only 3 more weeks and i’m in my 3rd trimester! they say my uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now. fun.
i mentioned last time that the doctor said for the 2nd time he thought the baby was a girl so we’ve been trying to iron out the name thing – the verdict so far is Bijou (that’s the English/French spelling/pronunciation) and to make it as close as possible in Japanese, 美珠; (Biju). In French, it means “jewel”. In Japanese, the first character means “beautiful” and the 2nd “pearl or a term to describe a beautiful, round thing”…so the name will retain basically the same meaning in either language.
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i’ve been entertaining the idea of buying a house lately.
of course there’s the fact that with rent you feel as though you’re throwing away money every month, but it was easier to rationalize here in japan because the value on your house will virtually never be what it was when you bought it ever again. that and the fact that we have company subsidized rent for a great apartment so even if we’re throwing away rent money, we’re getting a place for 1/2 the monthly price now and they wouldn’t subsidize a mortgage.
the subject came up with a colleague the other day and he says, “why don’t you buy a mobile house?”…i thought – i’ve never seen those in japan then realized it was just his strong aussie accent and he said, “why don’t you buy a murder house?”. apparently there is a huge stigma to homes where something tragic has happened and they go for a fraction of the price. if you’ve ever seen the movie “Juon” (there’s an american version called the grudge or curse or something but not a fraction as scary), you’ll know why. (more…)
my sweet sister refuses to let the miles come between us – she’s created a baby shower online since she can’t be near me to have one for real.
best. sister. ever.
come visit! email me for the password (don’t need any weirdos – a actually saw a classified from a man looking for a pregnant woman recently – creepy!)
then go here
or vice versa.
today was also our first maternity class at the clinic. between the clinic and ward office, we have a barrage of classes over the next few months. none are mandatory, but i figure – why not? (more…)
how frightening is this:
“Customs slip cannabis into passenger’s bag
A passenger who landed at Tokyo’s Narita airport over the weekend has ended up with a surprise souvenir courtesy of customs officials — a package of cannabis. Sniffer dogs failed to find the cannabis after it had been slipped into a passenger’s bag.
A customs official hid the package in a suitcase belonging to a passenger arriving from Hong Kong as part of an exercise for sniffer dogs on Sunday, Reuters.com reported.
However, staff then lost track of the drugs and suitcase during the exercise, a spokeswoman for Tokyo customs said.
Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official had used passengers’ suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported.
Tokyo customs has asked anyone who finds the package to return it.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/26/tokyo.cannabis/
Hope they weren’t boarding the next flight to Singapore or somewhere that they have the death penalty for smuggling drugs! Idiots.
for a long time i said it’s a waste of money as we could practically bungee jump to the train station….but, isseki couldn’t bungee jump with his music equipment. so, when he finally said that his company would compensate for everything except parking (which, mind you, isn’t cheap), how could i argue? (more…)
