August 7, 2019

Wednesday - Hot and Sunny

I got up this morning and watched the news. It was on, sort of! I’m finding the news on TV in different times and pieces. It works more or less for me.  

I had a quiet morning, I skipped breakfast. I ate a couple of meal replacement bars and thought that would do. I did have a cup of tea and also worked out what to wear. 

At 11 am I got a text from my friend and she said she was on her way, so I went downstairs. K invited me into her room, so I sat for a minute or two.  My friend showed up soon after and we drove off.

We had lunch today in Iskia, a famous pizza and pasta place just outside Tsuruoka proper. I’d been there once before with F and it was so busy and we were rushed and it didn’t seem anything special so we never went again.  However, today was good. The waitress spoke good English, and there were some interesting things on the menu.  My friend had a margarita pizza and I had a 4 cheese pizza that came with honey on the side. I didn’t think I’d like the honey since I don’t like honey, but on the cheese, it tasted really good.

After our lunch, we went back into town and had a cup of something nice at Starbucks along with a bit of chatting.  Sadly for me, my friend had to get ready for work, so she dropped me off at S-Mall and went on her way.

I did a bit of shopping at the mall. I got some of my usual stuff, checked out the music shop for DVDs, and looked in lots of places today for things.  I didn’t buy too much though.

Around 4:30 I went to Doutor and had a decaf drink.  I read some of my book, Y is for Yesterday and just relaxed. F called around 6:30 to say that he was just leaving work and would be half an hour. He came very close to that.

We went to a grocery store to get his mother a bento for dinner tonight. I picked up a few things for dinner tomorrow night and then we went to the gas station to pick up dinner for the car.

We delivered the bento, F changed his clothes, and then we went out again and had dinner. We ended up at Coco’s because not much else was open at that time of night. We had a pretty good meal. I had pasta and shared a bacon and roasted potato ajio with F. We had just been seated when an ex student of mine came in with her daughter. I said hello, but at the end realized that I had taught the daughter too. Sadly she doesn’t keep up with her English. 

F and I came back to the house and had a nice evening in. I asked that we watch at least one episode of The Good Doctor.  It was the Christmas episode with the plague. We still have to watch the second part soon.

That’s about it for us. F went to bed, I’m up for a little.  Come back later if you like and see what I get up to on Thursday. Until tomorrow….

August 31, 2018

Friday - Rainy

A mostly good day.

This morning I got up quite early for a change. I woke up early and then came back to bed.  I even woke up again when F left for work.

I got up and tried to watch the news. The BBC news was fine, but the storm came back during the US news and knocked out the channel.  Oh dear.  It came back when the news in English was finished.

I had a fairly quiet morning. I had breakfast and watched a bit of telly from the DVR. I got through an episode of both Reign and Agents of Shield. I could have watched more, but decided to do  Postcrossings instead. 

I had lunch and while I was preparing it, saw K. I offered her some lunch so she asked for and received half of one of my sandwiches.  No big deal.  I ate my meal and got back to Postcrossing.  I wrote four cards tonight, except I forgot to mail them. Oops.  

When F came back tonight I suggested that we make dinner here at the house.  I discovered I had a duck breast in the fridge and it was expiring soon.  He thought it was a good idea, so we went to the shop to get more food. On the way back I asked F about how he’d like his scrambled eggs served to him.  I planned to have mine on toast, he wanted his raw on rice. I not so gently explained that what he wanted wasn’t scrambled eggs and I wasn’t going to help him with that.  It worked out, but it was a bit of a palaver.  I did my toast, cooked some frozen broccoli, made my eggs and helped F plate the rice for him and his mother.  I put the eggs on top, got out some drinks for us, helped set the table and F sliced the duck, heated up the rice, washed up afterwards and actually did more than I thought he did!  

Dinner was quite nice and since we’re going away, was a chance to have “family time” before our trip.  

F and I headed upstairs after doing the dishes but heard the phone ring.  It was his sister.  F’s youngest niece just had her second baby.  I will have to move a little faster on my blanket!

F and I went out for a little to McDonald.  We had the new McFlurry, a White Thunder one. It was good if a bit too sweet.  Bring back the black one!  It was much better. We picked up a few necessaries at the store and then came back to the house.  

We had a fairly quiet night back at the house. F took a shower and I watched a few of my “important” shows.  We both packed for our trip although I wonder if I forgot something. I hope not.  

So, I won’t be around tomorrow night.  Don’t miss me too much. I hope to be back on Sunday, but if we get back late or I’m very tired, I may not post. Come back later and see what I get up to. Until next time….

August 30, 2018

Thursday - Rainy and cool

A good day. 

I got up this morning, had a quiet time of it.  I didn’t see K at all, she was in the living room with the radio on and the doors closed. I did a load of towels for laundry and hung them upstairs.  No big deal really.

F came back to the house for lunch. He asked if I wanted anything, but I really didn’t.  My stomach felt a bit weird so thought I should take things easy.  

In the afternoon I put on some Agents of Shield and did some crochet. In the afternoon I watched two episodes of that one and one episode of Reign.  On Reign, two of the cast members were killed off. One definitely was, the other probably was.  Yikes. 

I had lunch, just simple ham sandwiches with mango chutney and a salad, but it was good.  I washed the dishes fairly soon afterwards.  

The news was on and I watched most of it, although F called me during it. Oh well.  He was going to be late and was very tired, poor thing.  

F did get back quite late tonight, around 6:30. We discussed what we could do for dinner…I volunteered to scramble some eggs for us all. I’d have mine on toast, F and K could have theirs on rice if they wanted.  F chose to go out, however!  We went to the restaurant near the post office and had a pretty good meal.  I had chicken steak and it was nice. F had the spicy noodle dish I saw on Facebook. Next time I might have that.  

We came right back to the house after our meal and stayed in for a change. We had showers and a quiet evening.  There’s been a big thunderstorm going on and warnings on the telly about flooding.  None is expected in our area, so we should be okay.  

And that’s it for today.  It was a pretty good day really, quiet and peaceful.  OH, and it looks like we are going to go to Fukushima-ken this weekend. Woot.  F told me not to cancel the hotel.  We haven’t told his mother though….

I’ll most likely be back later… don't wait up. Until tomorrow….

August 29, 2018

Wednesday - Cooler, cloudy and rainy

A mostly good day.

I got up this morning and did a lot of the usual things. I had breakfast and decided to watch a few things off the DVR after my morning shows were over. It was a good call.  My poor DVR is up to 15 hours available or something like that. I keep asking F to take put some of the stuff on the DVR onto discs for me, but he never actually does.

Lunch was good.  I had some butter chicken curry that F had bought me a few months ago. It didn’t come with rice (yay) so I used a couple of slices of white bread to eat with it.  I liked it and might even buy it again.  

I did 2 loads of laundry in the morning and wrote 3 postcards for Postcrossing in the afternoon.  I thought about doing more, but wanted to enjoy the process rather than just sending a lot at once.  

F came back to the house around 4 when I was doing the dishes.  We grabbed a couple of ice coffees and came upstairs.  I watched the news after a bit and he went back to work.  

When F came back to stay tonight he actually suggested a place to have dinner and it was a good one.  We invited his mother along too, as she hasn’t been out of the house in ages.  

We got to the restaurant. It serves Chinese food, so we decided to order 3 separate dishes and share them.  The first one to arrive was the fried rice and it came with soup.  F doled out the rice to himself and his mother, then I took some.  F and I decided to give his mother the soup, and that’s when it happened.  The soup bowl was hot so I pushed it towards her on the table. Unfortunately, it “caught” on the table and upended towards K.  Soup went everywhere, all over the table and over the edge onto her legs. It was really hot and I was so worried that it burned her. She says it didn’t, but she barely moved when it happened.  The waitress helped us clean up and I was really upset, but K seemed okay.  I asked F to check on her later to see if her legs got burned. They both said that she is okay.  I honestly felt terrible about it.  

After dinner, we went back into Tsuruoka and went to the grocery store. We picked up a few things for the next couple of days and then came back to the house where I unpacked the groceries.

F and I went to the onsen tonight. I sat in the lobby and watched the news in Japanese, updated my phone and did a little crochet. I’ll probably have to take it back though as a little bit doesn’t look that great. Sigh.

On the way back to the house, F and I stopped at a conbini for ice cream and then ate it at the house. I watched The Black List double shot and an NCIS episode.  

Basically, that was my day. I really hope that K is all right in the morning. I am a bit worried about her as  she’s elderly and her reactions are a bit slow.  Oh, and we’re all covered in bites. The mosquitoes are horrible this year. Not sure what is going on there.

Come back later and find out what happens on Thursday. I hope it’s a good day. Until tomorrow….

August 28, 2018

Tuesday - Cloudy and cooler

A middlin’ sort of day.  

I woke up around 5 am and grabbed my phone to see what time it was.  I was half asleep of course but noticed I’d had a message from a cousin to say that a relative in the UK had died.  It was rather sad news to receive just then, but to be honest, we weren’t very close.  

I went back to sleep, but when F woke up for work, I did too.  I told him my news, but he’d never met the relative so was sad, but not too much.  I got up a bit later and did my usual morning stuff of watching the news, NCIS, having some tea and then going downstairs to grab breakfast.  No big deal.  

This morning I decided to sort through my drink boxes. I have two boxes full of tea and coffee.  I sorted them and set up a bag of tea and coffee packets that need to be used up soon.  They are boxes with one tea bag in them for example. Most are decaf, so they are easy to grab at night.

The rest of the day I spent composing an email to a friend that I had an argument with a few weeks ago. I sent it off too.

F called me tonight and really annoyed me. Basically, the first words out of his mouth were asking me about food…as in what did I want?  I wasn’t hungry, why does he keep asking me?  I suggested he come here to find out, so he did.

We went to the store and he parked in the middle of the parking lot, so I asked him which door he wanted to go in. I didn’t really care. One was close to the vegetables, one was closer to the deli section.  Pick one.  He got upset with me.  I don’t get it.  Just go into the store.  We went into the deli one and he picked up stuff for his mother. I got some bread and some salad for me. I expected him to grab some fish, but he didn’t.  He was still in an odd mood and I had no idea what he wanted to do. He said something like he didn’t want to eat because he would take me to a restaurant that I like.  (There aren’t any nowadays.  They’ve all been ruined by the experience of going with him.) I grabbed a couple of things for myself and put them in the basket. 

We came back to the house and F gave his mother her food. I put my food in the fridge for later when I was hungry and went upstairs.  I decided to go out to the temple down the street.  I had asked F to go with me tonight, but I decided that since he was angry I’d rather go alone.  He came in the room and said he’d come and then I said I didn’t want him to and then asked him if he really wanted to. He said he did, so we went out.

We walked to the temple but he wasn’t talking to me and was doing the thing where he’d walk behind me and change sides. I hate that. We got to the temple and it was so not what I wanted. I’ll have to go again.  I had hoped for a little time to remember my dad and even my relative, maybe even talk about them with F, but nope.  Throw the money in, a couple of claps and let’s take pictures of the sunset. 

We walked back to the house going around the long way. It got a little better until F said that he wanted me to cancel the trip this weekend.  He isn’t feeling well.  I said I’d go by myself but would have to work out how to do it.  

Back in the house, I got on my computer and figured out money and bus and train schedules and looked at hotel rental sites and realized that it would be an expensive trip for me by myself.  I’d have to stay two nights since I’d be travelling by bus part of the way.  I decided that I probably couldn’t swing it. 

I watched a bit of TV and then went downstairs and grabbed my food around 9:00pm.  Now I was hungry.  I heated part of it and brought it upstairs.  F seemed surprised that I was eating, but he did see me getting food tonight! He asked if I was hungry and I said I was eating. I think he was planning to take me out. He didn’t have to.  He made himself something to eat and brought it upstairs too.  However, when he finished, he had a bit of an accident going down the stairs.  

I washed my food trays and then came upstairs and spent some time with F on the bed. He was relaxing.  We actually were nice to each other and things got much friendlier. Yay. I showed him some of the paintings by the painter that I like and he said he’d like to go.  I have two days left that I can cancel the hotel in, so we’ll see how it goes.  If he’s still in a bad way or if the weather is bad, we’ll stay here.  I told him how much the trip would cost if I go alone and he said he’d pay for it!  Too bad he didn’t say that before.  

I also brought up our anniversary which is coming up next month and asked about it.  We might go to our favourite restaurant for our anniversary that night.  Fingers crossed.

I watched the last episode of Suits with Meghan Markle in it. It was quite good. I wonder how the show will survive without the two younger characters.  I’ll find out next year I think.

And that’s about it.  Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m hoping to do a Postcrossing or two, but who knows if I’ll get around to it.  Come back and see what happens.  Until tomorrow….

August 27, 2018

Monday - Rainy and cloudy and cool

A good day.  

I had a hard time getting up and staying up this morning.  I tried very hard but ended up snoozing through NCIS: LA.  Sigh.  After a bit, I got dressed properly and had breakfast.  

In the afternoon I watched a  few of the things on the DVR and did a bit of crochet on my blanket. It’s going fairly well.  I joined a few more squares onto it and paid attention to the trouble spots on it. 

Going fairly well. I'm a little further along than this now.

I went down for lunch and after I cut my bagel I washed the knife. For some reason, I ended up cutting my thumb with the bread knife. I had no idea it was that sharp!  I didn’t know where any band-aids were downstairs, so I had to go upstairs to get one.  

Lunch was great. I had a cheese bagel, plus some fried chicken that I didn’t eat yesterday, plus a salad. It was very nice.  

My friend sent me a text to see if I’d be around later on so she could pick up her books.  I knew she’d need them today, so I had them ready for her.  She told me she’d come after her class finished, around 5:30.  After the news, after watching a little more on the telly, I went downstairs to wait for her. I waited a long time!  She took rather a long time, for reasons that turned out to be fine, before she came to pick up the books.  We chatted about some of the students and classes and then she had to go.  While I was outside I was bitten by a lot of mosquitos.  They were horrible. I’m still itching from them and have big bumps all over my legs and arms.  

F came home just before my friend left and brought his mother some dinner and us some ice cream.  He wanted to go to the onsen tonight so we decided to have dinner together first. 

We tried to go to the Thai restaurant, but it was closed so I suggested going back to Foodever, where we had our spat last week.  This time it was open and we both had gapao rice and enjoyed it.  

After, we drove to the onsen. F made use of the bath, I made use of the free wifi and the comfy chairs. I did a little crochet and also a little internet surfing.  

We came back to the house around 10 pm and F plied us with ice cream. Yay.  I took a shower and watched Bake-off, which I’d recorded earlier while we were out. 

And really, I think that is it. F is snoozing away and I need to get some sleep.  It was cooler today and I’m totally loving it.  I really hope that tomorrow is cool too.  Come back later and find out what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

August 26, 2018

Sunday - Rainy and cloudy and cooler

A good day, mostly.

F and I stayed up very, very late last night, so we slept in very, very late this morning.  I woke up first, just after 10 am.  F and I got up after a bit, then he made breakfast for himself and his mother, I had cereal a little later.  

We had discussed going to Mikawa to see Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and decided to do it.  The weather wasn’t great at all. We drove to the mall, and even though we left in lots of time, the road was busy and the rain slowed us down. We made it just in time.  We had full stamp cards, so we didn’t have to pay for our movie.  Hurray!  How was it?  Okay.  I really wanted to like it more, but it just wasn’t as fun as the first film.  

After the movie, F wanted “lunch”.  We had bibinba at the mall.  They were good, but honestly, I wasn’t hungry from all the popcorn I’d eaten, and I really wanted something that wasn’t so damn carb-filled.  I feel like I only ate carbs this weekend.  

We decided to go to the Aeon grocery store to pick up a bento for F’s mother.  We got a few other things there too.  While I was there though, I started to get quite upset inside and really nervous. I realized that it was because we often fight while we are in that store and a couple of times F has threatened to leave me in the mall. It was rather a horrible feeling.

We came back to Tsuruoka. It wasn’t really raining that much. We dropped off the stuff, F gave his mother her bento and I came upstairs. I didn’t see him for a while and then he came upstairs too. 

Around 8 pm he started to ask me about dinner. I still wasn’t hungry in the slightest but thought he was. I suggested a place and he was fine with it. We drove there and parked, and then he said he wasn’t really hungry. I said I wasn’t either.  We drove away.  

We went to a grocery store to pick up some milk for his mother. I got some fried chicken for myself for dinner, but I still haven’t eaten it. I found a package of British biscuits that expire soon and have been munching on those instead. Much more yummy. 

On the way back to the house, F started talking about going to his onsen. He wanted to go straight from the grocery store, but I pointed out that we just bought milk so really shouldn’t.  I volunteered to just be dropped off at the house and I’d take the groceries in and put them away. I also told him that if he spent about 5 minutes at the house, I could grab my crochet and come with him. He decided not to go and got quite sharp with me when I tried to change his mind.  

We had a quiet evening at the house.  I prepared the garbage for tomorrow’s pick up. It took a while, but I got it done. When I came back upstairs, F was watching sports so I missed some of my Sunday show. Sigh. Then he ended up taking a bunch of my water from my water pot to make himself noodles.  Oh well. He did offer to give me more water so that was nice of him. 

During the day, he also contacted the woman who made my cereal bowl and our mugs to see if we could get replacements. She could send them to us, but she is going to be in the area next month, so we might just go and visit her and buy them directly from her. Maybe!

That is about it for my day. Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow, come back later and find out. Until tomorrow…. 

August 25, 2018

Saturday - cloudy and rainy

A good day.

F and I slept in quite late today. I’d gone to bed late, but not as late as in days of old. I couldn’t keep my eyes open, and my poor laptop nearly ended up on the floor a couple of times so decided not to blog.  

Today, we got up, F went to the doctor.  When he came back, he made noodles for him and his mother, I had cereal and yogurt.  Mine was very yum.  His smelt bad. 

We snoozed around the apartment for a while, but around 2:30 went out and got his mother something to eat, plus a few things for the kitchen.  We dropped them off and then had coffee at Cafe Studio Cinq.  It was quiet there and the drinks were good.  We then went over to Machi-ne Kinema to see Wonder.  I knew that F would like it as he’s into heartwarming family movies, but I was surprised how much I liked it too! It wasn’t bad at all.  

After the movie, we drove around a bit thinking of something to do. Finally, we went to Studio 14 and had a lightish dinner.   The cook/chef/owner made us two kinds of pasta and they were great.  He made carbonara with big slabs of bacon, and a pasta with mini-shrimp, oil and saltwort.  The latter vegetable is something that I had just seen a couple of weeks earlier on a TV programme, so it was cool to have it in a dish.  We ended our meal with lattes, one with soy, and one with milk. 

F was wondering what to do next so I gave a few ideas.  We ended up at the Internet Cafe for three hours and actually, it was fun.  I watched some TV, my usual Saturday night shows that I tape.  Major Crimes was crazy, a big shootout in a courtroom happened and….No, I had better not spoil it for any in Japan people. 

After our time was up we went looking for some of the new salty butter caramel ice cream. The first place we went to didn’t have any, the second did. It was our grocery store and we picked up a few other things at the same time.  I got some of my instant decaf coffee, and was feeling a bit sorry for my husband about me buying it, but then I remembered that he buys beer every week or so, and one six-pack of beer costs a lot more than my jar of decaf.  And, I share and it lasts longer too! Guilt over. 

We came back to the house where I discovered that F had managed to smash the mug that we bought at the craft fair in April. It was his cup, not mine, but I’m quite sad about the whole thing.  He’s swearing that he will order a new one and for good measure a bowl to replace the one I use for cereal.  I still use it, but it has a crack in it, so I can’t use it in the microwave.  

And…I made a reservation for a hotel in Fukushima-ken next week.  There’s an exhibition at an art gallery that I want to see, and it will end in a couple of weeks.  So, if all goes well, F and I will drive there next weekend.  Woot!  I’m excited a little bit.  

And I just discovered that it is after 4 am and I really need to end this.  It’s a good thing that my day is completed!  Come back later and see what happens on Sunday. Until tomorrow….  

August 24, 2018

Friday - Hot, cloudy and sticky

A good day.

It’s been a long day here and I’m really tired.  It was a good day, so never fear, I’m just falling asleep at my computer and don’t want to write much.  

Work was fine, F was fine, even K was fine, although she did “steal” my bagel!  Lucky I had more in the freezer.  

Gotta go.  Until tomorrow or the next day….

August 23, 2018

Thursday - Hot (no kidding, really hot) and sunny

A good day.

This morning, I got up a little before 8:00 am and watched some of the news in English. I did a few morning things but did them all fast as I was getting ready to go to work. I also turned on the air conditioner. Before 9 am it was already 30 degrees in our bedroom. I needed not to be a big sweaty mess at my work today!

My taxi came on time and I went to my first workplace. My students told me that today was the hottest day of the year so far, so I started to worry about K a bit. She was up when I left the house, but she was dozing in the living room. 

My classes went quite well and then I took a taxi to S-Mall. At S-Mall, I had a brainwave. I decided to check out the specials board for the newly renovated restaurant. They had a pasta special on for just a little bit more than the fast food pasta place in the mall, so I decided to check it out. When I say just a little bit more, I meant it. It was less than 50 yen more!

One of the two kinds of pasta on offer was tomato free, so I decided to go in and have it. It was a great choice. The restaurant wasn’t crowded, the atmosphere was nice and the food was very good. For my money, I had a trip to the salad bar, a drink and my main dish and it was all very nice. I am not sure that I’d do it again when the price goes back up, but I enjoyed it today. After lunch, I went to the hundred yen shop and bought a scarf that was on sale. Then it was time to leave.

I walked to my next teaching assignment and I used my parasol. I’m so glad that I had it as the sun was really strong today. I’m not sure if my parasol is that strong, however, as the wind was bending it every which way. 

Classes went well at my second place and I said a little bit of a sad goodbye at the end. I don’t know when I’ll see the students again, if ever. A taxi was waiting to bring me back to the house.

When I got back here, I was very happy to see that K was in the living room using the air conditioner. I really had worried about her. She invited me to come and join her in the room. I motioned that I had to change first and then I’d come back down. 

That’s what I did. It was nearly 36 degrees in my room (35.9 to be precise) so I went downstairs and had a drink with K and played with my phone for a bit. We were waiting for F to come home, but he hadn’t called. I didn’t know where he was or how he was doing. Around 7:30 my stomach started growling and I realized that K was probably hungry too. I asked her if she’d like to have some curry and she said she would. 

I didn’t actually cook tonight, we had some retort packages of curry and I used one of F’s rice packs, but it was fairly fast and quite good. I added on a small salad too. I really should have supplied miso soup, but I couldn’t be bothered heating up the water! I gave us each a frozen juice pop at the end. K said it was enough, it wasn’t really enough for me though. 

F came back just after I finished doing the dishes. I was upstairs when I heard him come up. He was in a bit of a hurry to give his mother some food, but I told him she’d already eaten! However, she wanted more food. To his credit, F offered me some noodles, but I didn’t want any. He went off, made his mother and himself some udon and then came back upstairs.

After a bit, we decided to go out for a drink. It really was so hot in our bedroom still. We ended up in Gusto for kakigori and drink bar, and it was really nice! 

We came back to the house and took showers. F watched some gymnastics on the telly, and then I watched a couple of things too. And that brings us to now. I’m quite tired tonight. The heat was seriously over the top today and the stress of the last few days is getting to me. I have three more classes tomorrow and then I’m done. I’m looking forward to being done, but I’m also a little sad because I have enjoyed teaching again. My friend will come back from her vacation and start work and I will become a lady of leisure again. Snort!

Come back later if you want to hear more about my Friday. Until tomorrow….

August 22, 2018

Wednesday - Hot and Sunny

A bad day.

Unfortunately, F took today off work. It caused all sorts of problems for me and made my day even more stressful than usual. Sigh.

It started okay. He got up early, I got up at my usual time to watch the news. He snoozed a bit while it was on, but before 9 left with his mother to go to her doctor. I had my usual sort of morning, it was rather nice. I had my breakfast and watched my shows, no big deal.  

When F came back with his mother, he asked me if I’d like to eat lunch and offered to take me somewhere. I didn’t mind, especially if we could be back before 2:00pm so I could get ready for work.  It was 12:30 when we left. We’d discussed a couple of places, and decided on one near city hall. However, on the way, F suggested another place.  I was okay with it. When we got there, the two places that I like to eat were closed. Sigh. We looked around outside to see if anything was open, but F couldn’t eat at a yakiniku place and I said that I wouldn’t eat unless he could. Then he said that he could have a keisendon and went back into the original building.  He barrelled up to the order machine, going around the people in line looking at the menu and put his order in.  Then he came back to me and asked me what I wanted.  Honestly, nothing.  I was so upset with him. My two choices there were soba/udon or things on rice.  None of them appealed to me.  I had lovely salad, bread and chicken at the house that I had planned to have as my lunch today.  What I got was a diatribe on how he didn’t care what I wanted to eat, the same basic crap he’s been spouting for ages. Now, if he’d asked me before he ordered, I would have said I didn’t want to eat anything there and could have gone elsewhere. However, he’d already paid. He ate a bit and then got sick and disappeared. He came back and said he wasn’t feeling well. He finished his meal and disappeared to the washroom again. By now it was almost 1:30 and I needed to get back to the house and change and eat. I didn’t know if I should take a taxi back or what. Just as I was giving up on him, he reappeared. Apparently, he’d been sick. While I felt sorry for him, it didn’t make up for him letting me watch him eat and me needing to have lunch before work.  

We finally got back to the house and I go into the kitchen immediately to prepare my lunch. Only, there’s no bread. Someone has eaten both slices of bread. I got to have salad and chicken for lunch. While it was good, it wasn’t terribly filling. I was furious. If either of the two people I live with had told me that they had eaten it, I would have bought more, but they chose not to. Talk about adding insult to injury.

When I went up to the room it was roasting. I closed the windows and turned on the air conditioner. I couldn’t get dressed without it. I managed to get ready before my taxi time and after asking F what he preferred, I turned off the AC.  

I went outside and met the taxi there and went to work. I had a good couple of classes and quite enjoyed myself. I came back by taxi afterwards, even though I really didn’t want to.

F was out when I came back. I gave K some tea and then came upstairs. I changed and finished up my paperwork and sorted things out for tomorrow. 

F spent time on the bed and I got tired so I tried to nap for a bit. I didn’t manage. I told him he needed to get something for his mother so he left and got her some food. When he came back, I asked him if I was allowed to eat. He was very obnoxious about the whole thing but agreed to take me somewhere. The first two places I requested either were full or closed just as we got there. Sigh. Finally, I asked for Cocos and was told that he’d stay in the car. That was fine with me!  I didn’t want him around anyway. At the restaurant, he peeled off a ¥1000 note and gave it to me. Big deal.  I went in, got a good table and had a nice meal.  It wasn’t Japanese food, which I was greatly relieved about. 

We came back to the house afterwards. F was waiting in the parking area for me.  We got a tiny bit friendlier on the way back, but honestly…I am so tired of him acting like feeding me is difficult.  It isn’t. I’m not nearly as picky as he is. I just like good food and not crap. He, on the other hand, thinks things like ramen and udon and soba are healthy. They might be, in moderation, but not the way he makes them or eats them. 

Anyway, I have to get to bed soon. I have early classes tomorrow.  I’m on the last couple of days of this teaching assignment. I’ve enjoyed it, but with the added stress of having F around drives me crazy. This is why I no longer have a job. I get zero support from my husband, in fact, he goes out of his way to make things more difficult for me. With friends like him, who needs enemies or jobs?

Let’s hope tomorrow is a better day. Can it get much worse?  Until tomorrow….

August 21, 2018

Tuesday - Hot, humid and sunny

A good day.  

I woke up in the middle of the night and had to make a trip downstairs. I wasn’t too happy about that. Still, it had to be done.

F left this morning and I got up just after and watched the news. I had an early breakfast again and then watched a couple of shows off the DVR. I checked over my class plans for today’s lessons and then F came back for a little visit. He said that he might take tomorrow off work as he needs to take his mother to the eye doctor again. I reminded him again that I’m working and can’t go out with him. I also reminded him that I worked late tonight, until 9:00pm. No problem.

I had lunch a little early today and afterwards did my dishes and put them away. It was so hot today, it got up to 35 degrees in our bedroom again, and there was barely any wind. It made it very uncomfortable for me. I had to towel off before I changed into my work clothes. I gathered everything together and went downstairs to wait for the taxi. I noticed that the taxi wasn’t due to come for about 20 minutes. Oops. I was ready too soon.  I did another chore and then waited. The taxi today came one minute late. Yesterday it was ten minutes early. I have no idea what they are thinking! I was taken to my first lesson. Things went well and then I caught another taxi to my next place to teach. I had a couple of lessons there and I think they went well. They were a lot of fun to teach. 

After classes were finished, I did up my paperwork and then turned it in. I phoned F to see where he was. He was in the parking lot waiting, so I joined him.

He’d already eaten something with his mother at the onsen tonight, so he didn’t want too much. I was thirsty and asked for a drink bar. We went to Gusto and had a fairly nice meal. I had a cold noodle dish, F had a kakigori and we shared some fries. We used a lot of coupons so tonight’s dinner wasn’t too expensive. Yay us. 

We picked up a few groceries on the way back. I needed some lunch stuff for tomorrow. I have no idea how long F and his mother will be at the doctor’s office, and I have to be ready to leave fairly early. I may not be able to go out to eat. I think I’d rather stay in anyway. 

When we came back to the house, our bedroom was so hot. F turned on the AC right away. I’ll have to turn it off when I got to bed in a few minutes. I had hoped that the heat would be over for the year since the last few days were cooler, but not yet. 

So, tomorrow I’ll have F around at times and I have to leave for a couple of late afternoon classes. We might be able to do something fun in the evening. That’s my hope anyway. Come back later and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

August 19, 2018

Sunday - Sunny and warm 

An okay day.

I woke up this morning when F told me that he was going to take his mother to the onsen.  I got up around then and found his phone on the bed.  I saw him outside at the car and yelled to him.  He came back in for the phone, I went downstairs to give it to him so we met halfway! 

I took care of some personal things and then came back upstairs to the room.  I was on my computer when F and K came back.  I was going to ply F with a drink but remembered that the film he was planning to see was on in an hour and we hadn’t eaten yet.  

We drove to a gyudon shop to eat, but they were lined up. It was going to be at least ten minutes before we’d get a seat and we didn’t have time to wait.  I suggested F just drop me at the mall and he go straight to the movie theatre, but he decided to come into the mall and get something to eat.  

He came to the mall and picked up some stuff at the grocery store, gave me some money for my lunch and then was on his way.  I had lunch at the Pizza Hut Express. It was okay today.  I had grilled vegetables and bacon pasta, in a set with a mini pizza and a salad.  

After lunch, I did a little shopping around the mall.  Of course, I visited the hundred yen shop, but I noticed that a store was selling off their parasol collection.  I’ve been thinking about getting one this year since I have so much problem finding a decent sun protection cream. I finally found one that I liked and bought it.  I went to Doutor and had a cold tea with soy milk and a cookie while I was waiting for F.  

When he finished the movie, he came back to the mall.  He had a drink too, we both did as mine was finished.  After that, we did a little shopping for his mother’s dinner and my lunches for the next couple of days.  

We came back to the house, gave his mother her bento and then came upstairs for a bit of a nap.  I didn’t really sleep, but I think F got a few winks. 

Around 7:30 I suggested going out for dinner because otherwise, we wouldn’t have any good choices.  I suggested a few places to F and he liked them all.  We decided to go to Sashimi-ya.  We drove there, but when we arrived, there was a sign on the door saying it was full.  F went in and asked if we could come in.  After a bit of hemming and hawing, they let us in.  We both had the same thing, a tuna donburi with some sliced tuna and some chopped tuna.  It was really good.

After dinner, we visited the nearby drugstore to pick up some water for me for the next few days.  I need to have something to drink in class as my throat gets dry.  

We came back to the house and relaxed for a while. I did a bit of crochet, joining squares on my blanket.  The picture I’ll put in is the blanket before I did any work on it tonight. I did well for a while, but the bad light in the bedroom stopped me.  I made a knot somewhere and couldn’t get it undone.  I need daylight!

F took a surprise shower, even though I had said I was going to take one.  He just went off and did it, and didn’t even remember that I was going to take one too.  I went after him. It wasn’t a big deal, just annoying as I had wanted to be done in time for my 11:00pm show.  

When I came back up, F was sneakily watching something but I demanded the TV back!  I watched my show and by then I felt sufficiently sorry that I had taken the TV away from him, so told him he could watch what he wanted. It was wrestling from the Asian Games. I felt a bit sorry about that. I should have let him watch it.  Sigh.  Still, he seemed happy at the end.

And that’s it.  It was an okay day really.  It was nice to have some time to myself, which around here is a rarity.  Tomorrow I have to teach a couple of classes in the afternoon and F might be late.  Come back later if you like and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

August 18, 2018

Saturday - Sunny but cool

A goodish day.

Today, F and I slept in.  Neither of us was feeling very good, so we just stayed in bed and slept as much as we could.  In all honesty, it was something like 2:30 in the afternoon before we got up.  F checked that his mother had eaten (she had) before we went out.

F had suggested going to Pisolino, the Italian buffet restaurant, which I like but he doesn’t.  I told him that I didn’t need to go there, so thought we decided to hit up a gyudon shop for a quick meal.  We were driving and F didn’t turn the way he would need to so I thought he was lost again. Turns out, he decided to take us to Pisolino anyway!  It was a nice treat.  

We each ordered a type of pasta.  I had a cold pasta, that was one of the specials.  The picture didn’t look like it had much tomato sauce on it, but it actually had a lot.  F had carbonara.  We shared a tartar pizza which had tartar sauce and zucchini on it. That was really nice.  We both had a few things from the buffet table but didn’t go too overboard.  Actually, that probably had more to do with the fact that many of the things weren’t being replenished very fast.  Oh well…all the better for us. 

When we left the restaurant it was close to 5 pm.  Neither of us would want to eat for hours, so we decided to pick up a bento for K.  We went to a place near Pisolino, one that’s attached to a yakiniku shop.  It was a little more expensive than the grocery store or the other place we go, but was probably better quality!  

We delivered the bento and then came back up to our room to veg and recover from our lunch.  

Closer to 6, F started asking me if I’d like to go places to watch the fireworks tonight, but I said no.   I didn’t want to go out. I had a feeling that we’d be able to see the fireworks from our bedroom window, and I was right!  We had a pretty good view of them. They weren’t close of course, but we could hear them through a funny trick of acoustics and it was fun to watch them.  Of course, we had to stand at our window to see them instead of sitting on the ground like we would if we were there, but it was okay.  

After the fireworks, around 10 pm, F asked if I’d like to go out for anything.  I wanted a drink really, so we decided to go out.  We decided on Mos Burgers which is a bit away.  Now, I thought and suggested to F that we go the long way around because I said there would be too much traffic leaving the area around the firework zone.  F chose to ignore me.  The simple drive to Mos Burger should have taken about 15 minutes took close to 45 minutes. Sigh. The roads were crazy busy.  There weren’t too many people walking, but a few on bicycles and lots of cars and buses.  

At Mos Burgers, it was busier than usual.  We each had something to eat and a drink too.  I had their taco naan which turned out to be okay. It was taco meat sauce (which kind of tasted like curry) with salad and broken bits of tortilla chips on a naan.  I don’t know if I’d have it again.  F had a rice burger and liked it.  

We came back to the house using a different route and got back quite quickly.  

When I tried to turn on the light in my part of the room, the cord came down into my hands.  F was all for jumping on a chair and fixing it right away, but I suggested that he not do it right now.  I would have to move a bunch of things in the dark first and I don’t really like the idea of him on a chair in the dark playing with something that has electricity running through it! I’m sitting in the dark at my keyboard.  I have my bed’s little lamp on and it is giving me a bit of light, but I really have to get to bed.  

We have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow.  I’ve been trying to get F to go and see a Japanese movie by himself tomorrow…I’ll go shopping and drinking coffee or something.  He might take his mother to the onsen in the morning, but he might not!  It’s hard to know with him.

Both of us are feeling a bit “pre-cold” so we really should take it easy. I have a week of classes coming up so I’ll be busy and don’t have time to be sick.  

Come back later if you dare and see what we get up to.  Until tomorrow….

August 17, 2018

Friday - Rainy and cold

An okay day.

I got up this morning and watched the news.  I did a few things that I normally do and had breakfast too.  K had the doors to the living room closed today to keep in the heat, so I really didn’t see much of her at all.

I did take a little nap this afternoon. I was just tired and felt much better afterwards.  

I had my lunch and did the dishes afterwards, took care of some computer stuff during the day too.  

Around 5 pm I started to get ready for going out.   I was dressed and downstairs before the taxi came today. In fact, I was outside waiting for it!  

I had one lesson tonight and everyone came for it.  It seemed to go quite well, although I’m not sure that everyone learned what I wanted them to learn!

After the class, I phoned F when I didn’t get a message from him.  He said that he was at the house and would come soon.  About 15 minutes later, I received a text from him. He said he was in the parking area.  I went out and looked, but F wasn’t there.  He was next door!  Oh no.  It wasn’t a big deal, and he didn’t have to pay which was good. I got in the car and we went to Cocos Ichibanya for dinner.

I had quite a nice curry, and F had a small plate of curry since he’d eaten with his mother. We tried to use wifi but didn’t have much luck.  F wouldn’t leave.  I tried to ask him about 30 minutes before we did leave because I wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go to bed early.  He didn’t even answer me.  Sigh.

Ironically, back at the house, I’m still up and F is sleeping.  It’s late, so I have to go to sleep soon too.  

No idea what tomorrow will bring. Come back later and find out.  Until tomorrow….

August 16, 2018

Thursday - Cloudy, then torrential rain.

An okay day.

This morning I got up, did my usual watching of the news and then checking my email.  Got my breakfast and a little later, started in on my lesson planning.  I didn’t do a lot of prep, but I needed to look at the texts and see what was taught before….just basically to get a little comfortable with them.  It was very humid at the time.  

I was working quite hard when F called to remind me that he was coming back to the house after twelve.  No problem. I told him again that I might need a little time to finish up.  We ring off, I get back to work.  I get an alert on my phone about the weather.  I can’t read it because it’s in kanji, so transfer it to my computer and figure out what it says.  It didn’t affect this area, so no problem.  I went back to work.  F phones me to say he’s finished.  He asks if I want anything. No thanks, I say.  I’m nearly done planning but not quite.  F arrives back at the house and comes up to the room.  I have all my books in order across the bed so that I can put them away in an order that makes sense to me.  I tell him I need 5 or 10 more minutes to finish planning, but I’m nearly done.  He storms off.   I didn’t talk to him again for more than two hours, because he went downstairs and cooked lunch for his mother and himself.  BOO!  He promised me yesterday when I was in the grocery store that he would take me out for lunch. I had planned to buy myself food, but he said not to.  

Our afternoon was supposed to go a lot differently.  He was planning to take his mother to her hometown and then come back and take me out. However, his uncle cancelled that plan, so he didn’t take his mother anywhere.  I was sad for her. 

Around 2 I realized that if I didn’t hear from F soon, I could just try catching a bus from the bus stop and go downtown.  I thought that was a bit dumb, so finally tracked him down and suggested rather strongly that he buy me some lunch.  He was rather whiney but did agree.  Of course, NONE of the places that I like to go was open at 3 pm, so we ended up at a keitensushi place.  We did have a fairly good meal there, ate entirely too much sushi.

After our lunch, we went to Doutor in the mall for a coffee and a bit of wifi.  We didn’t talk much but did put out a few ideas for the evening.  I was getting sleepy, so we came back to the house after visiting a grocery store.  We got a bento for K and a few things for my lunch tomorrow.  

F and I decided to go to the Internet Cafe.  I took along my crochet too.  It wasn’t very busy at all, so we each got massaging chairs.  I spent my time watching Bake Off Celebrity shows and then an interview with David Essex.  I did do a little crochet too.  We each had our dinner there. I had pasta which was okay.

We came back to the house around midnight. I took a shower and F went to bed. He’s tired, and I don’t think he’s feeling all that well either.  Poor thing.  

I get really upset because F doesn’t think that I have to plan for my classes and that I shouldn’t take time away from “us”.  But, I gave up Monday because he took off a full day, and today he wasn’t supposed to be around as much as he was.  It really bothers me how I have no support from him.  

Anyway, that’s it for me. I do have a class tomorrow evening, so I need to do a few things to prepare.  Next week I have classes every day and then I’m done again when my friend comes back to take over again.  Whew!

Come back later and see how I get on. Until tomorrow….

August 15, 2018

Wednesday - Sunny and hot, torrential rain now

A good day.

I got up this morning and did my usual stuff.  I felt a little run down, so I had some of my sports drink and it did the trick.  I did a couple of loads of laundry today and then got stuck into my lesson planning.  I also watched a bit of stuff off the DVR.  I have to make space for the stuff I like this weekend.  

I barely saw K at all today.  She spent a lot of the day sleeping in the living room.  I did let her know that there was food for her, I’m not sure if she knew it was for her or not.  

I got a couple of days of lessons planned today. I have a bit more to do tomorrow.  Bit of a spanner in the works though as F has decided to take the last part of the day off.  He has to take his mother to her hometown for Obon.  He took Monday off, so I didn’t plan that day, but I need the time to do my planning/checking what I’m going to teach.  

It was a horrid sweltering day today. The temperature in our room up here was around 30 degrees and the humidity was awful.  Even though I wore a loose dress, I had sweat everywhere. Yuck.  

When F came back to the house tonight he was asking about dinner. I suggested taking his mother out.  We could have ordered in bentos, but she’s not had a break from the heat and humidity for days.  F thought it was a good idea.  

We all trundled off in the car and went to Gusto.  F and I had the same chicken dish, and his mother had fish.  She ate everything!  So did F and I though. F always says he hates Gusto, but I don’t think he really does!

We brought K back to the house and then the two of us went out again to a drugstore to get some necessaries.  We spent more money than I expected, but it was a good thing really.  No junk food, just some things for the house and health.

We had a quiet evening at the house.  I watched The Blacklist Double shot and enjoyed it, F went to bed.  The expected storm has finally hit us and I think it woke K up as I hear her bopping around downstairs. She’s probably closing windows.  Mine are already closed as I have the AC on because I can’t sleep when it is this hot.  

Tomorrow I plan to get up and after the news do some of my lesson planning and hopefully get enough done that I won’t have to do any after F gets off work.  Fingers crossed that happens.  

Come back later if I’m not swept away and see what happens on Thursday. Until tomorrow…