Obon and summer holidays

This week is the annual Obon holiday.  This is a Buddhist holiday, commemorating ones ancestors.  Many people return to their hometowns at this time of year.  The graves are visited, cleaned, fresh flowers are placed, incense is burned and prayers said for those who have gone before us!
this holiday is also one of the 3 main holiday periods in Japan.  Although returning to ones hometown is the traditional holiday at lot of people take the chance to travel, train stations, airports and roads are crazy, and the price of tickets reflect this!!! 
Today starts my holiday, I have one week with no teaching.  As much as I enjoy my work I do need a break, a chance to refresh and get ready for the next long spell, basically no long holidays from now until Christmas.  I have a lot I want to get done this week, but most of the time I want to hang out with the kids, just spend time together!!!  We are heading out later to visit a good friend of mine and get some shopping done other than that it is an at home week!!  Nice and relaxed!
We did a bit of shopping yesterday, basically I wanted to go to the 100yen shop and get a few crafting things to do with the kids.  Hubby went off to the electric store.  He called me and said that he had bought some copy paper, some is not the word I would use.

A lot of paper, I can make loads of worksheets!!! Enough for 2 years a least!

Ouch and Yuk

Ouch is the pain from having a tooth out! I had a tooth removed on Tuesday and it still hurts, like really screaming, crying, ranting at everybody hurts. I know it's my own fault, I lost a filling about two years ago and kept putting off going to the dentist until all the surrounding tooth had rotted away.  The past couple of weeks the tooth, or rather root started to hurt, not a lot, but sometimes a sharp pain when eating or brushing my teeth.  Next week is the Obon holiday and the dentist will be closed, so I screwed up all my courage and went.  This will get better, that is what I keep telling myself.

Yuk is mold, the horrible black kind that grows when you aren't looking!!   Christopher, Hannah and I have had a cough for over a month.  I kind of figured it was allergy related, so I set myself the mission of keeping the dust and mold down, kind of difficult but I thought I was winning.  Then on TV the other day was a programme about mold causing pneumonia.  One thing they showed was mold growing in the shower head.  So I checked our bathroom, the shower head was clean.  Next I checked the tap in the wash basin, that is also like a shower head, the whole thing was black.  I was so shocked, we were brushing our teeth in water that had been filtered through mold.  No wonder we are sick.  Anyway I gave it a good clean.  I never would of thought to check there, I always thought that because water is running through then mold wouldn't grow!!!  I hope now that with the new medicine we have and the mold being removed that we can get better!!

And something nice to end with.  Ginger Stir -Fried Zucchini.  I got this recipe from Anne Lindsay's Light Kitchen.  I picked this book up from Bookoff for just 100 yen!!


Here's the recipe

5ml vegetable oil
500ml sliced zucchini
half red onion, sliced
10ml chopped ginger root
15ml sodium reduced soy-sauce
5ml dark sesame oil

In a non stick skillet heat oil over medium-high heat;  stir fry zucchini,onion and ginger for 1 minute.
Add 15ml of water, cover and steam for 1 to 2 minutes or until tender crisp, adding more water if necessary to prevent scorching.
Stir in soy-sauce and oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serves four.

Time Flies

I can't believe that it's already August!  Where does time go?
The past week has been rather busy, work busy and fun busy!
I lost Mikey Wednesday and Thursday, not lost lost, but he was out for both days.  And of course those two days are the busiest fot teaching. Mikey does almost all the kiddies classes.  He is a very good teacher, being bilingual helps and he has a lot more energy than I have!!  Anyway I had to do his lessons for those  days.  Poor kids were terrified of me, which worked to my advantage, they were very quiet.  I think the classes were good.  When I told them that Mikey would be back next week all the kids were very happy!!  That was the busy work.
Busy fun has been hanging with the my kids.  Both Christopher and Hannah have a load of homework to do.  Summer homework is a big thing in Japan.  Because the school year starts in April summer is in the middle of the year. The summer homework is a review of the  first term.  But it always seems to be a bit too much.  I feel the kids need some time to relax and get refreshed for the second term, which is very long, September to the end of December. Also there are very few holidays in the second term.  Always seems rather unbalanced to me, but that's the way it is.
So we are still doing homework, most is done.  This week Hannah and I painted our nails, kind of nice girly thing to do.  Bright red colour!



I never realized how white my hands were before



Hannah showing off her nails, please excuse the mess behind!!!!!!

Christopher had 3 days of school, yes it is the holiday but the kids still have to go to school...go figure!!
He has got the same cough as me, so off to the doctor for him!!!
Haven't had much chance to do anything with Christopher as yet, I hope to teach him to cook a bit and we have a massive 1000 piece puzzle to do!!
Hannah has her small pool out the back.  It would be nice to take her to the swimming pool near here, but everybody has been busy, hopefully next week.
And the garden has taken over.  It's a jungle, but at least the sun is off the windows which helps!

A jungle, the leaves in front are beans!

Goya, these are really bitter but somehow good!



There is a house behind there!



Hannah in her pool



and Christopher studying

And the great bedroom challenge is almost done.  We managed to get a loft bed for Mikey and David's room.  It's massive but has a load of space underneath, complete with built in desk, bookshelf and drawers!  Looks a lot better, few more things to do but getting there!

The new bed/desk, looks better!!

Beach

We went to the beach on Sunday.  The first time in years. I'm not over keen on Japanese beaches, they all seem to be dirty, over crowded and full of idiots that think throwing beer bottles on the beach is the right way to dispose of them.  But Hannah really wanted to go.  The last time she went she was only 2 years old and doesn't remember.  So early Sunday morning I packed a few sandwiches, snacks and bottles of water and headed to Keya Beach.  It took about 2 hours drive to get there. We arrived just after 9 o'clock, there were already a lot of people  there and already very hot!!  We paid to sit at table in the shade.  It was the same place we used 8 years ago, the guy running the place remembered us.  That was nice!





The place we rented a space from, the service is good, free showers with hot water!!

Nobody was swimming, the boys weren't interested and poor Hannah, who really wanted to swim, still had a bad cough and I didn't want to risk her getting any sicker.  We spent about 2hours there, everybody, except Christopher, had a little paddle.  Hannah got her first shaved ice, I think that was the highlight for her.



Shaved ice!!!!!

We left at a good time, as we were driving away a big party of young adults arrived, and cars were backed up for a while.  Nice day out, but somehow exhausting!

Few random photos from the day.


What a week

This has been a very hard.  Nothing major but lots of little happenings.
Poor Hannah has had the worse luck since the beginning of the summer holidays.  The cough that she has is really hanging on, nights are the worse.  The other night she coughed for 3 hours without stopping.  Poor thing was rather blue after that bout and I was rather scared, it is not nice listening to her hack away.  Back to the doctors, more medicine.  She is still coughing but not so bad. During all that she managed to loosen one of her baby teeth, it's been loose for a while, but she said it was in the way.  So she was pushing it with her tongue to get it out when it broke.  Great!!!  Just what I need at 2am,  Hannah panicking with blood running down her face.  I had a look but couldn't get the other piece out, so off to the dentist.  She got 3 teeth pulled.  Christopher was very sweet.  While Hannah was at the dentist he made a little soft toy for her.  In Japan sewing is taught to all students and they are expected to make something.  I was very surprised with what he made, no pattern, just cut and sew.  I can't sew at all. maybe that has to go on my list of things to do!!




This is what Christopher made and below Christopher showing it off



The two big boys both wearing orange T-shirts.

In other news David managed to break my oven.  I don't know how he does these things.  It isn't on purpose but he does seem to have a lot of accidents.  I'm upset about the oven.  I love to bake and had planned on doing some baking this weekend.  Never mind, the oven was on it's last legs and would of needed replacing soon.

Also I have started to update my other blog  http://idealcommunication.blogspot.jp/   This is more about teaching.  If I ever figure out how I will put work sheets on there.  Please have a look.

Of coughs, cockroaches, parties and stumble upon

The past few days have been rather interesting.  I still have a cough from that summer cold I had two weeks ago. I'm not coughing as much as before but the cough is SCARY.  Coughing forces air out of your lungs, then you need to breathe in to get air back in.  But the last few days when I cough it feels as though my throat is closing off and I can't breathe.  From research on the web, (where else?) I have found the best way is to relax and breathe through my nose.  Sounds easy but it is very difficult to remember in the middle of a panic.  And because misery loves company both Christopher and Hannah have started to cough.  Hannah has been sleeping in my room the past few nights, she prepares me a bag for the night, a bottle of water, tissues and a towel.  The other night she woke up every time I coughed and took care of me.  Sweet!!  Last night was her turn to be sick, she coughed for about 3 hours.  Today we went to the doctors, I have asthma, Hannah maybe a cold!!  Great fun.

Talking about fun, or maybe not really fun, was the return of the cockroach or his friend.  Another monster found its way into the house.  Just in the entrance, above the door. David, being very clever, got a chair, stood on it and sprayed the cockroach.  The stupid thing flew at him and he fell off the chair, poor kid, I'm shouting "Have you got it, where is it?"  David looked at me and asked "What about me, I fell off the chair?"  My answer was "But David you are always falling off things."   The cockroach is still on the loose, I am being very careful!!

The kids have finished the first term of school.  So we had a party on Sunday, we ate nice food and watched a movie.  I feel that time is passing so fast and I want to celebrate things. even just getting through a term at school is something to celebrate. 
I spent a lot of time in the kitchen (thank God for air conditioners and fans).  I made some zucchini pizza bites.  I got the idea here http://www.skinnytaste.com/      I changed them a bit to fit what I had in the fridge, but they were nice.



Party food, middle of top photo are rhe zucchini pizza




Hannah helping with the cupcakes

Finally for today I found the 'Stumble upon' web page.  Very dangerous.  I spent hours the other day.  It is too easy to start following links.  But I have found some great sites!

Summer

Tomorrow starts the summer holidays for the kids.  I am sure this is some sort of trick, where has the first half of this year gone to?  I'm really having a hard time believing that it is the last half of July.
Summer holidays here are hard, the weather makes it impossible for the kids to get out much.  My memories of summer holidays were long days walking the hills near my house, or playing in the garden.  But with temperatures over 30C that is rather difficult.  We try to get out, there is a nice water park near here which is fun.  Other than that late evening walks with the dog are our chance to get out.  So what to do when the "I'm bored" whining starts.  I don't want the kids on the games all day everyday.  This year I am going crafty, Hannah is at the age to learn sewing, knitting etc.  I can't really sew so we can learn together.  Christopher is in the last year of junior high school so his summer will be made up of a lot of study, he has to choose his high school and prepare for the entrance tests.  The term examination hell really makes sense as the tension increases as the tests get nearer.  I'm going crazy and I'm not taking the test!!  But I also hope to spend time with him, he needs to learn to cook and since I will be making 3 meals a day it's a good chance!  Also we have a 1000 piece puzzle to do. 

A few random pictures from the last week or so

Hannah on the way to school. Monday mornings she has so much to take






The dog  Lucky








A tori Gate...to no where?