Catch up

I have had so many blog posts written in my head the last few weeks, but that's as far as they got I'm afraid.

So something I'm sure you all want to hear about...
I finally got around to renewing my drivers licence yesterday.
What with going home next month and all I needed to get my act together.

The reception was from 1 til 2, so we got there at 12:20 so we would have time to have some lunch together in the cafeteria, then S was going to take the kids to the park/shops/for a drive and wherever else he deemed necessary for the 3 hours or so it was going to take for renewal.

Well it was a great plan until we walked inside the building to find at least 40 people already lined up 40 minutes before reception even opened, and plenty more people following in after, all standing in single file in about 5 different lines. What to do, what to do..

Only took 5 seconds or so to make the executive decision to ditch lunch and line up.
Said goodbye to S and the hungry but we want to go the park right now kids, handed him over a bag with drinks, bibs, nappies and bumwipes and waved them off with a big よろしく!

It was a weird experience, not having to hold onto my bag, the kids' bag and two small hands, surrounded only by adults, no noise, no whining, no I want to go to the toilet right nows, it was just pure bliss doing NOTHING while waiting in line. The whole 40 minutes of it!!

Of course I love my kids, and (most of the time) everything looking after them entails, but this kidless time was something I very rarely have, and it was lovely. All 3 and a half hours of it. lol

The renewal was pretty painless, except for the 2 hour lecture which didn't seem like it was ever going to end, but it was actually enjoyable! Not sure how many people walk away saying the lecture on traffic safety was enjoyable, but there you go.lol

Totally unrelated but my budget, cooking, grocery shopping, getting to the bank, general organising of things such as bill paying and other necessary housewifey skills have been shot out the window the last few months. Morning sickness really is more than just being sick. I have been feeling better the last few days, finally, but after nearly 19 weeks I've had enough!!!

Disappearing comments

Achan I got your comment and tried to repost it but for some reason both have disappeared!!!
So I'll try and repost it here.

Progress?

Thanks for the comments on the last few posts.

I have just got off the phone from the travel agent and I think we may have made some progress. Finally.

The idea I had about leaving on a Thursday turned out to be even worse than the other days, and so now it looks like I might be able to go on a Monday after all, the week after I was first asking about.

The main problem is trying to arrange the flights between appointments, which will turn into fortnightly appointments straight after we get back. The travel agent (a man) had no idea that appointments may come into consideration until I just told him on the phone that that, and only that, is what I'm trying to work around with the dates. I thought I had made things clear before, but obviously not. Seriously, as long as I can go for about 3 weeks, I don't care what day I fly!!!!! And I think the travel agent finally got it.lol

And for all the number crunchers out there who may be interested, the total price will be just under 24 man for 1 adult, 1 child, and 1 infant. Fares, taxes, surcharge and visas (both kids only have Japanese passports) included.

But only 178,000 yen of that is for the 3 actual tickets.
So that means that about 60,000 yen is just for taxes and the fuel surcharge for 1 adult and 1 child.
Highway robbery don't you think?

Surely Sydney airport must go close to the most expensive airport in the world with a whopping 8,800 yen airport tax!!!!!! It's even 4,800 yen for kids.

Achan, even if it says the ticket price is 6 man, it probably isn't, so make sure you check out what the surcharges are early on. My fare had 31,000 yen worth of extra costs, and the child fare about 27,500 yen extra. Mind boggling isn't it. And Asiana aren't even the dearest with their surcharges, that's actually reasonable!!!!!!! I was looking at Qantas and JAL tickets from Narita at first, but with all the surcharges even a 60,000 yen ticket was more like 90,000 or 95,000 yen. And you still have to allow for the costs of getting to the airport on top of that!!! Don't want to scare you, just letting you know what I found.lol

Thinking thinking

Is it just me or does everyone else have trouble organising trips home?

I've been looking into ticket prices, routes, stopovers and schedules for a while now, and have figured out what I think is the best route for our trip (if it ever eventuates) next month.

But, every single time I try to organise dates and ask the travel agent about seat details (three times already) I get a reply saying one of the sectors is no good. I can't figure it out. Weekdays seem to be fuller than weekends, but wouldn't you think it would be the other way round? Why is it the one day that I really would like to fly (a Monday night) is so booked out? Ok, so I don't really expect anyone to answer that but I wish I knew what the problem was.lol And coming back leaving Sydney on a Sunday seems to be a better option than leaving on a weekday??? I just don't get it.

I've thought about giving up a few times, but every time I do that I get e-mails from the airline I want to use (totally coincidental, usually about mileage or something), or see ads for Qantas and trips to Sydney on the Yahoo page or on the weather page. There seem to be so many signs saying to me just book the tickets already! But no matter how many times I try I can't seem to get things 100% right. And after another depressing e-mail from the travel agent this afternoon I'm back to square one. Aaarrgghhh!!!

There are a few things to consider here, and I'm going to write them down here to see if it helps me figure something out. Although it might just confuse me more.lol

• I will be 6-7 months pregnant, travelling with 2 kids, one who is just under 2
• I need to use an airline who I think will look out for me, and who have friendly staff
• Going to Narita or Kansai, or even Fukuoka is WAY more trouble than it's worth, so I'm no longer looking into schedules of other airlines
• We don't have much money to spare at the moment, just enough for flights
• The amount I was thinking for 3 fares is actually what it will cost for 2 plus an infant
• This is the last chance to go home before flight fares become even more expensive because there will be 3 kids as well as me
• The ticket price for an adult and a child over 2 is nearly the same
• I want a seat for A but after checking out ticket prices have realised this is impossible (it's nearly 40,000 yen for her WITHOUT a seat!!!)
• It's about 90,000 yen for a child fare, and an extra 50,000 yen is HUGE for us at the moment
• Which means I need a flight that is likely to have spare seats
• Why is the fuel surcharge still so damn expensive, and why is it the same price for a kid when they get discounts on other things like airport tax??? Oops, getting sidetracked.lol
• The only 'good' connecting flight is on a Monday afternoon, but is full the day I want to go
• Otherwise I need to survive a 6 hour wait at Incheon
• If I do that I have the choice flying on a Thursday or Saturday as well, not just Monday
• I have to arrange flights between doctors appointments

Ok, I think I need to check out the Thursday flights. I kind of had my mind fixed on Mondays. And if things work out with the flights maybe go to the transit hotel for a few hours (have done that once before with just B). Will keep thinking, but I'm so sick of sending e-mails to the travel agent.lol

16 weeks

When I started this blog I had no intentions of it becoming kid based, but look what has happened! Nearly every post is about kids or pregnancy. lol
Oh well, I guess it can't be helped right now.

So I am 16 weeks today, which means the second trimester has begun!

Morning sickness seems to be nearing the end, but I don't want to go jinxing myself just yet.lol
Still throwing up every morning but the recovery time is getting quicker and quicker as the days go by.

I seem to be showing already, which is weird because I've only put on 1.5kg, so you wouldn't think you'd be able to tell, but you can. Well I think you can. Well I definitely can!lol

I put one of those 赤ちゃんがお腹にいます badges on my bag (didn't bother the first 2 times) a few days ago, just to let people know kind of indirectly, but it seems to be helping with shop assistants offering to carry my basket over to the counter and things like that. I think being pregnant this time round is really making me let myself be helped a lot more. Does that make sense?　

Up until now I would have been adamant I could do things by myself, and not bothered to tell people I was expecting because I didn't want to be treated differently, but in the end I just ended up being frazzled half the time from overdoing it. This time round I have 2 other kids to worry about, and any help is better than no help at all. So I'm trying to be gracious about it, and let people who want to help help!! And it's not as easy as it sounds!lol

Marco pol(i)o!

Wow, second post in 2 days!!

I've just got back from taking the kids to A's polio vaccination. Exciting stuff, I know!lol
It was her second one so no more going to the health centre til she's 3, and boy am I glad about that!!lol. They only do polio (in April and October), 18 month and 3 year old checkups there now. Everything else is done at the docs. She's got a DPT booster shot (probably next month) then that's it for a few years. Yay!

It wasn't actually the day she was meant to go, because she was getting over a cold when we were supposed to go, but I didn't fancy taking her in October when I'm huge and about to pop at any time!! I think a lot of the other kids there were in the same boat, having missed the right day due to being sick or something, so there were so many people there all from different 校区s. I should have known when the parking lot was full and cars were lined up waiting for people to leave. What is a 校区 in English by the way? Designated school area maybe??

I swear I feel like I've run a marathon. She mucked up the whole time we were waiting (close to 50 minutes, which isn't that bad I guess, but a long time when you're being stared at and when your kid is not doing as they're told!lol). B was an angel, sitting beside me the whole time telling A to stop mucking up and chasing after her every time she tried to run away. Ha!ha! My oh my how the tables have turned!!lol

I think she was just excited to see so many kids in the same room, but for someone who is usually so docile the 18 month checkup 2 months ago and todays vaccination sure seemed to turn her into a whole different kid! I was puffing by the time it was her turn to be seen by the doctor! When it was finally our turn I said to B もう疲れたね！To which he replied 疲れてないよ！which made me, and two of the nurses who had been watching us the whole time giggle. It's not particularly funny or anything, but I guess they were sympathising with me or something.lol
I suppose I was expecting him to agree with me, and when he didn't it was kind of amusing in a weird warped kind of way!

Sorry, just rambling here...
Will stop now!lol

偶然

I was driving home this afternoon and was stopped at lights at a fairly busy intersection.
There were a few people standing waiting to cross at the lights, one man happened to be in a black worksuit with a white long sleeved shirt, just like you would see on any given workday all over Japan.

So anyway I could only see the back of this guy, but the second I saw him I thought, wow that looks like S! It's him for sure!! Despite the fact that about 4 days out of 6 he's not even in the prefecture, I just KNEW it was him. Realistically though it could have been absolutely anyone. I mean the black hair, black suit, black shoes, white shirt kind of thing is pretty common, yeah?? But somehow I just knew.

So the lights turned green and I drove past, and of course I was right!!!
There was a conbini across the road so I quickly drove in, parked, hopped out of the car and called out to him. Man the look on his face was priceless!!lol

It was so nice to bump into him like that. It really was. The kids were both asleep so they missed out on seeing him, but it really made my day. Not that we were doing anything wrong but it was like what if somebody sees us?? Ha!ha!! After over 8 years of marriage I know that is a really dumb thing to say, but I'm guessing it's what high school sweethearts must feel like.lol

I love it when coincidences like this happen!lol