Another Problem

 The sink and small counter leading to the stovetop are made of metal.  Since Saturday we have been getting small electric shocks whenever we touch those areas.  At first, I couldn't feel it but I was washing dishes this morning and felt a tingle from the water!  There are no electric outlets in the area, the nearest two are on different walls.  I have no idea what is going on!  David is trying to contact someone who is an electrician.  If not, we will have to contact the real estate agent and get yelled at for the cats' mess.  Since they are already kicking us out I really don't care what they say.   What a life!

Our cat Fluffy is driving me crazy!  She finds the narrowest places to sleep and of course, falls off.  She also steals food whenever she gets the chance.  I made some blackberry muffins.  My oven is very small so I can only do one tray at a time. I left the bowl on the countertop, half an hour later found Fluffy licking the bowl!!  Even after I moved her she went back two or three times to get more.  She then sat by me as I was eating, giving me sad eyes so I would give her food!!

This was the other day.  I had made some tuna sandwiches and had a bit of tuna leftover.  I put it on the table, turned my back and Fluffy had her head in the bowl!!  She gets cat food and eats okay but she loves people's food.  Non of my other cats do that!!

Downsizing

 The house we are in now has two large Japanese-style rooms that we use for teaching, a large open-plan living, dining, and kitchen area, and four bedrooms.   The house we have to move to is about half the size.  There's a large Japanese-style room that has the family Buddhist altar, two small bedrooms, a kitchen/dining area, and a small living room.  There is a massive two storey storage area next to the house which we are thinking of converting to extra bedrooms.  But even with that, we have too much stuff.  So we have to downsize as much as possible.  We've already started.  Today Mikey took a car full of books to the recycle place, the books will be turned into recycled paper, which is good.  Most of those books were the kid's textbooks from elementary and junior high school, loads of out-of-date books from teaching.  The big problem for me are all the kid's books that I still have.  They are in the room that I use for teaching, some are picture books that the students can look at, some are story books, Mikey reads them to the younger students, translating to Japanese as he goes.  

Some of the books in the teaching room

Most of these I will give away to other international families.  At least I hope to!!

Doing this is driving me crazy!  I think we have done a lot to move to the other house but then I realize that there is still a lot to do!!  Sometimes I feel that we will never have the other house ready to move into.  I guess we just have to keep on.  I don't have much confidence that I can do a lot in the summer but have to try!!!

How Good is AI?

 Suffering from writer's block! David suggested that I use Bing AI to generate a blog post.  I asked for a post about living in Japan, countryside living and frugal living.  It came up with a lovely post but was completely wrong, it's written as if I had just moved to Japan.  Here is the post.`

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Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the spring season. I know it's been a while since I last updated my blog, but I have some exciting news to share with you. I have moved to the countryside of Japan!

Yes, you heard that right. I decided to take a leap of faith and leave behind the hustle and bustle of the city life for a simpler and more peaceful one. I have always been fascinated by the Japanese culture and lifestyle, and I wanted to experience it first-hand. So, I packed my bags and moved to a small town in the mountains, where I rented a cozy cottage surrounded by nature.

It's been a month since I arrived here, and I can honestly say that I don't regret my decision at all. I love waking up to the sound of birds chirping and the fresh air filling my lungs. I love walking around the town and meeting the friendly locals who always greet me with a smile. I love exploring the nearby temples, shrines, and hot springs that offer a glimpse into the rich history and spirituality of this country.

But most of all, I love living frugally and sustainably. Living in the countryside has taught me to appreciate the simple things in life and to be more mindful of my consumption and waste. I have learned to cook with seasonal and local ingredients, to make my own cleaning products and toiletries, to reuse and recycle everything I can, and to grow some of my own food in a small garden. I have also reduced my expenses by cutting down on unnecessary shopping, entertainment, and transportation. I feel happier, healthier, and more fulfilled than ever before.

Of course, living in the countryside is not without its challenges. Sometimes I miss the convenience and diversity of the city life. Sometimes I feel lonely and isolated from my friends and family. Sometimes I struggle with the language barrier and the cultural differences. But these are all part of the learning process and the adventure that I signed up for. And I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my new life in Japan. I will try to update my blog more often and share more stories and tips on how to live frugally and happily in the countryside. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below. Thank you for your support and stay tuned for more!

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Nice post but totally unrelated to my life!  

My life is all about still trying to understand Japan, even after 32 years here!

My life is all about trying to make my money stretch from one month to the next.  This month it hasn't and I have no idea what to do!

And of course, my life is about trying to make a house that I don't even like into a home that I can feel happy in.

The AI post is very uplifting, talking about waking up to the birds and the fresh air but for me at the moment waking up just means another day of struggling, getting chores done, teaching and just surviving.  Maybe AI's life is better!!

Mikey has been practicing his balloon art.  This is a puppet head that he made!

And David has been teasing the cats!  Steve with a cabbage leaf on his head!!

The House Again

 Last Friday David, Christopher and I went to the house to clear out more stuff.  

Now is the hard part.  The past few months I've thrown out most of the stuff my mother-in-law had saved. That was easy as I had no feelings for the things that she had collected.  The only emotion I had was what a waste of money!  Now I have to sort and throw out the things I've been hanging onto.  Friday it was the massive collection of books.   Hundreds of books, maybe thousands.  We set up bookshelves for the ones I want to keep.  That has made the idea that we are really moving there more real.  Seeing books out of the boxes and onto bookshelves means we are moving.  I'm still trying to find a way to get enough money to buy a place where we are.  I thought of selling the house and land but it wouldn't be enough to buy something here.  So I have to accept, even though it breaks my heart!

Looking through the books bought back so many memories.  Books I bought for the kids to read and books I read to them.  Some of those I kept.  The next big problem is the huge pile of videos, DVDs and CDs.  I have no idea where these can be thrown away.  Also the toys.  I must have spent a fortune on my kids!!

Outside storage, a lot of stuff for fieldwork

Driveway to the outside storage

Stone house in the garden, I never noticed it before

When I returned from the house I found the kitchen sink was blocked again.  Another call to the plumber but we had to wait until today before he could come.  3 days without a kitchen sink, is kind of crazy! We managed but I'm glad to have it fixed.

And today Hannah went to the city by herself to watch a musical.  It's based on a Japanese anime, so I have no idea what the story is.  She looked all grown up this morning when she left.  

Going to the theater

The Kitchen Sink

 Last week both Christopher and Hannah got sick.  Christopher started on Thursday, with a sore throat, sinus headache, and stuffy, runny nose.  I thought it might be allergies because I was down with allergies on Tuesday.  But Thursday night Hannah started to complain of a sore throat.  Looks more like a cold.  Problem with Hannah is that she always gets very high fevers.  Friday afternoon her fever was up to 39C.  She slept most of the day.  By dinner time she felt better but hungry.  Dinner in our house is usually self-service.  We have our main meal at lunch, then leftovers or whatever can be found in the kitchen for dinner.  Our evening schedules are crazy,  David doesn't eat, he's still sleeping, but will have breakfast at about 10:30.  Mikey eats at about 9pm.  Christopher at 9:30 if he has work, and earlier if no work.  Hannah either after 10pm when she has work at the cram school but earlier if working at the drug store.  

Last Friday was a holiday so I decided to make something for Christopher and Hannah, maybe some nice soup.  Started washing the dishes and noticed that the water wasn't draining.  The kitchen sink here is rather strange.  There are two sinks, one very large, the other too small to be useful.  The second sink I use to drain the wet dishes.  The two sinks are connected underneath.  I noticed that the dirty water from the large sink was backing up to the small sink.  I decided to unscrew the waste pipe to drain out the sinks and see if I could find what was blocking the sink.  I managed to unscrew the pipe from the big sink but the weight of the water pulled the pipe away from the small sink, ripping the plastic, making both sinks unusable.  Time to call the plumber.  We had phone numbers for emergency plumbers.  Hannah had to call.  But she wasn't sure how to explain what was wrong in Japanese.  She managed somehow.  The plumber came at 7:30 and got the sink fixed in about 10 minutes, cost was 7000 yen, about 40 pounds.   I'm glad that it's fixed and that it didn't cost too much!

David keeps taking my phone to take selfies, so I'm putting them here.

 

Resturant Outing

 To celerbrate Hannahs birthday we went to a shabu shabu resturant.  Shabu-shabu is a way of cooking meat in broth at the table.  There are different sauces to dip the meat in.  Besides meat, there was a lovely all-you-can-eat salad bar, vegetables to cook in the broth, rice, curry and dessert bar!  Since the pandemic started, we haven't been out as a family, so it was nice to eat, talk and laugh!  One thing that I liked was the robot waiter that bought the meats to the table!  I got very excited by that, much to Hannah's embarrassment.

Our robot waiter

David, Mikey and Christopher

Hannah and myself

The cake was a surprise that David ordered when he made the reservation!

On Hannah's birthday we had a nice dinner as well. Hannah ordered pizza, David bought cake and I made a trifle.  But because of everyone's schedules we couldn't eat together.

Cakes and trifles

I know I shouldn't have sugar but I made an exception for Hannah's birthday.  One thing I found was the next day I felt very sluggish, so I can see that sugar really doesn't suit me at all!!!

Hannah

 Today is Hannah's birthday.  21 years old.

With Hannah, I'm always amazed that she has grown up.  She was born extremely premature, I was just 26 weeks pregnant.  She weighed 903 grams.  Very tiny, especially since the boys were all over 3000 grams! The doctors gave her just a 30% chance of surviving and the possibility that she could have brain damage or be blind.   But here we are 21 years later.  She not only survived but has grown into a beautiful young woman.  She has such a caring nature,  always giving to others, and thinking of others before herself.  The career path that she has chosen reflects that she wants to teach and is trying to get a license for elementary school teaching and special needs education.  Instead of expecting me to support her financially, she has taken responsibility herself.  She has found different scholarships for her university and is working two part-time jobs for things she wants to buy!

Some photos of Hannah!

A few days old, the pipe is to help her breathe.

A machine that kept her alive

First time to hold her

Feeding, straight into her stomach

Back home, 4 months in hospital

with Dad

All my kids

When Hannah was a year old we visited England.  It gave my Mom a chance to be with her.

with Grandma

and Granddad

Starting to toddle

playing Cinderella

Asking Santa for lots of presents

Making dinner, maybe 12 years old

elementary school

Graduation from elementary school

junior high school

on the way to England

tickets for Phantom of the Opera

graduation junior high school

high school

now

starting elementary school

Sorry the photos aren't in order!