2025

 What a year!

It was a real roller coaster ride this past year.

The only thing that didn't change was our financial situation! It didn't get any better; still struggling month to month. Christopher having a job helped a bit, but we need a lot more money to get things done!

January was all about getting used to a new situation. Commuting to work, trying to clear the garden (still working on that), finding where things belong (still working on that), and getting used to this house and area.

I wasn't happy to be here; I'm still not that happy, but I've accepted the fact that I have no choice, this is it. 

January and February were challenging due to the cold and the inability to heat the house. Now we have heaters, the dining/kitchen area gets warm when I'm cooking, which helps. 

I really hoped things would get better as the year went along. I hoped to get new students, but that hasn't really happened.

March was Hannah's graduation. That was nice! Also, the fact that she finished university and was ready to move on to her next adventure was exciting!

Hannah in her hakama

As we moved into spring I decided to try and get some students here, but that didn't happen. I had leaflets put out but not even one call! The only good thing from that was getting the tatami room set up to teach in. I still want to get students here, it would be a lot easier for me. Also David wants to try and teach, I think he's had enough of driving 40 minutes at night to work. I hope by this February that we can start putting leaflets and collecting some students. I even tried on line but that didn't work either.

At about the same time we got the tax bill for the land, another finacial burden plus the city calulated my national insurance contribution. This is calulated from the tax dated 2023 to 2024, which was a lot more than my current earnings. I know that by going to the city hall I can get a discount, the problem is the city hall in this city is massive and I tend to get lost! I managed to change the amount I had to pay, I'm wondering what will happen next April.

Summer starterd with a vengence. Heat, humidity and loads of rather scary storms! The one I remember was when Mikey and I were driving to the other city to teach. There was almost no visibility, and some of the roads were flooded! Mikey pulled over to call the mothers of the students to cancel the class, there was no way we could get there plus we thought it too dangerous for the kids to be walking in the storm.

This is just a few minutes of that storm, it went on for over an hour.

Even though I had a lot to look forward to in the summer, Les Miserable Concert, in English and a couple of day trips, summer ended up being rather stressful and miserable.

I will admit that summer isn't my favorite season, the heat and humidity make it hard for me. Add to that this house only has one working air conditioner in my room, really didn't help at all. Also, the summer seems to be getting longer every year!  This year the heat stayed until October, even in November I was wearing short sleeves!

The worse thing, however, was Hannah having another seizure. This made three in a year. The first one was in  2024, either end of September or the begining of October. The next one was in July, we aren't sure if she had a fit as she was by herself. She called late at night in a panic, she felt totally unfocused. She said that she woke up and couldn't remember her name or where she was. After that episode she came home for a week, The next seizure in September of this year, was infront of the class she was observing. She got an appointment to see an epilepsy specialist who diagnosed her with epilepsy. She has medication to take but she needs to learn how to deal with fatigue and stress, these are what trigger her seizures. It's been a real learning curve for her!

In September Hannah and I went to see Les Miserables In Concert. It was really good. I'm glad we had the chance to see it. We've watched it twice in Japanese, which was good, but to see it in English was rather special!

October was typical with bad allergies! Every year I go through this. Summer is hard, I try to keep on top of things but because we don't have working air conditioners it got harder and harder to do even the basic chores. I tell myself that I'll catch up in the autumn, only to be hit by awful allergies that have me in bed with low grade fevers for a few days each week!

November was the day trip to Hita. I really enjoyed that day. I also proved to myself that I can walk more, that I can have energy to enjoy sightseeing and experience a different aspect of Japan. I also realized that I want to learn more about Japan and Japanese history. Not just the political history of who the rulers were, what battles happened and when or the change in the goverance of Japan but the history of the people, how they lived, what their houses were like, how they made money, educated their kids or what they ate! 

Hita

I really hope to have more trips next year, there are so many places to see, even locally!

One place that Mikey and I visited was Ukiha Inari Shrine.

Spectacular views

Beautiful Tori Gates

Also another shrine I visited was Kora Taisha Shrine, this time with David.

This time I remembered to take a photo of the shrine itself.

Decemeber got busy toward the end of the month. A trip to Costco, paid for by Christopher. I hadn't been in over 9 years, so it was a nice change. I'm still enjoying the delicious cheese I bought there.

Christmas was quiet. Nice dinner Christmas Eve, then Hannah and I went to see The Phantom of the Opera on Christmas Day.

The past year had many challenges. Part of my struggle was not wanting to start again at 63 years old. I always thought that at my age I would be settled, not retired but taking things easy, traveling a bit, figuring out how to deal with old age. But I had to move, I have to restart our English school, I have to work a lot more to save for when I can't work. That was a lot to deal with emotionally. Hannah being diagnosed with epilepsy was a real curve ball as well. The lads have been very good and supportive. They've put up with my moaning, they have all helped with the mountain of work that needs to be done. Christopher has a good job, not high pressured but a steady income. Mikey and David are always willing to drive me to different places. 

Next year? Who knows? I have plans, I'm thinking about some goals that I want to achieve. As one of my friends said "I hope that the end of 2026 will see you with less kilos and more money!". I really hope so, the opposite would be awful!

Happy New Year!

By the way my grammar/spell check app isn't working, so if there are any mistakes, I'm sorry!

A British Village And Frog Temple

 The other night, I was scrolling through a Japanese app that combines video and photo sharing, focusing on lifestyle. I think it's aimed a young people as a lot of the content is fashion and make-up, but I enjoy the recipes and travel posts. I came across a post about an Antique British Village. I can't really read Japanese, but I can figure out a few things. The address for this place looked like it was in a small city just 30 minutes from here. I asked Hannah to check on Google Maps, and it turns out to be very close. Also, next to the British Village is a Frog Temple!

Mikey drove us out there this afternoon.

The village was nice, very cute and looked very British. The little area is called Arlington Village, named after a row of honey colored cottages in a village in the Cotswolds.

Information about the name of the village.

The first thing we saw when we got out of the car was a "Hobbit Hole"!

Cute!

It's not a real dog in the kennel!

This was in the car park. The walk down to the village was really nice!

The roadside was full of flowers.

The village itself was small, about 7 shops. The main gallery and office were closed because of the New Year holiday, but just having a look around was nice! Hannah said the weather was perfect, cold and overcast, typical British weather.

The entrance.

We had to find cats!

I can imagine being in England!

Lovely little birds on a water feature.

Coalport bricks.

I don't think they came from Coalport! There wasn't anyone to ask, maybe next time.

Of course, a selfie with Hannah!

It was really small but somehow authentic! I would love to go again and have an English Tea, maybe in the spring.

The Frog Temple was next door!  It's very interesting to be walking along, seeing all these English-looking buildings next to a temple!

The temple is known as Kaeru-dera, カエル寺, the formal name is Seieizan Nyoirin-ji 清影山如意論寺. It was founded in 729.

The grounds are very big, with frog statues all over the place.

The word カエル kaeru has other meanings besides frog. One meaning is to return. Another is to change. There are a lot of these themes throughout the temple.

By crawling through this frog's mouth, you can change your luck.

If you hug this statue and pray, all your stress will go away.

So, of course, Hannah hugged it!

Hannah in a heart

Around every corner, there was something else to see. 

This saddened me, Japanese scriblings.

This one was getting repainted because of the same problem.

There is also a collection of frog statues. We even found Kermit!

Kermit

Planes with a frog picture, so they will return.

There was this lovely wall on the way out!

We had a lovely afternoon. Lots of walking, again! But I don't feel too bad!

Unfortunately came home to David being sick! This seems to be his schedule; almost every year, at this time, he gets sick. I really hope it's just some bug he's picked up, and he'll be better soon.

Osoji...The End Of Year Big Clean

 When I first came to Japan, I would hear a lot of students talking about "Osoji", the end-of-year big clean. Osoji literally translates to "big cleaning".

This cleaning isn't about preparing your house for relatives to visit; this big clean is about purifying your home (or office, shop, clinic, school, etc) for the new year. A chance to remove the dust of the old year and welcome the New Year with clarity and good fortune.

In most homes, families clean together. Deep cleaning of kitchens and bathrooms, polishing floors, and cleaning tatami mats. If the weather is good, futons are hung out to air!

A lot of people use this as a chance to declutter. Second-hand stores are great to visit just after the New Year, as they have so much stuff, and there is usually a good sale!

Most of this cleaning takes place in the last week of December, just before the New Year decorations go up.

I've always found it too cold after Christmas to do a lot of cleaning, actually, to do a lot of anything!

Again this year, I got most of the deep cleaning done before Christmas. For me, being able to relax over Christmas and not worry about cleaning, except for the daily chores, has always been important. I always liked to cook and bake over the Christmas holiday, and of course, spend time with my family.

This year, I managed to get almost everything done before Christmas, except the entrance and the porch and the walkway in front of the house! 

The walkway, to the right, are the main windows of the house.

Part of the front porch.

For some unknown reason, this area has become a dumping area for things that don't belong in the house but never make it to the storage area. The blue box in the front of the photo is the cooler I used for shopping in the summer. It was supposed to be put away a few months ago, but it just sat there! There are gardening tools, including the infamous rake, the one I stepped on and smashed myself in the face, yes, just like in a cartoon, and it hurt like crazy!

I got Mikey and David to put things away; some of the stuff was heavy, I don't even try to lift heavy things any more!

Hannah had an important mission. She had to guard the entrance; the door was open, and we didn't want the cats making a run for it!

Hannah on guard duty!

I took a little video of Mikey and David working hard.

If you are wondering why Christopher isn't helping, he's at work! He doesn't have a day off until January 1st!

David found a lot of these little lizard things.

Little lizard, kind of cute.

There is still more to be done, maybe over the next couple of days, but it looks a lot better.

Still need to move the boxes and other bits and pieces.

While everyone was finishing off the cleanup, I made shepherd's pie for lunch. One of my students is a farmer; she gives me boxes of vegetables every now and then. The last lesson before the holiday, she gave me a massive box of potatoes. She said that she couldn't sell them as they have eyes and there are too many for her family!  I was so happy to get these potatoes. Rice is alright, and I don't mind having it almost every day, but I love potatoes!

Shepherd's Pie.

Christmas Part Three

 After the shrine, we made our way to the theatre.

The theatre is in a shopping mall, most of the stores are brand/designer stores, besides the theatre, there's a movie theatre and a hotel. It's not very big, but somehow we always get lost when we go there.

The orange and grey building with the spikes on is the part of the mall where the theatre is.

Part of the mall.

The left-hand side is where the shops are, opposite, across the water feature is the hotel.

We had a walk around, looked in a few shops, decided that as much as we loved the clothes, shoes and bags, we really didn't like the price! One short jacket for Hannah was 8,000yen (about £38), we didn't bother to see how the matching skirt cost!

One store that I like to look in is a vintage store. I was looking around and realised that most of the items were fashionable when I was growing up. To think that fashion from my teens is now vintage made me feel old.

We made our way to the theatre, found our seats and got comfortable. Our seats were rather far back, but the view was alright!

Our view of the stage.

I felt the first part, the auction, wasn't that good, so I was worried that I wouldn't enjoy it so much, but as the chandelier was lifted up and the first strains of the famous introduction started, the feeling of anticipation returned.

Just as we were settling into the first act, one of the staff members stopped by my seat. I was sitting on the aisle seat! The gentleman, who had the seat next to Hannah, had just arrived. I stood up to let him pass, and Hannah moved aside, but he turned away and stood behind us. We were in the last row. This happened two or three times until he finally sat down. I have no idea what he was playing at; if he had just sat down the first time, it wouldn't have disturbed us so much! As we were leaving during the interval, the staff member pulled us aside and really apologised to us. The gentleman, who had caused all the problems, simply ignored us. We accepted the apology, but also told the girl that it was no problem.

The show itself was incredible. Each actor brings something different to the roles they play. The actress who played Christine had a sense of innocence about her, a naivety that helped me to empathise with her. The Phantom seemed more cruel, more obsessed with Christine. As always, the last scene had me in tears, where the Phantom sings to Christine, "Christine, I love you".

Of course, there was a standing ovation at the end, calling the cast onto the stage many times, with the actor playing the Phantom taking the last bow!

With the poster outside the theatre

The cast for this production

We were both a bit peckish at this point, but not hungry enough to want a full meal. We found an Italian restaurant where we shared a pizza.

The pizza tasted nice, but the topping kept sliding off!

Nice pizza.

The topping and base are separated!

It was already rather late. So we made our way back to the train station to go home. It was about 5:30, it was so packed!

I wanted to see the Christmas lights and the market. We went, but only stayed for a few minutes; it was just so packed! I managed to get a little video, but I couldn't see a way to get to the front of the stage to see the performers!

Just trying to get my ticket for the train and getting to the platform was an effort. I was jostled, pushed, and hit with suitcases so many times, I thought I would have bruises all over!

We managed to get the rapid train back. It was about 6 minutes late, the driver apologised, saying that the express train in front of this one had a safety check that took longer than expected! 

I had to stand most of the way. At first, I wasn't happy about that; my feet hurt, my knee was throbbing, and I thought I would pass out from the pain in my back! But when I looked at the people around me, I noticed how tired everyone looked, not just tired from that day, but tired from work; most people on the train were workers or high school kids going home. I was tired from a great day out with Hannah, a day I chose to go to the city. These people were tired from work, maybe doing this commute 5 or 6 days a week. I tried to adjust my attitude and be grateful that this train ride is once or twice a year, not almost every day. Even though I ached, I could endure it better with this mental shift!

Mikey picked us up and drove us home! 

Boxing Day, December 26th, I slept most of the day. I was so tired.

Also, it tried very hard to snow yesterday. You can't really see it in the photos, but a good few flurries were coming down!

That was our Christmas. More quiet, more peaceful, but a lot of fun and a lot of love!