Barbecue

Nice day in the nearby countryside the other Sunday. A 4 family cook up at Mikumari Kyo up the back of Diamond City. I hadn't known the place was there, despite living here for 9 years and having spent quite a considerable number of hours at Soleil!

Good food and company!

This was going to be baked apple,with nuts and fruits but i forgot the butter and the sugar so it was dubbed "Apple Mush" by the lovely M, my harshest critic!

Lazy day by the river...

At least it was for me. I believe some of the party went for a hike, but they had the good sense not to mention such a thing to me.

By the river, and in the river...

With iPod...

and without...

Snug after an unexpected (by her anyway) dip..

And hot coffee for the road!

Good times!

Girls' Night Out

So I have a new camera, right?
新しいカメラを買ったよね。

Which was bought with the thought that it would be great to be able to take snapshots and video footage with ease, especially at Weechan events, right?
Weechanのイベントで楽に写真とビデオが撮れると思って買ったよね。

Right.
そうだった。

Except when you can't work it. There was just such an event on Friday for the first time: Weechan's school Spring Concert. I capitalise to show honest respect for Takako-sensei, for not having a nervous breakdown controlling the raw talent before her (OK, that might have been a tad cynical, but I do think T-sensei does a great job). It wasn't the talent that was raw, just a few notes here and there, but all in all a nice show if you are a parent, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, not one decent photo nor video did I manage to take, despite repeated efforts, before the batteries ran out. Yes that's right. Half-way through Weechan's stellar performance of "movement"- whch was the second number of the night. Luckily I have a chance to see examples of this movement in the livingroom on a daily basis, so all is not lost. Tally ho. I wish I could have shown you one of the seniors doing his "Somewhere over the Rainbow" though. It really was quite good- maybe not as good as he thinks it was, but hey, he's 17 with a guitar and a God among the senior girls!

問題は一つだけ：使い方が分かりません。
この間Weechanの学校の春のコンサートがあった。新しいカメラをもっていっても、一枚もいい写真が撮れなかった。しかも、Weechanのすばらしい出番の最中に電池が切れた。
まあ、親バカしか楽しめないような小さいコンサートですけど、せっかくだったので、アイドルの高校生（女子高生の中だけでね！）の「オーバー　ザ　レーンボー」を見せたかったなー。

Once again I tried, on the girls night out, but I really can't show you many of the pix I took from there either, so I am respectfully borrowing the ones taken by Tee - thansk T!
土曜日もカメラを持って出かけて、もう一度挑戦。
まだまだ使えこなせないで、写真は全部ダメ。
ですから、Tさんの写真をお借りしまーす！

Italian dinner at the restaurant where we had our Wedding party (number 2) almost 9 years ago.
This time I wasn't dressed as a pink bunny or accompanied by a raccoon with large testicles though, so not (quite) so conspicuous.
もうすぐ９年前結婚式の二次会で使ったイタリア料理店でおいしい食事でスタート！
今回はピンクのウサギのカッコをしていなかったから、比較的に目立たなかった。

Next place: it may look like we were in the back store cupboard of a factory selling knocked-off videos, but the atmosphere in this retro bar is actually quite nice, as are the desserts!
次：
光のせいか？ちょっと汚く見えるけど、レトロのバーでのデザートとカクテールはおいしかったよ。

Then on to Karaoke - is this the latest way to stop the swine flu??!!

ブタインフルエンザ防止？？

Disinfected microphones.
久しぶりに行ったカラオケで消毒されたマイク！

「ガールズ　ジャスト　ワナ　ハブ　ファン！」だって。そうさしてもらった！
So we did!

Til 3am!
午前３時まで起きたのは久しぶり！

Susan Boyle? Bring it on!
Note to self: Michelle Obama may have the right to bare arms, but I really don't!
次のアメリカンアイドル？？
自分にメモ：もうちょっとジムで結果が見えるまで、袖無しはやめましょう！

Girls' Night In

Dr Daddy was all busy again on Thursday, so by Weechan's request we made pizza together for dinner.

" Mummy you really are a good cooker!"

Supermum to the rescue!! (Turn me up to gas mark 7...)

Nice to do something together apart from homework for a change.

" Mummy we never have time to play these days"

Oh, oh, where did Supermum go....

On ice tea...

"Ice tea in summer tastes like the feeling of peace and quiet!"

Weechan, May 25th 2009

Twitter and the World We Live In

After all the Ashton Kutcher/CNN highjinx last week, I finally gave in to a niggling temptation in my brain and signed up for a Twitter account: " just to see what it is all about". There went the weekend!
I was supposed to be making up exams for La Creme de la Creme and latterly marking the papers, but got hopelessly drawn into the world of inanity that is Twitter - especially in my case- haha.
What is it about us these days, virtual peeping Toms on the lives and thoughts of complete strangers that we are? You think that's sad? Maybe, be smug then if you want. But I have met new people ( most recently @CatatonicCat on Twitter, whose newly born blog I stole the above YouTube from - cheers!), and learned a lot about things I'd never have contemplated researching, from all the blogging in the past few years.
From the first " Jax is certainly quite the chatterbox" primary school report , to the Linguistics degree and my getting-paid-to-have-a-chat job, I have always been all about communication. It's the only way to iron out the misunderstandings which lead to unnecessary hatred and wars! (So there!) Yes, there's a lot of unqualified crap out there, but sometimes the people with the qualifications spout shite too, so so what? Look at this way, it's a great thing for freedom of speech, everyone can have their say, with the added bonus that no-one is forced to listen to it.
People go on about the antisocial nature of today's internet, Facebook, blogging, Wii playing world, and we sad geeks who inhabit it.
I bet we have more contact with our mates than you who are waiting around for the time to call, or write that real letter!
Geek be it!
On twitter the other day my friend @littleforeigner told me tongue in cheek (I hope anyway, as he's never offline in one form or another either, to the greater good of all little foreigners in Hiroshima I might add!) to look up "Is Twitter bad for your health?) on the BBC or CNN.
I did just that and found THIS .

I'm with Stephen Fry! And he says it all much better than me.

Stop Press: Jax joins the gym- and actually goes!

OK, so it's the 3rd gym I've paid the entrance fee for in Hiroshima, point taken.

But I think I can say I've already been more times to this one in 3 weeks than I have been to all the other ones put together. Working every day but only in the morning has been good for lots of reasons, but freeing up a couple of hours each day when I can actually go and get some exercise is the greatest. Since the advent of Weechan, with no living relatives within even flying distance, I really have not had the necessary hour and a half to myself to go
( ITISNOTANEXCUSEITSTRUEDAMMIT), but now I'm all gung-ho with my new house, new work schedule and new freedom.

Of course, being me, it s all a tad

One step forward:go to gym 4 times last week

Two steps back:major piss-up at book club

One step forward: 2 aerobics classes this week for the first time in 9 years!!

Two steps back: cupcakes, scones and homemade bounty bars (see Tasty Bites) on Sunday!

One step forward: Freshly steamed veg and rice for dinner

Two steps back: The G&T I'm about to have to have (there are forces at work in the universe, which I can't control, you know)

But then with no gym I'd only have been 6 steps back, right?

Watch this space - supermodel in waiting will deliver!

Things I never thought I would say to my own child when I was 15

If you don't eat all your seaweed, there'll be no Disney channel!

Lovely Lazy Weekend

I didn't think it was going to go well, when the muesli exploded all over the kitchen when I opened it. Amazing how not even one kernel got in the bowl.
But we ended up having a really nice weekend. No plans apart from to suit ourselves, so there was lots of sitting about playing board games.
朝、開ける時にシリアルのパックが爆発したら、今週末はあまり
期待できないな、と思った。本当に、１粒もボールに入らなかったし。でも結構楽しかったよ。予定がなかったから、勝手に出来た私たち。
ボードゲームをやったりして、ブラブラ。

And the biggest sensation: Daddy decided to cook!
そしてなんと：Dr Daddy が夕食を作ってくれるって。

Menu: Potato pancakes.
He saw this on the telly and decided he could do it.
メニューはテレビ料理番組で見たポテトバーガーだって。

Very tasty if I do say so.
結構おいしかったよ。

Plain or with feta cheese or a nice fried egg or bacon on top.
簡単でフェタチーズ、目玉焼き、ベーコンなどを乗せて食べたら特にうまい！

Then there was the traditional falling asleep during American Idol. "I can stay awake Mummy!I can, honest"
そして最近の毎週のパタン：アメリカンアイドルを見る途中でソファで眠ってしまったWeechan.

The next day after joining the local youth club, a couple of friends came over for afternoon tea and playtime!
日曜日、子供会に行った後、新しい友達がお茶しにきてくれた。

Sometimes you need a rainy weekend to make you chill out!
時々雨の日がないとなかなかリラックスが出来ないね。

Resourcefulness!

Weechan was complaining of an inexplicable sore leg the other night, so we thought we'd ice it up. A look in the freezer found something the perfect fit! Nice to have legs that fit in a wine cooling sleeve! It's going to take a few more aerobics lessons for Mummy to achieve that...
この間Weechanが何故か、足が痛いと言いていたから、冷やそうと冷蔵庫の中を見たら、この６歳の足がぴったり入るものがあった。ワインクーラーに入るぐらい細い足、いいな！
もうちょっとエアロで頑張らなくちゃ！

日本語が最近ないと苦情がでたけど、すみませんでした。相変わらず忙しすぎて、さぼってしまった。ごめんね。また時間が許す限り日本語を復活させようと思うけど、あまり時間がないので、変なところがいっぱいあるかも。許してね。

Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou?

Image repectfully borrowed from the players website, and I hope they will forgive me for promoting it!

A reminder that this year's Shakespeare at Jogakuin University is "Romeo and Juliet", and will be performed on Tuesday, June 2nd. Doors open 5:30, show starts at 6pm. Get there early for a good seat!

For more details click here.
日本語の情報はこちらです。

Calling all Anal People!

Today's Blog of Note is a good one. It is a better way to waste your time than Facebook!

http://statspuzzles.blogspot.com/

Go on, see how long you spend on it: "I know this one!!!!"

maching worts

Weechan's "poem in your pocket" for school Reading Week a couple of weeks ago. Narrowly missed being "mashed pulp all through the washing" yesterday as it was, needless to say, still in the pocket when I discovered the jeans in a toy box...
Next Poet Laureate, no question!

God I hope this doesn't start an international trend....

Check out this link.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/05/10/saudi.court.wife.slapping/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Maybe I better start mending my ways just in case.....Dr Y might get ideas...

Mothers' Day

What a nice way to be woken up!
It's Mothers' day here in Japan.

Even if I wasn't looking my best.

Weechan is finally old enough to want to do something herself, so we don't need to rely solely on Daddy!

Although he did outdo himself by arranging for us to go and see Slumdog Millionaire in the afternoon while Ba-chan got some Mairi time.

Excellent day for Mummy. Thanks guys!
Jai ho!

Mummy's School Sports Day

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.


We went to Mummy's students' sports day yesterday. Uncle John was dressed as Mr Incredible. I was supporting the green team and the red team, so I was happy when the green team won!
I love Sports Days!

Developmental Updates

1) We would proudly like to announce that we finally have waggly teeth.

The front bottom 2 have been movable since about January, but, in spite of being hit squarely in the mouth at Ioan's birthday barbecue last week, which even drew a respectable amount of blood, they stubbornly refuse to approach the falling out stage. Tooth fairy be warned: this girl will require a visit soon!

2) We have finally had a common childhood disease!

2 weeks ago, when a bizarre pimple between the eyes turned out not in fact to be an early mosquito bite, Weechan was diagnosed, expertly by Ba-chan of course, as having chicken pocks.
As we have somehow avoided all of the usual kiddie spotty things so far, Mummy was kind of pleased, in a cruel kind of a way. Dalmation jokes did not go down well with the invalid, nor did having to stay of her beloved school for 3 days, but on the plus side, it was only 3 days because they have a drug for chicken pox here, and I can testify that it works. we caght it early and she had not even one more spot from the moment she took the medicine.
Impressed? I was!
Apologies to Alex in my class for passing it on.....oops!