September

 This past month turned out to be a lot harder than I had envisioned!

I thought the worst would be going to my doctor to check how my blood sugar was doing. That turned out a lot better than I thought, even though the doctor challenged me to lose weight before my next appointment in December! I'm happy to report that I'm on target for that, having lost 2 kilos this month.  The big problem is the temptation to start baking now that the weather is cooling down! One thing that I am looking forward to is making pots of soup; they are so filling without a lot of calories! 

I didn't get all the jobs I planned to do. Part of the problem was the heat; only in the last week or so has the temperature dropped below 30 °C. Additionally, we've had thunderstorms every week!

I think the thing that broke September for me was Hannah having another seizure! I really hoped that these seizures were a once-in-a-while thing, like once every couple of years! This was the third one in a year. She had the first one last September, then it's possible she had one while she was at her apartment, then this one. It's about 50 minutes from here to where Hannah lives, a very long drive! While we were driving, Hannah had been taken to the hospital and had some tests and an MRI. I was shocked when I saw her. She was white, her lip was split and swollen, and she had drops of blood on her shirt! The first thing she said was "Sorry, Mommy!" When she came round in the ambulance, her first concern was for the students in the class; she was worried that they might be traumatised by seeing her collapse.

We spoke for a long time with the doctor, he recommended a doctor in the larger city. There are very few doctors who specialise in epilepsy. Hannah came home and stayed here until her appointment with the specialist. 

It was nice having Hannah here for a few days! I think she enjoyed playing with the cats. We managed to have a few walks in the neighbourhood, which was nice!

Her appointment with the specialist was good. He really took time to answer Hannah's questions. The conclusion is that she has epilepsy, it's been there and dormant since she was born! The seizures are triggered by fatigue, and that's why they didn't start until she was an adult. As her lifestyle changed, getting busier and more stressful, the seizures were triggered. I wish she didn't have this problem, but I'm glad that it has happened now and not when she was a teenager. There's no way I could have copied back then. She became a teenager just a few years after Hisao had died. I was in such an emotional mess back then, it really would have been too much for me!

She has medicine that she has to take every day. I think it will take a while to get used to it; it makes her sleepy. 

The best part of the month was going to see Les Misérables The World Tour!

It was a lovely day out with Hannah. Just going to the city, getting something at Starbucks, the excitement of the crowd, the anticipation of waiting for the start. 

The actors were incredible! So much power and emotion in every song. I'm really glad we had the chance. Also, it was a chance to relax after all the stress of the previous couple of weeks, for a few hours to put life aside was good!

So October, I'm looking forward to cooler weather, getting the long list of things that need to be done finished. 

We moved in here last December, and the house was a lot colder than I remembered it being, so the next month will be preparing for winter! I think I need to buy a couple more heaters.

Also, from tomorrow, Christopher will start work! Good! I hope he does okay at this job!

And we had a visitor this morning!

Preying Mantis came to visit.

Not a good photo, as I had to zoom in; I can't get close to these things!

Shopping

 Recently, David has been shopping on the way home from work. The supermarket he goes to is open 24 hours, which is good, but it means that early in the morning, there isn't a good choice of fruit or vegetables.

Yesterday I decided to go and see what I could get! There are two supermarkets that I like, one has good deals on meat and fish, the other is better for fruit and vegetables!

I was really hoping I could buy some nice vegetables, so that was the first stop. I was shocked at just how expensive everything was! A very small broccoli was 250 yen, about £1.25, which might not seem a lot, but last year the same thing was 100 yen, about 50p! The same for all vegetables! I think fruits and vegetables will get a lot more expensive because the weather has been so bad this summer. Too much rain at the wrong time! One news segment I watched the other week was showing a vineyard in an area that was hit by heavy rain and then a typhoon; every single bunch of grapes had gone mouldy. The farmer was saying that every field he had was the same; he had lost the whole crop!

After being disappointed with the vegetables, I went to the other supermarket to buy some meat! I managed to buy some fish, 10 fillets for 1000 yen, about £5:00, again twice as much as last year. The same for meat and chicken. Last year, 100 grams of chicken was about 40 yen, 20p, now the cheapest I've seen is 70 yen for 100 grams!

Coffee is another item that has gone very expensive, 3 times the price it was in the spring!

We are lucky in that I can buy rice from one of my students, but rice prices are crazy. In less than 12 months, the price has tripled! My student said she was shocked at the price of rice. She isn't seeing the benefit of the price hike. She told me that she only got an extra 30 yen on 30 kilos of rice!

As much as I hate this house, I think being forced to move here was a good thing. There's no way I could pay the rent on the other house! Even paying the tax on this property is hard. 

I'm hoping that things will turn around, but I know that I need to make more effort, especially to get new students. 

One good thing is that it is a bit cooler, still too hot for autumn, but that awful draining heat of summer is fading. It's that nice time of year when I don't need to run the air conditioners or the heaters, a chance to save a bit of money!

One problem, though, are the spiders that come in!

This guy ran all around my ceiling the other day, then it disappeared. Should I be worried?

My new friend?

I've seen a lot of these spiders about. For some strange reason, these don't freak me out! 

The Pain......

 Is real.

My back is very bad and very annoying!

Sitting helps to relieve the pain in my lower back. But if I'm using my computer, reading, watching TV or doing anything when I'm sitting, I get pain between my shoulder blades, and sometimes my neck will start to twinge a bit. I try to lean against something, just to support my back, which helps, but still, after a while, I can feel this tightness starting.

So I get up, try to do some chores or have a walk outside. Again, this is okay for about half an hour, then my lower back starts to scream! 

The past few days, my schedule has been: sit down for half an hour, get up for half an hour, sit down again. It's okay, but some of the things I want to get done take more than half an hour.

The weather is finally becoming bearable; it's not too hot or cold. I really want to do sme deep cleaning before it gets very cold. I need to sort out the kitchen cupboards so it's easier to get to things, the bathroom needs to be scrubbed down, especially the window area, and the room I want to use for teaching needs to be refreshed.  Most of these jobs would take over an hour, I keep starting but not finishing, which is very annoying! Also, the outside needs to be done!  The weeds are back with a vengeance. I haven't been able to grow anything this year. I think I could start on some potatoes, but I honestly don't know, and I don't have any confidence that anything will grow!

I know that I have 3 young men living here, and they do help a lot. David is making lunch right now, and Christopher is cleaning one room. Mikey is out teaching today! I hope that the weather will be okay to do outside a bit this afternoon, but rain is forecast, and it has gone very dark. If not, I'll have to try tomorrow morning! From next week, I won't have Christopher's help at all; he starts a new job, and I know that the first few weeks, he will be exhausted, as a new schedule does that!

So, how to cope with my backache?  I'm doing some exercises, they help, but I think it will take time. I'm taking painkillers, sometimes that helps, and I'm still on my no sugar, low carb diet! I've lost just over a kilo since the beginning of September, not a lot, but I think slow and steady is better than crash dieting and then putting it all on again! I really hope that losing a few more kilos the pain in my back will ease!

Just a few photos of the cats to finish with! They drive me crazy, but make me smile as well

 

Same pose, yoga cats!

It's True

 You can't out-exercise a bad diet!

I really hope with all the walking I did on Thursday (6000 steps) and Saturday (8000 steps) that I would have lost a little bit. 

My eating wasn't all bad; I stayed away from sugar, except for a very small ice cream on Friday. At the cafes we went to, I opted for iced tea, with no sugar. Actually, I've found iced Earl Grey Tea to be very nice and refreshing!

Yesterday's lunch was bad, McDonald's! It was the cheapest Uber Eats available! But again, I got iced tea, shared some fries, and chicken nuggets. So bad, but not that bad!

So why no change in my weight! I'm aiming for 1/2 kilo a week! 

One thing I noticed was I got totally dehydrated both days I was out. I drink a lot of water usually, but when we were out, I didn't drink that much. Also, it was hot and humid and I sweat a lot! I could wring out my undershirt on both days! Last night I noticed that my feet were swollen. I thought it was just from walking, but this happens when I don't drink enough water. Today I've been trying to flush out my system by drinking water regularly!

Let's hope this works! I need to lose constantly!

At least now I can see the limits of my body and how much I need to do to change things!

A few more photos from Saturday!

Hannah outside the station

The lobby of the theater had these beautiful paintings on the wall

The stage

More advertising for Phantom of the Opera

Les Misérables

 Yesterday was another adventure into the city, but this time for something fun, Les Misérables World Tour Spectacular, and it was spectacular!

The day started early, the concert was from 12 o'clock, and of course, getting to the venue meant trains and buses, navigating schedules and busy stations, with me in pain from Thursday. I could walk, but not far and not fast!

We got the first bus of the day at 8am! Just a few minutes from Hannah's apartment. That got us to the train station with just 10 minutes to buy my ticket and get to the platform. Hannah ran ahead to buy my ticket. I tried to keep up, but it was kind of impossible. I wasn't too far behind. I got to the gate just as she got my ticket. Of course, the platform was up a load of stairs, I can manage going up stairs alright, but going down is another matter altogether! We had to change trains, which was okay; we had a good few minutes, and the station wasn't that big.

When we got to the city, it was already very busy! In Japan, a lot of places don't open until 10am. We were there at 9:30, but the station was crowded. I forgot it was Saturday, so of course, people were out shopping, going to different events in the city, or just hanging out!

We decided to get something to eat before going to the venue. Neither of us had been to Starbucks, and Hannah had a 1000yen coupon, so that's where we headed to!

We got a drink, I had a Macha Latte, and Hannah had a Starbucks Latte. We both had a sausage, egg muffin. Very good taste. I was rather surprised at the quality!

Starbucks snack!

Then it was the hunt for the bus stop. So many buses, so many stops, all of them the wrong ones. Of course, ours had to be on the other side of a very busy road! And of course, Hannah spotted the advertisements for Phantom of the Opera.

Phantom of the Opera advert, can you spot it?

We managed to get on the bus, which was absolutely packed! We got the last seats, but there were a lot of people standing! The bus ride was about 20 minutes! Not too bad, at least there was air conditioning! That was another thing that made this trip hard; it was so humid, not too hot, but the humidity made me sweat a lot!

We got to the venue about 30 minutes before the start of the show!

The venue, a massive hotel, conference center, and theater complex on the harbor

There were lines for everything! We wanted to get a photo with the big poster; there was a line for that! The people in front of us asked us to take a photo for them, which Hannah did, they then returned the favor!

Hannah looks cute, but I look all frazzled

We found our seats, near the front and middle! Very good seats!

The stage from the entrance

Live orchestra

From our seats

The show was absolutely brilliant. From the opening notes to the end, it scored on all levels. The orchestra, the singers, the soloists, and the ensemble were all amazing.  I cried, Hannah cried, the people around us cried! Even though it was 3 hours long, it didn't feel like it! The children playing Cosette and Gavroche were very good. The actress playing the young Cosette was a Japanese girl. The song she sings has the line "Crying is not allowed," but she pronounced crying as "Clying". Even though that could be seen as a mistake, it somehow added to the vulnerability of the character, making her seem younger and more sympathetic! I honestly didn't want it to end!

At the curtain call, you could take a video or photos. I tried, not great, but you can get an idea of the atmosphere of the theater!

Plus a photo

Jean Valjean and Javar

We left the theater on a cloud, but I was already exhausted, and we had to get back!

The bus back to the station was even more crowded than on the way there! Standing room only, it got to the point that the driver didn't stop at a few stops to pick up people.

At the station, we found a free gospel concert going on. So, of course, we stopped to watch for a bit.

Very good. It was nice to hear gospel music, something I miss!

After that, we had a little walk around, Hannah wanted to check out an accessory shop. The problem was I was so hot and in pain that I really couldn't do much more!  We got a drink at another coffee shop. I wasn't hungry but very thirsty, so I got an iced tea. Hannah got this interesting caramel drink. I had a taste, but it was far too sweet for me!

Hannah's very sweet drink

I like the artwork on the wall.

We decided to get the train back after that!

That was an adventure in itself!

The station that we had to change trains at had an accident with its signals. We aren't sure what happened, but all the trains were either canceled or delayed. We wanted to get the rapid train that only stops at a few stations, but it never turned up. We had to get a local train, which takes almost an hour to get to where we had to change trains. On the way, we noticed a lot of people wearing T-shirts for the local soccer team, so not only were the trains delayed, but they were extra busy as there was a local soccer match! 

We finally got to the station where we had to change, only to find all the trains going in the same direction as we were delayed by up to an hour; a couple of trains were almost two hours behind schedule. We didn't have to wait too long and managed to get seats! 

Once we got back, the first call was to a supermarket for dinner. Neither of us felt up to cooking! We got some sushi and pizza! Interesting combination!

Dinner

I'm glad I got to see Les Misérables in English, maybe the only chance I'll ever have!

One thing I've learnt from the past two trips to the city is that I really do have to lose weight and regain my strength and ability to walk more. Yesterday I did 8000 steps, but it nearly killed me. If I want to travel, I need to be able to do two or three times that much! So that's my determination! 

Make money, get healthy, and travel!

Hannah

 Yesterday I spent most of the day at the hospital with Hannah!

The day started at 4:30 am!! There are only 3 epilepsy specialists in the whole of northern Kyushu! Hannah managed to get an appointment with the nearest one, but that was still about an hour and a half from where we live! I asked Hannah to check the times of the trains and the bus. She said the best would be to get the express train that leaves at 6:24, which would get us into the city just after 7, so we would have about 20 minutes to find the bus stop.

From our house, in the middle of nowhere, to the station is about 40 minutes. Also, there has been a lot of road works and we weren't sure how busy the roads would be, so an early start was a good idea. 

We got to the station just after 6am. I'm looking at the board for the 6:24 train, but it's not listed. There's one at 6:40! I asked Hannah. She's looking at her phone, then at the board. She grins at me and says that she was looking at the wrong station. The 6:24 train was from the station near her apartment! Never mind!!

We got to the city, then got lost looking for the bus stop. Hannah had Google Maps on her phone, which is great, but the train station and bus station are large buildings, with things on different floors that don't really show up on the map! Took about 10 minutes to find the bus stop. We just got to the stop when the bus pulled up, good timing.

I found the bus ride to be very interesting; it went through parts of the city I hadn't seen before, lots of places I would like to go back to! Also, the passengers were interesting, lots of people going to work, kids going to school. I enjoy watching people and wondering what their lives are like!

The bus stopped right outside the hospital! I was really amazed at the hospital's reception area. More like a hotel than a hospital, there was even a grand piano there! Lovely, comfortable chairs that helped you relax, nice music playing. We went to the receptionist's desk, Hannah gave her name and appointment time, and she was asked to fill out a basic form. I noticed on the form that you ask for help with languages, English and Chinese were offered! We were directed to the second floor. At the elevator, I saw the listings for the floors. From the basement to the 3rd floor were the diagnostic areas, outpatient departments, and doctor offices. On the 4th floor, there is the administration office and a hall. The 5th floor has a restaurant and an indoor pool. The 6th floor is preventive medicine, then the 7th to 10th floors are for inpatients!

downstairs waiting area

The lights for the downstairs lobby area

We had to wait a while, but it was very comfortable, so no problem.

The doctor really took time to take a detailed history from Hannah, he also had the MRI from her last doctor and the notes from the doctor. He asked a lot of questions. Hannah had to have an EEG, which took about 50 minutes!

The conclusion is that she has epilepsy. According to the doctor, she was born with it! He showed us on the MRI an area of her brain that is a lighter color than it should be and not connected to another area! I asked why she didn't have seizures as a child or teenager. The doctor explained that her seizures are triggered by extreme fatigue. Her seizures started because her life became so tiring and stressful, which is normal for a young adult! When we talked later about this, we realized that each seizure came after a particularly hard time in her life, exams, teacher training, and the heat in the summer were all factors in each seizure! Hannah was prescribed some medication; she'll have to take them for the rest of her life!

The visit was long. I'm glad that she has this sorted. She knows what's wrong and has medicine to help her. She is looking into some lifestyle changes, learning how to relax, and also thinking about dietary changes that might help!

After we finished with the hospital, we went back to the train station to get a late lunch!

We found Burger King! There aren't that many in Japan, so it's a nice change. I'm not sure what Hannah ordered, but I got a burger with avocado on and iced Earl Grey tea! Very nice!

Lunch

After that, I was totally exhausted. I was so hot and ached in every part of my lower body!

I would have loved to look around the shops, but felt like I was going to collapse! So we got the train back. Mikey picked us up and drove us back to Hannah's apartment. I'm staying here for a few days!

Tomorrow we have tickets to see Les Misérables! I can't wait!

Respect For The Aged Day

 Today is a national holiday, Respect For The Aged Day, Kerio No Hi（敬老の日). This is more than just another holiday; it's a day to reflect on the importance of ageing, family, and gratitude.

This holiday started in a small town in Hyogo Prefecture in 1947. The town declared September 15th as Old Folks Day. This idea quickly became popular, and in 1966 it was made an official national holiday. In 2003, the holiday was shifted to the third Monday in September as part of the "Happy Monday" system, which aims to give workers more 3-day holidays!

Japan has one of the longest life spans. Life expectancy for men is 81 years, and for women, 87 years old! As of September 1st, 100,000 people were 100 or more years old!  That is rather amazing!

Part of this day is to pause and honor what the elderly have done for the younger generations. I love listening to older people talk about their lives, and trying to imagine what it would have been like in Japan after the war, during the recovery time! One of my students told me about her neighbor, a lady in her 90s. This old lady had married during the war, and after a couple of weeks of married life, her husband was called up. They spent the next few years writing to each other. Just before the end of the war, he was killed in action. This lady never remarried; the letters from her husband comforted her throughout her life!  I was so moved by this story.

The community center where we teach is having a special celebration today for the elderly in the local area. They will have some kind of games and give out prizes. The elderly gentleman who runs the community center was an army helicopter pilot. He is in his 70s but still full of energy! He was talking about how he and the other volunteers were organizing this event, talking about the old people. I was listening to him and thinking, "But you are old!".  I know I don't think of myself as old, so maybe he is the same!

If we are lucky enough to grow old, I hope we can do it with some grace and gratitude for our lives. Everyone has their own path, their own struggles, but at the end of the day, if we can say, we have loved and been loved, I think it's enough. I know I moan a lot on here, but I am trying to change my headspace and see the good things in my life. I know I have experienced love, the love from my parents and brothers, the love of my husband and children, and the love of good friends. 

I'm also trying to slow down and appreciate the beauty of the nature that surrounds me here (I still don't like the bugs though!). The other day we had a small rainbow!

a light rainbow

It wasn't there very long, but it made me smile!