To Be Read Lists

 I came across a YouTuber talking about how she had 12 books on her TBR list. This made me laugh, just twelve books?

I don't have a TBR list; I have bookcases of books that I keep saying I will read, one day!

These are just four of the bookcases I have. The bottom photo shows several cookbooks on the right-hand bookcase. There are five more bookcases in the storage room as well. 

Then there are the books I have on Kindle, about 7,000, most of them free downloads. Plus, I use the Everand app, I think I have another 600 saved on there!

So many books, so little time. 

I decided that I should start to read through some of these books. This is what I'm reading at the moment.

This book accompanies the BBC documentary that I watched just before I came to Japan. I've read part of it before, but never finished it.

This is another book I started but never finished! It's about how the people of Okinawa live long, healthy lives.  I skipped reading the book and just used some of the recipes at the back. I'm reading the book now, I'm especially interested in the section on dealing with stress, as this is something that Hannah needs to learn. I know she is looking for answers herself, but any help she can get is good!

On Everand, I just started Charles Dickens "A Tale of Two Cities".  Another slow read, but interesting!

Also on Everand, I'm just over halfway through "My Next Breath" by Jermey Renner, the story of how he recovered from a devastating accident!

On Kindle, I've just started "The Judas Tree" by George DeFrehn III. It's an apocalyptic thriller. I've only read a few chapters, but it's holding my interest!

I need a lot of rainy, cold afternoons to cosy up with a cup of tea and maybe a cat to get through these books!

One good thing about having a Kindle is that it's portable. On days that I go to the other city to I usually have free time while I'm waiting for Mikey, I've found that I can read a lot. The community center is quiet and comfortable, just what I need to be able to focus on reading. Also, when I have hospital appointments I take my Kindle, while I'm waiting I can usually get through a few chapters of whatever book I'm reading!

Does anybody else have a TBR list, if so, how many books do you have?

Feeling Better

 I really wanted to get a good night's sleep last night, but of course, plans and reality were different!

I don't know about interval walking; I was doing interval sleeping!

I went to bed about 10 o'clock and slept well until midnight when the cats decided it was party time. I don't know which ones or how many, but they were racing up and down the corridor for about half an hour. Even though that woke me up, I don't mind that noise; they need exercise, and it's strangely comforting to hear them. Just as I was drifting off, the singing started. At first, it was just Steve, he picks up toys and walks around the house with them in his mouth, crying! That went on for a few minutes, but then the sound changed to yowling. I got out of bed to separate Fred and Steve. The problem is that the house is very cold, so getting out of bed means getting cold. Once I had sorted them out, I got back into bed, took ages to get warm, but I was finally drifting off to sleep when the yowling started again. Got out of bed, got cold, sorted the cats, this time Fred and Frodo, got back into bed, got warm, started to drift off to sleep when the yowling started again. I repeated that cycle about 7 or 8 times.

By now it's 3 o'clock in the morning. I gave up and fed them, finally, silence!

After the adventures and fighting of last night, this is how I found three of the cats this morning!

They were fighting just a couple of hours before!

At least I didn't have to get up early today, I slept until 7 o'clock!

I don't feel 100% better, but a lot better than yesterday. My head has been aching a lot, but my throat is no longer on fire! I've been drinking a lot of ginger tea, which is really warming! Also, I made nabe for lunch. Nabe is basically a one-pot dish. I cooked up chicken drumsticks. I used kombu for flavour, with some dashi, and just dumped a load of vegetables in. I also made takikomi gohan, flavoured rice with bamboo shoot! I usually add more things to the rice, but this was the first time making it without a rice cooker.

Hannah and I exchange photos of our meals most days!

This is the first photo I sent to Hannah.

She asked if it was my new diet.

This was my lunch after I served myself!

I managed to study Japanese for a bit and even did some exercise, not Japanese Walking, just some gentle stretches.

I really hope I feel 100% better tomorrow as I have a few chores to do! I need to see to the tatami room. David wants to start putting leaflets out for our school from next week. I want the place be ready, I don't want to panic if someone calls to see our school and nothing is ready!

I really hope we can get some good students. Send good vibes, please!

Sick

 I had great plans for today!

Get up at 5am, make breakfast and obento. Rest a bit more, prepare lunch, 11am meeting with a judicial scrivener to find out about changing the name on the land we have inherited.  Get back home, make lunch. Then spend the afternoon doing Japanese Walking exercise and studying Japanese. 

My day started out alright, even if I did find it hard to get up at 5am. I thought it was hard because the rooms are so cold, and that once I started moving, I would be alright. The past few mornings have been like that!

I got up, put the heater on, and started to make breakfast. I decided to make a quick consommé soup, boiling the water to cook the vegetables helps to heat up the kitchen. After I made breakfast and obento, I realised I was still feeling rather heavy and just bleh, no energy at all. I crawled back into bed, planning to get up at about 9 o'clock, but when my alarm went off, I was feeling worse. 

I finally got up, didn't start lunch, but had to go to the judicial scrivener's office. Stopped by a drug store on the way, that's when I realised I wasn't just tired but starting to feel sick, maybe the beginning of a cold!

Got through the meeting. We want to try and sell as much of the land as we can, but to do that, we need to change the name on the deeds. I thought all the land was in my mother-in-law's name, but some is in my grandmother-in-law's name, and even in my mother-in-law's sister's name. It's going to cost us about 15,00000 yen, about £7000. I was hoping we could do it bit by bit, but we can't! Another thing that I have to save money for!

I gave up on making lunch, I bought obento instead. I went back to bed this afternoon. I'm at the age where I know I can push myself, but that just means being sick longer. If I need rest, then I'm going to take it! I would rather rest for one day than push myself and end up getting so bad that I need a week to recover!

It's now 5:30 in the evening. I started dinner, looks like doing it bit by bit! I'm sipping hot ginger tea and really hoping that an early night and good sleep will help!

I'm not sure if I've caught what Mikey has been battling the past few days, or if the sudden drop in temperature has caused me to feel bad! The weather went from lovely, spring-like days with highs of 19C to freezing winter with highs less than 5C, overnight! There's a forecast for snow tonight!

Just a photo of Sam and Mama!

Japanese Walking

 Japanese Walking is another name for interval walking. The idea is to walk for 3 minutes at a normal, strolling pace, then 3 minutes at a fast pace. You do this for 15 minutes. Sounds nice and simple, something that I could do!

I've been trying this on and off for a few months! If I'm honest, it's been more off than on! When I'm at the community centre on Wednesdays, I have over an hour between classes, so I've been doing the interval walking there! I'm in a big tatami room, with heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. I can do up to 10 minutes now without pain! 

Other days I think I should walk around the garden or area, but I have so many excuses, it's too hot, it's too cold, it's raining, and of course, my favourite one, I'll do it tomorrow, which never comes! The other day, I came across a video of a lady showing how to do Japanese Walking at home, just walking in place. Why didn't I think of that? I also realised that I have a tatami room here, not as big as the community center but big enough to walk around!

So I'm going to start doing this Japanese Walking consistently. For the next week, I want to try 15 minutes every other day! The 15 minutes five days a week. If I'm alright, no back pain or knee pain, I'll try to add a couple of minutes every week.

One reason I want to focus on walking is that Hannah and I have a trip planned for the end of March, just 8 weeks away. I want to be able to walk, without pain if possible, or at least less pain. I know that keeping up with Hannah is hard, but I think if I can do this exercise, then maybe it will be easier. I don't want to be the old lady complaining about aches and pains all the time!

The weather here has been rather weird. Last week it was like spring, with temperatures up to 19 °C. The past couple of days, it hasn't got over 5C. 

I took these photos on Tuesday when we were at the other city to teach. I was wondering if it would rain or snow!

Dark clouds one way,

opposite view was a real mix!

The next morning, I could see snow on the mountain! It tried to snow here, but only a few flurries for about 5 minutes!

Snow on the mountain!

I'll let you know how I get on with this walking!

My New Printer

 This post contains an Amazon Affiliate link.

Last week, I was trying to teach one of my students some vocabulary for a test she is taking on Sunday.

I have books for this test, but every year they change the test, adding new words or different questions. One way I've found that helps is to print the previous test and go through it with the student. The test is run a few times a year, so the previous test isn't too different from the upcoming one.

I asked David to print part of the test for me, but it looks like his printer is no longer working! The first page was alright, but the next few pages had half the words missing. The last page only had one word on it!

I went on Amazon to see how much a printer would cost. I was surprised that they were a lot cheaper than I thought. Of course, there are some that are really expensive, but I just need a simple one. 

Because I don't have a credit card, I couldn't order one. When I buy from Amazon, I usually go and buy a gift card to use. I was talking to Hannah about this problem, she very kindly offered to buy me one. I'll pay her back or take her shopping!

This is the one that I got.

https://amzn.to/4a21kws

It's nice and simple. I can choose colour copies or black and white, which saves on ink. Hannah also bought extra ink, so I don't have to worry about that for a while!

My printer, all set up.

Of course, now that I have a printer, I can't find what I want to print!

I have one elementary school boy that I wanted to do some prints with, but when I went to a site that I had bookmarked a few months ago, an advertising button came up, saying that to enter the site, I had to watch an advert first. I clicked on it but closed it immediately as it looked like some kind of virus. My computer is alright, but I think the site has been hacked!

There are lots of sites out there that have great material to print; it's just a case of finding them. I use textbooks, but having prints gives extra practice.

Another thing I like to print is recipes. I have folders full of recipes that I've collected over the years. I know I can save recipes or Pin them, but I like having them printed. That way, any substitutes I make, I can jot down!

Also, I can print out sheets to practice kanji! No more excuses!

I'll let you know what I find! 

Thirty-Five Years In Japan

 Today marks thirty-five years since I came to Japan!

I planned to stay for about five years! I guess that plan didn't work out!

I was looking through my diary from that time. I was so scared to come here. Hisao was already here; I had to go to the UK to deal with my back problems, some things don't change.

I spent a year trying to fix my back, going for rehabilitation, maybe twice a week (I don't remember). Ultimately, the doctor stated that it wouldn't improve significantly beyond its current state. 

So January 1991, I packed my bags and came to Japan. 

If I could give my younger self some advice, it would boil down to just a few things.

These are the regrets I have about coming here.

First, don't burn your bridges; have an escape plan. Up until that point in my life, I always had a way to go back if things didn't work out. Money saved, contacts to get a job, this kind of thing. When I came to Japan, I didn't do that. Part of it might have been that I wasn't planning on staying too long. I figured five years would be enough time to make money, have the Japan experience, get to know Hisao's family. After that, we would go back to the UK and settle there.

Secondly, learn more about Japan. This was pre-Internet, YouTube, or influencers. In the November/December before I came, there was a Japanese culture exchange event in London. I remember the Sumo bouts, I'm sure there were other events, but I can't think what. The BBC did a documentary about Japan. The documentary covered the recovery of Japan after World War II. Another documentary I watched was about a day in the life of a typical family in Tokyo, the father going to work, and his daughter struggling through junior high school. I found that fasacinating but couldn't see myself standing at the door waving goodbye to Hisao!

I wished that I had understood a bit about the pressure of living as a foreigner in a country that is so totally foreign. I'm not sure if there were any resources out there at that time.

On a similar note, I wish I had learnt some Japanese. I knew a few phrases, some basic greetings, but I always thought that I would have time to really learn as I lived here. I didn't realise how much time and energy having kids would take up, also I didn't know that I would be running a business.

The last thing I regret, especially now, is not being able to drive! I thought I wouldn't need to drive, as the first plan was to stay in Tokyo. If we had stayed there, then not having a driver's license would have been alright. Now, however, it's really hard not being able to drive.

I can't imagine living anywhere else now. I don't really love Japan, but I feel comfortable here. Settled might be the best word. My kids have futures here. I don't think I want to go back to the UK now, to visit, but not to live.

I used this photo before, me just after arriving in Japan.

I watch videos of people coming to Japan to study, to live, for jobs or because their spouse is Japanese. I think they are very lucky to be able to come now, with the technology that is available now, it is so much easier. I had no way of calling my parents, I couldn't see my home in the UK. There were no apps to help with translation, my phrase book fell to pieces after a year! But I don't think that there is any technology that can help one adjust to such a different life. That takes time, perseverance and a sense of humour, being able to laugh at yourself and the mistakes you make!

Drop a comment if you live in a different country from your birthday country, also if you would like to come to live in Japan one day!

A Little Afternoon Outing

 This afternoon, Christopher and I went for a little outing.

I've lived in or near this city for almost 35 years and never knew about the area called Tera-Machi, also known as Temple Town. There are 17 temples in one small area. There are a number of graves in this area of famous people from Kurume.

The area is about 10 minutes walk from the Nishetsu Station, so the first plan was to get a bus and walk to Tera-Machi, but my knee has been rather painful the past week, so Mikey dropped us off and took us back to the station after.

I was amazed by the architecture of the area. Some of the temples were older, some more modern. Some had private houses on the grounds, some were very large with graveyards attached.

I took a couple of little videos. The weather was more like spring, which was really nice, but the sun was in my eyes a lot. If the video is jerking, that's where I missed a step!

In the second video, I really like the contrast between the brick wall, which to my mind looks very English and the temple, which looks very Japanese!

A map showing the different temples in the area

Red brick and temple building.

It was so peaceful, very quiet. Some of the temples had speeches or a service (is that the right word?).

I found myself whispering as I asked Christopher to translate what the signs were saying. This is just 10 minutes from a very busy station!

A few more photos from the area.

Temple bell, this would have been rung 108 times to usher in the New Year.

I like the ornament on the corner of the roof.

Massive doors

So beautiful and peaceful

Poster about a speech

Interesting door

Mikey picked us up and dropped us behind the station. 

It's been a long time since I've been there. Last year I went with Hannah, but we stayed at the front of the station.

There are a lot more shops than I remembered: a department store, a supermarket, Daiso, and a few other places.

I wanted to take a longer video, but some people were giving me funny looks!

I went into Diaso, a 100 yen shop and the department store. The department store used to sell imported foods, but this time, they didn't have any. I guess with Costco and Gyomusuper (a supermarket that has a lot of imported foods at a reasonable price), the department store couldn't compete. Christopher bought some nice pickles; he's really into Japanese food!

By this time, I was tired and hot. As I said before, the weather was more like spring, but the stores still had the heating on!

We found a nice bakery that had seating. We got a snack bread and a drink.

This had shrimp and cheese sauce!

We wandered around a bit more, got some cheap eggs. Took another little video from the walkway.

This walkway area used to be where the homeless used to sleep. Looks like it's been cleaned up!

I had a really lovely afternoon. 

I found a map of the city, I was surprised at the number of tourist areas there are and how many I've already visited!

This last photo was from the bus stop. Where the 7-11 is, used to be McDonald's.  I remember waiting there when I first arrived here. Hisao took the bus to get the car, leaving me with a load of luggage and one small coffee. The staff kept giving me funny looks, maybe they thought I had been abandoned! This was before everyone had phones; I just had to wait and hope he was coming back. He did, but took over 2 hours!