Cats

 The cats are missing Hannah.  She usually feeds them and plays with them a lot.  She also sorts them out at night! With nine cats there are fights and almost fights every day.  During the day it's easy just to separate the figthers until things have calmed down.  At night it's easier to put the ones that usually fight in different rooms.  Recently Alan, Steve and Frodo are in the corridor and David's room, the other 6 are in the living room.  That works out nicely and most nights I can sleep until about 5am when they start demanding breakfast.

The other night we had them sorted out and everything was quiet until 3:30 in the morning.  I could hear cats fighting, so I called to Hannah to go and sort them out.  After shouting for her two or three times I remembered that she wasn't here. So I got out of bed to see who was making the noise.  I went to David's room (he was at work) and saw Mama cat, which I thought was very strange, when I went to bed she was locked in the living room.  I decided to go downstairs to use the toilet.  When I got downstairs I saw that the front door was open.  Panic, how many cats had got out.  I went to close the door when the stray cat that we feed came charging down the corridor and ran out.  He has similar colouring and marking to Mama cat so it was him I saw upstairs.  I counted the cats, everybody was there.  Steve, the white cat was covered in seeds and bits of leaves.  So I think he went out but found it too cold and came back in and the stray cat followed him.  It's now just after 4am,  I'm tired and wanted to sleep more.  But the upstairs cats decided that it was breakfast time!!  They sat outside my door crying for food, they sound as if they have never been fed!!

All great fun!!!  I miss Hannah at these times as she has more energy to deal with things!!!

Mama

Steve

These photos were the next day, Steve was so tired!!!

Hannah is doing well.  She gave her first lesson today, math!!  It's the one subject she really struggles with and is glad that it is over and done with.  She calls in the evening so we video chat for about half an hour.  She called earlier asking about making dinner, which order should she cook things as she only has one gas ring to work on.  She seems to be okay, tired but I guess that is normal.  Here she only has to go to university, and do her part-time jobs, there she has to take care of everything in the apartment and go to school.  I think it's good for her but the house seems quieter without her.  David took some selfies (again) he said I could send them to her!!

David's selfies!!

Goodbye Hannah.....

 ....for one month.

Hannah has started her month of teacher training.  She decided to rent a small service apartment near the school rather than commute over an hour each way.  Even though I felt she should save her money and come home each day I could see that after just one day she was exhausted.  Her training started last Thursday but the apartment wasn't available until Monday.  To get to the school on time she had to get the 6:30 train, and she got back at 8 p.m.  When she got back she was so sick from being tired that she couldn't eat dinner and just went to bed.  One day like that is okay but a whole month would be too much.

Yesterday Mikey and I drove to her apartment to drop off her stuff.  Our biggest suitcase and 4 large boxes of stuff, just for one month!!!  Besides clothes, she needed her textbooks and basic pantry items to start with.  The apartment is furnished and has basic kitchen appliances.  The rent includes utilities which is a big help.

From the entrance, the kitchen on the left, the bathroom and toilet opposite

Tiny kitchen

the one-room half has a bed

 

The other side has a sofa, table, TV and DVD player

a

small bathroom, toilet is separate

Of course, as we were moving her stuff in a white cat came wandering around, so Hannah wants to make friends with it!!!

I treated Mikey and myself to a nice dinner on the way back.  

Dinner

I was surprised at how automated everything was.  To order you used an iPad and a robot bought your food.  Mikey's was bought by a waiter as the plate was very hot.  As much as I enjoy these robots, especially when two were trying to get past each other and ended in a standoff as they tried to figure out who should move where, I missed having a waiter or waitress to try by bad Japanese on.  Also using the robots cuts costs but that isn't reflected in the price, and if I'm going to pay for a meal I would like to speak to a person!!

I promised myself I wouldn't cry but of course I did.  I know this is good and natural but it's hard.  Hannah is still my baby, they all are!!  But she needs this experience and I know it's good for her but still hard!! I'm so grateful for modern technology, I could send Hannah messages and this morning I called her to wake her up (she asked me to do that).  

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!!!