Being Hyper Vigilant

 According to my journal, this time last week I was wondering about new designs for my T-shirt business and how to get people to my Etsy shop. 

I jotted down that I was worried by the 10-day forecast that was showing extreme heat and wondered how to get to my lessons; the air conditioner in Mikey's car doesn't work, and I was worried I'd get sick just going to the next city.

At 4:27 pm last Tuesday, all those thoughts flew out of my head. 

My phone alarm went off, then the building started to move, a lot.

I looked calm; Mikey was teaching young kids, just 5 and 3 years old. I didn't want to scare them by panicking, but internally I was having a meltdown!

Since the initial earthquake, we have had a few aftershocks, which is normal. Only one big enough to sound the alarm on my phone, but a lot of smaller ones.

The first night family and friends sent me messages, asking if we were alright. I'm deeply grateful for those messages and the concern of people but everytime my phone beeped I wondered if it was the start of another alarm!

The past week I've been hyper vigilant. Every creak of the house, everytime a heavy truck goes by I wonder if it's another earthquake. I look at my phone wondering if it's going to alert and say "Earthquake, earthquake" in it's rather posh voice. I'm nervous all the time! The other evening one of the cats slammed into my door and I jumped off my bed! 

This is exhausting, I don't sleep very deeply as a rule, the past week my sleep had been very light! Saturday night we had a few after shocks. One at 10pm, I called Hannah, we were tryng to figure out if we were imagining things or not. Hannah and I have decided that if we feel an earthquake then we will call each other, Then at 1 am and 4 am. I felt the1 o'clock one but not the 4 oclock one!

A week later and I'm exhausted but a bit calmer. I keep telling myself that there is nothing I can do to stop an earthquake, I wish there was but there isn't. I can prepare, I can advise my kids, but they know more than I do, from 1st grade kids are taught about earthquakes, what to do and how to prepare. What else could I do?

The weather is extreme. Yesterday where I live hit 40℃, that's crazy.

This was my Google Hub this morning.

7:14 in the morning and already 31℃. It has just started to rain but I don't know if that will help cool things down or make it humid.

At least I can stay in a room where I have an air conditioner. The cities at the epicenter of the earthquake have no power and no water, it was 40℃ there as well the past couple of days!

I know earthquakes are part of life here in Japan. I wish I could deal with them better. I'm better this time than 10 years ago. 

If there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, sorry, Grammarly isn't working!

My New Desk

 I should say new to me!

One of my dear friends is going back to her own country early next year, so she is starting to get rid of things that she no longer needs or uses. She already gave me a load of books. Yesterday I got to pick up a desk that I had admired for many years!

My old desk

The desk I was using was one we bought for Hannah; it was alright but very small. Also, I had a load of books balanced on the shelves, not very safe!

This is the desk my friend gave me!

I love that I have space for my books and that it closes up. I don't usually let the cats in my room, but sometimes they get in. With the desk closed, they can't get to my computer- one less worry!

The desk area itself is bigger, which means I have more space to study. I like having my books spread out when I study; this will help a lot!

Mikey took me; we had to use David's car, which is bigger and has an air conditioner that works!

The drive there was nice; I enjoy seeing the countryside, but I wasn't enjoying the road- very bumpy!

On the way back, Mikey started to laugh; he told me to take a photo of a shop sign.

This is a recyle shop. The name of the shop is "Treasure Factory", which you can see on the building. Unfortunately, the name didn't fit onto the sign. So it got shortened to "Treasure Facku"!

I had a lovely day, talking with my friend and having a nice ride out! 

I'm desperate for the heat to break. The garden is now called the jungle; I have to get out and start cutting down the trees, bushes and weeds as much as possible. I thought about going out this morning, but at 7:30 it was already 31℃, a bit too hot to work in for me!

You can hear the insects; it can get very noisy!

I'm still working on my T-shirts, but running out of ideas for quirky, cute designs! If anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Challenge

 After writing yesterday about how I wanted to restart my diet and health quest this month, a friend sent me a challenge, which I've taken up!

The first thing is NO white food, no rice, bread or noodles! That is going to be hard. Last time I managed to lose some weight, I stopped eating carbs at breakfast and dinner. I would eat some at lunch, but a very small portion. I know it's more psychological than physical, but I can't envision a day without some type of carbs. Today I made fish, scotch eggs (because I wanted to put one in Christopher's obento tomorrow), salad, rice and soup. I had everything, but only one scotch egg and a small portion of rice.

Looks like a lot, but most of the plate is taken up by salad and fish.

For later, I have some blueberries and yoghurt in the freezer to eat.

I've decided that at lunchtime I will have fewer carbs each day until I'm not having any at all. I can't just stop eating carbs; I know if I do that I'll feel deprived and then stuff my face. As I said, it's psychological!

My friend also challenged me to walk 10 to 15 minutes after every meal. I don't have the confidence to walk by myself in the heat. I'm going to walk in my room or in the dining area, where the air conditioners are. I would rather walk outside, but the heat is scary! Today it's 37℃; the rest of the week is going to be about the same! I know I walked in the heat in Tokyo, but I was with Hannah, and there were a lot of people around; if I did get sick, then it would be easy to call an ambulance. Here I could collapse and be found for ages! So, I'll be walking in the house until the weather changes!

I need this challenge; otherwise, I'll just be doing the same thing but expecting different results. I guess it's time to get real. I'm not getting any younger, and I don't want to be old, fat and infirm. I want to be old, energetic and able to do things by myself (except dealing with bugs!).

So I've started today. I refused a cookie that David offered me. I ate my lunch, am thinking about eating my yoghurt, but I'm not hungry. I have some boiled eggs to go on a salad for dinner. I need to do some exercise later, but I think for day one I've done alright!

Can I keep this up? This is always my problem: being consistent. I would love to end this year under 90ks, so I guess I don't really have a choice!

I'm sure that I'll be moaning a lot! 

Wish me luck, and send any ideas or encouragement in the comments!

July

 July was fun, hot and stressful.

The fun part was my trip to Tokyo with Hannah. I really enjoyed the few days we had there. It was hot, there were crowds, and all the walking almost killed me, but it was a lot of fun. We ate nice food, had lots of laughs, saw amazing things and had wonderful experiences! 

Just a few more photos from Tokyo.

Hair salon near the hotel.

For both of us, this was the highlight of the trip. Getting tickets to see this was the whole reason we went in the summer. I think if we couldn't get tickets, we wouldn't have bothered going to Tokyo in July!

Parts of the city were very beautiful. I felt that there was an effort to make places greener and more peaceful. Living in the countryside, I'm surrounded by green; I enjoy seeing it, and I know it doesn't make that much difference to the temperature- maybe a couple of degrees lower, but somehow seeing greenery makes me feel cooler!

The other fun thing this month was setting up my Etsy Shop. This is the link for it: JackiesNekoTales - Etsy Japan

I haven't made any sales yet. I'm still learning a lot about making the designs; yes, I use AI to create the images, but it isn't as easy as I thought it would be. I have an image in my head, but trying to explain to AI what I want can get really frustrating.

This is one of my latest attempts.

I wanted an image to capture the Japanese moon-viewing festival popular in autumn. Just getting this image took over half an hour, going back and forth with AI. I'll try again later as I want the cat on the other side, the moon a bit lower, and the pampas grass opposite the cat and across the moon.

This kind of thing.

The black lines are the pampas grass, and I know the cat looks more like a rat! I really can't draw!

Even with all the challenges, I'm having fun with it and learning a lot about design, about how to make the shop look good. I really need to start selling though!

Being hot is self-explanatory! 

It's really hard here at the moment; today's high was 37℃.  The 10-day forecast is for similar temperatures! Having a working air conditioner in the dining/kitchen room has really helped; at least I can cook without feeling like I'm going to collapse!

Where to start on the stress? 

Money is still tight, but I got a new student, plus one has decided to continue for a few more months. Somebody is going to rent our storage area; not a lot of money, but it will pay the tax on the land. Every bit helps! 

Of course, the biggest stress was the earthquake the other day.

In Japan, there is a sophisticated Earthquake Early Warning system that provides people with seconds to minutes to prepare for an earthquake. It's not a lot of time, especially if you are on top of the epicentre, but you can at least drop, cover your head or hold onto something. The system also alerts critical infrastructure: trains slow down, factory lines stop, and hospitals have a chance to protect patients during surgery!

The alert goes out for an earthquake of M5 or greater, so if the phone alerts you know it's a big one. The alerts are good, and if you can react without panicking, it helps, but I panic first, then act! Hannah said that for a couple of days after the big earthquake, every time her phone made a sound she thought it was another earthquake! For the smaller ones, you are left wondering until it comes on the news or SNS.

Since the big quake on Tuesday, we've felt a few smaller ones, usually an M1 or 2. 

Last night we had an M3 here, a bit big, a bit scary and the reason why I couldn't sleep. I know staying awake worrying doesn't help, but I just couldn't relax at all. I called Hannah when it happened, but she didn't feel it; she was walking to her fridge at the time. I was sitting on my bed, so I think I felt it more!

I know that where we live, the earthquake was scary, but at least everything still works. People living near the epicentre are really suffering: no power and no water, in the middle of a heatwave.

I haven't really thought about what to do in August.

I have to get back on my diet, and I have to try and exercise. I'm sitting here ignoring the cookies in the fridge. I've had some watermelon but would love a cookie. I can't give in; one day where I eat properly is a win. Add them up, and I know I'll feel better and maybe drop some weight! August is going to be my reset month. Really focus on healthy eating!

Also, I have to start making sales on my Etsy shop. I think teaching English here isn't going to happen; we've been putting leaflets out for over a year and only one call, from a rather strange person that I wouldn't feel comfortable teaching. If I could get some students online, that would help, but I think that finding another source of income is a good idea. I love teaching, but I don't have the energy to deal with young kids anymore! I'm exploring other ideas to make money; there are so many ways now, it's just a case of finding what I can do!

Another goal for this month is the ongoing fight with this house and garden. I can't do so much outside; maybe early morning I could cut down some of the trees and bushes, it really looks like a jungle. At least I have an air condition so I can give the kitchen another good, deep clean!

I hope that by the end of August I'll have something good to write about!

Getting To The Airport

 As promised, this is the last post about Hannah and my trip to Tokyo.

When we were going to Skytree, I noticed a sign saying that there was a direct line to Haneda Airport. We went back to that station to find out where to get the train to Haneda Airport without lots of changes. We were both tired and hot, and didn't have the energy for messing around!

The area we were in was Asakusa; from the bit I saw, I think it might be a nice place to stay if I ever go to Tokyo again.

Notice board about the area

Koban, small police station

One of the entrances to the station

There was also this.

I've been wondering about this, so I asked AI.

It's on top of Asahi Beer Hall; it's the Asahi Flame or Golden Flame, it susposed to be a stylised flame; locals have dubbed it the Golden Poop! The golden building next to it is the Asahi Super Dry Hall. Hannah and I kept calling it the Golden Poop!

This was on the gate of the subway.

One of the warning signs says to stay off the tracks. Isn't that obvious?

We didn't have to wait long, and we managed to get a seat. It took about 40 minutes to get to the airport, not too bad.

Of course, we had to encounter some stupid foreigners.

At one station, the doors on the train were closing when this foreign lady put her arm in, forcing them open again so that she and her partner could get on. The train driver admonished them in Japanese, but I don't think they understood, and of course one old guy sat muttering about bakka gaigin, stupid foreigners. There was then an announcement played in Japanese and English saying that trying to stop the doors from closing can be very dangerous; I thought it was a bit too late for that announcement.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, so had a look round for a bit. We found a bookstore, and I found a very interesting book on Japanese history. I like history and have been studying Japanese history on and off for years. But sometimes it can be a bit confusing with all the names and different clans that influenced the Emperor. I guess that is the same for people studying European history: different dynasties, kings and queens.

This is the book I got.

Even though it says manga, it isn't all manga; there are a lot of charts that help a lot.

Difficult to see, but very interesting charts and information

Hannah got a book on the history of education in Japan.

We bought some souvenirs, and Hannah found the cat toy that she is collecting; there are different ones for each prefecture. She now has five; she is wondering if she can go to each prefecture and get each cat!

Cute

We got some tacos to eat. They were very nice, not something we can get easily here.

There were three tacos, just enough to share.

The flight back was nice and felt a lot faster than the trip there!

Hannah got a window seat!

She took a lot of photos as well!

Final approach to Saga Airport.

The flight landed with just a few minutes to spare to get the bus back to the bus station.

Hannah and I were exhausted, happy but exhausted.

I had a lovely trip. I surprised myself by being able to go out in the heat and by walking a lot every day. According to the app I have on my phone, I did over 10,000 steps each day we were away. That is a lot of steps.

But I really didn't learn my lesson from our trip to Mojiko. I determined to be healthier for the trip to Tokyo, but I haven't been sticking to any kind of diet; my exercise has been hit and miss. I would love to travel more, but ending each day in pain because I'm too heavy to walk a lot is not nice. So I have to decide: do I want to be able to enjoy more trips, or is stuffing my face more important?

I would love to go to Tokyo again, not in the summer though. Also, I would like to have a bigger budget, so that I don't have to always take the cheapest options. I either have to win the lottery or sell a lot of T-shirts on Etsy!

And finally, a shout-out to friends and people who have helped me out over the past half a year or so. Thank you for your kindness. Even though Hannah paid for almost everything, I did try to pay for a few things, I saved as much as possible. The help I got meant that I could do that!

Next adventure, I don't know yet.  For now, however, I'm going to concentrate on building my Etsy shop and think about what else I can do to make some money!!!

A lot is happening here, with the house and land to write up, the cats of course and thinking about new businesses. 

Since the earthquake on Tuesday, we've had a few small aftershocks, nothing big but still worrying! How I'm coping and how I'm doing now compared to 2016 is another post for another day!

Earthquake

 I was going to finish writing about my trip to Tokyo, but we had an earthquake yesterday.

The earthquake was along the same fault as the 2016 earthquake. At the epicentre, it was an M7.1. That's big! Where we were, it was an M5; that is big as well.

Mikey had just started teaching two brothers, ages 5 and 3; they are really lovely boys, and I enjoy watching them! I was chatting with their father, talking about the weather. A city, just 44 minutes east of here by car, recorded a temperature of 40℃. We were talking about how crazy the weather had gotten over the past few years and joking that 32℃ now feels cool!

Suddenly the alarm on my phone started to sound. At first I was confused, as the alarms recently have been because of heavy rain, warning of landslides or flooding, but it wasn't raining. Then the alarm started to say, "Earthquake, Earthquake". After that, both Mikey's and the father's phones started to alert.

The whole building started to move. It's such a surreal experience! The building we were in is a modern structure; it feels solid, it feels as if nothing could move it, but there it was dancing back and forth!

The poor kids were really upset. Mikey held the younger one; he wanted to go to his dad, but during the strongest shaking, it's better not to move. The older boy held Mikey's hand. As soon as the shaking slowed down, the boys ran to their dad. He was very calm but looked worried. The kids recovered quickly; Mikey had them giggling and enjoying the lesson. My default reaction is panic, but I realised that it wouldn't help the kids and it doesn't change the situation.

The student's father checked his phone and found that the epicentre was in Kumamoto. He called his family, as his parents and sister live in that area.

I called Hannah. I was really worried about her. She was already stressed and fatigued; she has exams coming up. Stress and fatigue are what trigger her seizures. She was alright; she said that the alarm was scary, and it is! She hit her elbow as she got under her desk. I offered to go and pick her up if she was too worried, but she said she was alright. She said that if she doesn't do well on her exams, she can blame the stress from the earthquake!

David slept through it! Typical!

Christopher was at work. He said only a few things fell off the shelf. He had to check on customers to make sure everyone was okay.

There was an aftershock that sounded the alarm. There have been a lot of aftershocks, but we haven't felt them.

The situation in Kumamoto is bad. One large shopping mall, Aeon Mall, exploded. There is video showing the front of the building being blown out. The latest I heard is that at least 13 people died; I don't know if that is just at the mall or altogether. The news was in Japanese!

The next couple of weeks will be nerve-racking. I'm going on my experience from 10 years ago, but there seemed to be several large aftershocks for at least 2 weeks. 

We are all fine; our friends are all fine. Shaken and worried, but life goes on. My heart goes out to those in the area around the epicentre. According to the news, a lot of places lost power. In this extreme heat, that is going to be very hard! Also, I've seen videos of trains being toppled over- not one that was running; I think it was in a railway yard. Roads have buckled; some bridges have collapsed. The wall from Kumamoto Castle collapsed. The castle was severely damaged 10 years ago; now it's been hit again.

Even though I'm worried about more earthquakes, I'm a lot calmer this time round than 10 years ago. I watch the Japanese people, even my own kids and see how even though they are worried or upset, they just keep calm. There's a video showing people leaving the mall after the earthquake; they are clearly upset and stressed, but the evacuation is orderly, not running or pushing, just walking calmly and quickly to the exit. I need to learn how to do this!

If nothing else happens, I'll write about getting to the airport tomorrow!

Last Day In Tokyo, Visiting Skytree

 After the heat of the day before, we weren't in a rush to leave the air-conditioned hotel room.

I was watching a news report about the heat in Tokyo. I had told Hannah that I felt the heat coming from the pavement. On the news report, they had a thermal camera that showed the pavement was 43℃; it wasn't my imagination then!

We thought about going straight to the airport, but our flight wasn't until 4:30 in the afternoon. We checked a few places to visit and decided that the best option was Skytree. It stands 634 meters (2,080 feet) tall. This makes it the tallest tower in Japan and the second-tallest structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

As it was the last day, we treated ourselves to breakfast at the hotel. 

My breakfast

Hannah's breakfast

I liked that they had salad and miso soup. It was buffet style; I went back for the soup a few times as it was very good. Also, I was craving the salty taste.

After checking out and sending our luggage back by a door-to-door luggage service, we headed off for our last adventure of the trip.

This was the artwork at one of the stations.

All along the wall on the platform were different artworks, but I didn't get a chance to take photos.

This was the first sighting of Skytree.

Just a glimpse as we got out of the station.

There are stores and restaurants at the base of Skytree.

I knew that Skytree was tall, but I never realised how big the base was. I guess it has to be big to support the weight and offer stability to the tower.

We didn't go to the very top, but even at the lower observation deck the views were incredible. Because of the heat, there was a haze over the city, but still a very good view.

During the March 11th, 2011 earthquake, Tokyo was hit badly. I remember one news report showing Skytree, which was still being built at that time. The video showed two cranes on top of Skytree; the report said that the workers in the cranes were probably traumatised for life. Even though it was very high, I felt protected because of the structure; the workers, however, didn't have that protection; it must have been very scary for them.

Hannah said it was like looking at a miniature model.

Selfie, but I look awful, just too hot!

Wind chimes

We got a professional photo. You can buy one copy and download another one.

Nice photo

We went down to the next level where there was a glass floor. Why I thought it would be a good idea to look down through it, I don't know! I have a problem with heights; if I look out, I'm okay, but if I look down, I feel dizzy!

On the glass floor

We took a lot of photos.

I can't remember the order or where we took them, so I'll just put them on here.

An elementary school.

The Skytree character

We spent ages on the observation deck but finally went down to get some lunch. Of course we got lost, but we got a lot of good photos! Sometimes getting lost is good!

Outside event space, there was a beer festival going on.

Looking up at the tower

The event space that we saw from above.

Lunch: sushi bowl that we shared

We had a lovely morning at Skytree, but it was time to head to the airport.

Getting to the airport was another adventure, but I'll have to write about that tomorrow as I have to get ready to go and teach now!