One word...

I have been tagged by the lovely Tigermama living in warmer climes, and this is my first tag and Tigermama's first go at tagging.So isn't that nice!

And yes,in case you were wondering,I did have to drag out my dictionary for a lot of these words and I have also bent the rules by using hyphens when they shouldn't be used but to hell with it!

One word, and only one word:

Yourself: Shy
Your partner: Charming
Your hair: Mousy
Your Mother: Compassionate
Your Father: Loving
Your Favorite Item: Computer
Your dream last night: Scary
Your Favorite Drink: Beer
Your Dream Car: VW-Golf
Your Dream Home: Homey
The Room You Are In: Staff
Your Ex: Far-away
Your fear: Isolation
Where you Want to be in Ten Years? Content
Who you hung out with last night: Daughter
What You're Not: Skinny
Muffins: Blueberry
One of Your Wish List Items: Tumble-dryer
Time: Lacking
The Last Thing You Did: Teach
What You Are Wearing: Suit
Your favorite weather: Snowy
Your Favorite Book: Poignant
Last thing you ate: Cauliflower
Your Life: Unexpected
Your mood: Happy
Your Best Friends: Irreplaceable
What are you thinking about right now: Weeing
Your car: White
What are you doing at the moment: "Working"
Your summer: Beach
Relationship status: Married
What is on your tv: Nothing
What is the weather like: Overcast
When is the last time you laughed: Just-now

So now all I have to do is to tag TRISHA!

For Eddie

One thing that I really hate about living so far away from my family is not being able to take part in special occasions.And on Saturday,I am missing another such occasion.My nephew,Edward,is being baptised.I missed his big brother Dominic's baptism in spectacular style just a few years ago; I was honoured to be asked by my big sister,Helen,and brother in law Robert,to be Dominic's Godmother.So the dates were set for the ceremony that would take place when I would be back in the UK.And then,BAM,I found out that I was pregnant with Annie.So,that trip to the UK was out and I missed the baptism of my only Godchild.

And now I am missing another big event yet again.For months I have been planning the gift that I wanted to send Eddie for this big day.And it took time because I wanted it to be good.I wanted to give him a name in Japanese kanji characters.Maybe I have been in Japan too long,but I really did take this seriously.And a couple of weeks ago,I found the perfect kanji name for him.And now,all I needed to do was to get a talented person to write it for me.So I asked a teacher I have know for years(and incidentally Kenichi was taught by 20 years ago) who writes the most beautiful calligraphy.And she was so happy to do it.But due to all our ill-helath,I was only able to go and pick it up from her yesterday.So,yet again,I miss the occasion.I feel so bad.

BUT,Eddie,let me tell you this,you have a little family here in Japan that loves you so much and can't wait to meet you.And you are,to us,our little "English Samurai".



PS The characters would usually read phoneticaly as "Ei Ji",but I took licence for them to become "Eddie".The first character means "English" or "British" and the second is "Samuari".Many names in Japan are now like this is the sense that a little give and take is needed...In fact Annie's offical kanji name would be prounounced as "A-nyu"(amongst other things)rather than "An-ni".

PPS This is on its way to you Helen!

Small Talk

On Sunday,our town held a country fair.Although I was not feeling too wonderful(see previous post for all the boring and whinging details;-)) but had arranged to meet up with a couple of friends and their children.So off I went with Annie(Kenichi was working both days there as it is run by the town hall staff but hey,he gets paid!)but the nearest car park was about 3/4 of a km away.Couldn't be helped and Annie was a star and walked all the way to the fair ground itself.Which took half a bloody hour because she wanted to pick up and throw every damn stone she came across.Arghh!

We had a really good time despite the fact that I had to rush to the loo every half hour but all in all,a lovely morning.Annie had a ball with her little friends playing in the children's area with things to climb up,over,under and through.After a good few hours,it was time to go home.So,we started in the long walk back to the car.

Annie did really well at first but after a while started dragging her feet.I encouraged her to walk as I was feeling a little green around the gills at this point.On we soldiered until Annie did that"I refuse to walk one step further and look how I can drag my feet behind me" thing and collapsed her legs.So,I picked her.And boy,although she is only just over 11kg,she weighed a ton that day!We only had a little way to go but it seemd like forever.It was then that Annie looked at me with her eyes open wide,cocked her little head and said ,"Mummy,Annie's tired".Oh,my heart just melted.And then she added the piece de resistance...patting my cheek in that rather heavy handed way that toddlers have she added "Mummy's tired too". All of a sudden,the carpark seemed so much closer.

Moans and Groans

We have had a really rough 4 weeks here health-wise.Nothing serious but just one thing after another.Annie got a cold which Kenichi and I caught.As she got better,we got worse with the most annoying coughs.After 10 days or so of hacking away,we both decided one morning that enough was enough and took ourselves to see the doctor.We were both shocked to the core when the doctor said that we needed chest X-rays and blood tests as he suspected the start of pnuemonia of all things.Who'd have guessed it?The coughing was pretty bad but no pain at all...Anyway,we spent the morning having the said X-rays and blood tests and went home with a barrel load of medicine with warnings to keep quiet and not over-do it.

So,of course,the following day we were both back at work.STUPID!!!Kenichi's cough did start to clear up but over the weekend,mine got worse and I woke up on the Sunday morning with breathing difficulties.Back to the doctor and I was told that my childhood asthma had returned.So,I had 20 minutes inhaling some asthma medicine and when that didn't work,was put on an IV drip for a couple of hours.And that,thank god,worked.

So,Sunday was a quiet day for me and I felt much better.Kenichi took Annie to see the in-laws all afternoon.In the early eveing,they got back but Annie was not her usual chatty little self.And she refused her tea despite it being her favourite of natto and spinach(how gross can you get..).She joined me in bed and after rolling around for a few minutes,vomited everywhere.She kept being sick all through the night and poor mite was dry heaving after a while as she had brought everything up.The next morning I took her to see her doctor and realised that I was feeling pretty shitty as well.To cut a long story short,Annie was very badly dehyrated and a blood test showed that she had the nasty stomach flu that is around.In fact,the doctor was thinking about hospitalising her at one point.Whilst she was having her blood test,I went off and had more of the asthma treatment and as I was feeling so sick,it looked like I also had the beginings of the stomach flu.So,from midday until 4pm,Annie and I were both put on drips(Annie had 2 due to her dehydration) side by side.What a low-light that was!But after a few hours,we both felt much better.Annie in fact was feeling so much better that she started singing her little heart out to the amusement of everyone.

We had the next 2 days at home and Annie was fine.I wasn't so hot but had to go back to work on Thursday.I made it to the weekend and was finally starting to feel better on Saturday.But on Sunday morning woke up with tummy cramps and had diarrhoea all day.But thank goodness,I found some medicine that I hadn't needed earlier on this year for just the same thing.And this morning,I woke up feeling pretty good.No runs,cough much better and at last,I really do think that we are all going to be healthy again.

Jeez,what a boring old post.But seriously,never has the well known Japanese saying "Kenko Dai-ichi"(health is number one) meant so much to me!