The Saga Continues...

After the teariest dinner in the history of the world, Sara went to sleep, still clothed and unbathed at 7:30, and although she has woken up several times since (it's now nearly midnight), I have nursed her back to sleep because I am not dealing with a fully awake baby at this hour of the night, and even if it means she's going to be up at an ungodly hour of the morning, I'd rather deal with her then.

So, yesterday Sara and I went with my mom to the festival held every year by S's place of work. She works at a facility for severely developmentally disabled people aging from infant to senior citizen. It's a really amazing place, and every year they hold this festival to raise money. I wasn't planning on going, but since G canceled on me for the day I figured why not. I was hoping we weren't going to run into S, and since there are literally thousands of people at this event, I thought the chances were fairly slim. Nope, guess again. Within 5 minutes of walking in the gate, who do run into? It was all fine and pleasant. I think I might have been a little distant, which I think she might have picked up on. She asked if I had been by Novelty, where we both used to work, and I said I had, and then proceeded to explain that I had a friend from Japan staying with us the first week and was showing her around, which was why we went. Why did I feel the need to justify the fact that I went to Novelty and saw those folks, but didn't bother to contact her? Why am I still trying to pacify her and make sure I don't step on her toes? God that bugs me! From what she said, she will still be showing up here on Sunday, so I guess we'll have to see what happens then, and hope there's no big showdown. I think she has taken a step back from the relationship also though, so there probably won't be any big showdown and everyone will just play nice for the day and that will be that for this trip home. I made the mistake though of telling the whole saga to CLK at Novelty though and he has a super big mouth, so I'm sure if I don't tell him not to say anything, he will go mentioning something to her at the BBQ like "So I heard you and Brenda aren't getting along because you had a tantrum at her wedding." I'm going to dinner at his house on Wednesday, so I'll have to warn him then to keep his big trap shut!

In other news, I have another belly dance class tomorrow afternoon and this one is happening for sure since it's a private lesson. I can't wait! I want to SWEAT! I'm sure I've put on a ton of weight just in the two weeks I've been here. There's so much crap food just lying around this house and I keep sticking it in my mouth! Arrgghh! I keep telling myself it's only while I'm here on vacation and I'll work hard to take off the weight when I get back. That is like putting one foot into the black hole of weight gain. Bad Brenda! But I am very excited about the lesson, and really glad that my mom has been a lot more proactive about dealing with Sara lately. The fact that Sara has really taken to my mom has seemed to help a lot. My mom is a total egomaniac, and loves it when people love her, so we have a win-win situation here. Poor Grandpa though, he's gaga over Sara and she would rather sit in my mom's lap.

Got some more good shopping in today, and I found it really strange that I just wasn't into shopping for myself. I find it a lot more fun to shop for Sara now. I also keep thinking about the ridiculous amount of clothing I already own. Half of it doesn't even fit me anymore after all the weight I've lost, and I'd like to get rid of it, but I keep thinking that if I get pregnant again, I'll probably want those clothes around then. Hmmm. I guess I'll have to take a look at what I've got when I get back. It was just a little sad though that shopping wasn't as much fun. I got lots of yoga pants and sports bras though, so I am ready to teach belly dance everyday if I have to. Bring on the students!

Alright, I should get off to bed so I can deal with Sara in the morning. Goodnight!

Craptastic

Today was not the best day. I think I'm premenstrual again because the whole day just started out with me feeling kind of crappy for no particular reason. I was pretty excited about doing a belly dance class though, however when I got to the studio I was the only person who showed up for the lesson, so they canceled it. They need (want) a minimum of 3 students to hold a class. I shouldn't have been so disappointed since the woman teaching it was filling in for the master guru teacher who is out of town this weekend. But I think I just really wanted to move and sweat. I NEED to move and sweat! I chatted with the woman behind the counter and the fill-in teacher for about 30 minutes, and when it was painfully obvious that there was no way she was going to teach this class just for me, I left feeling pretty crappy.

What better way to drown one's sorrows than shopping, so I decided to go and look for the really cute sports bra I saw the other day at the Target by my parent's house, but they didn't have my size. I went to the Target by the belly dance studio, and the bra was like half price, but they still didn't have my size. Feeling even crappier now. I get home and my dad comes running down the stairs with Sara saying "You're mother's home! We're saved!" And poor Sara's face is all tear-stained and her nose is all runny. Poor thing was thrilled to see me, so that was kind of nice. We then ate some lunch, I had a shower and mucked about the house for awhile. I hate doing that I feel so damned unproductive when I do that.

So around 4:30 I finally decided to put Sara in the stroller and take a walk up to Devon Avenue, otherwise known as Little India. It's about 3 blocks from my parent's house and I was hoping to find some nice material for belly dance veils at one of the sari shops. Lo and behold the shop right at the end of our street is the same shop that was advertised in the belly dance studio, so I go in. Lovely little Indian woman behind the counter practically forces all kinds of belly dance accessories on me, and I can't say no. What is wrong with me? Well I managed to say no to the veils she wanted me to buy that were absolutely inappropriate for dancing with. She kept trying to tell me they were good for it, but no way. Just would not work. The veils she did convince me to buy are actually way too short for me, but I figure they are good lengths for my little Japanese students to use, so I bought two (was only going to buy one) and hopefully I can sell them both to my students. She also convinced me to buy FOUR bra tops. They are really, really beautiful, and I'll have no problem selling them, but still, I felt like a total heel for saying okay when I was only going to buy one or two. Aaachh! So instead of feeling accomplished and productive I left the store feeling like I had been taken for a ride and a little apprehensive about whether or not I'll really be able to unload all this loot on someone.

Got home and then we all went out to dinner. Sara fell asleep in the car and luckily stayed asleep through the first half of dinner. When she did wake up, I sat her in the high chair and fed her her dinner to keep her quiet and happy, and by the time she finished, dad was finished with his meal and he took her for me so I could finish eating. It was the first time in a long, long, long time we had a relatively quiet meal, with little cause for stress. That was probably the best thing that happened today. Unfortunately because she napped at such a late hour (in the restaurant) getting her to go to sleep at 9:30 was impossible, and it was more like 11 before she finally fell asleep. At least she's down now.

I was supposed to see one of my friends from high school tomorrow so I texted him to find out what the plan was, and he totally bailed on me. Said he and his wife had to paint before furniture arrived or some shit like that. Whatever. I suppose I'm a little relieved because now I don't have to worry about where we can go with my little screamer in tow, and instead I can continue hunting down that sports bra at various Targets around the city. There is still other shopping I want to do too, so I guess I could do that as well.

My parents are going to the annual fundraising festival held at the place where S works. I could go with them, but there is a 99% chance that I will see her there, and I'll have to talk to her, and it's going to be awkward since I haven't called her, and I don't know if I really want to go through all that. I guess we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Time for bed. Here's hoping I have some nice dreams to put me in a nicer mood tomorrow!

My Kind of Town..

I've been here in Chicago the last week and a half, and I'm really glad I cooled my "I want a divorce" guns before I left, because I miss Akinori like crazy! I've even been having some sexy dreams about him, which is rare. Usually my sexy dreams are about ex-boyfriends. (What does that mean I wonder?) It has just made it all the more clear to me how much having a child has affected our relationship. We are still definitely as in love as we were two years ago when we got married, but it's really hard to be a mother and wife and probably even harder to be a father and husband, since he obviously doesn't seem to have much of a clue as to what his wife would like out of her daughter's father. Does that make sense? Though I've discovered that even if he's not going to win any father-of-the-year awards, having him around is definitely better than nothing at all. My parents are here of course, but that is about one step up from nothing at all. They're not the "let me take her from you and you go have a rest" type grandparents. They are the, "she's nice to play with for 5 minutes, but we finished parenting a long time ago" type grandparents, so although they SAID they would be happy to babysit anytime when I spoke to them over the phone before I got here, they didn't really mean it.

My daughter is very spirited, more spirited than any of the other babies we play with in Japan, and if she were walking, she would have totally domineered the 18 month-old we played with yesterday here, but that is all the more reason why I need SOME time alone. I cannot chase after her every waking minute or I will go insane. If I ask them to, my parents are pretty good about keeping an eye on Sara so that she doesn't get into anything dangerous or terrorize the dog too much. And they even babysat for me last night when I went to a belly dance class, and my dad reluctantly agreed to babysit again tomorrow afternoon when I go to another one, but I stress reluctantly. I think he can see the big picture though and knows that his only granddaughter is returning to Japan in just over two weeks and he won't see her again for at least a year probably, so he should make the most of the time he has with her now. My mom is a different story, or I think she doesn't know how to behave around her or something. I don't know. I guess it makes sense she left the raising of her own children to her mother. Hmm, think I have some issues with my mother? Yeah, that would take about 300 posts and at least 2 years of counseling to get through.

I haven't seen as many friends as I would like to yet, which makes me kind of sad, but it's so hard to get out since it's just me and Sara here, and my friends are all working and have kids and blah blah blah and life is just getting in the way! Oh well, at least I'm getting lots of shopping done. We are going to be so poor when I get the Visa bill next month, but at least our little darling will be the fashionista of the playground, and isn't that what's important in life anyway? We're having a big BBQ on the Sunday that Akinori is here anyway, so hopefully lots of people will turn up for that and I can see everyone in one blow. I'm kind of hoping 1 friend who said she would come with her two kids doesn't show up, and I have a feeling she might not.

S used to be my best friend. She is a very difficult person to be friends with. One of our mutual friends summed it up perfectly yesterday: she is super sensitive about her feelings, and totally insensitive about others' feelings. We've had our ups and downs in our relationship, but always worked it out. I was a bridesmaid at her wedding, which I came in from Japan for just 4 days for.

I didn't have bridesmaids at my wedding, just a flower girl and 2 ring bearers, and 1 bilingual friend was our MC at the reception. That's it. She did come all the way to Maui for my wedding though, just after breaking up with her boyfriend who was supposed to come with her and she had to leave her 2 girls with her parents since her ex-husband is a total and complete asshole. However, everyone at my wedding came all the way to Maui, one friend was unemployed at the time, one friend was 6 months pregnant and had 2 toddlers in tow. It was a big deal for everyone to make the effort to get on a plane, book a hotel and be there for us. I organized the entire affair via internet and e-mails, and DH did NOTHING!! He can't speak English, granted, but he still did nothing which was a bone of contention at the time.

We never really organized a rehearsal dinner, but just kind of invited everyone who came to the rehearsal to dinner later that night, and then went back to our condo before the dinner and called everyone who wasn't at the rehearsal to invite them too. I called S and she said she was staying too far away and we were meeting in an hour, so no, she wouldn't be making it. She turned up at my wedding the next day and was a total sour puss the entire time. I wanted to spend some quality time with her, but who gets to spend any quality time with any of their individual guests at their wedding? So when it was time for me to change into my belly dance costume to perform my belly dance, I asked her to come with me to change. I asked what was wrong since she was pulling her "I'm upset, but I'm not going to tell you why" silent act, and she refused. She was silent the whole time I was getting changed even though I tried to make conversation. After I was changed I said "You know I love you", and she ran out of the room crying. I was devastated. I wanted to cry myself, but I didn't want to ruin the beautiful make-up I paid a mint for. I wanted to cancel my belly dance but I didn't want all that practice and effort to go to waste and I didn't want her to ruin my wedding, MY special day! Hopefully the only one I'll ever have. So I went and performed anyway. She stayed until the end of the evening and said goodbye.

I tried calling her hotel room the next night or the night after and the friend she ended up coming to Hawaii with said she was at the bar having a drink. I asked her what the problem was and she said "You'll have to talk to S." S never called me back. I spent the rest of the two weeks we had in Hawaii having nightmares nearly every night about S, and worrying about what was going on while I was awake. This was on my honeymoon! How foolish I was.

I sent out our thank you cards for the gifts we received at the wedding and I get an e-mail from S saying she wasn't sure if she was ever going to get in touch with me again because she felt like I treated her as an afterthought regarding the rehearsal dinner, and that I treated her like a stranger at my wedding, after she had gone out of the way to make me feel special at her wedding.

OKAY...so I write her back that the entire rehearsal dinner itself was an afterthought, and I asked her not to stay so far away from the wedding location and our hotel in the first place. And at the wedding, I was running around like mad right up until my parents walked me down the aisle since there was practically no one to tell all the vendors where things needed to go, so I had to have my hair and make-up done while directing the florist and caterers, then get dressed while introducing and interpreting for the Japanese and English speaking guests, and of course DH isn't allowed to see me, so he gets out of doing anything by standing at the altar the whole time, fair enough since he can't speak English so wouldn't be much help with the caterers, florist or interpreting. Plus I did my best to make her feel special by asking her to help me change. I also said I was sorry that she felt the way she did because obviously I hadn't succeeded, but I was really upset by the way she made me feel at my own wedding. So she writes back that she has all the sympathy in the world for my situation, but all I had to do was ask her to help and she would have been happy to, and this is the person that she is now, and she's not going to apologize for it. WHAT?!?!?! This was my wedding!!

So I never wrote her back after that. Then she finds out I'm pregnant and sends me an e-mail wishing me well. Fine. I included her in the e-mail I sent to everyone with Sara's birth announcement, and she sends us a check for $100. Why on earth would she do that? There was no need for her to send such an outrageously generous gift. She could have just sent a card. I didn't know what to do since I really didn't feel comfortable cashing the check, and I didn't want to out and out insult her by sending it back. Luckily in Japan there is the custom of giving return gifts, so we went out and bought outfits for her girls that cost about as much as she sent, more with shipping. I certainly didn't want that hanging over my head. And then I went and e-mailed her telling her we were coming for a whole month and we were having a big BBQ party and all. Why did I do that? I don't know. So she writes back saying she has the girls that weekend and they'll all be coming, but she hopes we can get together before that.

So I've been here a little over a week now and I still haven't contacted her. She knows I'm here too. But when I thought about contacting her, and then the thought of having to see her, I just couldn't do it. I'm done I think. It was hard enough to be friends with her without all that mess, but she made me feel like shit at my wedding, and then blamed it on me, and refused to apologize AFTER I apologized for making her feel like shit, which I never should have had to do in the first place. She shouldn't have felt like shit because the day wasn't about her, it was about me. And if she was going to feel like shit, she should have damn well kept it to herself and hidden it well enough so that I didn't have to feel like shit too. AAAAARRRRFGGGGHHHH!! I'm still really angry at her, and I don't know if I'll ever get over it. I'm not a vindictive person in the least (unless I'm married to you, then watch out!), but I have to draw the line with her somewhere, and I think my wedding is a good place to draw it. Don't you? I mean, IT WAS MY WEDDING!!!

Geez, I've written a fucking novel! Time for bed!

Procrastination...why do I do this to myself?

It is now 11:40p.m. and I have several files due in the morning, and yet instead of starting them an hour ago, which is when I finally got Sara to sleep (thank you for all of the help you didn't give me with that darling husband!!), I am blog surfing, returning e-mails, etc. Why do I do this to myself? Oh well, as long as I'm doing it I might as well do it right.

So I am no longer in divorce mode. I ended up sending Akinori an e-mail because I didn't feel like trying to talk to him anymore. He is so damned stubborn (and so am I) that it just gets me more frustrated and upset and I end up in tears. So he read the e-mail in the morning before going to work, told me he was sorry, then went to work. One of the main reasons I married my husband is because he will always apologize after a fight. Maybe not directly after, but within 24 hours. However, sometimes I would like the apology to come after a discussion. So when he came home from work and after we had dinner I brought the subject up again. He said he would do his best. I don't know if he knows what he is going to do his best at, but apparently his mother had a word with him as well and told him he needed to shape up or I wasn't going to come back from America when I go with Sara next month. I had to laugh. Of course I threaten that I won't come back all the time, but as a joke.

On Saturday night MIL, SIL and the 3 kids between us went to this Hawaiian Festival thing up in the mountains. It was a lot of fun, and SIL and I complain about our husbands to each other all the time. She loves it when I tell her what an ass her big brother can be. MIL happened to come back to the table when I was just finishing a rant to SIL and overheard a bit. She said "Sorry, he's your problem now. He's very spoiled. That was his grandmother's and great-grandmother's doing. I tried to be strict, but now I've passed the baton off to you. I tried to warn you before you said yes to his proposal."

Edit: I never finished this although I meant to, but I can't even remember the rest of what I was going to write it's been so long now. Oh well.

Grrr...

Is it just me or does everyone want a divorce when they're premenstrual? I'd love to expand on this, but I have a shitload of work due tomorrow and I need to get it done while Akinori is still patient enough to look after Sara. Socially life has been great lately, though domestically the last few days have been absolute shit, and everytime that happens, all I can think is "divorce, divorce, divorce". Is this normal or am I melodramatic? Arrggghh!

Peace Is Restored!!

The cat came home at 3am. Akinori heard her yowling at the front door, which was lucky since I was dead to the world. There was another cat with her (I think it was a cat), but it ran off as soon as I opened the front door. I don't think they were friends though because I left the cat's food outside to lure her back home, and the other cat appeared to be eating it, and I think that's why Pepper (my cat) was howling. Anyway, she's home, safe and sound.

The iPod Touch has also been found. Silly me, it was under a cushion on the sofa. Akinori told me about 3 times to lift up the cushions, but I was too stubborn and thought there was no way it could possible be UNDER a cushion. I did check behind the cushions, where I lost it last time, without any luck.

Anyway, all is now well in the Kaneta household leaving me to think that this weekend will go well. I sure hope so. I was having visions today of being phoned by Akinori's sister saying something horrible had happened to Sara and to hurry back right away. I'm sure it will all be fine. I'm sure it will all be fine. I'm sure it will all be fine. I'm sure...

Where's Harry Potter When You Need Him?!

To undo whatever horrible curse has been cast on me!
I thought yesterday was not the best day, well today things got worse. I woke up 20 minutes before yoga class started yesterday. That was a pretty bad start, but it was also kind of good since it meant I actually got a lot more sleep than I thought I would, since I went to sleep at 4am (what on earth was I thinking???) and Sara was kind enough to have a lie in with me instead of being super-energetic super-early. Once I did get to yoga, the class itself was pretty much a bust since Sara, having had extra sleep, and being super-genki, decided to visit all the other babies in the class, who were happy (if helpless) enough to just lay on their own mats and watch their mommies do yoga, and pull their hair, poke them in the eyes, and all that other kind of don't-know-any-better-but-it-sure-annoys-the-hell-out-of-mommy type stuff. I decided I deserved a cafe lunch for my yoga efforts, and of course Sara could not be still or take a nap, she had to be sitting my lap and chewing on my mobile phone which I was trying to use to make reservations for a taxi to take us to the airport next month (yeah!). I found out the cost of the taxi is a lot more than expected, but oh well. No changing trains while carrying Sara and all of our luggage, definitely worth the extra yen. So of course I have to scarf down my meal and whisk Sara out of the cafe so she can't get up to full screaming capacity, and she falls asleep in the stroller on the way home. I would have appreciated it if she had fallen asleep on the way to the cafe, but whatever. We get home, watch T.V. have a good nap. Akinori comes home, blah blah blah. Not the worst of days when I look back on it now.

I remember going back and forth between the living room and kitchen a few times last night. The first time I brought my iPod touch from the living room into the general kitchen area, and I didn't bring it back into the living room. I remember thinking, I'll have to go and get it later. This morning comes, I never went back to the kitchen to get the iPod specifically, and cannot for the life of me remember where I put it down. I have looked EVERYWHERE! Today was garbage day, which Akinori took out before he went to work. He thinks I had a brain fart and threw the iPod away last night, and unfortunately I am not 100% sure he is wrong. Could I really have been that careless? I really think I could have which scares me. I lose crap all the time these days, and I wouldn't be surprised if I did actually toss the iPod while thinking about the 100 other things I have going on at any given time. Anyway, besides the fact that the iPod was a White Day gift from my beloved husband, and totally, ridiculously expensive, I use it during my belly dance lessons, one of which I had tonight. So I'm looking around for the iPod all day and can't find it, and finally have to pull out my old iPod nano, and download all the songs into that instead. Luckily I remembered to bring the charger with me to class because the damn thing is so old, it doesn't hold a charge anymore. The class went fine, but I would really like to find my iPod touch!!! I feel like such an ass for losing it!

AND the cat ran away again today, I think. I'm pretty sure it wasn't last night because she was around when I gave Sara a bath, and that was pretty late, and no one went out after that. So it must have been this morning when I was half asleep when the bloody gas man came by at 8:30 with the estimate for a whole new hot water system. Or maybe it was when the package from my mom arrived a little bit later. I couldn't tell you because I never saw her leave. She came back once, I'm fairly confident she'll come back again. I'm just worried since I'm leaving on Thursday for Summer Sonic and won't get back until Sunday night. If she doesn't come back tomorrow, she's probably not getting back in the house until I get back since Akinori is going to take Sara to his parents' house while I'm not around.

I'm really trying not to think about how Sara will take me not being around for two days, because if I think about it, I worry, and I don't want her getting any worry vibes off me, so I try not to think about it. It's just at night that she freaks out when I'm not around, but she goes completely spastic while I'm in the shower and Akinori's watching her. Granted, that's all he does, watch her (as far as I can tell), but that's a story for a different post. I'm hoping that since she'll be at Akinori's parents' house and it won't be this house that she's used to, and used to having me around in, she'll be fine. His mother raised 4 children, she must know something about calming spastic babies, right?!

Okay, I have to get back to work since I have about another 2 hours worth left before I'm done, and I have TONS to do tomorrow. Oh my god, will I actually make it out the door on Thursday in one piece?

Ch ch ch ch ch changes ♪

Since I reached my 12th anniversary of living in Japan a few days ago, I have been thinking a lot about how I have changed and hopefully grown and what is different in my life now, compared to when I first stepped off the boat (or plane or whatever).

If we start with appearance, my hair is a lot longer, and I weigh about 25 kilos less! Wow! Of course there were times along the way when I weighed even less, then gain more than I would have liked, then lost, gained, back and forth, but a few years ago I met a chiropractor who introduced me to weight loss method that really worked for me, so I am confident that I will be able to keep this weight off now.

I have moved house 6 times in the last 12 years, not counting my move to Japan in the first place, and changed jobs or places of employment 5 times. Hmm, says something about my personality perhaps? Well the last two moves and the last career change were unavoidable really as they were a direct result of another major life change that has occurred since I've been in Japan. The 5th move was from Osaka to Nagano, which I never, ever, EVER would have thought I would agree to, but I guess there is something to be said for the power of love, which leads me to...

I got married and now have a baby. I kind of always thought I would marry a Japanese man, or an Asian man anyway, and lo and behold I did. And now we have a beautiful 7 and a half month old daughter who keeps me busier than any job outside the home, I have ever had.

I went back to school to study interpreting, since I decided that interpreting is definitely the career path I want to follow. Unfortuntely I kind of left the course without officially finishing the very last class, but I figure I can always go back and my current career is more important anyway.

I have a cat. Never in a million years did I think I would get a cat. I certainly don't hate cats, but I've always been more of a dog person and if I had a choice I definitely would have chosen to get a dog, but when I got my cat I was living alone and wanted a pet more than anything, and my two turtles just weren't cutting the mustard as cuddly and lovable, and some students found the most adorable kittens that had been abandoned by their mother. How could I say no? My cat has been my best friend and a life saver when times were tough, and I'm so glad she's here in my life.

I stopped leading the crazy party girl life, and I don't think anyone, not even myself, ever thought I would. Sometimes I think I would love to go back to it, but for the most part, I'm happier with what I have now. Once in a while it would be nice, but if I did, I'm not sure I could stop, all that partying was definitely A LOT of fun! I could probably write an amazing book about all of my adventures. Some of the things I have done or situations I have gotten myself into are just unbelievable, and some totally dangerous. I'm lucky I'm alive really!

There are a million other little things, I drink coffee now, I eat fish and tomatoes and lots of other things I would refuse to touch before. But I think those are the really big things that stand out in my mind most.

All in all, it's been an amazing 12 years, and I have loved every minute of it. I love living in Japan, and I love my life here. There are of course times when I get a little depressed or upset, or I have "bad Japan days", but for the most part, I am living the life that I chose for myself. I think the hardest thing I have had to overcome, and I still haven't, is getting used to living with another human being whom I HAVE to include in most of the decisions that I make now. Roommates are one thing, and I was never too good with them either, but husbands are something else all together, and now we've thrown a child into the mix!

Okay, poor Sara has been cooped up in the hot house all day because we were waiting for the gas man to come and fix our bath. He has come and gone (and couldn't fix the bath) and I need a Starbucks!

To Blog or Not To Blog...

Arrrrgghh! It is 1 am! I stopped working half an hour ago because I was so sleepy I was getting a headache, and here I still am, sitting on the computer, when I really should be sleeping since I know Sara is most likely going to wake up at least once before 7 am, and there is no guarantee I'll get her back to sleep after 7 am., AND I have a belly dance class to teach tomorrow afternoon. That may be the longest run-on sentence I have ever written!

Oooh, something exciting did happen at tonight's class though. After one of my two faithful-come-every-week-without-fail students texted me to say she couldn't make it tonight, and feeling a little disappointed that it was most likely going to be yet another one-on-one lesson, which although fun, is a little bit draining motivation-wise, I walked into the classroom and there was a woman I had never seen before! My regular student was already there too, so I thought she brought along a friend who wanted to try out the class, but it turns out that this woman saw Belly Dance listed on the schedule of activities for the day sometime in the past few weeks, and actually went on the internet to find out when the class was to come and take a look. At first I thought she had mistaken my classroom for another, but she was sure that mine was the one she was looking for. I was so excited! She stayed for about 10 minutes and just watched the warm-up, and said that she would most likely be back next week, and probably with a friend!!! Yippee! I haven't even had flyers made or performed anywhere in public yet here. I'm more motivated than ever now to get flyers and posters made and distributed around town. I can't wait to see how this develops.

Okay, well writing that was pretty painless I guess. I think I can handle 10 or 15 minutes every night. But now I REALLY have to go to bed!

12 Years

After some very subtle and gentle encouragement and the realization
that there may actually be people out who read this blog, I have
chosen today to be the day I start blogging again as it is the 12th
anniversary of my arrival in Japan as a resident.

Unfortunately I have chosen this ridiculous hour (2 am) to do it :(
I'll make a better effort tomorrow!

Before I completely lose consciousness, my FIL sent me the most
beautiful text message tonight. It made me cry. He said that he and
MIL were very lucky and proud that in this big wide world I found my
way into their lives and into their family, and they thanked me for
giving them a beautiful granddaughter, and praised me for how hard
I've worked the last 12 years. I start to get teary-eyed again just
thinking about it. When I think about all the people out there with
not-so-nice ILs I feel truly, truly blessed. My husband is okay, but
his family is really the greatest!