Totally random title - am delirious due to not being able to ascertain the correct dosage on the Japanese cold medicine that I picked up from the pharmacy. It's been a few days since my last post but that is because I have been sick. Sick as in I don't want to get out of bed, coughing up a lung but still need to take care of a 2.5 year old who refuses to nap - sick. Being ill in a country that you are familiar with is bad enough, but feeling like crap in a new country whose language is not familiar to you is just downright torturous! Enough woe is me. Am supposed to be going to the Dr. this afternoon. He allegedly speaks English so am hoping to convey "bronchitis" and the need for an inhaler to him. Wish me luck!
G did a test run at his the nursery he will be attending in January last week. He was a superstar - settled in without a whimper and loved his new school and new friends. It also gave me a couple hours free to get a Starbucks soy chai tea latte - yay and go to the store without my "assistant". Over the weekend, we interviewed a potential sitter for G. She is a college student and ironically is from Kenosha, WI. Was a little taken aback when she asked out Parenting Philosophy - huh?, but decided to stay true to my cheesehead roots and hire her anyway. The best part was when she asked if we eat organic and how strict we are with G and his diet, Again, I could not plan this - he wonders out munching on a bag of cheddar cheese goldfish, wearing only a nappy and tee shirt and carrying my handbag. Yeah, we're really strict around here and super organic too, ahem. She's through an agency here in Tokyo and the payment scheme is amazing. This is not the "here's your $2/hour cash" from back in the day when I babysat. She charges extra if she cooks a meal - 1000 yen = $10, we pay her transportation to and from our apartment and there is a charge, albeit reduced if we come home earlier than anticipated, or later of course. After midnight, we must offer her a bed or pay for her cab ride home. I had a momentary flashback to babysitting in the late 80's and being driven/walked home by drunken dads who promised they would be home hours earlier and me falling asleep watching SNL (when it was still good). Waking up with a start when I heard the parents come home and trying to pretend that I had not been sleeping/drooling on my textbooks even though it was now 2 am. ahhh, good times and I went home with $12 in my pocket too! Although hiring a babysitter, for the Japanese is very unusual, I'm willing to go through the pain of the paperwork & payment scheme if it means dinner out with the husband at a restaurant that does not have a menu on which you can color and we can eat later than 5:30 pm.
This morning we were able to pick up our Alien Registration cards. As I mentioned previously we must carry with us at all times or risk a beating-joking! But we will have to write a letter of apology...in Japanese. Perhaps the beating would be easier.
I also sorted out, with the help of our relocation assistant, what to do with the god forsakin' wooden crate that Riley (cat) was transported in from London. One would think you could just place said wooden crate out for collection with other rubbish, and you would be wrong. Oh no, this entails a trip to the convenience store to purchase a collection ticket for large items (which I need to ask for in Japanese - I have it written phonetically), and then a collection date of January 4th. In another post, I will enlighten you on the recycling system in Japan, read: Michele's daily dose of hell. I understand that we're on an island with not a lot of landfill space. I also understand that 4-6 different containers for refuse in my kitchen take up a lot of space. More on that to follow....ciao for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment