David

 At the end of March David joined the Japanese Army.  Unfortunately his career came to a halt with a medical discharge!  About 2 weeks into basic training his knees were very painful. He went to the base doctor, who took x rays, couldn't see anything, gave David some strong pain killer and sent him on his way. The next day David did a 10K hike in full gear.  His knees were so bad after that that he couldn't walk.  He was taken to the large hospital in the city where he was given an MRI.  He has stress fractures, one on the knee, the other was on the inside of the tibia, which why it didn't show up on the x ray. The doctor said that with rest it would take 6 weeks to two months to recover.  But David couldn't rest.  So even now 5 months later he is still in pain, he can't run or jump and is wary of riding his bicycle.   He came home and got a part time job while deciding what to do.  He is working at a local 7-11.  He said that a lot of his co workers are foreigners so he is helping them with their Japanese!

Saturday was David's 26th birthday!  Christopher bought him some books and Mikey got him some games.  I wanted to cook a nice meal but I'm also having problems with my knees and standing for any length of time is very painful.  I'm going to the doctors this afternoon to get stronger pain medicine!

David doesn't like his photo being taken, we managed to get a few silly shots!

David with a bag on his head!

with one of the cats

David really loves the cats and is very good at taking care of them.  But the other day he grabbed one of the kittens and wiped the sweat from under his arms on it.  The other cats came sniffing around and started to gag on the smell!

Selfie and a selfie of Fred

First Week of Summer Holidays

I didn't really plan to do anything this past week.  But it turned out to be very busy!

Tuesday I had to go to the city to renew my "Alien Registration Card"  I'm guessing that each country has a system to track legal immigrants in the country.  This is Japans way.  I have a permanent residence visa, so  can stay in Japan but every 7 years I have to renew my card.  It's very quick to do but the drive to the city is about an hour, then finding the immigration office took time.  Still it's done.  I then did a bit of shopping.  There's a nice import food shop that I like to go to, managed to buy some Weetabix.  When I got back we went to another city.  Library and craft supplies shop.  Hannah needed some material to make a mask for home economics class.

Wednesday I did nothing.  Tired from Tuesday.

Thursday Hannah invited a friend to watch a musical together.  I made cakes for them to enjoy.  I had to go to the city hall and to mobile phone shop.  City Hall was very quick, mobile phone shop took forever!

Hannah's DVD and cakes

Friday Mikey, Christopher, Hannah and I went for a nice drive.  I wanted to see the sea.  The drive was lovely, through small towns, villages and countryside.  Our poor car really struggled on the mountains so we couldn't use the air conditioner.  

Some of the sights we saw.

I don't know what the white building is but looks lovely

The writing under the left octopus says takoyaki.  

Takoyaki is a popular snack in Japan.  Little bit of octopus cooked in a dough and covered with a sauce.

Japanese countryside

Took about 2 hours drive to get to the seaside but it was worth it.

First glimpse of the sea.

Reminder of social distancing

This photo is amazing.  Those bags belong to young mother.  She was on her phone, her daughter (elementary school age) went on down to the sea, the mother put her phone in the bag and went to join her daughter. I could never imagine doing that in the UK.  First the daughter going off by herself, then leaving her bags with nobody to watch them!  Japan is a very safe country.  In the cities one has to be aware but I never feel afraid to walk at night like I do in the UK!

Hannah, Christopher and Mikey

We didn't stay long.

On the way back drove past a lovely castle.  We didn't stop as my knee was very

painful.  Maybe next time.

Also a forest of trees planted next to the sea.  The idea is to keep strong winds form the sea hitting the city.  Some of these trees were twisted because of winds, very beautiful, the photo doesn't so it justice.

All in all a very nice day out.

I have one more week of holiday,  again no real plans.  I hope to do some cleaning, plan lessons for nest term.  Plus I realize that I need to study Japanese, which I haven't really done in ages.

Les Miserables

 One outing that I look forward to in the summer holidays is a trip to the city.  Hannah and I usually go shopping, have lunch and watch a musical.  Most years there are at least two to choose from.  We have watched Les Miserables twice, in Japanese. This year all the theaters are closed.  It looks like most theaters will not be opening until 2021.  So I ordered "Les Miserables 2019 concert".   We had to pre order it, we've been waiting for 3 months for it too come.  It arrived yesterday, Hannah and I settled down to watch it, turns out our DVD player no longer works!  So today we went and bought a new DVD player.  Because of this coronavirus everybody got some money from the government, to help stimulate the economy.  I wanted to save my money but that defeats the purpose!  I was glad to have a little extra to buy something that we need.  I usually have to save for a couple of months!

This concert was really good.  I love this musical.  It has so many powerful songs.  One line in the last song says "To love another person is to see the face of God"  That always gets me!

Now it's summer

The heat has started! Today is up to 35C , about 95F.  The whole week will be about the same!  It is so tiring, even at night it's hot!  

Next week I'll start my 2 week holiday.  Nice not to feel time pressure.  But no where to go!  I usually go to the city with Hannah to watch a musical but of course this year all theaters are closed.  We sometimes go to a nice restaurant to celebrate David and my birthday but not this year.  Restaurants are open but I don't see any social distancing policies in place.  Some have clear plastic hanging between tables but too many people inside and with the numbers of covid 19 cases rising I don't want to risk it.  

I am hoping that during my holiday I can take time to get some things done.  I need some new work sheets made, so I'll get Hannah to make me some.  Also try to work on getting my business facebook page better.  I wanted to advertise in September but am wondering if it might be better to save money and start again in the new year. 

This coronavirus has really done a number on a lot of businesses.  Not only the obvious ones, smaller restaurants, hotels etc.  But also event companies that depend on summer festivals for most of the yearly income.  This summer is going to be very quiet, almost all festivals and firework shows have been canceled.  Mikey was looking forward to few weeks of events, doing magic shows, but until September everything has been canceled.  

Our cats spend most of the day looking for the coolest place.  I found two of them sleeping in the shower room!  The corridor and stairs seem to be their favorite place!

I managed to treat Hannah to a few little things.  She has done very well at school the past few months. She is preparing for university entrance tests, a lot of work and stress so getting a couple of treats helps.

cute little ring

small pouch, just the right size for her phone

and of course a mask with cats on it

Summer???

Yes, it is summer but I think the weather has forgotten that.  First time in years that it has been on the cool side this time of year.  Todays high should be around 30C, the past couple of years the highs at this time were in the upper 30Cs.  But it is so humid, we are still having a lot of rain, it's pouring down right now and there are thunder warnings for this area, which is why I have an awful headache!

This summer is not going to be great.  Hannah has only 2 weeks holiday, the school is making up the time lost because of coronavirus shut down.  Also she has to really study to prepare for her university entrance tests.  She is hoping to get in on a recommendation from her school, which means an interview and writing an essay.  If not she will have to take the test.  One  problem is that the entrance tests are changing and she is not sure what to focus on!   The course she hopes to study is education, she can get license to teach junior high school and special needs kids!

We are not planning on going out anywhere.  Looks like the coronavirus is back, there are lots of clusters about and I really don't want to risk it!  I also have two weeks holiday, planning on cleaning (as always), preparing some worksheets for the kids classes, studying Japanese ( I need to improve my Japanese so I can teach better) and reading as many books as possible!  I have thousands of books on my kindle to read. 

The past few summers Hannah and I have gone to the city to watch a musical. Of course this year that isn't happening.  But I preordered the new Les Miserable in Concert DVD, it should arrive just as our holiday starts.  I'm looking forward to watching it with Hannah.

More photos of Lucky!

Beginning of July

In Japan we have a rainy season.  Usually about two weeks toward the end of June where rain is constant but gentle, just drizzling everyday.  The past few years this has changed to torrential rain for about two weeks at the beginning of July.  Last Saturday an area about 2 hours drive south of here was hit very bad, rivers flooded, landslides and threats of landslides.  I felt sorry for the people affected but glad we didn't get hit.

These were typical scenes. 

Last Sunday the rain had moved north.  We got hit very bad.  Hannah's school closed early on Monday and almost all schools in the area were closed on Tuesday.  Where we live is safe as the house is built about a meter up from the road and there are no rivers or mountains nearby.  But watching the news was distressing seeing places that I know under water.  I felt sorry for people who had to leave their homes because of floods or landslides.  Most schools are the evacuation places but how to  keep people safe from the coronavirus as well as the floods.  The centers are set up to try and keep social distancing but it's going to be hard.

We've also had a lot of thunderstorms, some very close which weren't nice, the cats go into hiding!

hiding from the storm

A few photos of Lucky!  She was such a funny dog.  I miss her, the house feels empty now!

Lucky

Sad post ahead!

Our lovely Labrador dog, Lucky, lost her battle with cancer Tuesday night.

We didn't even know she was sick.  She had slowed down over the past week, but I thought that was more because of her age (12 years old, which is 89 for labs) and the heat.  Monday night she vomited everywhere.  Christopher moved her, gave her fresh water, left her in a cool place.  Checked on her in the morning, she seemed okay but kind of sleepy.  In the evening when he went to walk her she couldn't stand up.  We took her to the emergency vets. He found that she had cancer.  The vet said that even if we do nothing she won't make it through the night and she was in pain, even though she wasn't crying or making a fuss.  We decided that the kindest thing to do was to have her put to sleep.  We stayed with her, talked to her, held her as she slipped away. Heartbreaking to say the least.  She was a lovely dog. The regular vet that we took her to was amazed at how friendly she was, she didn't snap at the staff but gave them wet kisses!  She helped Christopher a lot when my husband died, he would take her for long walks, giving him the space and time he needed to deal with his grief.  I use to talk to her a lot as well.  She was scared of thunder storms, one lasting memory I have is Hannah, Lucky and I sitting in the corridor during a really bad storm, all 3 of us crying!  

I hope she happy and at peace over the rainbow bridge!

When we first got her

couple of months ago