Christmas 2008

Yep, it was pretty much like this yesterday (and today, because Boxing Day is just a repeat performance).

Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden ute
Kicking up the dust, esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,
It's summertime and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

Engine's getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos
The swaggie climbs aboard - he is welcome too
All the family's there, sitting by the pool
Christmas Day the Aussie way, by the barbecue

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

Come the afternoon, Grandpa has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce are swimming in their clothes
The time comes 'round to go; we take a family shot
Pack the car and all shoot through before the washing-up

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

from "Aussie Jingle Bells", by Colin Buchanan and Nick Bland
book and accompanying cd given to K from Auntie L and Uncle A, Xmas 2008.

all sausaged and shopped out

First a quick review of the past few days:

Sunday was a crazy busy day. We went to breakfast with friends of my parents from 8:30am (although we were 10mins late since Sunday was the ONLY day so far that K decided to sleep in.) Then we got home at about 11am, only to pack our esky up to go to my brother's house for a bbq. Since he lives over the other side of town, it takes about an hour to get to his place, so I was plying K with all the sandwiches and snacks about the place that I could find to try to keep her quite for the whole trip, so that for whatever reason, she fell asleep like 2mins before we arrived!
We had a nice drink and bbq around their pool area/outdoor deck. K was well behaved most of the time (except when she was "riding" the paper mache zebra, but that was probably my brother's fault for showing it to her) and fell asleep in the car on the way home at 6pm. I was nearly falling asleep driving home too. What a big day.

Monday my friend H came up from the coast, and we left K at home with mum to go to see a movie, "Four Holidays". It was entertaining and I enjoyed it. And the half-dozen cinnamon donuts we shared during it. After the movie, another friend met us and we did their Christmas shopping, had lunch at a cafe in the shopping centre, did more shopping, walked around more so that our feet hurt, so we indulged in a little pedicure (was lovely) and yet again was buggered by the time I got home near 6pm.

Today a friend I have known all my life (really, her parents live around the corner and they knew me when I was a bump!) and I caught up. We had a fantastic tapas lunch/glass of wine/cappucino then cruised around her favourite dress shops, where she bought a lovely dress, and I tried on 4 but bought none. 2 of them were ok, 1 was really nice, but I couldn't justify it - I really have nowhere to wear it in Japan. And it was $175(on sale!) That is too much for a dress to wear once on Xmas day then forget. It *was* a cool dress though, longish with a fab pattern in brownish almost paisley pattern that reminded me of a peacocks feather for some reason!?, halter neck type top with a band of glittery bling under the bust. It matched my toenails too (painted purple yesterday @ pedicure). Got home and skyped J which was nice, and just fell asleep before in front of the TV because I was stuffed yet again. I did manage to wake myself up enough to watch "Judging Amy", my latest TV addiction. I am gonna miss THAT when I leave. I doubt they have it at my local video rentals place.


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I love bbq sausages, and miss them when I am in Japan. There is something about the bog-standard aussie bbq sausage that floats my boat. But after having had sausages 3 days in a row since Friday night and the 2 bbqs on the weekend, I think I am a bit over them. Luckily Xmas here is not a bbq. I will probably ask for one more sausage sizzle before I go back to Japan though, just for good luck.

As for the shopping, all I have actually bought since back here is 1 singlet top and 1 tshirt, a pair of togs for me, a pair of ugg boots for K and several Aussie animals reading books for K. Even when I can go shopping without K I do not really find myself that interested in it. Even when I find nice clothes/shoes I can't bring myself to buy them, because a) I already have so many clothes that I never wear and b) I honestly can't see myself wearing the clothes once I get back to Japan. I have no need for strappy high heels and slinky dresses there. I used to think it was because people in Japan are more varied in their fashion (as in it is acceptable to go out to an izakaya in a t-shirt and jeans where as in Aus I would want to dress up to go out) but I think it is more my mind set. I don't want to dress up, I don't feel the need to dress up in Japan. Does that mean I have become fashionably lazy, or just fashion lazy?

addicted to blocks of Cadbury Chocolate

Was it always THIS good!?!?

the week that was

On Wednesday we (me, mum, K, niece and nephew) went to Australia Zoo (was gonna link to their site, but it was one of those that come up automatically with audio and it was of Terri yelling out "crikey". Not what I needed to hear. I could't turn it off fast enough. I wont - put anyone else through the trauma, so no link here). It wasn't too hot a day, nor were there too many people there, suprisingly for beign school holidays. We walked around all day, watched a crocodile and animal show, saw all the animals and ate our picnic lunch in the sit down food court area because we couldn't find any grass (that didn't have kangaroos lazing around on it).

K loved patting the kangaroos, although I think she may be a *bit* confused as she kept calling them "hippos". We are reading Sesame Street Little Ernie's ABC at the moment, and "H is for Hippo"!

Wednesday night I left K at home with mum and niece and nephew while I went out for dinner with friends for one of their birthday. We ended up at the same cafe we always go to when I come back, sitting in the same seat as last time too, al fresco out on the sidewalk and spent a great couple of hours chatting and laughing. K was an angel for mum, she went right off to sleep, most likely as she was tired from walking around Australia Zoo all day - man I was tired too!!

Thursday and Friday we didn't do much, just stayed around the house, went across the road to the park to play, and napped. It was nice to just enjoy the afternoon seabreeze we get at my parent's house (they are across the road from the water, and we always get the lovely breeze)

This morning we went Saturday morning shopping, a ritual in our household. We started off at the farmers market (which is only on once a month) down on the waterfront, enjoying some Andes music as we bought up yummy fresh fruit and veges. Then we went to a small shopping centre, where we bought the rest of the essentials. We used to go to this particular shopping centre every Sat morning (and every Thursday night for a while after Thursday night "late night trading" came in about 25years ago!)and I remember buying cinnamon donuts there often. I was gonna buy some today, but resisted.

This afternoon I went over a friend from high school's house today for a bbq. We had a fantastic reminiscing session, watching videos of one of our 21st birthday parties and reading through old letters we wrote to each other when we were at high school. My sides split from laughing so hard at some of the video footage (of us dancing at the party!!)and all the memories that came with the people in the video.
My friend has 2 gorgeous dogs (labs - one gold, one black), and K just loved playing with them all day (at one point she was "riding" on the back of one of them, like they were a horse. She enjoyed it so much so that she didn't have a nap, but she was so happy playing that she was ok without a nap. She crashed tonight though, haha!

Now I am listening to the 'carols by candelight' on TV as I type this up. Only 4 more sleeps 'till Christmas, wow! We aren't doing the Christmas gifts this year, except for the kids, which I think is good, as it is soooo hard now to buy stuff for people - even buying for my 8 year old niece and 12 year old nephew is hard enough: they just have EVERYTHING already. But I just realised I have only got some boxer shorts for my nephew, and nothing for my niece yet.....what to do?? Probably end up panic buying next week. Along with 1.5 million other Brisbanites.

more things from "home" that I realised I miss, now that I *am* "home"

salad sandwiches with beetroot, made on yummy fresh brown or multi-grain bread (that was today's lunch)

sitting on the front or back verandah all day, doing nothing more than enjoying he breeze (that was yesterday's line-up)

so many different birds, all squarking at the same time (outside now)

the fact that everyone is so friendly, almost to the point of being loopy (because you actually talk random stuff to people in the queue in coles, who by the way, are standing well out of your personal space)

and some things that I don't miss

repeats of "alf" - I can get that on nhk educational on Monday nights in Japan, I sure don't need to watch it here!

being woken up at 7:05am on my 2nd day here by the neighbour mowing the lawn....did you know you can make noise after 7am on a weekday?! Well, it is light by about 4:30am, and already near 30deg by 7am, so I sorta understand, but still.....

today

was hot. it still is actually.
I am sweating as I type this out, as everyone else has gone to bed and all the windows are closed!!

Today was a birthday party for my nephew, who turned 12 on Thursday. I sooooo didn"t know what to get him, so I just got a voucher for a boating/fishing shop as he is really into fishing with his dad. He said he wanted a family party this year, I think because K and I are here for it, so we all went over today for a bbq and swim. When I finally got K down for a nap at 3:30pm (rolls eyes) I spent some quality time alone with nephew and his turtle, "squirtle" out on the front lawn as squirts had his run for the day. It was nice. And despite K's late nap, which she didn't wake up from until 5pm (when I "whispered" in her ear to wake up) she went down easy for bed time tonight so all is good.

Today I watched an episode of "Desperate Housewives", and set the video to record Grey's Anatomy - I am not sure what series/episode it is, but I am so hooked, I am gonna take it home with me and work it out!! I am soooo having "Grey's" withdrawals.

Tomorrow is a lazy day, perhaps a trip out to the farmers markets in the morning, then a friend with her 2 labs might come over to visit. From Monday we have my neice and nephew here most days as school holidays have started, so we are going to go to "Australia Zoo" probably on Wednesday, which will be hot (and crowded) but hopefully fun for the kiddlie-winks!

oh, and one last thing:
Today I realised one of the things I miss about Australia - washing that has been dried on the hills hoist washing line, outside. It feels so fresh and warm and like something straight out of a washing powder ad. I DO miss that in Japan.

checking in

Well, a week has passed since we got on the plane for Aus. The flight over was surprisingly easy, I managed to get K to sleep (yay for my ergo!) after the meal was served, at about 11pm, and she slept through until I had to wake her up for landing at 6:45am. how cool is that!! The train ride out to Narita was memorable (K in ergo on my front, 50L backpack full of nappies on my back, lugging along a 23kg suitcase - my fault for choosing a mid-day flight when J couldn't take us to the airport,) but it worked out in the end as we had 3 seats to ourselves for the pretty empty weekday flight, and both K and I were lying down most of the flight over.

Spent the first few days seeing family (nieces and nephews, bro and sis) and just lazing around really as last week was quite hot. I also had a bout of reverse culture shock/why did I want to come home again? feelings over the weekend, but am happy again now, and settled in to our "summer niiiiiiiiiiii-ights"! This week has been more bearable heat wise too.

I even got my first K-free day yesterday, when mum minded K while I went shopping with my friend (and despite my will not to buy anything, I came home with two shirts, nothing fancy, just a tee and a light cammi type thing). It was sooo nice to have some girl time with a friend, without K ( only really my 2nd ever K-free time). Today mum and I went shopping at a local shopping center, where we bought not much, but spent about 4 hours there (most of it trying to get K to sleep in the stroller so we could actually LOOK at something in the shops)

The fam and I went to a local Japanese restaurant tonight, and it was an interesting experience to see how Japanese food is presented here in Australia.

We had:
a tuna and cucumber sushi roll, for K
yakitori - which turned out to be chicken on a skewer, served with a soupy type of sauce
*karaage - which was just like tempura chicken
*takoyaki - very nice!
*yakiniku - which was like a korean bul gorgi dish
*roast duck - at a Japanese restaurant?!? hehe. It was delish, though. in a yummy ginger soy sauce
*sukiyaki calamari (!! what the...?) - it tasted like a chili sauce/chow mein style sauce over veges and calamari
*curry - can't go wrong there
*rice - long grain, just not the same

We enjoyed it, and the meals were huge, so we all rolled out. K was great, sitting up at the high chair for almost 2 hours during dinner - she got given a hello kitty sembei near the end form the lady in the shop! she was SO stoked!

Haven't been online much as pretty worn out after long hot days of family fun, followed by a few days of not being able to access a computer, but hope to blog a few more times over the next few weeks here.

Tomorrow is my nephew's birthday (happy birthday!). In the morning, we are off to see auntie L and uncle J for morning tea. Probably end up going shopping somewhere on the way home, as we ave the kids next week once school breaks up for Xmas, so we have to get all our retail therapy out of the way before they are with us, as a 12year old boy and 7 year old girl and 20month old K will probably not be that much fun to take out shopping.

thanks

this morning I said "thanks" to my parents for having me when they rang me at 8am (!!!that means it was early, we don't wake up here until about 7:45am when J leaves to go to work), on skype. (sounds all very lovey, doesn't it, haha! Their response was "thanks for leaving the house before you were 35years old" - a long running family joke about my brother who lived at home until his late 20's - us Aussies have been known to exaggerate a bit every now and then)

this morning was spent running errands (returning an unwanted shirt to costco, and picking up some car parts to take back with me for a friend of dad's.)
I had the remainder of yesterday's lasagna (it was lovely having you over, Sara, we enjoyed it - next time I will be a real hostess and actually MAKE something, rather than just reheat, lol!) for lunch, then spent a few hours on the sofa fuelling my Grey's adediction with an appropriately timed Thanksgiving episode from Season 2.

J is meeting us tonight at a shopping mall nearby for dinner (haven't decided what yet, but California Pizza Kitchen is definately on the list) and there is a rumour that J is getting me a bread maker for my birthday (yay!) but I said we should wait until I get back from Aus, as don't see the point in it sitting around the house for over a month while we are away, which would mean it is just like the sewing machine!!!haha.

Anyway, K must have her "blogger radar" on. As soon as I sat at the computer, she woke up from her nap. Better go - walk R, return "the Grey" dvds and get ourselves ready to go out tonight.

p.s. had to count through the years to work out how old I was becoming today. My parents only knew because it came up on my skype profile. haha. thank goodness for technology.

a bullet kinda day

It has been a while since I have done a proper post, but in the meantime, a bit of a random list, in point form.

you know when you go to the shops for like some bread and milk and come out with 3man yen worth of stuff? well that was me today at costcos. oops. Accidently found myself scouring through the clothing section, and couldn't resist this cute little costume piece for K -
getting ready for next year's halloween!, as well as 2 jumper type jackets for J. I usually am pretty controlled at costcos, seriously, as it is pretty close, I only buy milk, some meat/chicken and bread there, so I usually get out of there under 1man yen. But today K was a good girl sitting up in the shopping trolley so I took advantage of it and walked through the middle aisles. A bit of impulse buying never goes astray, right!?? And I DID get a bargain, just hope J likes it now. If not, I am gonna take it back on Friday (and probably pick up something else instead, haha)

so yes, that means that J and I have made up (I didn't blog about it, but we had a little one day spat on Monday.) Thanks to gaijin wife and all my playgroup mummies on Tuesday who listened to me diss him IRL, a lot. By the way, gaijin wife, I won't be cancelling his ticket home anymore, hehe!! We are both soooooooooooooooo pig-headed (頑固) that it is usually the little things that end up in big rows. I felt humbled listening to a playgroup mummy talking about how she can't be bothered arguing any more - that it is not worth it. I so need to grow up and become like her!

I haven't been blogging much recently , and I think it is time to fess up as to why - I am addicted. This time, it is Grey's Anatomy. I found a video store about 5 mins walk away that has 200yen rentals every Tuesday and Thursday. And I am hooked. I am already on season 2 and I only started a few weeks ago. I actually have the box set of season 3 sitting here at home waiting to be watched, but I put it off until I had seen the fist 2 seasons. glad I did. I watched another 4 episodes this week already.

I now GET all the "McDreamy" references. It is nice to be up with pop culture again (yay)

I am also enjoying ironing these days..... that is because I have started doing the ironing during K's afternoon nap, while I watch Grey's Anatomy - that way I don't feel like I am just bludging on the sofa. Of course, it now takes me 2 hours (well, 2*45mins episodes) to iron 2 shirts, haha

K has been much easier to deal with on trains and going out recently. The stickers are a great diversion, and I am a bit less uptight about taking her out, so I think that helps. I am also learning to deal with the in and out of the stroller dance (the chorus of which is usually "I want to be carried now".)

K is on fire with talking lately. She has a pretty big vocab list,both in English and Japanese. She has spent the last week or so throwing her Curious George toy on the floor and saying "ita~i" (it hurts). She is also now starting to call J by his name (as well as Daddy. She uses both). It was funny when we were in a shop the other day, and we went down a different aisle to J. For the next 5 minutes, K was calling out "J" throughout the store until we found him again. It was quite cute.

I think that is all I have time for today. As soon as "Inai-inai-ba" is over (K's absolutely favourite tv show) we are off for a walk with R. Our walks are getting earlier these days, as it is like dark by 5pm. Only a week until we are home!

my butt's on fire!

well that is what it felt like this morning on the way to playgroup coz they have the seats heated on the train- its not THAT cold yet!! and I am from Brisbane (I never even owned a coat or scarf until I came to Japan) so i feel the cold (though I have gotten more resiliant - my first year working here, I used to wear 5, yes 5 layers of clothes to walk the 5mins to work - one layer for each minute!?) actually today is a lovely day- I am only in a jumper and that is enough. Of course all the people around me are in parkas and long coats - why do japanese people dress for the season as opposed to dressing for the actual weather?
only a week and a day until we head off for our summer paradise, yay! can't wait!