Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label japan. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
In life, some rain must fall
I cannot believe X'mas is only a week away. The past 2 months have been very busy for me and I feel that 7 days is not gonna be enough for me to get everything done before Santa knocks on the door. Wish there is a way I can buy time.
I spent almost 4 hours with the japanese police yesterday afternoon, an experience I wish I didn't have to go thru. It was about the accident where my car collided with a motorbike at an intersection in my residential area 2 weeks ago. After the accident happened, the police had me described the entire incident and told me they would contact me again for a formal statement. And that was why I had an appointment with them yesterday in the afternoon. Although I kinda knew what to expect, I couldn't help but ended up feeling frustrated (with them) and downright pissed off. They told me that they were not taking sides, yet they insisted that they did not believe that the biker were going beyond the speed limit when he crashed into my car. It frustrated me that they jumped into the conclusion when they were not even there to witness the accident. The photos that they took at the scene showed very clearly that my entire car was already in the middle of the junction when the collision happened and until today, I still cannot figure how the biker could have not seen me! But the police insisted that it was my fault because I had not checked my right which wasn't true. I had already stopped at the stop line (before it all happened) and that was to check on the opposite mirror for vehicles coming from the right. And because the road was designed in such a way that there were many blindspots, I had to also check my left (apart from checking right) since I was crossing over to the left lane as I turned. I couldn't believe when they actually told me that I didn't have to check the left! And let any car crash into me as I turn into that lane? I wonder.
I knew dealing with the japanese would be hard but still, I was angry as they didn't seem to be taking in anything that I said. Even my japanese friend who accompanied me yesterday (and also acted as the translator) was on the verge of quarreling with them. The last straw was, they tried to make me sign a statement that indicated clearly "I caused the accident because...." and "I could have avoided the accident if I had...." . Doesn't that sound like I am saying that I should be held full responsibility for it? I'm not saying that I have no part to play but it was an accident and I believe I wasn't the only party involved in that. Fortunately, my friend managed to make them change the statement as she insisted that it was simply too unfair to me. Just when I thought this whole episode will be over, they told me that they were charging me with causing unintentional injury to the other party. Never mind the fact that there was a very hugh possibility that he was speeding. And that he was negligent or daydreaming to the extent that he could not see my big silver car a good distance infront of him. His crash tore off my number plate and damaged my bumper which had to be replaced. If he had not been speeding, the impact would not have been that great
When I finally got home last night, the exhaustion hit me and it was only then I realised how mentally drained I was. It will be 3 to 6 months before I receive the summon to see the proscecutor who will decide how much fine I will have to pay (and it really appears to me that they are trying to make money out of this). I am not worried as there's nothing I can do except to wait. The feeling sucks especially when I have never even gotten a parking fine in my 10 years of driving in Singapore and Australia.
Amidst all the frustration and stress, I am just so thankful that I have the help and care from people around me. My friend who stayed with me for the 4 hours yesterday and helped with the translation, standing up for me to the local police when I cannot speak the language. She and another friend also helped ferrying Aiden to school (without me asking) during the 2 weeks that my car was in the workshop having the bumper replaced. And most importantly, my husband who has not once blamed me for the accident but been giving tremendous emotional support and shouldering the stressful tasks of dealing with the insurance side and the car workshop so that I need not worry about the nitty gritty stuff.
For now, I just wanna put this behind. Well, at least until I receive the summon letter. It's gonna be X'mas and I'm determined to enjoy it.
I spent almost 4 hours with the japanese police yesterday afternoon, an experience I wish I didn't have to go thru. It was about the accident where my car collided with a motorbike at an intersection in my residential area 2 weeks ago. After the accident happened, the police had me described the entire incident and told me they would contact me again for a formal statement. And that was why I had an appointment with them yesterday in the afternoon. Although I kinda knew what to expect, I couldn't help but ended up feeling frustrated (with them) and downright pissed off. They told me that they were not taking sides, yet they insisted that they did not believe that the biker were going beyond the speed limit when he crashed into my car. It frustrated me that they jumped into the conclusion when they were not even there to witness the accident. The photos that they took at the scene showed very clearly that my entire car was already in the middle of the junction when the collision happened and until today, I still cannot figure how the biker could have not seen me! But the police insisted that it was my fault because I had not checked my right which wasn't true. I had already stopped at the stop line (before it all happened) and that was to check on the opposite mirror for vehicles coming from the right. And because the road was designed in such a way that there were many blindspots, I had to also check my left (apart from checking right) since I was crossing over to the left lane as I turned. I couldn't believe when they actually told me that I didn't have to check the left! And let any car crash into me as I turn into that lane? I wonder.
I knew dealing with the japanese would be hard but still, I was angry as they didn't seem to be taking in anything that I said. Even my japanese friend who accompanied me yesterday (and also acted as the translator) was on the verge of quarreling with them. The last straw was, they tried to make me sign a statement that indicated clearly "I caused the accident because...." and "I could have avoided the accident if I had...." . Doesn't that sound like I am saying that I should be held full responsibility for it? I'm not saying that I have no part to play but it was an accident and I believe I wasn't the only party involved in that. Fortunately, my friend managed to make them change the statement as she insisted that it was simply too unfair to me. Just when I thought this whole episode will be over, they told me that they were charging me with causing unintentional injury to the other party. Never mind the fact that there was a very hugh possibility that he was speeding. And that he was negligent or daydreaming to the extent that he could not see my big silver car a good distance infront of him. His crash tore off my number plate and damaged my bumper which had to be replaced. If he had not been speeding, the impact would not have been that great
When I finally got home last night, the exhaustion hit me and it was only then I realised how mentally drained I was. It will be 3 to 6 months before I receive the summon to see the proscecutor who will decide how much fine I will have to pay (and it really appears to me that they are trying to make money out of this). I am not worried as there's nothing I can do except to wait. The feeling sucks especially when I have never even gotten a parking fine in my 10 years of driving in Singapore and Australia.
Amidst all the frustration and stress, I am just so thankful that I have the help and care from people around me. My friend who stayed with me for the 4 hours yesterday and helped with the translation, standing up for me to the local police when I cannot speak the language. She and another friend also helped ferrying Aiden to school (without me asking) during the 2 weeks that my car was in the workshop having the bumper replaced. And most importantly, my husband who has not once blamed me for the accident but been giving tremendous emotional support and shouldering the stressful tasks of dealing with the insurance side and the car workshop so that I need not worry about the nitty gritty stuff.
For now, I just wanna put this behind. Well, at least until I receive the summon letter. It's gonna be X'mas and I'm determined to enjoy it.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Have I mentioned how much I love Autumn?
This, is one of the many reasons why I love living in Japan.
x
x
Saturday, November 27, 2010
It's Christmas!
I love december. It is the month of christmas, my favourite holiday in the year. But one month is simply too short to celebrate this occasion in my opinion so I always celebrate christmas for 2 months. Hence, decorations were put up immediately after halloween!
Sitting on top of the fire place
Festive mood
My favourite corner
Sitting on top of the fire place
Stockings and reindeer
Snowmen!
The only thing left to be done is a gingerbread house, which I intend to do it with Aiden as our christmas project one week before the actual day. It is my first attempt at a gingerbread house and I'm so excited about it! I have a good template in mind and have also bought back some edible candy decorations from Australia when I went back recently. Stay tuned!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
The powerful mind
I was thinking about depression this morning. Not that I'm depressed or what, although I do know a few people who are dealing with different levels of depression personally.
A friend posted this as her status on facebook recently: depression is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign that you have been trying to be strong for too long. Do you agree with this? I used to think that depression will only hit the weak-minded people but now I'm not so sure anymore. Especially after going thru Aiden's first year where he totally brought out the most vulnerable side of me and threw me off my line. I was the last person I thought would ever get depressed. Even my mum used to joke about how I would only make people around me depressed (thanks mum). Now, I am convinced that depression can hit anybody and there can be many reasons why it happens. But even though it may not be a sign of weakness, I don't believe it happens just because you have been trying to be too strong either.
I used to follow a very popular blog that documents her daily life as a mother of 3. Her blog is very inviting and full of positive energy. At one point, it even made me wonder if it was really true that her life is only flooded with sunshine and rainbows. I stopped reading not because I was jealous or being a sour grape. I just felt that everything she wrote appeared to be too try hard, staged, and well, simply unreal. But recently, I went into her site just to check (and I had nothing else to read on the internet) and read a post where she came clean about how she actually has been suffering from depression (varying degrees at different times) for the past 5 years! Was I surprised? Not really. but I do give her credit for confessing. What I am now wondering is, all the great, beautiful, positive stuff that she has been writing about on her blog, are they written as a cover for the negative feelings she has inside her? Is she doing this as a form of self-therapy? Did she feel the need to write about only the good stuff so that she could remind herself that life is beautiful?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to determine if she is right or wrong. There isn't even one in the first place. Everyone deals with their problems differently. But what I do know is, our mind is a very powerful tool. Whenever I feel down, I go in search of the resilient heart inside me. When I find it, I calm down to re-focus. I follow a path and seek my way out. If you are in some kind of depression, you lose your way. That was what happened to me in that first year of motherhood. I was lost for the very first time in my life. When you are lost, you fear. When you fear, you frantic. When you frantic, you start to spin. And that is when all negative emotions set in. If you keep holding on to the bad feelings and unpleasant experiences, you will never get out of the maze. In the more serious cases, people sink.
Yesterday, I was reading a blog that I came across recently. She is an american with 2 young children, of which one is suffering from down syndrome. She only found out about this when the child was born. It was of course devastating but it seems like she came to terms very quickly. She accepted the fact and now writes this blog where she focuses about enjoying the small things in life. She did admit the fact that she sometimes cries when things happen, she uses her mind to overcome it. In her own words, she wrote "Every time I begin to sink, I remind myself that I am a rockstar. And rockstars know that life is beautiful. Life has challenges. Life teaches you things. And life is all how you look at it."
Will she ever breakdown one day? Has she really accepted and come to terms with the unfortunate situation? Not denying is one thing, but totally accepting and feeling okay about it is another. Is she saying the above becasue she needs to hear it herself? That she has to constantly remind herself that this is how she should look at life. She is not a friend but I do wish her all the best.
I don't what had called for this post. Perhaps it was because I had an accident where my car collided with a bike this morning and felt shitty about it. I'm physically ok but the man on the bike had to be sent to the hospital. Not unconscious or anything. He was hurt on the arm and leg and so couldn't walk. So after I came home, I felt so lousy about the whole incident. I didn't like the fact that this had happened after I have been driving with no bad records for more than 10 years in Singapore and Australia. I wondered if the man is fine. I kept replaying the whole accident in my brain and tried to find an answer to whether or not I was entirely at fault. I kept wondering if I could have been more careful.
And all of a sudden, something reminded me to search for that heart again. The mind is indeed a very powerful thing. I calmed down and let go. Let go of the thoughts and let go for the negative feelings. My heart is no longer heavy and my mind is clearing up. Re-focus. That's what we always have to do in life. Imperfections are what make life beautiful. And most importantly, learn to love yourself.
x
x
A friend posted this as her status on facebook recently: depression is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign that you have been trying to be strong for too long. Do you agree with this? I used to think that depression will only hit the weak-minded people but now I'm not so sure anymore. Especially after going thru Aiden's first year where he totally brought out the most vulnerable side of me and threw me off my line. I was the last person I thought would ever get depressed. Even my mum used to joke about how I would only make people around me depressed (thanks mum). Now, I am convinced that depression can hit anybody and there can be many reasons why it happens. But even though it may not be a sign of weakness, I don't believe it happens just because you have been trying to be too strong either.
I used to follow a very popular blog that documents her daily life as a mother of 3. Her blog is very inviting and full of positive energy. At one point, it even made me wonder if it was really true that her life is only flooded with sunshine and rainbows. I stopped reading not because I was jealous or being a sour grape. I just felt that everything she wrote appeared to be too try hard, staged, and well, simply unreal. But recently, I went into her site just to check (and I had nothing else to read on the internet) and read a post where she came clean about how she actually has been suffering from depression (varying degrees at different times) for the past 5 years! Was I surprised? Not really. but I do give her credit for confessing. What I am now wondering is, all the great, beautiful, positive stuff that she has been writing about on her blog, are they written as a cover for the negative feelings she has inside her? Is she doing this as a form of self-therapy? Did she feel the need to write about only the good stuff so that she could remind herself that life is beautiful?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to determine if she is right or wrong. There isn't even one in the first place. Everyone deals with their problems differently. But what I do know is, our mind is a very powerful tool. Whenever I feel down, I go in search of the resilient heart inside me. When I find it, I calm down to re-focus. I follow a path and seek my way out. If you are in some kind of depression, you lose your way. That was what happened to me in that first year of motherhood. I was lost for the very first time in my life. When you are lost, you fear. When you fear, you frantic. When you frantic, you start to spin. And that is when all negative emotions set in. If you keep holding on to the bad feelings and unpleasant experiences, you will never get out of the maze. In the more serious cases, people sink.
Yesterday, I was reading a blog that I came across recently. She is an american with 2 young children, of which one is suffering from down syndrome. She only found out about this when the child was born. It was of course devastating but it seems like she came to terms very quickly. She accepted the fact and now writes this blog where she focuses about enjoying the small things in life. She did admit the fact that she sometimes cries when things happen, she uses her mind to overcome it. In her own words, she wrote "Every time I begin to sink, I remind myself that I am a rockstar. And rockstars know that life is beautiful. Life has challenges. Life teaches you things. And life is all how you look at it."
Will she ever breakdown one day? Has she really accepted and come to terms with the unfortunate situation? Not denying is one thing, but totally accepting and feeling okay about it is another. Is she saying the above becasue she needs to hear it herself? That she has to constantly remind herself that this is how she should look at life. She is not a friend but I do wish her all the best.
I don't what had called for this post. Perhaps it was because I had an accident where my car collided with a bike this morning and felt shitty about it. I'm physically ok but the man on the bike had to be sent to the hospital. Not unconscious or anything. He was hurt on the arm and leg and so couldn't walk. So after I came home, I felt so lousy about the whole incident. I didn't like the fact that this had happened after I have been driving with no bad records for more than 10 years in Singapore and Australia. I wondered if the man is fine. I kept replaying the whole accident in my brain and tried to find an answer to whether or not I was entirely at fault. I kept wondering if I could have been more careful.
And all of a sudden, something reminded me to search for that heart again. The mind is indeed a very powerful thing. I calmed down and let go. Let go of the thoughts and let go for the negative feelings. My heart is no longer heavy and my mind is clearing up. Re-focus. That's what we always have to do in life. Imperfections are what make life beautiful. And most importantly, learn to love yourself.
x
x
Monday, November 22, 2010
Beautiful colours of Fall
In case anyone is wondering, I'm not dead yet. Just been busy preparing for x'mas and getting back into routine after my husband's grandparents left a week ago. And I have another group of guests coming in a week's time which means I have to get the guestroom ready again.
Will update soon. But before I go, here are some recent photos. It's Fall, my favourite season of the year in Japan!
Red maple leaves
Yamashita Road, Yokohama
Will update soon. But before I go, here are some recent photos. It's Fall, my favourite season of the year in Japan!
Inner garden, Meiji Jingu Shrine, Tokyo
View from Tokyo Tower
Imperial Palace, Tokyo
Fallen leaves, Imperial Palace, Tokyo
Red maple leaves
Yamashita Road, Yokohama
Monday, October 18, 2010
My busy busy life
Yay...I'm back again! It's nice to be home. Even my 3 year old said "I'm glad to be home mummy" the moment he stepped into the house on Saturday afternoon after almost 18 hours of travelling (flight, bus, taxi etc). For me, I'm happy that we won't be flying again for another 6 months at least.
Since arriving home, I have been busy with chores and working on my evergrowing To-Do list. Despite feeling exhausted from lack of sleep (I slept a little on the overnight flight but was definitely not enough), I had to unpack all our luggage and get all the stuff sorted out. Although I'm definitely no neat freak, there's something about unpacked suitcases lying around the house that disturbs me terribly. Everytime I come back from travelling, I just have to unpack the minute I get home. Immediately.
In the last 48 hours, I have managed to get the following done:
- 4 loads of washing
- grocery enough to feed our family of 3 for the next 3 days
- made 1 breakfast, 1 lunch and 1 dinner
- made a litre yoghurt (I make our own yoghurt with a yoghurt maker at home)
- sorted out Aiden's wardrobe for the change of season (his clothes were in a mess and scattered over several drawers)
- sorted out Aiden's old clothes (the ones I want to keep go into a box and the rest in a bag ready to be dumped)
- confirmed a new cleaning lady and organize for her to start her weekly services tomorrow (yay!)
- plan out the schedule for the cleaning lady for the rest of the year
- register for my japanese course to commence on 16 November (yay, I'm finally gonna pick up the language!)
- plan the itinerary for our friends' visit in December and ourtrip to Hiroshima and Osaka together
- plan the itinerary for Richard's grandfather who will be arriving next Saturday
- make changes to my friend's itinerary (she will be arriving 30 Nov) to accomodate my japanese class schedule and my weeekly domestic help
- caught up with a good friend over emails
Am I efficient or what? So much accomplished in the last 48 hours. I'm damn proud of myself... hee. Oh, and I even found time to update this blog. But now I've got to go put my 4 loads of washing that have been dried away. I will find time to update this blog again if I am not buried alive under that humongous pile of clothes...
-
Since arriving home, I have been busy with chores and working on my evergrowing To-Do list. Despite feeling exhausted from lack of sleep (I slept a little on the overnight flight but was definitely not enough), I had to unpack all our luggage and get all the stuff sorted out. Although I'm definitely no neat freak, there's something about unpacked suitcases lying around the house that disturbs me terribly. Everytime I come back from travelling, I just have to unpack the minute I get home. Immediately.
In the last 48 hours, I have managed to get the following done:
- 4 loads of washing
- grocery enough to feed our family of 3 for the next 3 days
- made 1 breakfast, 1 lunch and 1 dinner
- made a litre yoghurt (I make our own yoghurt with a yoghurt maker at home)
- sorted out Aiden's wardrobe for the change of season (his clothes were in a mess and scattered over several drawers)
- sorted out Aiden's old clothes (the ones I want to keep go into a box and the rest in a bag ready to be dumped)
- confirmed a new cleaning lady and organize for her to start her weekly services tomorrow (yay!)
- plan out the schedule for the cleaning lady for the rest of the year
- register for my japanese course to commence on 16 November (yay, I'm finally gonna pick up the language!)
- plan the itinerary for our friends' visit in December and ourtrip to Hiroshima and Osaka together
- plan the itinerary for Richard's grandfather who will be arriving next Saturday
- make changes to my friend's itinerary (she will be arriving 30 Nov) to accomodate my japanese class schedule and my weeekly domestic help
- caught up with a good friend over emails
Am I efficient or what? So much accomplished in the last 48 hours. I'm damn proud of myself... hee. Oh, and I even found time to update this blog. But now I've got to go put my 4 loads of washing that have been dried away. I will find time to update this blog again if I am not buried alive under that humongous pile of clothes...
-
Thursday, September 30, 2010
I need to SHOP
The entry today has got nothing to do with the title of this blog. Just some (negative) ramblings of my life but this is my blog and I write whatever I want.
I was in a bitchy mode this morning. I blame it on the lack of sleep. My 3 year old is not feeling well and has been coughing thru the night. I went to bed only close to 2am last night (or should I say this morning) with a heavy heart (will talk more about this later) and got woken up at 5am due to my son's terrible coughing. Went to sleep on his bed to keep him company and never quite got a wink after that. I think I got a total of 3 hours sleep in all. That can very well justify my bitchiness this morning in my opinion.
So what could I do to let my steam off? I called my son's school to inform that he will be absent today. I was hoping that nobody would answer my call so that I could leave a voice message and at the same time remind his principal that she had yet to respond to the email that I sent her 2 days ago. Unfortunately, a teacher answered the phone and I had to talk nicely. But feeling unsatisfied, I decided to send an email directly to the principal after that phone call to remind her in writing that she is supposed to respond to an email that she received 2 days ago. Okay, I did not exactly write that but I think I managed to deliver the message across with professionalism.
This not responding to emails thing is one of my biggest pet peeves. I just cannot stand people who do not use their emails to communicate effectively and professionally. It's fine with taking your sweet time with personal emails from friends but it really isn't right to delay responding to work related emails that had specifically asked for action from you. I have always been very particular with emails and when I was still working in my last job, I dealt with many emails in a day. Even when an email did not require me to action on, I would still respond with a short message just to acknowledge receipt of the mail. And for emails that required me to spend time working on an action before I could give the sender a satisfactory answer, I would at least respond to inform that I was working on it and gave my sender an indication on when he could expect an answer. That, to me is basic email etiquette and professionalism at work. Seriously, how hard is that??
Enough of that.
So like I said, I went to bed late last night with a heavy heart. It was a sad day for Aiden as he played with his bestfriend, D, and his sister for the one last time. D and his family leaves Japan to return to America today. Aiden and D met at school about a year ago and D was the first kid who went to Aiden to say hi. And he tried to scare Aiden by growling but my silly boy thought it was funny and since then, it was all about D. Aiden looks up to D a lot because he is one year older and sometimes, chemistry is a funny thing. He just really, really like this American boy.
Because of the kids, D's mother and I hang out a lot too. She and her husband are really nice and we have been to each other's place for dinner of weekends. I am really feeling sad that I have lost another friend in Japan.
This is the 4th time this year that a friend leaves. I do know many people here but I don't like to call everyone a friend. To me, a friend has to be someone you enjoy spending time with. Someone more than just an acquaintance. I have mentioned many times that it is hard to forge friendships when you live in a foreign country so I'm always happy when I find someone I can call a friend. And so it is hard when these friends leave.
Everytime this happens, I feel like I am taking a bullet. Okay, that may be exaggerating but you get the point. It is always moving on again for me. A part of me is numb but another part of me wonders how long I can handle the downside to living in a foreign land with no family and real, permanent friends.
Maybe it's time to go shopping again.
x
x
I was in a bitchy mode this morning. I blame it on the lack of sleep. My 3 year old is not feeling well and has been coughing thru the night. I went to bed only close to 2am last night (or should I say this morning) with a heavy heart (will talk more about this later) and got woken up at 5am due to my son's terrible coughing. Went to sleep on his bed to keep him company and never quite got a wink after that. I think I got a total of 3 hours sleep in all. That can very well justify my bitchiness this morning in my opinion.
So what could I do to let my steam off? I called my son's school to inform that he will be absent today. I was hoping that nobody would answer my call so that I could leave a voice message and at the same time remind his principal that she had yet to respond to the email that I sent her 2 days ago. Unfortunately, a teacher answered the phone and I had to talk nicely. But feeling unsatisfied, I decided to send an email directly to the principal after that phone call to remind her in writing that she is supposed to respond to an email that she received 2 days ago. Okay, I did not exactly write that but I think I managed to deliver the message across with professionalism.
This not responding to emails thing is one of my biggest pet peeves. I just cannot stand people who do not use their emails to communicate effectively and professionally. It's fine with taking your sweet time with personal emails from friends but it really isn't right to delay responding to work related emails that had specifically asked for action from you. I have always been very particular with emails and when I was still working in my last job, I dealt with many emails in a day. Even when an email did not require me to action on, I would still respond with a short message just to acknowledge receipt of the mail. And for emails that required me to spend time working on an action before I could give the sender a satisfactory answer, I would at least respond to inform that I was working on it and gave my sender an indication on when he could expect an answer. That, to me is basic email etiquette and professionalism at work. Seriously, how hard is that??
Enough of that.
So like I said, I went to bed late last night with a heavy heart. It was a sad day for Aiden as he played with his bestfriend, D, and his sister for the one last time. D and his family leaves Japan to return to America today. Aiden and D met at school about a year ago and D was the first kid who went to Aiden to say hi. And he tried to scare Aiden by growling but my silly boy thought it was funny and since then, it was all about D. Aiden looks up to D a lot because he is one year older and sometimes, chemistry is a funny thing. He just really, really like this American boy.
Because of the kids, D's mother and I hang out a lot too. She and her husband are really nice and we have been to each other's place for dinner of weekends. I am really feeling sad that I have lost another friend in Japan.
This is the 4th time this year that a friend leaves. I do know many people here but I don't like to call everyone a friend. To me, a friend has to be someone you enjoy spending time with. Someone more than just an acquaintance. I have mentioned many times that it is hard to forge friendships when you live in a foreign country so I'm always happy when I find someone I can call a friend. And so it is hard when these friends leave.
Everytime this happens, I feel like I am taking a bullet. Okay, that may be exaggerating but you get the point. It is always moving on again for me. A part of me is numb but another part of me wonders how long I can handle the downside to living in a foreign land with no family and real, permanent friends.
Maybe it's time to go shopping again.
x
x
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A Beautiful Observation
One of the things I enjoy doing in my daily life in Japan is taking my 3 year old to the local playground. We are very lucky to be living in a neighbourhood surrounded by beautiful parks and children's playgrounds that are all accessible by foot within minutes. Besides spending good quality time with my little boy, taking walks like these always bring about new discoveries that can be inspiring. And that was what happened yesterday.
It was hot and humid so I decided to take Aiden to the playground earlier in the morning. The place was quiet except for an old man with a boy (probably about 3 or 4 year old) who was playing in the sandpit. The man looked like he was in his 60s so I guessed he was probably the grandfather. Shortly after we arrived, they started preparing to leave (hope we were not the reason!). The grandfather washed and packed up all the sandpit toys and proceeded to clean the boy up. He opened up a bag that contained some towels and fresh new clothes, and used the water from the tap at the playground, meticulously cleaning up the boy who had sand all over his body. Then he dressed him up with the fresh clean clothes and sat him down, giving him a drink and some crackers to snack on.
I was very moved as I sat there watching. The silent bond between a grandfather and a child. The tender care by the grandfather. The smile on the boy's face as he sat down in his clean outfit, eating the snacks. It was all so sweet. And very very inspiring.
d
d
It was hot and humid so I decided to take Aiden to the playground earlier in the morning. The place was quiet except for an old man with a boy (probably about 3 or 4 year old) who was playing in the sandpit. The man looked like he was in his 60s so I guessed he was probably the grandfather. Shortly after we arrived, they started preparing to leave (hope we were not the reason!). The grandfather washed and packed up all the sandpit toys and proceeded to clean the boy up. He opened up a bag that contained some towels and fresh new clothes, and used the water from the tap at the playground, meticulously cleaning up the boy who had sand all over his body. Then he dressed him up with the fresh clean clothes and sat him down, giving him a drink and some crackers to snack on.
I was very moved as I sat there watching. The silent bond between a grandfather and a child. The tender care by the grandfather. The smile on the boy's face as he sat down in his clean outfit, eating the snacks. It was all so sweet. And very very inspiring.
d
d
Monday, August 2, 2010
Life in Japan - Brunch with the ladies
About 3 weeks ago I invited a bunch of ladies (wives of my husband's colleagues) to a lunch at my place. It was during that week that my closest friend in Japan left to move to another part of the country, and my personal yoga teacher (a friend whom I have lunch with occasionally) left to move to another country. This is the down side of an expat's life. You find yourself in a situation where people come in and out of your life all the time. To perk my mood up, I decided to throw a lunch party at my place.
These ladies' partners work with my husband on the same project and it is not the first time we see one another. I had a similar gathering at my place last spring which I did a chinese food theme - stirfry vegetables, sweet and sour pork, curry, fried rice etc. So this time I wanted to have a western style brunch. 11 ladies turned up and we had a great time catching up. Well, I think they had a great time since we were supposed to end the session at 1pm but they didn't leave until 2ish. And the food was all gone.
My ikebana arrangement.
My table floral arrangement. I LOVE flowers.
My menu for the day - beef pot pies, rockmelon wrapped with parma ham, cheese platter, beetroot salad with red wine vinegar dressing, prawn and avocado salad with seafood sauce, parmesan chicken fingers, cream cheese brownies and fruit platter.
Nice? I'm only choosing one recipe from the above menu to share today but if there's anyone who is keen to have the rest, feel free to leave me a comment or drop me an email.
Parmesan Chicken Fingers
Ingredients:
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
zest of half a lemon
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 or 3 chicken breast fillets (cut into finger size strips)
1 egg, beaten lightly
oil for deep frying
Combine breadcrumbs, zest, parmesan, salt and pepper in a plastic bag to mix.
Dip chicken in beaten egg and place in the plastic bag.
Seal the bag and shake to coat the chicken pieces evenly.
Deep fry the chicken pieces in hot oil until cooked.
Very straightforward and easy but taste really good. Doesn't take long to cook and it's a great party food.
These ladies' partners work with my husband on the same project and it is not the first time we see one another. I had a similar gathering at my place last spring which I did a chinese food theme - stirfry vegetables, sweet and sour pork, curry, fried rice etc. So this time I wanted to have a western style brunch. 11 ladies turned up and we had a great time catching up. Well, I think they had a great time since we were supposed to end the session at 1pm but they didn't leave until 2ish. And the food was all gone.
 |
My ikebana arrangement.
 |
My table floral arrangement. I LOVE flowers.
My menu for the day - beef pot pies, rockmelon wrapped with parma ham, cheese platter, beetroot salad with red wine vinegar dressing, prawn and avocado salad with seafood sauce, parmesan chicken fingers, cream cheese brownies and fruit platter.
Nice? I'm only choosing one recipe from the above menu to share today but if there's anyone who is keen to have the rest, feel free to leave me a comment or drop me an email.
Parmesan Chicken Fingers
Ingredients:
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
zest of half a lemon
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 or 3 chicken breast fillets (cut into finger size strips)
1 egg, beaten lightly
oil for deep frying
Combine breadcrumbs, zest, parmesan, salt and pepper in a plastic bag to mix.
Dip chicken in beaten egg and place in the plastic bag.
Seal the bag and shake to coat the chicken pieces evenly.
Deep fry the chicken pieces in hot oil until cooked.
Very straightforward and easy but taste really good. Doesn't take long to cook and it's a great party food.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Smelling the Roses
I have lived in 3 countries (and worked in 2 of them) in my life. I was born and raised in Singapore. Moved to Perth, Western Australia, in 2005 after my husband and I got married. In 2007, I resigned from my job in Perth and moved back to Singapore (where my husband accepted a work assignment) just before giving birth to Aiden. And in early 2009, we relocated to Japan because my husband accepted a job offer that contracted him for a year. We extended our contract here in January this year and will probably be in Japan until God knows when.
Being educated in Singapore, I am very used to the pressure cooker style of life. The pace in Singapore is very fast and life can be hectic. People are competitive. The whole nation is forever in pursuit of a so called "better life", generally translated as "life with material comforts". It's like if you live in a big house, I want to live in a bigger one. For this, people work very hard just so they can satisfy their material wants. This becomes a vicious cycle where the whole nation simply gets trapped in this hectic, stressful lifestyle where people tend to put all their energy into pursuing their careers and everything else in life becomes secondary.
It was only after I moved to Perth that I finally found the meaning of family life. To me, Perth is like a country city. It is very quiet. I could finish work at 5pm. My bosses respected my personal time and family life. And for the first time, I got acquainted with nature. I found work very shortly after I moved to Perth. Since we had no children at that time, and the city is quiet with not much to do anyway, I pretty much focused my energy on furthering my career. For that 2 years, I enjoyed my work a lot but towards the end of my time there, I got fairly stressed up with several work challenges and juggling 2 roles at the same time. It also didn't help that I was pregnant then.
At present, I have been living here in Japan for 18 months. I am not able to work here because I can't speak the language. Besides, I have a child to look after and I don't have family to rely on. As an expat, it is also hard to forge any good, solid friendships as the other expats come and go all the time. Everytime I thought I have found someone I can click with, she informs that she is leaving soon. I have no family here, and neither do I have any actual real friends. When I go to the shops, I cannot understand what the locals say to me most of the time. Neither can they understand my almost non-existent grasp of the japanese language. So why am I still always saying that I enjoy living in Japan?
Because for the first time in my life, I feel that I have finally slowed down. My situation in Japan has forced me to slow down. I go to the playgrounds with Aiden and we count the crawling ants together. When he is happy playing the slides by himself, I sit on the bench and read. When I'm not reading, I watch and observe the other mothers and kids at the park. Aiden and I take walks in the neighbourhood and we talk about the birds and changing seasons. I see some mothers cycling past me with a child in her backseat and I watch and observe in awe how they can balance so well with shopping bags infront and a toddler at the back. I channel all my time and energy in nurturing my child and taking care of my husband. I get to witness all of Aiden's milestones. And I get to enjoy his hugs and kisses thru out the day.
There are always so many ways to look at a situation. My life in Japan may be described as lonely if I want to look at it negatively. But in my opinion, I am finally enjoying life. And it is a really nice feeling to be able to slow down and take notice of the flowers on the street.
Being educated in Singapore, I am very used to the pressure cooker style of life. The pace in Singapore is very fast and life can be hectic. People are competitive. The whole nation is forever in pursuit of a so called "better life", generally translated as "life with material comforts". It's like if you live in a big house, I want to live in a bigger one. For this, people work very hard just so they can satisfy their material wants. This becomes a vicious cycle where the whole nation simply gets trapped in this hectic, stressful lifestyle where people tend to put all their energy into pursuing their careers and everything else in life becomes secondary.
It was only after I moved to Perth that I finally found the meaning of family life. To me, Perth is like a country city. It is very quiet. I could finish work at 5pm. My bosses respected my personal time and family life. And for the first time, I got acquainted with nature. I found work very shortly after I moved to Perth. Since we had no children at that time, and the city is quiet with not much to do anyway, I pretty much focused my energy on furthering my career. For that 2 years, I enjoyed my work a lot but towards the end of my time there, I got fairly stressed up with several work challenges and juggling 2 roles at the same time. It also didn't help that I was pregnant then.
At present, I have been living here in Japan for 18 months. I am not able to work here because I can't speak the language. Besides, I have a child to look after and I don't have family to rely on. As an expat, it is also hard to forge any good, solid friendships as the other expats come and go all the time. Everytime I thought I have found someone I can click with, she informs that she is leaving soon. I have no family here, and neither do I have any actual real friends. When I go to the shops, I cannot understand what the locals say to me most of the time. Neither can they understand my almost non-existent grasp of the japanese language. So why am I still always saying that I enjoy living in Japan?
Because for the first time in my life, I feel that I have finally slowed down. My situation in Japan has forced me to slow down. I go to the playgrounds with Aiden and we count the crawling ants together. When he is happy playing the slides by himself, I sit on the bench and read. When I'm not reading, I watch and observe the other mothers and kids at the park. Aiden and I take walks in the neighbourhood and we talk about the birds and changing seasons. I see some mothers cycling past me with a child in her backseat and I watch and observe in awe how they can balance so well with shopping bags infront and a toddler at the back. I channel all my time and energy in nurturing my child and taking care of my husband. I get to witness all of Aiden's milestones. And I get to enjoy his hugs and kisses thru out the day.
There are always so many ways to look at a situation. My life in Japan may be described as lonely if I want to look at it negatively. But in my opinion, I am finally enjoying life. And it is a really nice feeling to be able to slow down and take notice of the flowers on the street.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Life in Japan - Day trip in Chiba
We took a 1.5 hr drive to Chiba (located in the greater Tokyo region) on a Saturday recently. It was beautiful and we had a wonderful time exploring despite walking a lot and climbing probably thousands flights of steps. This is one of the many reasons why I love living in Japan. There's always something to do (apart from shopping) as a family on weekends and so much culture and history to enjoy
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