throwing caution to the wind....

I turned off my very best friend,acey (the a/c) last night before I went to bed. It was a surprisingly coolish night, with a lovely breeze, so I thought I would try to go for a non-a.c. night. Our first since about July 9th (yes, poor lil' acey has been working hard for the money, so hard for it honey, this month - on 24/7 really because even if we are not home, R-chan is, and she would shrivel up and die if I closed all the windows and turned off acey. And there doesn't seem to be much point in turning off acey for an hour or 2, because せっかくall the nice cool air in the house would simply float outside and we would have to start from scratch again.) So I though it would be nice to give her (acey) a break, and let some real air into the house. FWIW, acey is very efficient, and we run her at 28degrees all the time, and she still cools down the entire apartment, which we were pretty amazed at!

So when I woke this morning, it was still nice and coolish, breezy-ish, so I opened up all the windows to try to create some sort of wind tunnel effect, which was going ok until the afternoon lull hit. It is quite warm now, but still not unbearable. Probably because I am making good use of acey's rellies, fannetta (the pedestal fan) and reiko (the 令風機, where you put water into the tank in the bottom and it blows out cool air!) The only problem is that now I can't be bothered leaving the house, cause I would have to go around and close all the windows, and probably start up acey again. So tonight will have to be a "dig something out of the freezer" dinner. Lucky it is just for me - I'm not fussy! lol.

No chu-hai for me today - yesterday's may have knocked me around a bit, I think I may have been dehydrated. That is what I am blaming the post-chu-hai headache on, anyway. Right, off to drink some good ol' h2o. I think K is waking up from her nap too.

fizz and trans-fats

my latest obsession.

I am having an afternoon ume chu-hai with some prawn crackers (which I threw in the hot oil myself - I am not sure exactly what temperature to cook them at, so they are a bit massacred, but hey). I am a bit into fizzy drinks at the moment. Must be the heat. It has started raining here now, so we are inside for the rest of the day - poor R might not even get an evening walk.

J is away in LA for a meeting tomorrow. Well, actually he leaves tonight, gets in this morning, has meeting today, stays tonight then catches a plane tomorrow to get back on Thursday. hehe. These time zones are crazy.

right, off to the sofa with Nora (Roberts) for some trashy romance novel time.

b.g.m.

Last week, it was "Echo Beach" playing at one of the local supermarkets.
Do you know the song, it goes like this:

Echo beach, far away in time
Echo beach, far away in time
Echo beach, far away in time
Echo beach, far away in time

I think it might even be an aussie song... wait while I look that one up....

Today I have been bombarded with Brittney. The shopping street has loudspeakers, and that is where good ol Brit is coming from. This morning it was "Hit me baby one more time" and this afternoon they were still thrashing her with a song I can't remember (actually don't know) the title of. It was Brittney though, for sure. I wonder if the local chamber of commerce the offical sponsor for Brittney's return?

I haven't heard this much nostalgic music since I was on a backpackers cruise ship for 4 days in the Chilean Fjords, actually on our honeymoon (whoo-hooo). I blogged about that in a different life, and different blog provider, but I am thinking about transplanting all my South American and other holiday posts to a blogger blog. I think that will be my summer project!

............and several hours later.......
I must apologise to Martha and the Muffins for trying to claim them and their 198o hit song as Aussie. Although, according to the bible (wikipedia) there was a cover version done by an aussie band in 1995....And did you know that "In 2005, "Echo Beach" was named the 35th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version." very cool.

So here are all the lyrics to that classic song:
I know it's out of fashion
And a trifle uncool
But I can't help it
I'm a romantic fool
It's a habit of mine
To watch the sun go down
On Echo beach, I watch the sun go down

From nine till five I have to spend my time at work
The job is very boring, I'm an office clerk
The only thing that helps pass the time away
Is knowing I'll be back at Echo Beach some day

On a silent summer evening
The sky's alive with light
Building in the distance
Surrealistic sight
On Echo Beach
Waves make the only sound
On Echo Beach
There's not a soul around

From nine till five I have to spend my time at work
The job is very boring, I'm an office clerk
The only thing that helps pass the time away
Is knowing I'll be back at Echo Beach some day

Echo Beach
Far away in time
Echo Beach
Far away in time

REPEAT AND FADE

must be my lucky day

not once but TWICE people offered to carry K (in pram) up/down the stairs at the train station! and both times they were men! my faith in the japanese race is slowly being restored.

cherry picking, new cars and old hags

it is wierd, i keep on "writing" posts in my head, but when it comes around to sitting in front of the computer, I can't be bothered to actually get them out of my head and onto the screen! hehe. This post has been "in draft" for over a week now!
So probably time to put it all together in another round up of events, maybe

July 12-13
We went cherry picking (not cherry blossom picking as I might have got confused with and told mum, coz she was asking when we got back how the cherry blossoms were, hehe) in Numata, Gunma, with the PILs. We went two years ago, on the first weekend in July. This time, we were already well into July, so the cherry season was pretty much over. Last time we got to try 4 or 5 different types of Japanese cherries, but this time only Satonishiki (nice, sweet) and Napolean (relatively tasteless) cherries were still around. And only a third of the cherry fields/farms/orchards?? (not sure what you call them) were still open, the ones at slightly higher altitude. So we got a discount - 1000yen each for 15mins of all you can pick-and-eat cherries, but they actually said we could stay for as long as we want. Truthfully, though, there is only so much cherry you can eat at one sitting (or picking! hehe). It was fun, and hot! The nicest cherries were to be found at the top of the trees, the branches closest to the top of the greenhouse roof, so it sort of felt like we were eating cherries straight out of the oven!

We stayed overnight in a small hotel at Shima Onsen - the hotel was dissapointing, the food average and the onsen really small and poky. PILs were not impressed. No brownie points for us this time (boo-hoo).
let me take you through the dinner conversation:

MIL - "what do you think the "main" item for dinner is?"
FIL - "there is no main"
MIL - "don't you think these pickles taste wierd."
FIL - "this (insert every single food item that was on the tray) is tasteless"
etc,etc.
as I said, though, the food was VERY AVERAGE. Especially for the price of the hotel. Ok, so we only paid about 13000yen per person, as we booked at the last minute and go a discount, but the usual fee is like 19000yen or so. We *so* thought we were going to get better food and hotel by going up a rank (we usually go for the 10000-12000yen range hotels.)

The onsen at the hotel was pretty dissapointing too, very small (and mouldy! ugh! cos it was all wooden - gotta do that right or else it is a bad result)

Dinner was served in a private room, with little trays, we sit on the floor on zabuton. This was, obviously, a menu for disaster with K - she didn't want to sit down (I think she was high from an overload of cherries) so I spent the whole time running around trying to keep her away from the mini fires on our trays (shabu-shabu on the menu, and rice cooking in the small pots on our trays too, sigh!). But she was an angel again at breakfast which was in the big room with all the guests, again with the small trays, so I can't be too upset with her.

On the Sunday, we drove via Haruna Lake. We tried to park, but the carparks lining the lake are all taken by the little mini old time stores, who come running out to say "you can park here IF you buy something from our shop". Now we are not so bad that we wouldn't buy anything, but we were looking for milk for K, and of course none of these shops had it, so we decided to drive on to see the Haruna Shrine first (which the nice old lady at the shop said was just up the hill...) 3km later we arrived at the shrine (more comments that we should have seen the lake first, now we have come so far away,blah blah blah). And the sign at the entrance said it was a 15min walk to the shrine (PIL - "15mins?? well I guess we should go we have come this far")

But you know what, the saving grace of the weekend was that Haruna Jinja was really cool!! There are some pictures here. It was a beautiful walk up to the shrine, along side the river. The shrine and area had character. (small amount of brownie points for us! lol!)

J and I had a good weekend anyway, and it was cool to see that K is now quite comfortable with the PILs - she runs up to them and gives them hugs! So all good.

Other news.....our new car came! yay! I have been test-driving it every day this week so far. Gotta look out for those new-car bugs; catch any problems asap (lol).

Oh, yeh, one more thing, I think that when I was upset a few weeks ago, and I went to local supermarket and the staff were almost cursing me for being in the road in the ailes, well I am starting to think that they are just actually really rude. See, I went back there yesterday, when I was 100% rational and no hormonal issues, and the old hag, uh, I mean lady on the checkout didn't even say "Irashaimase" or "Arigato Gozaimasu" to me. Thinking it was just me, I listened as the next customer was served, but yet again, there was no niceties. Hmmm. I feel better it's not just me that they are rude too, anyway!

Right, the chu-hai has hit maximum effect. must go before I write about my deepest darkest secrets (lol).....have to get K's dinner ready anyway.

my horoscope for the day

Today will be chock full of simple pleasures that remind you how life can be quite delightful and sweet sometimes! Right now, all you want is a good cup of coffee and a comfortable chair where you can sit and read a book. Or a smile from an attractive stranger as they walk by you on the sidewalk. Or the ability to make your favorite child giggle uncontrollably. Spend time with the special people in your life, and special moments will inevitably result.

and you know what....it was pretty much right on! I had a nice day playing and giggling with K, reading some mags on the sofa, and am rounding it off now with a bit of blogging therapy and a lime chu-hai before I prep dinner!

All is good (again, yay!)

Paprikosh (no I am not swearing at you)

An old family favourite...yum!!

For some reason, I always forget the recipe and end up having to ring mum every time! So I decided to put it up here for ME to check out everytime I get the urge to eat paprikosh, like I did tonight because:
a) J is off on a business trip out to the sticks, and only just got home
b) we have piles of potatoes after going out to Gunma 2 weekends ago for cherry picking (I keep on meaning to post about this too.....)

So, all about Paprikosh
Ingredients: 8-10 potatoes, 1 tomato (or can of tomato), 1 large onion, paprika, 1 stick of kabana

Actually, tonight for about 4 servings of paprikosh, I used 6 smallish potatoes, 2/3 tin tomato, 1 onion, 2 packets (which was only 10!!) of "morning sausages" those teeny-tiny frankfurt looking things.

What to do: cube potatoes into about 1-2cm square size; dice onion; dice tomato; slice kabana/frankfurts into about 1-2cm size slices.

Put all ingredients into a pot and simmer away on very low heat for about 40mins - 1hour, stirring constantly (or else it sticks on the bottom - you can start off with a bit of oil in the bottom of the pot so the onions etc don't stick at first.) After a while, the potatoes will start to loose their form, and get mushy. This is good! Keep stirring, and add as much paprika as you need - I usually add a fair bit. Once the potatoes are all cooked through and mushy, add the kabana and keep simmering on very low heat until kabana is heated through. Voila - paprikosh is served!!!

And that is it - how can I forget it everytime? I have no idea!!

Will have to take a photo of it next time I cook it too!!

Apparently it is a Hungarian recipe. No, my family is not Hungarian, but mum and dad knew a whole extended family of Hungarians many years ago, and that is how they got the recipe.

muchos deliciouso and Ito Terry (!!??)

we went out for dinner last night to Costa Latina with friends of J (one of their friends works at the restaurant). It was all very last minute - I got an email message at about 1:30pm, but didn't see it until after 4pm, but we decided that it would be nice to go out to a nice restaurant (as opposed to bench-seat heaven, a.k.a. "FAMILY RESTAURANTS"), and it is the 3-day weekend and all, so we really let our hair down!

J's friends have a 2yo, so there were the 2 kids, and the 4 of us. We sat at a table on the rooftop, it was such a nice feeling, even though it is hot, they had a fan that was kept us cool. The restaurant was very Latino in style and reminded us of a backpackers we stayed at in Rio de Janeiro, hehe. The food was yummy too. My favourite was proabably the enpanadas, which are like the closest thing to a meat pie I have had in over a year (since my last time home to Aus). We ate a lot of enpanadas in Argentina, too. Also had the cebiche, which is like seafood in a vinegary sauce, this one was quite spicy too, which was a surprise, but yummy. I had a sangria to start with, then friends bought a bottle of wine, and when I realised it was a MALBEC, from Argentina (Mendoza, of course) then I was tempted, and had a few glasses of that too! We went to Mendoza in 2006 and visited the wineries there, and LOVED it! Loved it, so much in fact, that we bought 2 bottles of wine, and the hard-wood boxes for them to go in....and J then had to carry them in his backpack for the next month and a half!! lol. They still have pride of place on our wine rack (although I can't remember the name of the wine for the life of me! Will have to check that one)

It was a lovely relaxing dinner, we were there from 6:30 until 9pm!! And K was an ANGEL the whole time! I was *so* impressed with her. We were lucky that the roof top had out-door style seating, and a bench type seat, so I could sit with K. She stayed on the seat the WHOLE time, standing up, of course, but at least she never got down to run around. And we took books, some stacking cups etc which kept her somewhat entertained. Of course, she crashed as soon as we got in the car (her usual bedtime is like 8:30).

On the way home, friend stopped at conbini just by the restaurant to get something, and came out saying that Terry Ito is in there, so we waited outside the conbini for him to come out. He did, and jumped into his Mitsubishi Evolution and waited for the 20-something year old girl he was with to come out and then drove off (we may have followed him, but just because it was the same way we were going, honestly!!). FWIW, turns out it was him, as his car is listed here as his latest buy!!

Must mention, that he didn't look anything like the photo - he looked more like a worn out, faded rock star, drug addict type. Our little brush with fame, anyway, hehe

just doing what i was told!

so we are getting a new car, was not supposed to be ready until the end of the month, but got a msg yesterday that it'll be ready this sunday(yes,slap-bang in the middle of the long weekend!)
we half-filled the tank on sunday, but even still had more than a quater of a tank left after my trip to the pils and playgroup yesterday, so J said i should go shopping to use up the petrol, and who am I to say no to that? so K and I had a lovely afternoon out shopping! We hit a shopping centre about 30mins away, that has a Babies r us. I was looking for a shade cover for the stroller, as was apparently every man, woman & child in a 200km radius- all stock sold out, so we came back with just a few odds and ends. k fell asleep on way home, so we are now sitting in the car at our carpark (abt 250m from our place) with aircon on of course waiting for sleeping beauty to awake!
three things I noticed in this photo:
1) my keitai is the same colour as the car! not for long though- the new car is metallic violet (sounds like a rock band!)
2)the chopstick holding the mirror in place! necessary after J had a prang with a pole in the carpark at the supermarket a few mounths ago
3) the bike. J said he sometimes sees the people who park either side of us arrive by bicycle to take their car out. I cant even imagine trying to explain THAT one to people at home!

Let the voting begin

Come on, tell me what you really think.
Poll booth is open now (see right, below my profile box)!

homesick, hormonal and a little bit hysteric!

yep, that was me last week.

A big thank you to Sarah@mummyinjapan for pointing out that I was homesick - you know, it never even registered to me that that was what was going on. I think it has been a long time since homesickness hit me so hard! I was ready to buy a plane ticket outta here (just for a break) but the summer holidays season is here, and well, we just can't afford a trip home when it costs K almost as much as me, because we have to pay the surcharge for her, even though she doesn't have a seat (wtf!! that is utter crap, but what can you do?).

A big thank you to M-san and Akazukin for your comments too. Everything said really helped put things in perspective for me. M-san, yep, it can be stressful sometimes. I guess I usually don't let things get to me so much, but sometimes, aaaarrrrggghhh!! And I know that at least the attention we get here is generally good attention, not like I imagine a lot of people have experienced in the US or Australia etc with racism just be cause you are Japanese (were you ever told "go home china-man?", or someone would say "They really should speak English now they are in Australia/US/..." when you speak Japanese with your kids) It makes me sick when I hear people talking like this, especially after living here and knowing how hard life away from "home" is. Akazukin - K does the same thing on trains, especially trying to get attention from young college girls or old ladies, waiting until they say "kawaii" then pulling out all the tricks: peek-a-boo, "ito-maki-maki" etc, lol. I am sure they think the same about me too "poor baby, with such a grumpy mother" lol!!

Yes, I think that my hormones were on full-blast after nearly a 2 year absence!! Guess they had some "making up" to do. Hoping things settle down a bit next month, if not, I hope that I will recognise it when the tears well in my eyes over being asked to move out of the way while packing my shopping bag at local supermarket because some old lady is trying to get to the little plastic bags they have to put your tofu etc in!

anyway, I *may* have had a bit of a hysteric break down on the weekend, when the thing that topped it all off was having friends over, and me having to look after not only K, but one of their kid as well while everyone else was chatting/eating/generally being merry. I would like to get away from it all sometimes too, but no-one to look after K for me. J is pretty hopeless when it comes to that. the last time I asked him to look after K while I went out for lunch, he ended up saying that he would come along too, which of course meant that I had to watch K during lunch!! lol. Typical male!?! lol!

But I feel much better having gotten it "out there". Normally, I would keep it to myself, but by actually saying it (and writing it here) and talking with friends, I think it has helped me to realise that I need to be in control myself. And that everyone has moments like this, so thank you again!

Things are better this week. I had an early night last night and now we are just lazing around at home today, taking it easy, me eating nearly all the Aussie chocolate biscuits (Arnotts Caramel Crowns!) that a friend got me from her recent holiday to Aus. Gee they are yummy! At this rate, there will be none left for J, oops! I wonder if i can blame *that* on the hormones too?? lol.

unwanted attention (aka "just leave us alone")

warning - this is a long vent.

Yesterday I came home from a long day out with K(morning play date followed by trip to city hall), threw all our bags on the kitchen table, left the pram in the door way, emptied out all her used cups etc to wash (so the kitchen sink and basically the whole kitchen was a mess) and started playing with R who had been home alone all day. We had only been home about 20minutes, when the doorbell rang. R goes ballistic whenever the doorbell rings (or the vacuum is on, but that is a different matter at the moment) so I usually get stressed and instead of using the intercom phone, just answer the door. So, when I looked through the peep hole, it was an old lady who had stopped me a block from my house earlier in the week when I was walking with R to the shops, and asked me where my dog was...I said,"at home!", a bit perplexed as to how she knew I had a dog, but I figure that yes, we DO stand out, so didn't think much of it. Turns out she lives in the apartment block across the road.

So yesterday, she came knocking on my door when I was out, she told me she could hear R barking, then she must have seen us come home, so she came over again, to give me a present for R (a toy that her gradchild had used) and some jelly. She first pushes her way into the genkan, where the pram is, and is standing there, then she says she has this present, so can she come in....I was so taken aback, that I said yes!!! I swear Japanese people NEVER invite themselves in like that. So in my kitchen she is, telling me how she thinks I am so "erai" (brave/strong) to be raising a dog and a child here. (rolls eyes). She also went on to tell me how she loves animals, and used to feed the stray cats for 20 years until the police told her to stop because it was a public nuisance(warning bells are a-ringing), and how her daughter has sooo many foreign friends (homesick English teachers, etc etc) who she likes to help out when they are in trouble etc, and that she told her daughter about me, and now her daughter can't wait to meet me. aaarrrrggghh. Looks like I am in for it now. I mean, sure it was nice of her to give us a present for K and whatever, but I can just see her on my doorstep every 5 minutes now - and how the hell am I supposed to keep her at bay? And I know she is going to be one of those people who are KY(totally oblivious to everything going on around them) and wont get the hint when I try to brush her off.

I got into deep do-do when I told J the story- he said I should never open the door to strangers. I feel like a kid being told about stranger danger. But then when I said she invited herself in, he was like, you better watch out for her. so then I was freakin it all night, worried that she was going to try to come and abduct K or R or me or something. Then I spent most of the day trying to lay low, and sneak out of the house when I needed to go to the shops or playgroup, in case she saw me. And if she comes knocking on my door again, I am just to ignore her...... so now I feel like a prisoner in my own home. I don't NEED a 70 year old friend!!! I have the in-laws!!(lol)

I actually had a similar situation when I was a JET. A 70 year old lady used to come to my office, and stand outside the door waving for me to come out to the corridor to talk to her, where she would usually present me with a bottle of 300wine. I had a big collection of nasty wine in the end. Once I even saw her outside my apartment. I *think* she was asking me something about having men stay at my apartment. (Often other JETS or friends visiting from home, sometimes a little more..... lol).
She shouted me out for lunch once at an unagi (eel) restaurant. And I think I even went to her house - I just could never say NO. So I am already dreading this baba...

This was the event that just topped off our day. We were out from 10am to 5pm running errands, and K's playdate. Everywhere we went, we got the unwanted attention. People on the train that make googly eyes at K (yes, I know that means that she is entertained on the train, but it wears me out having to play along with everyone too.). Some woman in the elevator was all into K, ignorning our playdate's child - that's a difficult situation). Some freak guy at the checkout to the 100yen store who was waving a box of something in K's face. I thought he was almost going to hit her with it. I took her pram and ran away, hid down one of the ailes. The stupid woman at the city hall who was "in training", or so her badge said, and thought I looked stupid enough to not know what I was doing so she comes screaming over and offers to help in the loudest voice....which woke up sleeping K, only an hour into her afternoon nap. ARGH!!!

Just everywhere we go, everyone is all "oh she is so cute" - I know that(lol), but they are really JUST SAYING IT. because she is mixed race. she *must* be cute. I just want to be able to walk down the street and be invisible. Or normal.

Add to this, the apartment block next to us, which the landlords of our apartment block live in, is having *something* done to it, and there is scaffolding all around the outside of the building, and on (literally, on the rail of)our balcony and in front of our lounge room window. You know how close Japanese apartments and houses are. I have no idea what the are doing - the landlord never sent around a notice or anything, so for all I know they could be spraypainting or something. So what do I do about my laundry?? What do I do about opening windows?? - they place is now a major target for burglers (not that we have anything to burgle). And how long will this go on for?? So rude not to even tell us what is going on. And, while I am on a rant, I may as well go about the rubbish bin for the 2 apartment blocks which is located at the bottom of our entranceway. It is one of those industrial type bins, and the lid on it has been broken since about the 2nd week we moved in here. AND although we pay the monthly body corporate fees, they have never once done anything like sweep down the stairs or that. It is so DISGUSTING in that staircase, that I even swept it down once. I am thinking of getting a power hose to it next time.

*sigh* I just don't want to be here at the moment. here = japan, I think.

today I ......

* was woken up at some ungoddly hour by K, chucking her water sippy cup at my head. think it was before 6am. Did the "wake-up-early" bug join the mogura from gaijin wife's house on a visit to TJKR's life???

* was stuck at a train station for 10-15 minutes while K chucked a tanty about getting in the pram (necessary so that I could get her and pram up the flight of stairs)on the way to playgroup.

* was almost crying after said tanty was followed by a man cutting me and K now in the pram off as we tried to cross the road. I may have yelled out after him "本当に自分勝手やな、この国” which I guess translates to something like "this bloody country - everyone is so rude!"

* had really had enough of K as she pulled the "prawn" (where she arches her back and throws her head backwards, usually to land on the floor) at playgroup when I took the bag of clapping sticks away from her.

* was thankful that the lady from playgroup who was looking out for the kids while some of us mothers had a discussion, was kind enough to hide the library books that K ripped to shreds.
She told me - "your daughter likes ripping up books!" (gasp!)
"How many?", I asked.
"I found 4 ripped pages....." GASP!!

* realised how crap my written Japanese has become when I tried (unsucessfully) to translate an email E-> J.
No, it was really crap.

*can't remember the html for bullet points *sigh*

but on a funny note....

* saw the lady from the house down the block going through the rubbish before the bin truck came, and caught her taking out paper bags, I guess from nice shops so that she can wow her friends next time she gives them a melon or some laundry soap as a little gift.