2024!!!

 I remember in January feeling that the move was a long way off! 

We had a year before we had to move, I was sure that by October we would be moved out and I wouldn't have to pay rent! 

That didn't happen. Time just got away from me!

But we have moved, I'm still trying to organize things, trying to find places for all the stuff we have. I've thrown out a lot but there is still too much. I guess another round of throwing out things is in order.

I think 2024 wasn't that bad, just the move hanging over our head made it seem a lot more miserable than it would have been!  

Mikey getting engaged was really great. As much as I love having my kids here I want them to have their own lives, to find happiness and success in life, whatever they decide to do.

Then Hannah passing her test and getting into graduate school was another high point!

celebrating Hannah's entrance to graduate school

Of course, getting to that point had to have some drama!  Just two days before her test she had a seizure. We called an ambulance and got her to the hospital. The doctor ran a load of tests and kept het overnight. According to the doctor the seizure happened because of stress, exhaustion and heat (It was still in the 30Cs everyday).  Of course Hannah started to panic, so we went back and spoke to the doctor, she was very kind and explained in detail about seizures, that Hannah could have another one next week or never have another one her entire life. Hannah was reassured by this, it helped her a lot.

After she was accepted into graduate school she found an apartment near her campus and moved in. That was really bitter sweet!  It was nice watching her make choices, deciding which apartment to take. Then getting all the paper work done, getting utilities set and buying the basic things that she needs. But sad that my youngest was moving out!

Hannah's apartment

She has settled in alright. She is keeping her schedule, makes sure she has good food. I'm glad that she takes time to cook for herself and doesn't rely on take-aways or instant meals!

some of Hannah's meals

David managed to buy his own car.  Having two cars has really helped, especially his car is rather large.

David's new car

our two cars at the old house

David didn't say anything about buying a car. He told Hannah that he was expecting a delivery, so we thought maybe some books that he had ordered!  It was kind of shocking when somebody turned up with a car!

I think Christopher had a hard year. He lost his job because the supermarket closed down, plus moving. He's looking for something but because he can't drive he is limited in where he can work. He has been a big help with the moving, doing a lot of the heavy work. He has cleared out one area of the yard so we can start growing something soon. He has also taken an interest in cooking, he has cooked a lot the past few weeks!

My year started off okay! I kept hoping that the owners of the old house would change their minds and we could stay there! But that hasn't happened!

I got sick in May with shingles, in June with Covid. Took ages to fully recover!

My diabetes is being managed with just medicine and life style changes. I do need to eat a lot more healthy in the new year. I would love to get under 90kgs by my next appointment in March. I've lost a kilo since we moved, without dieting. I think living here is more physical.  

I'm hoping that 2025 will be good, that I can feel settled in this house, get things organized, start doing the yard and growing some vegetables.

I also need to find another way to make money. I have no way of getting to the other city after Mikey moves out.  I've been looking at online teaching but most of the places ask for a degree or some other qualification that I don't have. 

Few photos from the year.

One of Hannah's university trips

moon collage

cats snuggled together

Fred and a toy that he loved chasing around

living/dining area in the old house

The books in the teaching room

Hannah and cats

Beer battered fish

David and Fred having a nap

From Hannah's elementary school

Cat in a hat

outside the old house

Tatami room before we cleaned up

entrance cleaned out

Teletubies

Cat Demo

Glasses from a festival

David's birthday, the T-shirt says I work to fed the cats!

Double rainbow before a typhoon

Musical with Hannah

David's car

tatami room cleaned out

Tired Mikey with the cats

Hannah's hakama for her graduation

Hannah moving out

Just moved

Cats getting use to the new house

snickerdoodles

I hope every one has a wonderful holiday.

Happy New Year for 2025!!!

Osoji Big Cleaning

 It's the end of the year, which mean Osoji, big cleaning, here in Japan.

Toward the end of November cleaning products start to show up in shops all over Japan.  December 13th is the traditional day to start this cleaning. The cleaning is not just to clean the external home but part of the purification to invite the Shinto God Toshigami Sama.  This god is the god for new year and for good rice harvest. The traditional decorations that are put outside the front of the house are to invite him in.

I love the traditional idea of cleaning, to get ready for the new year, having a fresh feeling to the house. I think that today part of the cleaning is preparing for relatives to come. A lot of my students get so excited for the new year holiday, more than for Christmas. It's a chance to get away, visit grandparents, meet up with aunts and uncles and cousins.  I understand their enthusiasm, but at the same time wonder about the grandparents, especially the grandmother, working so hard to clean and prepare food!

The cleaning is not just in homes. The last day of school before the winter holiday the students do extra cleaning. The same at most businesses.  I think going back to a clean environment after the holiday is nice.

We are still doing the moving in cleaning. I'm getting so frustrated with this house and it's lack of storage, especially in the kitchen. I never realized what a luxury having a pantry was.  I would like to buy less, so I don't have to store so much but living in the middle of nowhere means that I have to buy a lot a few times a week. At the old house I could send somebody to the shop if I found I needed something. With stores just five minutes walk away it was easy. Here I have to wait for Mikey or David to go to the store or take me.

Today I made chicken, leek and mushroom pie for lunch!  

lunch

I usually do french fries but David forgot to buy them this morning. That was the kind of thing I would of sent Christopher to get!  Never mind it was a nice lunch. I have another small pie for Mikey and Hannah this evening!

New Year's Shopping

 I really don't like shopping at this time of year.

It's similar to the crazy shopping that happens just before Christmas, at least what I remember, pre online shopping.

But I had to shop today. Sunday is always a busy day for shopping, I try to avoid it if I can, but add to that people shopping for New Years holidays made things rather crazy. These little old ladies dashing about trying to get what they think they need to feed their families. Some of them have their husbands following behind, the husbands look totally fed up, they just want to get home, out of the crowds and cold. 

Japan has traditional foods for New Years, called Osetchi Ryori.  This is presented in beautiful lacquer boxes, two or three tiers high. Each food has a meaning, mainly wishing prosperity and good health for the New Year.  These boxes are pre-ordered from about October!

I don't do Japanese traditional food, except the soba noodles (buckwheat noodles) that are eaten New Years Eve, they are eaten for long life. I'll do them for dinner on New Years Eve.

The other things I have planned is shepherd's pie for lunch on New Years Eve. Not really holiday food but I haven't had chance to make it this year so I thought I would do that! New Years Day I'll do yaki niku, basically grilled meat. It's easy to do!

Also I'm planning to bake, not sure what but I really want to spend time doing that!

On the way back we saw the local train go by. I managed to snap a photo.

Small local train

Something very Japanese about this photo, small train, level crossing, mountains in the background.

The Last Day

 Yesterday was my last day at the old house.

It's kind of sad to see it empty. There's no character left, it's just a house but I still have strong feelings for it.  It was a nice house to make a home in, it became homey very easily, unlike this place which still feels like a dark, cold house!

Few photos from yesterday.

The tatami rooms that we used for teaching

This what it was like before

Small class, the room was very inviting

The bedrooms

The bedrooms were large, they had built in cupboards. The main bedroom had a walk in closet.  Again easy to make comfortable. The large windows not only let in light but also warmed up the rooms in the winter. I think we only used heating upstairs for a short time to get changed!

I enjoyed being at that house. It was one of the best places we had rented.  When we moved in I vowed to never come back to the place we are at now. We had spent a year living with my mother-in-law.  By the end of the year I was ready to leave Japan for good! My mother-in-law was verbally and emotionally abusive.  She would scream and rant at all of us, even Hannah, who was only 6 years old at the time, got her wrath for not lining her shoes up properly.  The kids call it the year from hell!  

Moving to that old house saved my sanity. It took a long time and a lot of tears to recover.  My heart breaks when I think about how my kids suffered at her hands.  This house is full of broken doors and holes punched in walls because she would push us so much that somebody would explode with anger and break something.  I wonder if we handled the situation well but I don't think that was anything else could of done. When Hisao got sick he talked to the welfare staff at the hospital, they were no help at all. Even though my mother-in-law was suffering from the early stages of dementia, they wouldn't take her into a care home.  It got to the point that I couldn't sleep because she would walk up and down the corridor at night, shouting and cursing. I honestly worried for my kids safety. When I told the welfare officers this I was told to get some sleeping tablets! Toward the end of the year Hisao ended up in hospital for a month.  When he got out my mother-in-law wouldn't accept that he couldn't do the heavy field work. She then decided that Mikey should quit high school and I should stop teaching English and work with her in the fields.  We realized then that we would never be able to make her happy, or give her peace of mind because we were there taking care of her. The more we did for her the more she demanded.  In the end I called the police because she punched me in the face just after I had returned from a very painful dental appointment. The police officer suggested a hospital that would take her for a while, a mental hospital that could asses her situation. While she was in there we could find a place to move to.  We managed to get the old house, a friend of a friend was moving back to the US and wanted someone to take over the students she was teaching. It was a great situation for us and we jumped at the chance.

In the back of my diary from that time I had written that I wanted a house that was big enough for us, that we could use to teach in and had space for the dogs. The old house fit all those criteria!  

I didn't think we would stay there that long but it became comfortable. I can't drive so the old house we ideally situated, as everything was just a few minutes walk away.

The first couple of years there were great. I could make money. David got into evening high school in one of the best high schools in the area. Christopher had a great junior high school and Hannah's elementary school actually taught not messing around with anti war talks or human rights problems that the kids don't understand.  

One enduring memory was of the one Christmas when we trying to get a photo for the new years cards. It took 3 hours to get this photo.

Hisao is trying not to laugh!

 This was the kids messing around

Doing some kind of march

When I see these photos I have such a warm feeling. It really was a great time.

Of course, a few years after we moved Hisao passed away.

That was hard but somehow we got through it. I remember desperately wanting time to pass quickly in the hope that I would feel better.

My kids rallied round, they supported each other and me. Even today, 12 years later, they help each other out, they help me out as well.  

Also the students I had at that time were a big help. One lady worked at the City Hall, she helped with all the red tape and getting welfare help.

My memories of the old house are bitter sweet. Lots of great things, some very sad things. But it was a great house to go home to. I had never felt any place I lived in before was "home" but that last house was. I have so many memories there. I still have to go to the city 3 or 4 times a week to teach, which is great but coming back to this house is going to be hard!

It's almost the end of 2024. I'll write about that another day.  

I'm trying to have hope that 2025 will be good but I don't know. It's going to take a lot of energy to make this house a home or at least liveable. 

Hannah is coming back for the New Year holiday, that's nice! I had better clean out my room!!