i know! i owe you a blog post. but. it turns out i'm really busy! and, i haven't uploaded all my photos from summer onto flickr. i'm about to go out of town for work, and then i have an AFWJ weekend coming up, but after that! i should be able to do the big catch up. argh! when did life get so hectic??

i have the blogger app for my iphone. i just might try it out this week. just wait! (i'll be going out near mt. fuji. i'll be busy, but if i get a chance, i'll try to write!)

ok ok, i am getting tired of the christmas post, too! sorry, it's been a crazy few weeks. so much to do these days!

sasha has 'graduated' from kindergarten. so unreal! soon i will have two kids in elementary school. it's kind of a relief, really. we are nearly ready. i want to make her some bags, for her sports clothes, library books, mask and maybe a bento bag if i have enough material left over. i also need to get her name on her sports clothes, but everything else is pretty much ready. hm, that reminds me, though, that i need to find her pencil box and get her pencils and erasers ready.

i had an easter party for my students here at the house. it was QUITE an adventure. i certainly learned a lot, what NOT to do next time (if there is a next time!) classes are going well, otherwise, and i have a couple of new students starting in april.

sorry that i don't have any new photos for ya. i can't find the nikon, i guess i better ask yoshi where it is.

well!  a whole month and nothing done!  more than a month, really, sorry about that.  i've been so busy.  i didn't really have access to a computer when i was in the US, and blogging from my phone is NO FUN.  i'm not sure that many people read my blog any more (pauses seem to lose a blogger readers for some reason!!  LOL) but i want to try to post more often.  maybe go for a 365?  lol  maybe if i do it month by month...

i haven't even looked at my cameras since i got home.  i didn't take a lot of pictures, that's one reason why.  another is that i have been so busy!  we got home late on a monday night, then hiro had to go to school, i had to teach, and then the rest of the week sasha and tommy had half days!  i've been trying to cross stitch, finish up a crochet afghan and unpack my bags (still haven't emptied all but one of them.  bad housewife, bad.)  i guess things are starting to slow down, but will pick up again soon as it's nearing the end of the school year, and sasha will be starting first grade in april!  yikes!

so, as soon as i've sorted out the pictures i should have something new posted here.  i hope there are still some readers around here!

so, i have been trying to catch up, but i haven't even made it to november yet. perhaps i should try to do 365 in 2013!! i never even wrote about it here, but the kids and i are going to the US for christmas! we leave in 2 days, and i have so much to do!! so, november was pretty quiet, and december has been a rush so far. soon i will have to travel a long, long way with three kids to see my parents and my cat. wish me luck, i need to get a lot done before monday afternoon!

so, yoshi and i got iphones at the end of july.  i was pretty excited about it, i even ordered a gelaskins from amazon for it!  however, i barely had it a month before i lost it!  i was so devastated.  seriously, the week it was gone, i could barely do anything.  and it didn't really have to do with the phone per se, but more with the expense it would have been replacing it (getting another iphone would have been about ¥60,000, up front, and we would have still had to pay for the one i lost!) 

i had gone to kobe to teach an english camp, and i definitely had it with me on the shinkansen home.  however, the battery ran out and so i put it in my purse.  my purse that was over-full and too small.  it must have slipped out on the train, either the shinkansen or the express that i took back home.  it definitely wasn't in the taxi i took home, because we called all the taxi companies (i was pretty exhausted by the time i got home and couldn't remember the name of the taxi!)

i noticed it was gone right away because i wanted to take it out of my bag and recharge it.  i was pretty embarrassed that i lost my new toy so quickly.  so, yoshi called around for me, to the taxis, the trains and the phone company.  they froze it right away, so that was something.  later on i used icloud to shut it down as well (i couldn't track it because it was turned off--dead battery--but let me say i really like the 'find my iphone' thing!)  by the third day of it being missing, the phone company told us that it was unlikely we would ever see the phone again.  i was very sad.  i liked my phone and it's decoration! 

however, this has a happy ending!  at the end of the day on friday, yoshi got a call from the phone company and they told him my phone had been found!  it was in nogata (nogata??) which is about 40 minutes by car from here.  i had to go in person to claim it, which was easy because of the gelskins decoration i had put on it!  yay!

so, what was it like to not have a phone for a week?  well, it was kinda weird, but i didn't exactly miss it.  i use it a lot for email and texting, but comparatively speaking, i don't really get a lot of mail or texts.  lol  so, in some ways it was frustrating, but mostly it was really not all that different when i had it!

not that i've finished anything lately! but this has been on my 'to do' list for quite some time. i'm glad i ran across the black yarn the other day, so i could get started! hopefully it will be an afghan some day!

i had a couple of posts in my head a couple of weeks ago, but then life got in the way.

pia is gone.  she went out on thursday (6/14) and we haven't seen her since.  i wasn't worried at first, but now i really miss her.  i don't know where she could be or why she hasn't come back.  poor kitty.

then on friday i woke up feeling poorly.  and then basically have been sick since then.  bad cough, sore throat, that sort of thing.  last friday i had a really bad headache, a migraine i think.

yesterday we went to a BBQ in town and had a great time (with kuri and her kids).  it rained like hell, though, it was pretty bad!  thankfully the party was at a great house with a covered area for the grill, so even though it rained, we could enjoy the party.

i am still trying to recover, so i will end this here.  hopefully i'll have more to say later.

i was going to title this, 'adventure in motherhood', but maybe that's too cliche.  eh, what do i know about cliche??

anyway, this morning a friend called me to offer suggestions about how to get hiro to do his homework.  while talking with her i found that i have a very strong opinion (philosophy??) about homework for small children.  i'm not the only one with these struggles, either!  but i also realized something during our conversation:  i'm a crap mother!  i just want him to do it, get it done, don't complain about it, just fucking do it already!!  where i should probably spend more time with him, find out what he's doing, keep him on track.  the problem with this is it's BORING, and also he expects me to just tell him the answers, and i can't do that!

anyway, i was left with googling solutions, which just told me that i fucked up forever and i'll be lucky he graduates junior high, forget high school!  and adulthood is gonna be HARD.  *sigh*  so, i did what any sane person would, i goofed off on facebook.  heh.  i was lying on the floor with the macbook air (as you do.  you mean you don't?  must be me, then) when i noticed a musty odor.  hm.  rainy season was declared here in northern kyushu, maybe last week, but it has yet to rain since then.  but, i know the most humid and moldy time is coming and that musty smell told me something.  it told me to clean all the things!  this is my biggest problem.  i will do the absolute bare minimum until one day WHAM!, i start cleaning and can't seem to stop.  however, i really don't want a moldy, smelly house, so it's better to get these things done, anyway.

so, i started vacuuming, and started in the genkan because that's where you start.  i noticed that the floor needed to be mopped, so i took up the hallway carpet, and the little carpet mats (aside:  the dog was (most likely) hit by a car before he was found, and he will have an injury to his shoulder all his life.  little running dog plus wooden floors do not mix, esp. if the dog has an injured leg.  so, yoshi bought a lot of little carpet mats, but they don't quite do the job so we have a few runners and a big carpet-like mat in the living room.  aside finished.)  i put the mats in the bathroom and the hall carpet on the laundry poles outside.  i finished vacuuming and then mopped the genkan and front hall.  then it was on to the living room.

vacuum vacuum vacuum.  put mats in the bath, runners outside.  the big carpet mat thing is washable, but our washing machine is from yoshi's bachelor days and just isn't big enough, so i took it upstairs and kinda waved it around weakly, then hung it over the balcony.  i tried to get as much of the surface facing the sun, then anchored it with the futon clamps.  back downstairs i vacuumed some more, then started washing carpet mats.  i had to take off my shirt to keep it from getting wet (sexay!) and washed them all by hand.  so dirty.  and i can't tell you how much crap was under the main carpet mat thing, i don't think we've properly vacuumed under it since it was put down last winter!  ew.

so, i finished the mats and put my shirt on, and then hung most of them outside.  a few were hung in the bathroom and then i mopped again.  i'm pretty sure the moldy smell was coming from a mat underneath the bookshelf that holds all our dvds, so i pulled that out and threw it in the wash with a bunch of towels (with chlorine bleach!) and hopefully that will be taken care of.

by the time i finished, it was after 1 and i had to figure out lunch.  and what to do with myself before the bus came back.  i should have gone swimming, but i was planning on taking hiro to the pool for a swimming lesson.  instead i went out to get a few things for dinner and got myself a cheeseburger, then went home just in time for the bus.

i had one english lesson today, and then i made up a schedule for the kids (and me).  i really hope this will help with the homework problem.  i am also going to go to the school tomorrow morning, with hiro, to talk to his teacher so she can tell me what his homework usually is.  tonight he was confused and didn't know what to do!  the problem was, there were 10 kanji 'sentences' in the drill book, but only 8 columns on his homework worksheet!  ugh!  so, anyway, i am going to work on this so hiro won't be a failure in life.

i wouldn't say that today was a bad day, but it certainly wasn't fun.  first off, hiro didn't do any of his homework over the weekend, so he was trying to do that first thing.  then yoshi gave sasha the last two mochi for breakfast, so of course, hiro and tommy were quite put out!  after finally wrangling some breakfast for them, i had to nag hiro into getting dressed, getting his bag ready and getting out the door!  i was mad at him for not doing his homework, so i refused to take him to school.  he also came up to me saying he needed a new notebook for math, which REALLY pissed me off.  seriously?  he had all weekend to tell me and he doesn't mention it until he was five minutes late for walking out the door.  not a happy mommy.

so, he needed the notebook for first period (of course) which starts at 8:55.  i told him, the stores don't even open until 10!  but then i remembered nafco opens at 8 so i told him i will try to get him one from there, but it would be late....

sasha, tommy and i actually got ready on time, and got to the bus stop before the bus (for a change), but i had to take zorro, and one of the kids that takes the bus is a bit of a shit and zorro doesn't like him.  so, i gave him my precious miffy teddy bear (you know, miffy's yellow teddy bear) that i've had for over 10 years and was in perfect condition--until my kids found it and then dropped it somewhere zorro could get it.  zorro is OBSESSED with miffy's teddy bear so he carried it to the bus stop and wouldn't drop it.  incredibly cute, actually, and saved shitty kids from being nipped.

so, after the bus drove off i forced zorro into his house (sorry, zorro) then hopped in the car with my purse (which had my tax return in it, got it done on time!!) and headed off to nafco.  there was only one kind of math notebook there, so i bought it.  i actually used points for it (finally, a point system in japan that works well!  well, misudo has a pretty good system, too) which was easy, and after a quick stop at the ATM to move some money around, i headed off to the school.  i went by the office at first to drop it off, but i told the teacher who was there that hiro had class right now, and that i didn't mind taking it up.  so, i went to the second grade room to give hiro the notebook, but it turns out i didn't get the right one!  he needed one with more boxes on the pages, and so i gave up.  i should have gone to another store later today, but i just didn't get around to it.  something i have to do tomorrow.  also, when dropping off the notebook hiro asked about his pencils.  apparently he forgot them at home!  i don't know what to do.  i don't want to nag him, and punishment doesn't seem to work.  i want to get a reward sheet going but oh man!  what a PITA, and he doesn't really seem to care.  maybe at first will work but after missing a day he'll probably just give up or something.  what to do, what to do....

so, anyway, i went to 7-11 to get something for breakfast, and then i went to the nearest post office.  there's a neat little post office practically across the street from the 7-11 (which is right up the road from the school) and when i got there i actually thought it was closed.  but the way the building is situated, you can't really see straight inside.  and when i went inside, i actually thought i was in someone's house (although it is *clearly* marked and signed as a post office!)  there were comfy plush chairs and a lovely coffee table where one would fill out their paperwork (either bank or post) and that really threw me off!  also, i think they are engaging in power saving methods because maybe half the lights were turned on.  anyway, the counter looked like a normal post office counter, so i asked the guy there if the post office was open.  he was a bit confused, then asked me what i needed to do.  i took out my envelope and told him i needed to send it to the US.  he weighed it (it was quite hefty!) and then couldn't figure out what to do with it!  i wonder if i was the first person to send international mail from his post office....he had to call someone just to ask how much postage to charge.  he also asked me to write 'airmail' on it.  done and done.  i only hope i paid enough postage and they send it off right away, as taxes are due on the 15th and i do NOT want to get that envelope back!!

so, i went back home to tidy up the classroom, because one student missed a class last week and i said she could make it up today.  her mom was ok with missing a class (but paying for it), but seemed grateful that i would make a concession for her.  the classroom is off limit to my kids now, so it tends to be something of a dumping ground over the weekend.  after tidying up i messed around on facebook, and did some blog exploring before heading off to starbucks.

last week i met up with kuri and we went to starbucks before going back home.  i tried the vanilla chiffon cake and it was DELICIOUS!  so, i wanted more, and that's why i went to starbucks.  however, i seem to have finally tried a piece of that delicious cake just as they were selling it for the last time!  i went to two starbucks today and neither had the cake.  *sob*  instead there were several new kinds of treats, including a 'classic' chocolate cake that was ok, but not really all that fabulous.  i guess i should be grateful that i won't be tempted by DELICIOUS vanilla cake.

so, i go back home in plenty of time to meet the bus.  i goof off a bit on FB (evil!) and then get the email from the bus that it is about to arrive.  as i head out the door, though, the phone rings and it's the school.  it turns out that sasha had a headache and a slight fever before getting on the bus and her teacher wanted me to take her to the doctor!  well!  guess i couldn't have the make up lesson after all.  :(  the teacher thought tommy might need to go to the doctor as well.  so, i tell the student's mother that i have to take sasha to the clinic (they are at the same bus stop).  when they get off the bus, the teacher on the bus also tells me about sasha's illness and that was actually quite nice.  the bus arrives just before hiro finishes school, so i get sasha and tommy home and changed, then into the car.  oh, and sasha?  as active as a 3-month-old puppy!  but, we go pick up hiro and then go to the doctor.  her temperature has gone down but the doctor reckons she has a cold so we get some medicine and go home.

well, with a stop at the grocery store first, but this post is already long enough!

get home and sasha wants to play outside so bad! but i won't let her and oh the tears.  poor sasha.  hiro won't do his homework so i have to practically stand over him as he writes a few sentences out of his japanese drill book into his notebook.  this sucks so much.  *sigh*  make dinner, but only pasta, and i think i should email yoshi but, meh.  however, yoshi comes home earlier than expected and yeah, poor yoshi, no dinner.  i did manage to clean the kitchen a bit so there's that.

and now i need to get to bed.  i really really hope tomorrow is better than today!

i know i haven't written in a while. there really isn't a lot going on. school is going well, i guess. hiro doesn't want to walk to school, and was actually very late the other day. it took him nearly an hour to walk to school, the teacher even called me because he wasn't at school yet! just one of those things i guess. soon enough, sasha will be walking with him!

my teaching is going well, too, with the usual ups and downs of teaching children. a couple of students didn't pay on time for may, but it's all caught up, now. hopefully that won't be a recurring thing! i even had someone call today to ask about joining a class. fingers crossed i'll have another student!

i was really tired and down during may. i claimed to have "go-gatsu byou", which means "may sickness", which really means that april is the busiest month (beginning of the year for many things), then you have golden week where you play hard and then WHAM! you slam into may and you feel like shit. well, that's how i felt over the past month. hopefully i am over it and will have more energy and motivation!

 kids are fine, husband is fine, animals are fine. rainy season seems to be on the way in, but we'll see!

you know, it's funny.  i started this blog more than 8 years ago, and i've never had a troll.  never had a drive-by comment, never had a hate-filled rant in the comments section.  i've always chalked that up to not having a very interesting blog, not many random readers and well, the gall-durned best readers and commentors a blogger could wish for.

that changed yesterday.

my feeling has always been, don't feed the trolls.  i've also been someone to stand by my words, and am very upset if i am censored or deleted, so my policy has been to never delete comments.  it's never been an issue until now.  i wouldn't be creating a blog post about it right now (you know, because crazy sick people get off on this kind of attention) except i'm afraid of losing friends, of no longer having special people who mean more to me than they can probably imagine.  but i need to say these things.

i won't be deleting the trolls comments.  and i will fully own being hypocritical because one of the comments was deleted by me, but it was truly awful, very sick and messed up.  and didn't have a lot to do with the issue already brought up by the sick person, just a disconnected rant by a crazy person.  but the others will stay.

when i posted the photo in that blog post, i first asked permission of those included in the picture.  and when i first received notice of the hateful comment, i went back to these women and asked them if any one of them wanted me to take it down.  i was not personally offended, i know who and what i am, but if anyone felt uncomfortable, i would take it down.  as it was a sunday, and a holiday, there wasn't a lot of response, but the response that was there was to keep it up.  then more hate was spewed, and it was suggested that i either take the photo or the comments down.  i elected to take down the photo.  this is my blog, it is my space and i wanted to address the hate and nonsense spewed by one sad individual.  i don't want to sweep this under the rug and pretend it didn't happen.  that is why the comments stay.

i put comment moderation on yesterday because i was going to be gone all afternoon and not get home until late, and didn't need my blog exploding while i was having fun.  i will probably keep moderation on for a little while longer, and i apologize for that.  i will try to get to any comments as soon as i can.  (FWIW, i haven't had a lot of comments lately, and i know that's mostly because of my lack of blogging and/or interesting posts, but also maybe because of blogger and wordpress not getting along well.)  truly nasty and personal comments that have nothing to do with the post on hand will not be published.  that's my right.  i hope you can all understand.

i had a lovely time in kanto.  first, i got to meet the next AFWJ membership secretary, whom i had never met  before, and we had lunch with an older member who lives in a beautiful old house in zushi.  after lunch M and i were driven to her house by C, and then the two of us got working, training her on how to be the next MemSec.  it took more than four hours, with a very short break, and i still forgot to tell her a couple of things!  no worries, and i am still on the board, and still very very available to answer questions, and i have complete confidence that she will be an awesome MemSec.

after we finished up, M and her son walked me to the station so i could meet up with some bloggy friends.  she also, very kindly, printed me some train schedules to help me on my way.  there are so many train lines in kanto!  (DUH)  rather confusing, and i find that i have to face the fact that i am a country mouse.  *sigh*  anyway, i made my way to bryn's for a bloggy-friends-in-japan get-together.

i got there rather late, it was almost ten when i walked in the door!  i had a slice of apple pie, which i bought just before meeting up with M, and then it was on to the drinks!  i also made it a point to have my picture taken with everyone, but i think the best photo was the group photo taken before some members of the group had to go home.

[photo removed by request of one of those included.  i have no problem with whatever anyone thinks of me or my appearance, this is my blog.  but that's what it is, my blog, not any of the other wonderful and beautiful women in the picture.  sorry that i can no longer show this image of love and beauty to you, my dear readers.]


yes, that's me, big and pink in the front.  *sigh*  that's what i get for leaning back, trying to fit in the picture!  didn't realize i was already in it.  oh well, motivation for fummy tummy!

so, who is here?  (in no particular order, and sorry no linking unless requested, i'm still worn out from my weekend!) nooh, shinshu life, lily, bryn, lulu, alex, cecelia, gaijin wife, chrysanthemum mum and brenda (brenda, do you have a blog??  you do, why can i not remember it??  cue fifteen helpful people reminding me in the comments....)  anyway, i had never met 6 of these wonderful women before, so i was so happy to finally meet them!  and meet up with my good friends whom i have met on several occasions.  hopefully we'll meet up again soon!

after i made an effort to catch up, ladies disappeared to bed (or comforting kidlets) until only two of us were left, and it was definitely time for me to go to bed!  sunday morning was a slow, lazy day (of which i am extremely grateful to bryn!) and after everyone else had left (my flight was for 8 pm, so i had time to hang at bryn's house, which i didn't get to do on saturday) we had a lazy day in front of the tv (the weather wasn't so nice on sunday, sadly, otherwise i may have made more of an effort to do sight-seeing!)  eventually, though, it was time for me to go.  bryn helped me figure out a route back to the airport, but sadly i got on a wrong train along the way!  luckily, it was going in the right direction *phew!* so i did manage to get to the airport in time to catch my plane!

all in all, a fun and productive weekend.  and now i no longer have the responsibility of MemSec, but am now the secretary!  wish me luck in my new venture!

looking over my blog, i notice that i haven't blogged in a few days. oops!

wednesday was very difficult as far as teaching went. the teaching itself was fine; hiro, sasha and tommy were the nightmare. hiro wants to help and just gets in the way (it doesn't help that he has joined my english class at the juku for the past year or so, and kinda knows how i teach a class). sasha and tommy were really tired and just needed a nap but instead, they just fought a lot. *sigh* i also had a couple of trial students, so fingers crossed they will join.  thursday's class was so much nicer. my kids were a bit better about sorting themselves out, and the student themselves are just lovely. hopefully they'll stay that way for a while!

i have also been packing up the AFWJ Membership Secretary stuff that i have and sending it on to the next one. i will be going to kanagawa-ken tomorrow for training and then i will be done--as MemSec that is. i am now also the secretary, which should be interesting as well! after training, i hope to meet up with gaijin wife and others for a bit a fun! it will be nice to relax without the kids for a while. yoshi will be here with the kids, and i guess his parents will be coming over tomorrow evening. lucky him. i will try to take a lot of photos this weekend.  see you on the other side!

yesterday was the big 'yakuin selection day'.  i'm not really sure what yakuin is, i guess it's kind of like PTA.  i never really understood what the PTA was back home, so i dunno if yakuin is PTA or not, but basically we sit down and decide who will volunteer to do what at the school.  there is a president and a few other 'top of the heap' type positions, and that seems very PTA-like, but otherwise....

anyway, our school has a music concert, a summer festival, a sports festival (in the fall), a mochi-making festival and an end of the year musicale (or something.)  (oh, and there might be something else, but i can't remember anything else.)  each class needs X number of volunteers for each position, and this year i raised my hand for the sports festival.  whoop-de-do.  i'll make yoshi do it.

there is also another section that we need to volunteer for.  one is picture book duty, and i always thought it was going to the school to read to the kids, but it turns out it's actually a mending thing.  i guess the books are checked over and fixed or something.  the other duty is cleaning the school duty.  i usually get in that section, but when hiro was in school, i couldn't go because tommy (and most likely sasha, too) would be napping.  or i would just forget to go.  no big deal, though.  (haha)  this year they added one more duty, helping out on kid measuring day(s).  three times a year they are going to have this (basically the measure the kids' weight and height, and i guess they need the kids to dress down to their undies, so having the mothers there to help out is probably best.)  this year i'm on picture book duty.  i hope i remember to go.

i don't have any more students in my friday class, so i didn't have to go to work.  it was a bit strange.  and kinda sad.  i forgot that i had to pick up hiro from school (something we did in first grade), but it was raining a bit and he didn't have his umbrella, so i went to the school to pick him up.  he was confused as to why sasha and tommy were in the car!  i had to explain that i'm not teaching at the school for a while.  hopefully some new students will join!

i started teaching at home.  it's ok.  very rambunctious children, but i think we'll have fun.  we'll see.  the biggest problem will keeping hiro from being the teacher!  yesterday i had 17 people in my tatami room for the kindergarten class (only at the beginning.  all but one of the moms have babies, but luckily only two moms (and babies) stayed after the 'registration' and payment for the textbooks.  but yeah, 12 people during my first lesson!  of course, three of them were my own kids.  sheesh.  it got really hot, even though it was a cloudy day.  might be purchasing an air conditioner earlier than i anticipated.

today i did something really stupid.  i was looking for a shop and thought i knew where it was.  as i was driving around i went into a parking lot that i thought had a way out on the other side, but i was wrong.  i had to back up to get out and i backed right into another car!  this was a parking lot for several businesses, basically surrounded by the backs of buildings.  no one came running out yelling at me that i hit their car so i didn't know what to do.  i was going to get the kids some lunch, so i went to the bento place (it was across the street from the parking lot), then drove back and checked the parking spot.  the name of a business was written on the ground there, so i went there and it turns out i hit the car of the owner of that shop.  *sigh*  (if it isn't obvious, the stupid thing was hitting a car, not actually telling them about it.)  i went into the shop, an eyeglasses place, and asked if someone there had a blue prius.  the owner, who looked about 70, said it was his car, it was his parking spot (maybe he thought i wanted to park there).  i tried to say that i hit his car, but he was not getting it.  so i said, please come see it.  oh man, he was mad when he first saw it.  as i suspected, it was a brand new car (oh man, that sucks).  he wanted me to come back to the shop to call the insurance companies, but i had sasha and tommy in the car so i had to get them out.

and this is why it's nice to live in japan:  even though initially he was angry, this old man had us come into his shop and sit down in nice chairs.  he (nicely) scolded the children for leaning on the glass display cases, because they could get hurt if they broke.  then he got them a special treat (grandma's favorite, apparently) and some grape soda to wash it down.  even his wife was good about getting me a cup of tea (well, one for me and one for their insurance guy, who was there within five minutes.  our insurance person is in tokyo, and then we were contacted by another person in osaka.)  it was a bit surreal that this guy was giving my kids special treats (that were actually nice) when i was the one who hit his car.

by the way, the damage was minimal.  our car has a few blue streaks of paint.  his car has a bent bumper (man, really sorry about your car) and though it may be expensive to repair, at least i didn't bust up the lights or tear off the bumper or something.

i had to call yoshi because i couldn't find any insurance information in our car.  he was mad, too, but eventually got over it.  he also talked to the guy's coworker (whom i suspect is also his son) who told yoshi he appreciated my honesty.  i guess that means something.  i confess, even though it was a difficult thing to do, i had to do it.  i had to because the kids were in the car and they knew i hit the other car.  i had to do it because i wasn't sure that the other guy's insurance would pay for something that should have been covered by the other driver's (me) insurance.  and i had to do it because i would be super fucking pissed if someone hit my brand new car and didn't have the guts to tell me about it.  especially if my insurance wouldn't pay for the damage.

i just feel so stupid about it.  parking lot accidents seem to be my specialty.  i guess that's better than highway accidents.  ugh.

tomorrow i have to spend the whole morning at the yochien.  time to decide the parent duties i guess.  wish me luck!  and no parking lot accidents!

sorry to all my wordpress blogging friends. wordpress will no longer let me comment under my gmail email because i have a registered account with wordpress with that email. so, that means i HAVE to sign in with that account in order to use that email to make a comment on a wordpress blog. make sense? what that means is that i cannot use that email address which is also used for my gravatar (puts my specialized icon out there) and my blogger home address.  i don't want to have a link to any of my wordpress blogs out there, or even my wordpress ID, nor do i wish to make a new gravatar with a new email address.  when did this change?  why does everything have to be so fucking connected now??  NOT COOL, WORDPRESS.  or any social media that connects to EVERYTHING else whether you want it to or not!!

SO.  i probably won't be commenting much on wordpress blogs.  sorry about that.  :(

the new blogger layout is very wordpress-like.  i don't know if many of these things are new, or if they're just out there and easier to find, but i do like the statistics things and comment options.  not the best ever, since it's similar to wordpress and i don't like blogging there.  but i still like it over wordpress, so will probably be blogging here for a while longer.

this is not meant to put anyone down for using wordpress or another blogging platform.  i am happy with blogger (still) so will be staying here.  am just pissed that wordpress won't let me use the email i want to use for making comments on wordpress blogs.  phooey to them!!

well, here we are, the first day of april! don't worry, i'm not going to try to trick you. yes, i'm the type of person who hates practical jokes and anything that makes other people feel embarrassed. i know that there are some people who can just roll with it, so playing a trick on them is fun for them as well, but, well, i'm not one of them. anyway.

spring is well and started here in kyushu! my first mini-daffodils are definitely on the way out, and the crocuses have all bloomed and gone as well. my big daffodils are so ready to open, and the grape hyacinths are nearly all up and purple! summer is my favorite season, but there's something to be said about spring!

although today is quite cold, the sunshine is beautiful! i finally took in my christmas lights at the front of the house. now i just need to do some weeding. i also need to do an overhaul spring cleaning. we have so much CRAP! the main culprit is yoshi. he has so many books! and other things! but mostly books. i have no idea what we're going to do with all of them!

because of the sunshine, we are going to BBQ outside. the first BBQ of the year! but, we no longer have a table outside, so i'll probably just cook outside one of the doors and hand food in for yoshi and the kids. IKEA is opening in fukuoka next week, so i may go and see if they have any outside furniture! if not, there's always costco or nafco.

this past week was a very busy one for me! the first really nice days of spring were last monday through thursday, but i had to work for the first three days of the week! i mean, work all day, i actually worked every day last week. and had trial lessons for my home teaching! phew! i have never been so busy, even when tommy was an infant. will be good for the wallet, though, so i'm not complaining!!

well, it's the first of the month. let's see if i can blog every day!

...and yet, i don't feel like i'm doing much at all.

sasha's sudden hospital stay put me in a quiet mood, as far as the blog is concerned. but i've also not posted because i'm having trouble uploading pictures from my camera to the computer (not enough memory on the computer). my period is also a factor (sorry in advance for any TMI). ever since it came back after giving birth to tommy, it has pretty much been a nightmare. at first it was killer cramps, but for the past year or so, while it's not very painful, it has been very heavy. also, within the past few months, overwhelming sadness crashes over me, maybe a week before it starts. this has made me not very interested in blogging. i have seen a doctor, and i am taking medicine, but we'll see where this takes me.

the next event after sasha in hospital was a fondue party with many of the AFWJ kyushu ladies. i had a fabulous time, and so much delicious cheese and chocolate. i also had a few more drinks with rachel afterward, and again am in awe of her iphone, which she used to help me figure out the bus i wanted to catch and when i needed to leave the bar in order to get there on time! in the end, though, i think i got on the train with her (better time schedule), which, of course, we checked on the iphone!





the next event after that was a party at rachel's house, for the hina-matsuri that her city holds from february to april. hina-matsuri is the girl's day doll festival, the actual day is march 3rd (3/3). before the actual day, many people put the dolls out on display, and especially beautiful (or old) ones are opened to the public. the days we went to rachel's were rather rainy and blah, so we didn't see many dolls, but the moms (there were five of us, including kuri and GW) had a *great* time, and the kids had a blast (although poor amy wasn't feeling well at all.) the kids and i stayed the night, and pretty much just hung out at rachel's house for the whole day. at the end of the day, we went to onsen, then gusto for dinner before saying goodbye and heading home. that was a lot of fun!

i can't really remember anything else eventful happening in february, though at the end of the month i was getting ready for the AFWJ national convention in shikoku! i left on a friday morning (as a member of the board, i had to participate in the board meeting. always a very interesting experience!) and had a fabulous time! it was my first convention and it was so much fun. i met so many people i had only known through the internet, and more people whom i had never met before at all! i only wish i could have gone sooner. :)

in january (i think), i interviewed with a placement company about an ALT job. the parameters of the job(s) didn't fit my needs, and with a dearth of jobs for me out there, i decided to (try) start teaching from home. i have a neighbor (her kid goes to school with sasha and tommy) who has been hinting all year that she wants her kids to learn english, so i knew i had at least one customer, but i've really been avoiding teaching in my house. well, it's no longer avoidable and i am taking the plunge! last week i had trial lessons with eight students, and hopefully most of them will sign up for classes with me (the biggest draw for them is that i am so close to their house! but for some of them--yoshi's coworker, for example--are hoping for their kids to become fluent in english. i will do my best!) i am still with a company i signed up with last year (really fun 'project' type english lessons, things like english camp) and of course, the one hour a week with a juku. not exactly what i was expecting when i went back to work after the kids were old enough, but hopefully it will be enough for what we need.

the kids will be on spring break soon. i can hardly believe how quickly this year has gone by. it will be sasha's last year of kindergarten. getting so big!

hopefully there will be more pictures coming soon!

this would be the nakama class. the previous friday (16th), there was a party at the munakata class, but i had so much fun that i didn't take photos (as a quick update, we played warm-up, getting to know you games--because there are at least three different level classes in munakata--then a skill game--picking up smooth marbles with smooth chopsticks--then an extra present was given to some and then last of all we exchanged gifts playing a kind of musical present where we passed the presents while music played, until the music stopped and we kept the gift in our hands. then we had a few snacks and then it was time to go. the 23rd was a holiday, and the 30th will be, too, so that was the last class of the year!) so, nakama class!

a few weeks ago, when we went on a field trip together, one of the teachers was talking about how much she loved stuffing (for turkey or chicken) and wanted to have some for christmas. the other teachers (who were with us at the time) jumped on that idea and wanted to make stuffed roast chicken for christmas. i was all for that, although i knew i would be making it. it's really not difficult, just time consuming! anyway, plans were made and dishes were decided and last wednesday we had a nice lunch together.

the previous wednesday i had to cancel, because it was the day after i hurt my leg, and i think i made the head teacher nervous! but, i made it on time (usually i'm quite late) and with sasha and tommy in tow. they were entertained with origami for most of the preparation time, which made it easy for me to get stuff done! i brought two chickens, bread prepared for stuffing, and all the other things i needed to get them done. there were two ovens, so i got started right away chopping celery and onion to get the stuffing prepared. while the chickens were roasting, one of the teachers taught us how to make rose sushi.



first one needed to cut some long nori to a certain length. then, pink colored rice (colored by a powder made from fish, i'm pretty sure the pink is not a natural color) is put on the nori, then it is rolled. this was set aside. again, nori is cut (and glued with rice) to a certain length and white rice is put on top. three small strips of nori are then place in the middle, the between that nori and the end on either side. on top of the strips, a wedge of cucumber is placed, then the previous rolled sushi is put in between two of the cucumber wedges. then it is all rolled together and when you cut the sushi, the inside looks like a rose.



even sasha got to help out, she stirred a bit to help make whipped cream, which was for the banana cake one of the teachers brought.





there was so much food, and i really thought we'd be taking home leftover chicken, but surprisingly, there was none left by the end of the class! even the stuffing was a big hit, one teacher loved it so much she took all of the leftover stuffing home! i was particularly pleased with the bulgolgi pork that the korean student made, it was quite spicy, but i really loved it in spite of that! the italian student brought some hard bread, which was delicious, and some sheep's cheese, which i had never tried before. i'm really glad i joined this japanese class!

the weekend before christmas, i had to work. on saturday (17th) there was a christmas party at the juku where i work. hiro went with me, since he joins the class that i teach regularly. it was quite fun. i was in the card making room. i had to give the directions in english. one 'teacher', someone i don't work with usually, automatically translated. *sigh* oh well, it was fun making cards! there were three groups of about 10 kids so they rotated through three different activities over the course of an hour, then it was song singing time. they sang a japanese song about santa (it seems to be popular, my kids learned it at kindy) and then silent night. the teachers asked me to sing the first verse in english. since we did not practice before hand, they played the song in a really high key, which was a bit difficult for me! it was fine, though, and one kid actually complimented me. how nice. then it was picture time and finally the kids got a gift; an individual christmas cake.

after that hiro and i had some time to spend together, so we had lunch together, and then went home (so i could prepare for the following day's lessons.)

on sunday i went to fukuoka city for a one-day teaching project. i had to teach four hours, four different lessons to one class. the students were elem. and jr. high kids who are going to australia for 8 or 10 days for a homestay, and this was a kind of intensive english for them. most of them were pretty good at english, but all were shy. also, very few of them knew each other before having this class, so at first the lesson(s) was very quiet! at lunch, though, some of the kids bonded and the third lesson, which was after lunch, was the most fun and they did quite well.

afterward i went back to tenjin, where i found the last seat left at starbucks and sat for over an hour finishing a book. this was only a few days after injuring my leg, and i was pretty tired. then it was dinnertime so i went to a yakitori and had a couple of beers and plenty of delicious things grilled on sticks! on my way back to the bus center to go home, i passed many different light displays in tenjin. luckily i had a camera with me, so i took lots of pictures.