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::Andrea's Rambling Notes - once from Japan, now from Canada::
::Author::  Name::Andrea From::Small city/town, B.C., Canada I am a short girl from the west cost of BC, Canada and I am a proud Canadian. I went to Japan in 2000 because my Dad told me I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't. He was right. I lived a good life found my husband from the other side of the world and have a beautiful daughter. Basically we lead a pretty normal life filled with normal ups and downs. We both come from different cultures: me Canadian, him Chinese. Living in Japan was a real eye opener about who I am and about the people I associate myself with. I lived and loved in Japan but the time to move on came upon us and in May of 2006 we left and moved to Canada: a huge move for us all. We are now trying to start up again, remodel our lives and create our future for our family. I now feel like a tourist in the country of my birth, my eyes see different and my life will be forever changed. This blog is my notes and observations of our life, our changes, our adventures and new beginnings. Welcome. View my complete 
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Tuesday, August 31, 2004 I just got in trouble for putting my Tintin add in the lunch room. Turns out the bulitin board is for work only and you have to get permission to put something up. Well I didnt know that. Pheff! Oh well a lot of people read it before it was taken down. hehehe Gotta do the supermarkets next and maybe the vets this weekend. Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/31/2004 :: 3 Comments: Well I have good news, bad news and Li news. Lets start with the good news as the bad news makes me depressed. Good news!! Remember a while back, probably about a month and a half, I wrote a letter to the head of Human Resources (who is also my boss) and bitched in a very diplomatic way about people not observing the no-smoking- in- the- lunch -room rule. It was a pretty decent letter that covered all the basics. Well I guess it worked. I have been eating in the lunch room again for two weeks now. Basically since I have been able to eat without puking, and they have still been smoking, to my annoyance. BUT TODAY there were signs posted that said no smoking and a new outside area had been prepared for all smokers!!! Things take time in a company of this size. Basically it is like dealing with the government - too many layers and different people that you don't know who to talk to exactly concerning each detail. Well my bitching found its way to the right floor and a smoking area has been made. The crazy cancer-stick men can sit outside all covered on new benches and their own ashtrays. AHHHH sometimes it feels sooooooooo good to bitch. Li news. The bus to work did not work out very well yesterday so he came home with the determination to ride his bike. This is over an hour bike ride but it was his decision, so I was not going to dispute it. He could not do this with his old shit bike, so we sent out and bought him a new, but cheap, bike last night as well as a special rain suit for the upcoming typhoon days. Today was his first biking attempt. Lets all pray that his smoking lungs don't cave in and that he makes it home alive. The exercise will actually be very good for his computer sitting ass. The BAD news.... We have to get rid of Tintin. We are really upset by this. Our apartment is a no pets apartment, for what ever odd reason, but we thought we could keep it secret. Only problem was that we had to call the rental agency's maintenance people because the toilet fan was not working. Li hid Tintin away but she heard people talking and was not going to accept being behind closed doors. She let her voice be heard and the maintenance man forwarded the illegal news. My boss was phoned, because Sumitomo is the signer on out rental contract, and said the cat goes or they do. BASTARDS! So this happened yesterday. I got my student to translate a poster add for me today and I put it up in the lunch room. I am attacking ALL of my students (one of which may have a lead. PRAY) and I will put up a couple of posters at the supermarkets tomorrow after work. I have no time today. I am not happy about this. We had planed on bringing her back to Canada with us. SHIT!!! So that is life in a nut shell right now. Need face icons here again - how about one that is a half blue and half white with little squiggles coming out of its ears. That is me right now. Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/31/2004 :: 0 Comments: I felt the baby kick yesterday. Actually after feeling it I am sure I have felt it many times before but mistook it for other pains. Cool! Maybe that will wear off soon but for now cool. Last night I ate this raspberry shurbert from Seiyu that was heavenly, I am craving some right now but am at work. I have one more in the fridge for tonight. Ahhhhh... Well for the good news - Li got his job. He signs the work papers today and the best is that he can live at home. The bus will work. The last two nights he has been trying to go to sleep earlier and make a half hearted attempt to wake up earlier as this is a day job. Hehehehehehe. Yesterday we bought a microwave. It was really cheap and pretty decent. It was one of the things on our list of required before the baby is born. All the books say that a microwave is a mothers best friend and a working mothers god. Well I am going to be a working mother. I have a lot more on the list of things to buy but for now can not do too much. Need to wait for Lis first cheque and no rain. We are being pelted by a typhoon. Not now. It will come at around 3 this afternoon. It is going to be a wet bike ride home. It will rain harder than one can imagine all night and then by noon tomorrow the sun is going to be out and we will all be dying from the extreme humidity. Welcome to Japan. I have 5 more minutes to write but can not think of anything to say. Hmm Got some more books from Amazon yesterday - YAA!!! Still in love with Ian Rankin!! I think I am only two books shy of his who collection and on the pre-order list for the one due out early next year. Got one more for your collection dad. Will send it when I can find suitable wrapping. I the process of moving I threw all the paper bags away. UGH! Gotta go. Dre Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/29/2004 :: 2 Comments: Here are some pictures from a bird park that Kim and I went to a while back. heheh Bird Park Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/28/2004 :: 0 Comments: I have been trying to order wedding gifts off of N and Z's registry but the web site is not working properally at their end right now!! AUGH!! I hope no one else picks my ideas. OH and Z if you are planing on updating do it now girl!!!! I am in a buy you lots of presents mode!! I budgeted just for you two and plan on using it all! hehehe They need to put smile icon things on this site. ohhh that would be fun. hehhe So Li got the job. He starts on Tuesday. No I dont know what it is as he never asks those questions. I dont know why. And he will continue living at home as the bus service will work, basically. We have finally cleaned out the closet in the spare room and put up the bar for hanging clothes. Now if anyone is planing on visiting (It has been over 4 years now ya know!) the room is ready. If anyone is planing on visiting shortly after the birth of spud (Janet named it that) I really need to know. Planing and organizing the grandparents and what not is important. My place is bigger but it can never be big enough for everyone. Love to have you all but spread out slightly please. I am working on a birth letter for my dear friend Cheri right now. They are wanting to adopt and I am willing to help them in ANY way I can. It would be sooooo cool if they found a young kid next year then our kids would be almost the same age. OHHHH! So cool!! Being girly. I am also hungry. I am always hungry!! And always have to pee. AUGH!!!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/28/2004 :: 0 Comments: I would just like to once again take my hat off to CBC's Internet coverage of the Olympics. They have a wonderful section for each sport that does a great easy to understand description of every sport. It is in the learn more part for each area. I really recomend you check it out. Good job guys. I had no idea what Water Polo really was until I watch the video clip. EXCELLENT!! Clap clap clap!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/24/2004 :: 0 Comments: Because if Lis sly downloading skills I know have all of CSI season3 YAAAAA!!!!!! Now I just need to find the name for Roswell in Chinese. Dont ask. I started watching it because it was on TV and now I am hooked. Dont really know why. XFiles got boring so Rowell became my reaplacement. That and my new video store carries all of ER on DVD with 4 episods a disk so I am now wirking my way back through ALL OF THEM!!! hehehhe Slowly I might add. Time is a factor. Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/22/2004 :: 0 Comments: So Li has an interview at the factory today. We had to go and buy him a white dress shirt yesterday. He found that very difficult as he would never wear a white shirt EVER. Very funny. I got my nails done on Saturday and they look hot. Even Li said he liked them and he NEVER likes them. The last two times that I have gone a misunderstanding when I describe the colour that I want has turned into a good thing. Last time I asked for a pinkish beige and she found a colour I would never have chosen and it was very nice. This time I asked for a purplish brown and she came with an armload of browns and purples. We ended up doing this three colour thing of two browns and a purple tip. I know!!! But it looks hot!! And it is not a stupid CUTIE hot it is an elegant hot. GEOURGEUS as my nail girl said. It is highlighted with gold. Looks good. I also got a badly needed pedicure. My first one ever and if felt good. I was really worried as I have this thing about people touching my feet but it was no problem. My feet are so soft right now Abby described them as looking like a babies bottom. I then went out to the dollar store and bought my own foot stuff. Now that I have started it I need to continue it. hehehhe I also got some great books from Z that I have been scouring over. They tell me to start buying baby stuff now as it is too expensive to do it all at once later. When Li and I were out shopping yesterday I was checking out the baby section and oh my god money!! Clothes are not an immediate problem. My friend Taka wants to give us some of his kids clothes and his baby is only 3 months now so that will be perfect in a few months. And Li's mother has gone a little crazy with her factory contacts (she is a clothing Quality Assurance check lady) and has already ordered clothing for the first 5 years of this kids life. CRAZY! It is all the hundreds of other stuff that I need. JT is back from her Canada holiday soon and I think I am going to beg her to take me shopping. She is about 6 weeks more pregnant than me with her second kid and she is VERY practical. She will know exactly what I really need and what I dont. People keep asking me about stuff they can send and that is it really - those other needed baby things. The temperature things and bottle stuff and monitor things and all that shit that kept me awake last night worrying about it. Second hand is more than ok REALLY! Cheap is good. The clothes for me part can be easily taken care of as I spend 5 days out of the week in a uniform and they have a maternity uniform. Anyway my time is running short. I have to teach. I have an amazingly busy week this week because my students all have a huge English test that the company makes them do and study is high on their mind!! Gotta go Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/22/2004 :: 0 Comments: First of all I would like to comment that CBC On-Line is doing some EXCELLENT coverage of the Olympics. They really do a nice full coverage of everyone and dont focus only on Canada the way CNN only focuses on Americans or BBC mostly on British. It is great and informative. Clapppppppinggggg So Li had a short interview yesterday with the Job-Search people. They want him on the list for this factory in Yoshida. He went and got his hair cut and then handed in a picture of himself for the file. In Japan all resumes are accompanied by a photograph, (You will quickly notice that every train employee is good looking and all bank tellers look preened) as well as your birth date (35 is old for woman you see) and the work history of your parents (NO JOKE). Anyway Li handed in the photo and then was told to wait for a phone call yet again. But they did phone - last night. The factory manager wants to meet him on Monday. So the Job people will bring him out there then. Li has to dress suit - like but it must be a white shirt. UGH. We need to go shopping for that as Li has only dark colour or pastel stuff. I pray he gets the job. Not for the money or for the fact that it is a job, Li needs this mentally. He has been a little down lately and has been trying really hard not to show it. Transportation would be a problem but there has to be bus service to that area. Mind you the bus service in this area is just as pathetic as little ol Chilliwack. On another note, while talking to girlfriends around here and my students I realized that in some ways Li is kind of lucky that my Japanese kind of sucks. Because of it he has had to attend all of my doctors appointments for the baby and has seen all of the ultrasounds first hand, has been able to talk personally to the doctor and has been able to be involved. Something that I dont see here. In fact, the only husbands that exist in the doctors office are husbands of foreigner, and they all go into the office with their wives. There is a few other guys lounging around sometimes but you dont have to look very hard to realize that they are boyfriends praying that the stick is wrong. Because of his involvement he snaps at me if he thinks I am eating too much or too little. He gives me lectures when I am downing a Pepsi because the craving has gotten too strong, and he is more aware of his cigarette smoke. I am eating sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds right now. They are actually hard to find. Peanuts and walnuts ok but not these. I found them in an import store and am enjoying them a lot right now. Ahhh. Gonna go drown a juice. Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/19/2004 :: 0 Comments: Mr. Tobisawa brought back a whole box of mini Toblerons from Switzerland. I AM LOVING HIM RIGHT NOW!!!!!! Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/18/2004 :: 0 Comments: I feel terrible and I dont really know why. I admit that I went to bed a little later than I should have last night - got caught up in an old ER. But I had a fairly decent sleep. I got sick on my bike while coming to work today. Thankfully not in front of the station but on a side street. That would have been too embarrassing. I think it is the vitamins. I started taking my vitamins again this week and I think that is the problem. I take them with plenty of food and water while I eat breakfast but ohhhhh. I will admit that I have been feeling nauseous in the morning but this is the first time I have been sick and now I feel TERRIBLE! Anyway, Li got a call for a job interview today, lets all keep our fingers crossed. He is worried about hours as he is not allowed to work full time because of a new government foreigner regulation that went in. It has prevented him from getting any other jobs so far. We will see. Cross your fingers for him. Last night he was kind of funny. He headed out to the dollar store and bought 3 clocks - all the same kind, just different colours. They are now on the wall above the computer - 1 for Canada time, 1 for China time and 1 for Japan time. HEHEHHE Now all we need are little flag sticker things to put on the clocks and make Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/18/2004 :: 0 Comments: So we have moved in to the new place. It is starting to look really good and personally very nice. I think we have done a pretty good job with it. So if anyone is planing to visit my, hint hint, you have two years from now to do it. After that we leave this country and are off to god knows what. Li just scrubbed down the stairs of our apartment building. The green slim on the bars was annoying him. He is so cute sometimes. Hehe. God knows what the neighbours think. Heheh It is raining today. FEELS GREAT!! It has been sooooo damn hot the last few days that the energy has sweated right out of me. Moving from the bedroom to the kitchen was actually work. Today feels really good. Yesterday Kim and I headed out to the Yaizu City firework. We got up real close and both of us ended up with kinks in our necks. Last weekend Kim, Li and I headed out to the Fukiroi City fireworks. They are the biggest in this province, 200,000 fireworks set off in a 2 hour period. Cool! So tomorrow I am off to the doctor again for another check-up. I should get another baby picture, ultrasound thingy, and I might, maybe, scan it for you and put it on the picture page. Hehe. Maybe. OH AND HELP!!!!Any one who is in the mood for present sending, heeheee, I am in need of Oil of Olay bar soap (sensitive or normal ok). IT is the only kind my body accepts. All others send me into a scratching frenzy. UGH! And in the process of moving I discovered I was CONSIDERABLY lower in my supplies than I had thought. Gotta go. I want to explore my neighborhood. Hmmmm ============ OK never posted this the other day so now it is Tuesday. The newest baby picture looks like something off of the X-Files so there will be no posting of that picture heheheh. Today our new display cabinet comes, yaaaa, and later I get a much needed hair cut. YAAAAA Then it is back to work tomorrow, waaaaaa Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/16/2004 :: 2 Comments: How is this for sad. I woke up this morning and had a shower, ate, then headed to the hospital for my last round of IV stuff. I laid there for 2 hours listening to my MD and reading a book. Mostly trying to sleep. Finished and then headed to the pay area. It wasn't until the lady handed me back my hospital card and said `omadeto` that I realized that today was my birthday. I totally forgot. WOW. I got home and sat on the toilet or a while, hehe, and asked Li if he knew what day it was today. He was silent for a bit then started singing Happy Birthday. Goof forgot as well. Been a little preoccupied with puking and moving. No IV tomorrow and I hope that all is well from this point on. ohhhh and embarrassing!!! I got home from the hospital, ate some lunch, then got ready for work. Only an office day for me today. No problems. I hop on my bike and slowly go to work. I get here at 1:00 and park my bike. I see Mr. Hibino and say hey. Talk to him for 2 tiks and start walking towards my office building. Subconsciously I reach behind and touch the back of my skirt and realize to my horror that I never did my skirt up. The zipper is all the way open. OH MY GOD! Mr. Hibino noticed as he was walking back and was more fascinated with my red face. WOW. And the entire Seiken section was standing in front of me doing their Japanese style afternoon radio exercises. Thank god I noticed before going through them. Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/06/2004 :: 3 Comments: Well for those of you who have been worried about me this is a good story. Yesterday I finally broke down. Not literally but close. I started puking at 6:30 in the morning. Somehow made it to work, puking once on the grass around my office building. I taught two classes and got two lectures from two separate students telling me to go home or they would call my big boss and demand I be brought home. I gave in very willingly and was home around noon. I had not kept a single drop of water down and had barely kept any down the day before. I told Li that enough was enough, I want to go to the hospital. We knew that there was no shot they would give me to stop my puking and that the only thing was an IV. I didnt care. I was soo dehydrated my tongue hurt. So we went. I had to meet with a different doctor but no problems. Thirty minutes after that I was hooked up to an IV with 1000ml of STUFF in it and I laid there for 2 and a half hours. Very boring but it really worked. I didnt feel 100 percent but I sure felt one hell of a lot better. I went home without puking in the taxi. GOOD! And Li made a real dinner that I ate and did not puke up. I even had enough energy to finally organize the huge bills pile that had been growing all year. I even found 200 bucks in there that went missing in bloody April. Got a glare from Li for that. Hehe Anyway I went to the doctor again today. I laid there for another 2 hours but this time only 500ml. I am even at work now. Only here for a few hours. I used the energy burst that the IV gave me to frantically rewrite this 4 page abstract to be given to some huge conference people that my student had to do. He is in Malaysia right now so this was all via email. It is about lead-free solder systems for FR-1 thingamagigies and something halogen-free. The sad thing is that I actually understood it. I have to go to the hospital again tomorrow for another IV and then do a few hours of work here in preparation for the holiday. I think that Li and I are going to try a restaurant tonight. Ohhhh Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/05/2004 :: 2 Comments: I just stuck up a thing about the huge OBON festival coming up next week here in Japan, on my culture page. If youare interested. I have a week long holiday. Oh and Cheri and Darrens anniverery is this weekend as well!!! YA!!! Li and I bought a very fancy and very cheap litter box for Tintin yesterday. It has a door. We spent over an hour last night making her realize that she could get out of it when inside. Tuna fish helped. Still puking!! and I move on the 9th so please be careful with any upcoming packages that anyone may wish to send. Ill send out the new address soon. Love yas Dre Posted by (Top)Andrea::8/01/2004 :: 1 Comments: |
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