09.28.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:38 pm by Max
I’ve been trying to speak only English to and in the presence of my kids. The first objective is pretty easy to stick to. The second rule is harder to follow (when we head to my mother-in-law’s, she can’t really understand me when I speak English). Anyway, it’s gotta be me who teaches them my mother tongue. After all, if I don’t speak English to them, who will?
It’s funny: the kids have picked up on certain words right away; other words they have taken much longer to acquire. For instance, when I taught Milo the word “egg” about a year ago, he started using it instantly. By contrast, the twins readily understand some words but are unwilling or unable to use them (“water” seems to be hard for them to pronounce).
With yet other words, they suddenly spring them on my with total surprise. We have some flashcards, including a picture of the moon. I had taught Mickey the word “moon” only two or three times, but he had never repeated it back to me. A couple of weeks ago, I was annoyed at Mickey because he opened the balcony door late at night and went outside (we had the air conditioning on). But when I followed him outside to see what he was doing, I laughed in surprise. He was saying, “Moon! Moon!” and pointing to the moon lighting up the night sky, all the while sticking his hand through the bars of the balcony and waving the flashcard of the moon in the air.
It’s obvious that their Japanese ability outstrips their English ability. I can see how their Japanese grammar tends to overrule their English grammar. I’ve taught them to say “Gum, please”—yes, we do have two-year-old kids who love to chew sugarless gum, but that’s another story, just like there’s another story in their craze over Band-Aids—but sometimes they come over to me and say, “Please, gum!” Of course this latter Yodaesque locution is not exactly incorrect, but it’s not the preferred grammatical choice.
It’s been really hard to write this entry because the kids are going wild. I suppose I could write these things when they go to bed (after midnight) but I often just don’t feel like writing at that time. I marvel at the discipline of other bloggers. For me, it’s really hard to write if the conditions ain’t right. Over and out.
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09.23.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:38 pm by Max
Today the four of us and my parents-in-law drove out to Satte City in Saitama Prefecture. Normally, I like to take the small roads when heading out of the city, as the tolls are steep on Japanese highways. The back roads take longer, but the view is nicer (plus you’re traveling more slowly and get to look at the side of the road more), and hey, they’re free of charge. (And sometimes the back roads just make more sense; the highway from here to Narita Airport is not only expensive, but also takes just as long and follows a very circuituous route.) The parental units-in-law, however, wanted to take the highway, so we deferred to them. An hour or so of highway driving in our compact car netted the government authorities a tidy 1,800 yen, making it 3,600 yen for the round trip. Well, I’m not against paying taxes, as long as the public is the beneficiary of taxation (and not the pocket linings of the elite).
An incident that occurred tonight is worth recalling. My parents-in-law were in their car, and we were in ours. On the way home, we had more than a half tank of gas, but our in-laws’ car was on empty. We all made it off the highway in one piece, but at the exit toll booth, mom-in-law recounted how she had been biting her nails the whole time on the highway because the empty-tank light was flashing.
Which brings us to the title of this blog post. Some people tend to adopt a scarcity mentality; others a mentality of abundance. People with a scarcity mentality are always scrambling around at the last minute looking for a gas station; people with an abundance mentality never worry about running out of gas because their tank is always at least a quarter full.
When my wife and I moved into our first (and current) home here in Utsunomiya, I had to break her of her scarcity mentality. When the tots were in their first year, I remember her harriedly pulling her hair out late at night, worrying whether we had enough nappies to last us until the next day: “We have three or four diapers left…do you think we’ll be OK until tomorrow?” When you have two six-month old infants urinating and defecating at will, running out on diapers is definitely something you do not want to contemplate.
In the beginning, we were often running out of diapers, formula, and the like. My wife wanted to visit the baby megastore once a week (I, no big fan of shopping, wanted to do it no more than once a month). On at least two occasions, my wife or I had to leave the pad late at night to go find a diaper-selling store that was still open. All that needless hassle. All that fretting and nail-biting. I can’t stand that kind of orientation in life. Why cause oneself all the extra worry? My position was, let’s stock up on boatloads of diapers, butt wipes, and formula and go back to the store when we we’re down to one or two packs of each item. Before we run out!
I’ll be the first to admit that the abundance orientation does have its disadvantages. When applied to food, it can cause waste—food stores can be forgotten about and spoilage can occur. And sometimes you might buy things that you’ll never use. You could even go overboard, like those fuck-ups who spent small fortunes building Y2K shelters. But in general, for things that you go through quickly and for things with no expiration dates, it’s a no-brainer. There’s less time spent shopping, and less money spent on transporation. You don’t have to visit the bloody shops all the time.
For my wife, admittedly, shopping is a needed diversion and hobby. But I believe I’ve saved both of us some grief over the past months. You live and learn. Anyway, I gotta go now. Time to compile tomorrow’s shopping list.
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09.03.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:54 am by Max
Wow, in terms of allergy attacks, yesterday was a real doozy. We spent the night at Shiho’s mother’s place. And let me tell you, their house is a dust paradise, a breeding ground for dust mites. Even though I took my anti-allergy meds, I was sneezing and blowing my nose the whole bloody day. No relief whatsoever. Of course I realize people living in slums and shantytowns suffer more than me in my rich world, but when you’re hit by allergies like this you can’t do anything except feel like crap. You’re eating and you sneeze; food comes out your nose. Your ears get messed up with all the blowing and popping. You can’t go anywhere without tissues. You can sneeze anytime, even while sleeping, even while farting (it hurts, trust me).
This allergy thing has really changed my life. I can’t roll around on the bed with my kids anymore, or it will bring on an attack of sneezing. I can’t just sleep anywhere anymore. It’s OK here at home because we are vacuuming and washing clothes, blankets, etc. all the time. I have to keep dust to an absolute minimum.
The older you get, it seems, the more minor health conditions you come down with. And each additional condition makes your life more complicated. I am very wary of curtains or anything dusty now. I can’t draw the curtains with a flourish or leaf through dusty books. I can’t just plop down on a bed. To do so would trigger a ten-minute (or worse) allergy attack of sneezing and a runny nose. Which means I can’t eat, hold a conversation, or teach, or whatever.
I’m a firm believer in the hygiene hypothesis—I think I grew up in too clean an environment. My immune system was not stimulated enough and a result my body is now unwarrantedly attacking benign invaders (proteins from house dust mites). I’ve read that the incidence of allergies and autoimmune disorders in rich (i.e. too clean) countries has increased a lot over the last 100 years.
Life gets more complicated. Like I said. I can’t stay over at my mother-in-law’s place anymore.
Lots to say about the kids but I haven’t been writing much. At least we’ve been taking videos and photos. They’re really growing up and I’m enjoying most every minute of it.
Well, my wife is out walking the kids around. Time for me to do housework, clean myself up, and then get ready for work.
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