I don’t really like exercise and unlike some people who go to the gym and say they always leave feeling great, I never get that feeling. I push myself to do exercise but because I don’t enjoy it, it is always a struggle. I wish I was one of those people that had that huge endorphin rush after exercising because then maybe I would be more likely to actually want to do it.

I remember when I was younger, I was so skinny and when I remember how much I weighed then I can’t imagine every getting back down to that. In fact my goal weight is above that anyway but I still wish I could return to my pre-university/Japan weight! I do know that now, because I have struggled with it that once I do lose the weight I will be more likely to continue with the healthier eating habits and the continued exercise. It is just a matter of getting the weight off first….

Popularity: 28% [?]

Taken in Okinawa in 2006.

I wish I was here. It is starting to get a little cool in Brisbane now, especially in the mornings. Two winters in one year hardly seems fair (Although 2 summers next year will probably be worse).

Today was not a good day. I had a car crash, technically my first one. I ran up the back of someone, and it was my fault and I have a sore head. But their was almost no damage to the other car, and fairly easy to fix damage on mine. In fact just some minor panel beating work…I was just a bit more in shook than anything else. Hope everyone else had a day that was better than mine…..In other news I got a haircut, and it looks cool (I think!)

Popularity: 25% [?]

• Moving is DONE! We moved to Chiba yesterday…packing and cleaning are done for now! My muscles ache from moving boxes and trying to fit everything that couldn`t go in the moving van into Shumpei`s grandmothers tiny little car. Last night I fell asleep before 8:30 and did not use the internet all day….I have made up for that today of course
• Am going out soon to meet Shumpei and his work friend and his girlfriend for dinner. Jyumpei, his workfriend and I do not always see eye to eye. He makes fun of Shumpei and I don`t like it even though he says it is all fun and games. He does not do this while his girlfriend is around (I like his girlfriend) so tonight we should not have any problems (They are the same age so this isn`t a sempai/kohai thing….which means senior/junior… but more the fact that Jyumpei thinks he is better than Shumpei….He often asks me why I am with Shumpei and I always tell him it is because he is 100 times nicer than him)
• The reason I am leaving  the house at 4pm (for dinner!) is because Shumpei`s family dog doesn`t like me. In general it doesn`t like people other than Shumpei`s parents and it barks at me if I go downstairs. Shumpei`s mum will go to work just after 4pm (for a couple hours a day she works at a hoikuen, kind of like a daycare centre) and I would need to leave before she comes back so I will leave with her otherwise the dog would go pyscho and not let me out of the house…..I had the same problem when I lived here a couple of years ago!!! So I will go to a coffee shop and drink tea (Because the coffee and alcohol ban started early….from Saturday) or juice and read my book or write in my dairy (Possibly about the psycho dog!)
• I am off to Kobe on Friday, not long now!
• It is just over two weeks until I leave for Australia….the fact that I am leaving Japan again has not yet hit me. I am sure it will once I am back in Australia (and without shun for 2 months)….I usually get pretty bad reverse culture shock!
• Thank you to everyone who commented on the last post….I replied to you all in the comments just before but I wanted to say thank you here! I really appreciate all of your encouragement, advice and everything!

Popularity: 38% [?]

I really really hate packing….I am over it already. It really sucks. That is all I have to say on the subject!

But last week I was looking at wedding dresses online and I found a couple I liked one of them is this one…(I wouldn`t mind her body also…then if I was to wear the dress it would actually work on me!)

Blogging might return to normal at the end of the week….If I finish packing and have something more interesting to write about instead of how much I hate packing!

Popularity: 44% [?]

Yes it has begun. Since I have now finished up work it means that I need to spend the next two weeks cleaning up our apartment and packing everything into boxes. Packing is by far the worst part of moving….but when you are moving overseas but know you are coming back it is even more difficult. I quite like unpacking too but I won`t technically be able to do it for more than a year! So where is the joy in packing?

I have to pack according to three (sometimes four) categories. One, stuff we want to take to Australia (Then this has two sections too- take on board and sending), chucking out/dumping and leaving in Japan. Oh not to mention the fact I am packing up a couple of boxes for cat of stuff we don`t need that she can have (So far most of this has come out of the drugs drawer under our bed….. I have numerous over the counter medicine from Australia and here….Oh and clothes and handbags etc that I can`t take with me that she can have!). All of the stuff we are leaving in Japan is going to one of two place. Most of it is going to Shumpei`s parents place somewhere on their second floor and some of it is going to Cat (Mainly big stuff like our fridge, coffee maker, washing machine, oven etc- She will keep it for the year cos she has just moved and doesn`t have any of those things)

It would be different if we were moving to Australia for good. I could just do a good clean out, sell off our big stuff and then send everything else. But nope, we have to make it difficult by only going for a year. Plus, we will live with dad and he has a fully furnished house.

Well moving date is set to the 27th of April….then I will be out in Chiba for two weeks until I leave on the 13th of May. Shumpei will be here until sometime mid July (Which means I have to pack the stuff he will need between now and then into separate boxes….)….So I now have less than two weeks to get everything in order. At the moment I am trying to tackle one big task a day (although I can`t really pack much into actual boxes yet cos we still need it) and yesterday that was the closet……two full garbage bags later or stuff to dump and two bags for charity later, three coffees and two and a half hours later I was done. It felt good to clean it all out…..I realized, yet again, that I have way to many clothes. Even what is left in there now can`t all be taken to Australia. I packed up our winter coats because we won`t be needing them in Brisbane and even packed away some clothes that are too small now but that I hope to fit into again one day.

Now, I don`t know what to do with the clothes that I want to give to charity. Any ideas from those living in Japan? Giving stuff away in Japan is actually a hard task….All of the clothes are clean and in fairly good condition and I am sure that somebody could get good use out of them. If I can`t give them to a charity of some sort I will have to dump them which seems like such a waste.

Oh and another question. I have an old laptop (4 yrs old) which still works except if you wanted to use it you`d have to plug in a keyboard because the keyboard doesn`t work anymore…..how do you dispose of these in Japan? Can you get like a 100 dollar cash back for the parts somewhere or something like that?

OK, I better go do today`s task. Which is clean out the drawers under the bed…..These drawers are used for everything we don`t know what to do with like manuals, bits of paper, shumpei`s numerous soccer clothes (WHICH HE NEVER USES…..He only uses the same two uniforms every time yet he has like a million others under the bed)……..Wish me luck!

Ps: Shun and I also packed up all the books and manga we didn`t need over the weekend because the book off people came yesterday. 260 books and manga later…..I think we read too much.

Popularity: 40% [?]