Group photo

Group photo
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

ow. just to add another one.

We had a Hanami party last wednesday with my Japanese school in Osaka jo koen. We had a great time, with some nice beers, games, and karaoke after wards (7 Koreans, and 1 Dutch).

Bad thing was... my battery was dead so I couldn't call my wife, and I came home late.... yeah I know. I suck :(

Mayuko pregnant

Mayuko pregnant
Originally uploaded by bakadutch

Well, here is a photo of Mayuko in her 30th week of her pregnancy.

We went for a small Hanami(cherry blossom viewing party)2 weeks ago in Shukugawa (4stops away from our train station). It was a bit cold that day, but the Sakura was very beautiful, but I have to say that nothing beats the belly of Mayuko.

b.t.w. for the people whom are reading my blog, I am looking forward to reading some of your comments, it's the reason I can and want to update this blog.

Going to a Japanese language school

Since I have about 1.5/2 months vacation, I have decided to work on my Japanese by going to a school this time. I was looking for a school already last year, but couldn't find anything besides private lessons for 3000 yen an hour, and unqualified looking teachers.

This year, I finally found something nice, KKC, a school located in Namba Osaka (about 1 hour away from my house and 1050 yen transportation a day). I can study in the morning from 9 to 12.30 and/or from 1 to 4.30. For one month it costs me 44.000 yen, which sounds expensive, but if you calculate the hours it's actually very cheap.

We use the text book: Mina Nihongo 2, and are in a class of 6 to 10 persons. A lot of koreans, and Chinese, but they are fun besides the fact that they do speak a lot of Korean and I can't understand a word.

Anyway, I really have to put some extra power behind studying Japanese. This year I really hope to do JLPT 2, even though it might be a very VERY big challenge... Wish me luck

Japanese TV... an addition to it

I think a lot of foreigners in Japan dislike Japanese TV. Why I think that... because I have almost never heard any foreigner talking about Japanese TV when I talked to them about it.

What I think about Japanese TV? Well, I sometimes really enjoy watching it, and have some programs that I just don't want to miss: Mechaike, Lincoln, etc. But I have to agree on some things: There are too many cooking programs where people are lying about the taste, there are too many stupid and low budget commercials, and they amount of foreign programs (movies, drama's etc) is very low to zero (if you do want to watch them, you have to stay up until 1 or 2 in the night).

So, I have been complaining to my wife about it for months... crying, and breaking glasses on the wall. No just kidding.

But yeah, I have been asking for an addition for already a couple of months, but she always said it wasn't necessary or a waste of money. Until this guy from J:com came by and gave her some more information about it. After that she decided to give me a present:

J:Com TV.

J:Com gives you internet, phone, and TV for only 9.000 yen a month. So right now we have 66 extra TV channels :D :D YATTA. I can now watch 7 sports channels, 3 music channels, CNN and CNBC, FOX tv, Discovery channel, history channel, and a lot more Japanese and international TV programs. (here is a list of the channels and the link to J:com in English)

So, thank you Mayuko!

March update

I guess it has been a while since I have posted a blog entry. Life in Japan can be very busy so now and then, and from June it will be even busier. Mayuko is doing fine although working is getting harder every day, and she can't get the rest that she needs to have. Only 2 weeks left for her, and one week left for myself and then we don't have to work anymore.

Mayuko will then have another 2 months to enjoy by herself before the baby will arrive. I just hope that she will not stay at home to much but that she will start doing some exercise. I will try to push her a bit but she can be sooo stubborn... is that the real Japanese women?

As I have said before, I only have another week left before I have another long holiday. I was thinking of searching for another job (I still have some interviews), but I will probably stay with the same company that I am working for now (W5SS) here at the Kobe elementary schools (Shougakkou) and that will start from the end of May, beginning of June. During the holiday I want to study Japanese as much as possible ( The JLPT 3 should be fair enough).

I'm searching for interesting ways to study Japanese, because studying from a textbook for 4-5 hours a day isn't very exciting. I was thinking about taking my camera out and make photo's of Kanji signs here in the area, and writing a daily dairy on Mixi... Anyone else got some nice ideas for me?

We are also planning a short trip during this holiday, because the last one sure wasn't fun. I, myself was thinking about Kita (north) Hyogo (Prefecture I am living in) at the Japanese sea for 1 or 2 nights.

Anyway, live is doing alright up here, even though it can always be better.

Winter Holiday part 2

Well to continue from the first part;

The Flu.
I still had to stay another couple of days in my room, just in case I would infect Mayuko with it. But I guess it was alright, I finished my book about the daughter of a Yakuza boss (a very nice book, I might even write another blog entry about this book called "Yakuza Moon"), played "Prince of Persia" and "FF3" on my DS and got to see some movies that I downloaded from the net.

Unfortunately a couple of days later Mayuko also got sick and got 37.5 degrees. We were worried that she also got the flu, but luckily she got a normal temperature again the day after and it didn't go any further then coughing!

All together
On Saturday the 29th my Takuya, Aki-chan and Nana-chan came over from Osaka, to spend the new year together with the whole family. It feels great to be together with the whole family like that, even tough it also makes me miss my own family. The only one who was still missing was my sister in law Minako, but she would come over on the first of Jan.

Golf practice
On the 30th I played some golf with Takuya and Kimio, well not really playing but more practicing swing on the golf range. Because the two of them would go to a real golf park on the 31st and my golf level is way to low we decided to just go for some swings... It didn't went very well, maybe because I wanted to play golf so much I think I put too much pressure on myself and didn't enjoy a lot. My wife is telling me to stick with futsal because golf is too expensive for me... I guess she is right but still I would like to learn golf a bit more and go with them on the last day of 2008. A well, a nice target.

Baby sitting
Minako couldn't come before the 1st of January but she did got us some delicious fish (buri - yellowtail???), Ikura (salmon eggs), and some other stuff. Because Minako was living in Osaka one of us needed to pick it up from there, and due the fact that I still wasn't feeling 100% Aki-chan decided (forced by mom ;)) to pick it up.

So Aki-chan went to Osaka, Mayuko to the hair dresser, Kimio and Takuya to the golf court, and Akiko needed to drive from the station to the hairdresser. So there I was alone with Nana-chan.... HELP ME !!!!!! BABY!!!!!! No joke, I had a lot of fun taking care of the little one; watching anpanman together, playing with toys and walking around in the house together. She is growing week by week, and she is surprising us all the time. During this holiday she started to walk a bit more by herself, and can walk about 10 meters without any help from us. It was also great to teach her the high-5 (they call it high-touch in Japan for some reason lol)

New years eve
New years eve in Japan is totally different than in the Netherlands. No champagne, no oliebollen, en no Fireworks. I guess I could have bought some Champagne for the eve but I already spend a lot of money on Christmas presents so I was fine with beer! Oliebollen... well I though about making them but I do not have a big frying pan. Fireworks... a well guess its just the way it is haha.

So yeah on new years eve we ate some delicious buri (shabu shabu), drunk foreign beer, and watched the K-1 Dynamite together (some nice fights, especially "Kid" did well). While we were preparing for a count down with beer and toshikoshi soba (noodles) my mother called us to say happy new year and sing a new year song on the speaker (which was funny and very warming) So I (well Mayuko had the phone in her hand) spend the new year with my Japanese family and my mom.

After the beer, and when the little one went to bed we played some kachi kachi (Japanese card game, with 100 yen bets...I won about 4000 yen that evening) and went to bed around 3.

New years day
On new years day we had a traditional Japanese breakfast, watched the Down town Batsu game ( a TV game, in which some famous Japanese comedians were not allowed to laugh or else they would be hit on the ass with a slap stick...See here if you are interested), slept all together on the floor in the living room ate suki-yaki with again delicious beef, and played another Kachi-kachi game (this time Minako was there as well).

Obachan
On the second we left early for Ako, to visit Oba-chan (grandmother) with the whole family. We ate some very nice sushi up there and walked around with Nana-chan. Nana-chan was a bit scared of Oba-chan in the beginning but got in her mood later on the day.





Another golf game, and time to go home
On the third we practiced some golf again, which went way better than before (maybe because I checked some stuff on you tube how to practice the swing), played some wii, and visited a friend of Mayuko; Yumi and her husband. She has a very cute but small house (something we also would like in the upcoming years) In the evening we ate Okonomiyaki from Aki-chan (I think I ate Okonomiyaki 4 times in one month lol).


In the evening we went home again, which was a bit sad but we were happy to be home again as well... We had spend 2.5 week at the parents their house.

It was a great holiday, besides the fact that I fainted and got the flu. Nana-chan grew a lot in 2.5 week time and it was nice to spend time with the family. I can't wait to spend more time with the family again (next time will be in February or March though.

Tomorrow I got to go back to work again... hmmm... aaa well it's alright got to make money to support my family and work on my career the upcoming year.

Here is a video of me playing golf

Winter holiday part 1

My holiday started on the 19th, just a couple of days after my wife had started her holiday. We where already at her parents place, because we can relax there more than we can at our own little house and are having fun spending time together with them.

Oba-chan in Ako

On my first day off we went to Mayuko her grandmother, a sweet old lady with a funny way off talking (she can say stuff such as kuso baba (my own grandmother can't scold further than "you old pancake lady"), the last time we had been to her place was about a year ago so it felt nice to be back again. Grandmother (obachan) is living in a small city 1.5 hour west of Kobe in the city of Ako, once a samurai town with a famous story (which I have to search up for you guys but I can' use the internet right now...see below). We went there to clean her house, to have some nice lunch in a seafood restaurant, and to give some presents to her sisters whom are living in the same town. One of her sisters was cutting some fish when we came in her garden, the fish was still moving even though it had no head.

Rokko Island

On the next day we went home for a night (we were supposed to clean the house, but it was already clean... It really was), and in the afternoon we spend our time on Rokko Island (one of two large artificial islands that kobe has build in the last 60 years). There are a lot of foreigners on Rokko island, and because of that there is also a foreigner store called the FBC (Foreigners Buyers Club), they have a very large catalogue that you can order true the internet or by phone with stuff from Holland to Australia and from stuff from the states to India. Because we already had seen their catalogue we expected to see a lot of nice stuff in the store, but it was a bit disappointing because they only had a small collection in comparison with their catalogue... but yeah anyway we've bough some peanuts and sweet chili sauce that I really love (especially to put on my chicken). After our visit we went to the a very nice Okonomiyaki restaurant on the island called Fetsuya. Some say that it's the best Okonomiyaki chain in the Kansai area, and I have to say that I was not disappointed at all.

Osaka and the Yaki-Niku restaurant

On Saturday we did some Christmas shopping in Osaka, which was fun at first but after walking around for 2 hours in main Osaka (Umeda) it's wasn't that fun anymore... Osaka is such a crowded city (imagine Amsterdam on Queens day). I've bought some Dutch cheese, and cookies for the family, and also bought a nice one piece for Mayuko (early Christmas present). After shopping we went to a very nice Yaki-niku (Japanese bbq) restaurant, with Mayuko her Brother Takuya, his wife Aki-chan and the baby Nana-chan, where we ate some delicious meat, and with delicious I really mean DELICIOUS.



Jogging and the flu

On Sunday morning, I woke up early (as usual in this holiday, because I always wake up around 8 even though I am having a holiday) and decided to join my father in law with jogging (after he got an operation at his back last year he decided to do something about his condition so he is now jogging 5 times a week for about an hour... and that on an age of 60 years old). We first walked to the park which is about 15-minutes away and in the park we run two rounds (one together, one at own pace). It's been a while since I've been jogging and I really enjoyed doing it (too bad I can't really jog near my own place, because there are too many hills up their).

After we came back, my brother decided to go to the hospital to check his condition, he had not been feeling well for about 2 days so he wanted to check it out. Back from the hospital he came with the news that he had the flu. Because he did not wanted to infect my pregnant wife he went home straight after the lunch. There goes the Christmas together, but yeah the most important thing was that Mayuko did not get infected or the other family members.
He did not had a high fever, so he could drive home (took about an hour though).

Christmas and Wii

Because we were planning on going to Tokyo on Tuesday we had decided to have Christmas on Monday. In Holland we always start with a Christmas Breakfast with bread, smoked sausage, and other small snacks, so I wanted to do the same for my Japanese family. I woke up early to go to the supermarket to buy some stuff for the breakfast, but when I came back around 9 I saw that everyone already had woken up, and that my wife was already eating rice and miso soup... there went my surprise... I was a bit disappointed and started to have a fight with my wife on Christmas morning... nice moment to have a fight.

Anyway, after the fight, we cleaned the house together and the Dutch style breakfast changed into a lunch, which was delicious and the whole family loved it. Later in the afternoon my wife made a cake, and we played some Wii together. Wii fit, a game where you can play balance games on the balance board, and do a whole body work out and yoga. A lovely game, with a lot of games in it. We also have Wii sports (favorite is tennis and bowling), Being Olympics, and Super Mario party (anyone else here with a Wii, and some nice games?).

In the evening my wife and her mom had made a very nice Chicken Christmas Dinner, and gave some presents to the parents (a Hanshin TIgers calendar, and some beer bottles (Duvel, Heineken, Guinness, etc) for dad).



Destination Tokyo.... Stop... Destination Hospital ;(

On Tuesday we got ready to go to Tokyo, we first needed to go to Shin-Osaka to take the Shinkansen (bullet train). I had a bad sleep, and woke up with a lot of pain in my neck. It was busy in the train towards Osaka, and we needed to stand for about 40 minutes. Finally after Ashiya Mayuko could sit down (pregnant and unable to sit down isn't funny).

I stood there in the train and suddenly got a bad feeling, the sound around me started to vague away, and everything in front of me as well. I needed to close my eyes, and about 3 seconds later I noticed I was laying on the floor. Blackout... Mayuko ran up towards me, and a lady gave away her chair for me. When I sat down it went a little bit better, but than suddenly I told Mayuko that I needed to close my eyes again. Again another black out, this time I was even shaking for about 3 seconds. Someone pushed the emergency button and we got out at Amagasaki station where the train conductors came immediately with a wheel chair and was brought to the Hospital with an ambulance about 30 minutes later. I was feeling a bit better again, but was shocked about what had happened, and the same goes for Mayuko. I got an MRI scan, which was pretty scary and I prayed that there was nothing wrong in my brain (a tumor or something....). I even told myself not to sleep while I was in the MRI for 15-minutes.

We were both very relieved to hear that there was nothing wrong with my brain (even though I still have to do a small check for my brain waves), and that I probably had a black-out because I was tired and felt exhausted (I have had some pretty busy months with working 6 days a week, and taking care of Mayuko because she had the morning sickness during the whole day). When we were almost finished we had decided to also do a check if I might had the flu... which I indeed had... Mayuko also did a check, and did not had the flu.


In bed...

So here I am laying in bed for already 2.5 days, all alone with only Mayuko or her mom coming up bringing me food and drinks. It feels pretty lonely, especially because the last time I slept alone was about 1.5 year ago, but on the other hand it gives me some time to give my body and my mind some rest. Mayuko is sleeping downstairs and we won't be able to sleep together for maybe another 4-5 days... meaning we might not be able to spend our new-years night together snif snif. But it's all for the baby so I guess it's just the way it is.

We also tried to cancel our trip to Tokyo, but it was too late... so we can't get any money back for 2 hotel nights and a two person shinkansen return ticket... not the most important thing but still a waste of money.

I am feeling a lot better, and even though I am having the flu, I do not have any fever and can just enjoy watching TV, playing Nintendo DS games, and sleeping.

I hope all of you had a nice Christmas, and will have a great start in the new year.

My birthday

Last week (December 13th) it was my 23rd B-Day. For the ones who had send me a message thank you very much, and for the ones who had forget about it... Don't forget my 24th B-Day.

Even though my B-day was on the 13th, we also celebrated it a week earlier because of Kimio and Takuya their Birthday. For them we bought an I-pod and a food massage machine. I myself got a Porter bag (very cool one!!!), a T-shirt from Kikuchi takeo, and a nice Edwin jeans from my lady ( I though it was the same as in the Brad Pitt CM... but no).

Minako, made us a B-day cake, and Okasan ordered some very nice o-bento's.

On my birthday itself, my mother woke me up in the morning with a phone call, and my dad give me a call later in the evening. We had a lovely dinner in Sannomiya with again some nice cake...and oww I almost forgot.. the kids at school were singing some B-day songs for me.

In overall I had a very nice b-day, and will do my best in the upcoming year to grow in life, and to enjoy my stay in Japan.