Documenting a little more thoroghly

 Will has a project coming due in a few days and he needs photos of himself so he sent me an email from school asking if I had a photo of him with the Elmo cake I made him when he turned 3.  I did a search for Elmo on here and sure enough, I'd blogged his Elmo party.  Last night he went to the link and was surprised to discover that I was still blogging.  It's been over 16 years.  It's weird to think about.  I don't blog like I used to and I'm usually about 3 or 4 years behind on printing out the blog books and now, I take so many pictures that I often can't fit them all in one book for the year.  How much is too much?  I can't imagine that this record keeping is going to be anything but annoying to my children when they have to deal with volumes of books and pictures.  

With that introduction...

I felt impressed last night when I was saying my evening prayers to blog on here more.  I am not super good at sustaining a consistent blog post on here anymore and usually I'm just playing catch up from months that I've let pass but I felt like I should try and blog in real time right now.  Maybe this experience needs to be documented better with words and pictures.  I don't know how much I should blog--once a week?  An entry a day for 30 days?  We will see what I can manage.  

Mike had a conference to attend last night that started at 11 PM our time.  The time difference makes it difficult to attend meetings and conferences here.  He finished at 2 AM.  I got up with the kids at 5:45 (well, we woke them up at 5:45 and then I snuck out at 6:10).  It was a good morning for the kids.  Isaac and Will rarely feel well when they wake up--always feeling like they want to barf.  I've wondered if it is anxiety, low blood sugar, reflux...I can't figure out the source of their nausea so every morning they go without eating.  It isn't as bad for Will but for Isaac, he dreads getting on the bus with a stomach ache and then having to drive for an hour trying not to barf.  The Japanese really like their Gingerale and they are serious about it so I go down to the Konbini (convenience store) and get some Gingerale for him some days.  I don't want him drinking a soda every morning so he doesn't get them often.  Anyway, I digress.  All of this is to explain that Isaac doesn't feel well a lot of the mornings and therefore, he isn't always the most cheerful individual to be around while getting ready.  Often, we all just try to avoid him and try to give him grace when he grumbles at us.  This morning though, there was no grumbling and happy kids left for the bus stop.  

One last random comment about the Gingerale.  I went and bought one the other day and we hadn't tried this particular brand yet so we opened it to get a sip and it gave me hiccups and made my nose burn and burned going down my throat.  I had to do a google search to see if I had accidentally purchased an alchoholic version.  It was not, thankfully, but when I say they are serious about their Gingerale, I mean it.  They really like it spicy.  

The rest of my morning so far has consisted of running a load of laundry, making Felicity breakfast, getting the house prepared to run our robot vacuum (meaning, putting up chairs and wires and making sure nothing is on the floor or blocking his path), and exercising.  I've got some organizing and cleaning to do today.  Our shipment came and I have most everything in a closet but nothing is organized.  I also had to wash all the towels and blankets and sheets

because they smelled from being in storage for so long.  My washer is tiny and a full wash/dry cycle takes almost five hours so you can imagine how much time it took to get everything washed and dried, which means that the normal clothes didn't get washed and dried.  Now that I am mostly caught up, I've got loads to fold.  The weather is beautiful and not raining so I'll need to get outside with Felicity at some point as well, hopefully do some school work with her, and maybe even make some cupcakes for Halloween.  

This post is already getting long but I wanted to document my two successes from this week.  A month ago, Felicity was really unhappy.  This move has been so hard for her.  I can write about that in another post another time.  I was praying one day and this thought popped into my head--a reminder that before we moved here I had joined a Homeschool in Tokyo group on Facebook.  This was before we knew if we would continue homeschooling or try to go the school here.  I wanted to see what the homeschool scene was here, which is pretty nonexistent, by the way.  Anyway, I remembered that I joined that group.  There was no other impression with that thought, just it popped into my head and I realized, "that is the spirit telling me to do something" so I go on the group and explained that my daughter needed a playdate and was there anyone in the area that was willing to get together.  Someone messaged me and we set up a time to get together.  Sadly, I hurt my toe and thought it was broken so our original date was cancelled and only now, on Tuesday, were we able to get together.  She lives in Denenchofu, which is a 34 min travel time between walking and train and I'd never been there so you can imagine that I was feeling really nervous about it.  I made Mike go with me on Saturday to do the route and we took the wrong train and I was feeling nervous that Felicity and I would also take the wrong train.  It turned out fine and we were only a few minutes late.  We were able to get on the right train, make the transfer to the second train, and get to the place without too much issue.  I did have to interrupt a teenager on his phone and ask if the train we were about to get on was the right one.  It was more like, "Su Mi Masen" and then pointing to the google maps information on my phone and then pointing to the train.  

The playdate was good and I haven't seen Felicity that happy since we left Colorado.  It isn't a quick and easy trip so I don't know how often we can go there but there were all kinds of kids who all spoke English and were about her same age and she just played and laughed and came home with a filthy body and handfuls of treasures.  It was pretty funny to see her on the subway with acorns and leaves in her fists and dirty leggings.  

Finally, yesterday I met up with a friend that I met at the New Student Orientation at the school.  She is Japanese but has lived in Boston for the last 20 years and is only now returning with her kids and husband to give her kids the Japanese experience and be near her family.  She invited me to lunch and again, I was anxious to get there.  The bus system is a little confusing here but I was able to find the right bus stop and get on the right bus (last week I got on the wrong one with Felicity).  Our meal was good and even though I didn't recognize most of what was on the menu, I was able to find a rice and beef dish, feeling thankful I skipped the Tapas meal when it arrived with octopus and clams and prawns, etc.  She helped me find the bus stop home (they aren't at the same place as where you get dropped off) and I was able to get back just fine.  Part of the problem with the buses is that they don't stop at every stop so if you aren't paying attention or don't know your route, you'll get confused and miss your stop.  You have to press the "request stop" button at the stop before yours so that the driver knows to stop.  

Anyway, these two trips were on my calendar taunting me and worrying me for weeks and I'm grateful I was able to make it where I needed to be without any issue.  It probably sounds really silly to all the normal people reading this but it's a big deal to this anxious Nelly.  I think each positive trip will only build confidence and hopefully in a few months I'll feel comfortable any time I have to go meet someone somewhere I've never been.