Where I’m at

Posted in Family Life, Life Generally, Life in Japan by

Well hello, my blog!

Where do I even start? I don’t know if anyone is even reading this anymore. Life is busy, which is my whole excuse in a nutshell for not blogging for several months. It’s hot now, rainy season having finally given way to the full-on Japanese summer. One of my jobs doesn’t offer me hours in August, so I guess I have a little more time of sorts, now, though staying home with my goblins doesn’t entirely feel like unrestricted vacation time.

From April, which is the start of the new school and business year here, we experienced a few changes. They weren’t huge ones, but there were challenges involved nonetheless. I dropped one of my freelance jobs when another one increased my hours. My pay has overall remained about the same but I now have more definite days off, which is nice. My husband got a new position at work, becoming a permanent worker and changing teams. Weirdly, this resulted in a monthly pay decrease but a significant bonus increase. For him, changing teams was obviously more significant but for the rest of us, the other main difference is to his schedule. There are no more night or Sunday shifts for now, but his hours are typically considerably longer day-to-day.

My son is now 3.5 years old and, as shocking as it seems, heading rapidly towards 4. He is still creative and funny, very random, and maybe inheriting my anti-social tendencies. My daughter is nearly 1.5 now, cheeky, stubborn and cute, waddling about and getting into mischief wherever she can. She and my son are closer than ever now, my son rushing to defend her when she gets in trouble but also leading her astray constantly. They’re still in childcare, though we recently had a bad run with viruses and there were a lot of days off involved. I’ve used up a lot of goodwill, what little paid leave I get, and we’ve had to call in my bloody mother-in-law for help. They were all ordinary, typical bugs; it was just that there were a lot of them. Here’s hoping we can get through the rest of the summer a bit more easily?!

The big storm cloud that has appeared in my life comes from a bit further afield. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer recently and has just begun chemotherapy for it ahead of surgery later this year. Waiting to find out how bad it is (and speculating in the meantime) while trying to decide when/if to fly back home to see her has been filling my thoughts a fair bit. Here’s hoping the treatment works.

Am I ok? Aside from the above, I’m getting along alright really. Day-to-day life is mostly fine, though I’m tired on some deep level that can sometimes color everything. I’m mentally restless, I suppose, still finding ways to channel it within the constraints of my current life. I’ve been having a bit more luck with making time for writing lately, even if this blog doesn’t really show it. I’d like it to do so. The modest goal I’ve had floating around in my head for awhile now is to try to do a post a week, but we’ll see how that goes.

I hope you’re alright too. If you’re here and feel like it, please let me know how you’re going in the comments!

Winter Walk

Posted in Life Generally, Life in Japan by

 

Last Friday, we took a walk through a park that is somewhat near our house. We hadn’t explored it much and I was trying to find a playground within it for my son. It’s large enough that there surely is one, but we didn’t find it. Instead, we found a serene, chilly walkway, all dry grass and bare branches, winding alongside a narrow stream with lots of koi fish and plenty of pigeons huddled nearby.

Lego Flower

My son tells me this is a flower. He made it for me, presumably remembering the handful of times he picked flowers and R suggested he give them to me. He advised that it wasn’t a dandelion and we admired all the brightly coloured “petals” together. He built a very similar looking construction for my mother’s birthday a couple of weeks ago, stuck a Lego candle on top and called it a cake.

It’s all very endearing!