Influencers

 This is a generational thing I think.  I really don't get the hype behind watching somebody else's life. Surely we should be living our own best life, not just scrolling through social media to watch what someone else is doing. There again I hope some people are reading about my life, kind of hypocritical I know!

I will admit to watching some videos that are of people's lives.  One is a Japanese lady in her late 60's.  She makes videos about her parent's house and garden that she takes care of.  The videos are nice and gentle, she talks about growing old and keeping healthy, the call of the garden center and all the plants she wants. Everything is in Japanese but with English subtitles.  It gives me a chance to learn Japanese in a relaxed way.  The other lady I watch is a young mother of five children, she makes videos of the meals and obentos she prepares.  She uses vegetables that I've seen but never used, also everything is budget-friendly, I can get a lot of tips on saving money while still preparing healthy meals.  Again it's in Japanese with English subtitles, I've found that I understand a lot more of what she is talking about than the lady with her garden!!   

What I don't understand is the people making videos just to be a nuisance. There have been a few here in Japan that are giving a bad name to other YouTube creators.  One such guy was arrested for trespassing on a construction site.  He was filmed walking onto the site without a care for his safety or the safety of the workers.  Before that he was filmed making fun of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, shouting in crowded trains and getting into people's faces.  All this just to get a few clicks.  Another guy tried to ride the Shinkansen for free, he also walked into a hotel restaurant, and got a free breakfast.  Again just to get people to watch.  He at least apologized but I think he was more sorry for being caught.  This has led to a few places banning filming which is a shame.  Japan is a beautiful country and should be documented by people living and visiting here but because of a few idiots, it is going to get harder to do that.   

Complete change of topic!

Another accident with a cat.  Frodo this time, he was on the top of the cat tower and managed to fall off, not only did he fall but he took down part of the tower with him!!

Frodo on top, his nose is a bit red!!!

October

 I can't believe it's already November! 

October was a very busy month.  The first week was preparing students for the English Proficiency Test.  Lots of moaning from the students, most are upper elementary kids or junior high school kids.  They were tired because of sports day practice at school so moaning and saying they are tired is normal.  We managed to get them to focus, which got great results, about 90% of them passed.  The ones that didn't just missed by a couple of points.  I'm very proud and happy about that!!

The last week was Halloween parties, lots of games.  Mikey found some scary stories to tell the older kids,  some of them got really scared but they enjoyed it.

I enjoyed playing games with the kids as well.  After the intense classes this was a nice break, but back to more study lessons..... until Christmas!

Mikey with one of the girl's classes, this got very noisy but lots of laughter

The 28th would have been Mom's 84th birthday.   Twenty years since passed away.  I still think about her a lot.   Every time my kids do something I think that it's something I would have called Mom about!

I never think of her as she was when we last saw her, just a year before she passed, in my mind she is like this

I think in her 30's here!!  

So November, just two months until the New Year.  I still have a lot to do, especially getting the other house ready.  Step by step!!  This month is going to be hard as Hannah will be staying in the city to do her teacher training.  She starts tomorrow but couldn't get an apartment until next week.  So she'll be here over the weekend and move on Monday!!  She is looking forward to living by herself, I'm not!!!

Halloween Table

 I finally managed to set up the Halloween table.  I wasn't going to bother this year as I had to move books and bookshelves to make space but I realized that would be the last time.  This time next year we should be in the other house and I just won't have space for a teaching room. We'll be using the community centers to teach in, Mikey had been volunteering at some of them so they know who we are and what we have to offer.  

So yesterday I moved all the books and shelves from one side of the room to the other.  As I was doing this I found a lot of trash, old prints, books that were so out of date and not being used and flashcards that were unreadable.  I was ruthless in throwing out stuff.  I think this is the new me.  I know I can't move everything, the other house is less than half the size of here.  Also, the way we teach now is different and I hope better than before.  I used to need a lot of materials as I had little confidence in my ability to explain things in Japanese.  My Japanese is slightly better, I can use the translation app on my phone and if that fails I just shout for one of the kids to help explain.  So for now my teaching room looks nice!

Nice and simple this year

Yes, that is a Christmas tree.  I've seen this done in different stores and always thought it was a good idea.  I have a lot of Halloween tinsel and didn't feel like trying to hang it around the walls!!  

It's The Season......

 for allergies!

I have allergies all year round but spring and autumn are awful.  2 or 3 hours of non-stop sneezing.  Constant runny nose, itchy eyes and sinus headaches.  I've been taking over-the-counter medicine for about 20 years, sticking to the same medicine as I have found it helps without a lot of side effects.  Until yesterday.

I woke up with my nose dripping and my eyes really itchy.  I knew that it was going to be a two tissue box day if I didn't take the medicine.  So I took two capsules at 6am.  Kind of helped but still snuffling and sneezing too much.  So at lunchtime I took two more.  I figured that a 6-hour gap between doses would be okay.  I was wrong!!  An hour after I took the medicine I felt my heart racing.  I ignored it for a while.  I've had heart palpitations many times and every time I went to the doctor I would get told that there is nothing wrong with my heart.  But now that I'm older every little thing makes me panic.  So I did a Google search for heart palpitations and antihistamines.  Turns out that one of the chemicals used can cause heart palpitations.  I was relieved to find out that was the cause.  But what to do?  I need to take the medicine but hate this feeling of my heart racing!!

I didn't take the medicine last night and felt my heart rate settle down.  This morning I had to take some and again my heart is racing.  Looks like going to the doctor.  I don't want to as I really don't have time.  I'll see how things go this week.  Hopefully, the intense allergies will stop soon.

It Was Worth A Try

 My GoFundMe page has been stopped.  Something to do with Paypal.  There are some restrictions and can't connect PayPal to my page in Japan.  Never mind.  I'll see if there is another way to get money but I know that the bank I use is very suspicious of money coming into Japan.  A friend sent me 500 dollars at the beginning of the pandemic, I got a call from the bank to ask why I was getting this money.  Took half an hour to get them to understand that my friend just wanted to help out.  If it was a very large amount I can understand them being suspicious of money laundering.  

The best way, the only way I've ever made money is to teach English.  So I'm going to ask the kids to put out leaflets.  Also, see what can be done about our homepage.  There aren't that many independent English schools here so I don't have competition.  Just try to keep going.  This month is Halloween Parties, so the students can invite friends which is a good chance for them to meet us and see what kind of classes we have.  I'm trying not to freak out too much.  If the worse comes to the worse we will have to get a loan. I guess that would be cheaper each month than the rent!!

The weather has cooled down.  The other day was so nice and cool that I made a Victoria Sponge.  Nice with a cup of tea.  

Turned out nice

I know this isn't good for me but a small piece with a cup of tea was just the thing.

Even though I haven't been that good with my diet and exercise I have still lost a kilo.  Slow going and if I made a bit more effort I would do better but I'm happy with a kilo loss, better than going up a kilo!!!

Cookbooks

 In my living room I have a whole bookcase just for my cookbooks.  There must be over a hundred books!

All cookbooks!

Some are ones I collected in the 1970's.  A weekly magazine that I bought the binders for and made into books.  I kept them at my parent's house until the last visit and loaded down my suitcase with them.

The complete cook

I don't think I've made anything from them but they are good to read.

Another one I found was a free gift from a flour company when I was in school.

Free booklet from a flour company

This one I've used a lot.  Simple baking recipes.  

Then I have Jamie Oliver, and Gorden Ramsey books and even a Martha Stewart book that my husband gave me for Christmas one year.  

Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey books from charity shops

Martha Stewart book

 

I love reading these books.  I sit and read them like a novel.  As much as I love these books, trying to get the ingredients can be difficult.  But still interesting.

The books I use a lot are the Japanese books that I buy from the recycle shop.  It's a challenge to understand them but through using the translation app on my phone and the kids I can pretty much figure the recipes out.  I end up with notes in the books which helps a lot.

One of my Japanese books with my notes.

I should start collecting family favorite recipes and keeping them together.

As the weather cools down my thinking is turning to more and more to cooking and baking.  Just wondering how to make comfort food more healthy and healthy food more comforting!!

This past week I made cottage pie and a full roast dinner with Yorkshire puds!!  I've also made a big bowl of hikji seaweed salad that goes nicely with the Japanese lunches we've had.

Wondering what to make for today's lunch.  

It's Not Me

 The past few weeks have been awful for me.  I've been depressed (more than usual), crying at every little thing, brain fog, aches, and pains.  

I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.  Yesterday was the tipping point, I was watching the Last Night of the Proms, all the patriotic songs. I was tearing up, when Jerusalem started I lost it.  I've listened to these songs many times and I'm always moved but not sobbing.  Then I got a message from a friend about sending money through Western Union, I went to the home page but couldn't make heads or tails of it.  I realized that recently even following simple recipes has become harder and harder. I used to be able to follow recipes in Japanese but now even English has me rereading them many times.  I ache all over, my joints are painful, feels like the flu.  This has been going on for the past few weeks but I couldn't figure out why, I'm eating healthy, most of the time, I'm getting some exercise and sleeping okay most nights.  It hit me last night that I had stopped taking the medicine for cancer!!  The medicine has something to do with hormones, when I started it I went into the menopause.  From nothing to full-blown menopause symptoms.  I think my body got used to the medicine and now that I no longer have to take it I'm experiencing some kind of withdrawal.  Just figuring that out is a load off my mind.  I really thought I was losing the plot!! 

I really don't want to go on other meds if I can help it, so am going to try and see if there is something more natural that I can use.

I'm just glad that I figured this out.  Having a reason for feeling like a crazy old woman helps.  Talking about being crazy I finally lost it with the cats the other night.  They were sleeping on the mattress, again.  I was desperate for the toilet so ran across the mattress, which made the cats bounce up and down, waking them up.  They gave me really dirty looks, honestly if looks could kill!!  Even Sam, who loves to be petted and cuddled gave me bad eyes.  This cracked me up, so 3 a.m. I'm sat at the top of the stairs, laughing so hard I ended up crying, still desperate for the toilet but unable to move!!  All part of my crazy life!!

Snuggled on the mattress

With David!