Confession

My house is a mess!
A disaster!
Every room is over run with things.  The bedrooms are the worst!  Clothes spill out of the closets onto the floor!  Clean laundry is left lying around!
I need to get sorted.  I need to throw out stuff that we no longer use or need!
But I don't and my kids are following my example which is very bad!
Part of my problem is that I worry if I let things go I won't be able to replace them!  So I have clothes that are too small for me.  Drawers that are full of clothes that I haven't worn for about 5 years but I feel bad when I think about throwing them out.  I feel guilty that I have wasted money on things!  Crazy because I almost never buy clothes for myself!
Then there is the problem of the books!  I have hundreds if not thousands of books.  I have book shelves all over the place.  Some I have read and will want to read again.  Some like my cook books I look at time and again,  finding new recipes or making recipes that I know everybody loves.  But then I have books I bought when the kids were little and I wanted them to learn English.  Those take up a lot of space and aren't being used but again it is hard to throw them out.
But I am tired of trying to organize stuff.  This house is very dusty and because stuff is lying around then the dust builds up and drives me crazy!
So  I have to try and sort out.  That is going to be my mission for the rest of this year.  I really want to get things in order. 
Then there is the garden.  But that is another post!!!

3 months

So yet again I've been a bad blogger!
I don't mean to! There are so many things that I have to do everyday. So many things that are still on my list and writing seems to be last on the list!

Hubby asleep on the floor!!

So June.  My least favorite month.Beginning is my husbands birthday!  This year David cooked all his Dads favorite foods!  The end of the month is the anniversary of my Moms death.  And between the rainy season starts,  lots of rain and high humidity!!!

 

Mom yelling at somebody

July and August were really bad for me!  It was just so hot!  Almost everyday was at least 35C.   I went with David and Hannah to the city one time.  According to google map the store Hannah wanted to go to was 5 minutes walk from the station.  I don't know who checked that but it took us almost 20 minutes!
We also went bowling and all you can eat restaurant. Not such a great summer holiday but the heat was exhausting for me!  I'm so glad that David can cook! The couple of times I tried I got so sick from the heat!
So again I will try to write more!!! 

Hannah's Birthday

The beginning of the month was Hannah's birthday!  She is now 14 years old!  I am really having a hard time wrapping my head around that!  I always think of Hannah as a little 1st grader, but she is now in junior high school!
She had a great birthday.  We had a little party and watched a DVD.  Nice family time!

Party food

Hannah and her cake

trifle and a strawberry flan made by David

The next day Hannah and I went to see 'Beauty and the Beast' musical.  I was not expecting it to be so good but I was amazed.  The dancing and singing were very good!

We were early so we had Mos Burger and waited for a while

Watched part of the festival

got to watch Japanese Drummers for free!

Outside the theater doors

Next year is 'Little Mermaid'

Great day but rather exhausting!

We are still having a few earthquakes.  Where we are they are not so strong but the people living near the epicenter are getting jolted a lot, up to ten quakes a day.  Today is one month since the start of these quakes and over 1400 have been recorded.  That is a lot of shaking!!

AGAIN!

Yes, another large quake!
This time the epicenter was in Oita Prefecture.  We are in Saga.  Bit closer than the last big one.  Really not nice!



All I want is a good nights sleep.  But because the biggest quake happened at 1:30am I can't sleep until after that time.  I know that quakes can happen at any time but my mind has got 1:30am equals quake time!  Crazy.
This morning news said that quakes over 1plus are now over 500!  Intensity of 3 to 7 is 80 something times, that is a lot of shaking!
We are lucky here.  The only damage is to nerves!  But people in Kumamoto are really suffering!  Supplies are getting in slowly, this morning the main airport could open but a lot of roads are still too damaged.  The news was showing  one road that had split, there was a meter difference between  the two parts of the road!

I am trying to think of different things.  Making plans to go back to UK for a visit.  We finally have a credit card so I can apply for a passport!  Today I went to the UK government site to check what I need to apply!  According to the site Mastercard, Visa and a few other cards aren't accepted.  I checked the leaflet on how to apply and it says they are accepted.  Somebody has messed up the site!  Typical!  Anyway I sent them an email and hope to get that sorted soon.

David is getting be a really good cook.  He made a wonderful yoghurt cake yesterday (photo next time).  Very nice!  I was telling a couple of my students about Davids cooking abilities.  The one young guy said to David "You are wonderful COCK"  I almost died!  I left David to explain why I thought that was funny!!!

I've had enough

I am so finished with these earthquakes!
Since the first event on Thursday there have been over 400 earthquakes!  Most are focused on the epicenter at Kumamoto and along the fault line.  But we are still feeling a few here!  They are lighter and shorter, but I still stop, hold my breath and hope that it is over quickly!  How people in Kumamoto are surviving is a miracle to me.  Thousands are homeless, no power, no clean water, no toilets.  This mornings news showed people lining up to get food.  Most were quiet, just waiting, but some were chatting and laughing, as if this was the most normal thing to do!

Saturday evening I had to take my mind off things.  So Hannah and I watched 'Gone with the Wind'.  Four hours escape from earthquakes!  That night the boys dragged my mattress downstairs so I could sleep.  But I didn't fall asleep until after 1:30am.  That was the time of the biggest quake and somehow that time now equals earthquake! I know that earthquakes can happen at any time but my emotions are stuck with that time!  Does that make any sense?

The experts predict that these quakes will go on until this weekend.  I really hope that they are right and I can stop being so scared all the time.  Christopher has just left for college and I know that I am going to be worrying about him all day!  Hannah isn't sleeping at night, she went to bed last night but came down later saying that she felt an earthquake but I think it was the wind.  She is really nervous at the moment.  School was hard for her before now seems impossible for her to go.  I can understand her problem.  She lost one parent already and the thought of being away from me at a time when things are not stable is more than she can deal with!  I just hope I can make the teacher understand!  Today Hannah is going to read 'Gone with theWind', she got the books from the library yesterday!

TOTALLY FREAKED OUT

The earthquake I wrote about yesterday was bad.  After shocks were on going through out the day.  Not too bad here, 2 or 3.
Went to bed at 11pm, exhausted, bit worried.  But I thought the worst was over.  Was I wrong!
Got woken up at 1:30 with the whole house moving.  For those who haven't experienced an earthquake it is hard to describe.  This structure, that is solid and has withstood typhoons and thunderstorms is swaying like a reed in the breeze.  The noise that goes with is horrifying.  Sounds like the earth is roaring and tearing apart at the seams.  My instinct is to run, just to get away from it but the best thing is to stay put if there is nothing that can fall on you!  I put pillows over Hannah and hope that the boys have the sense to do the same!  The quake seemed to go forever but it was only 40 seconds!  As soon as it finished I got everybody downstairs.  The epicenter was in a similar area as the night before but the magnitude was 7, here it registered as 5!  That is the strongest I've ever experienced (and hope to NEVER experience again).  As we watched the live news and got an idea of the strength of the quake another one hit.  It was so intense that the news didn't have time to report one quake before another hit.  This went on for an hour or so.  Here the quakes were getting weaker but we could still feel them.  Mikey and David went back to bed.  Christopher, Hannah and I stayed downstairs. I was trying to sleep on the sofa.  Then at 3:55 another big one hit!  I called the boys down as NHK issued a warning for the whole of Kyushu.  Basically saying be ready to evacuate.  There have been a few more quakes but here they are not strong.  I really hope the worse is over.
I know we are lucky here.  In Kumamoto apartment blocks have collapsed, one hospital is leaning over, there are fires, highways have been destroyed.  There was also report of one dam being damaged.  I went out this morning, even our bikes didn't fall over!
But I am really feeling the stress.  My body is over reacting.  Even typing this is making the computer desk shake and I can feel my stomach churn.  When we  have the TV on and the alarm goes off I start heaving and throwing up.  Feels the same as when my husband died, my bodies reaction to stress!  I keep telling myself that I can't change this. All I can do is be prepared, be ready to get out and keep the kids safe.  I can't stop the quakes and I guess nature has to take its course to get back in balance but it is driving me crazy!
I read in a novel once that Mother Nature is bipolar.  Looking out at my yard this morning I feel this is so true, spring is really here and even though my yard is a mess I can see lots of flowers coming up, everything is green.  Compare that to the destruction of last night!!!  Really bipolar!!!

EARTHQUAKE

I know that this is Japan and that Japan is prone to earthquakes. But this is Kyushu and in the 25 years I have been here I can count on one hand the number of news worthy earthquakes.
Last night at 9:26 I was in the middle of my last lesson when the whole house started to move.  I looked at my student, who was far too calm, he said "Earthquake"  I called for the kids to get into the living room and stay together!  The kids put on NHK news, which within a few minutes was showing the epicenter in Kumamoto, which is about an hour and half drive from here.  The earthquake registered as a magnitude 7.  That was followed by a series of after shocks. According to news this morning there have been 104 earthquakes recorded since last night.
Hannah went into total freaked out mode.  Poor girl gets easily scared and it was scarey.  I let her stay down stairs with me until the worst had past.  We went to bed just after 1am.  I could still feel a few shakes but not as bad.  I feel really sorry for the people at the epicenter, in ine town people were evacuated from their home and had to spend the night outside.  It was rather cold last night, the news was showing people just sitting on the floor with blankets wrapped around them.
These quakes could go on for the next week, so not fun!!!