06.22.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:22 pm by Max
It’s 5:05 pm here on a rainy Sunday in Nikko, Japan. It’s been plenty hot and humid lately. I almost up and hit the futon for a nap, but decided against it. I slept quite a bit yesterday (a three-hour nap and a ten-hour sleep) and I will probably get at least eight hours tonight, so by the time tomorrow rolls around I expect to have recharged my batteries enough for the coming week (when I won’t be getting eight hours’ sleep a night).
Today we went to the pool (a decent indoor deal that’s part of a hotel-cum-hot-spring-resort-cum-vegetable-market-cum-conservatory—a whole bunch of different attractions bundled together. It seems to be an odd admixture of destinations, but it’s nicely put together, clean, well maintained, well designed, and so on. I thought the pool would be really crowded on a Sunday, but it was only somewhat crowded, and not unnavigable, as I had feared.
Although there are no plastic thingamajigs dividing the pool into lanes (and thus no actual lanes), it is possible to do lengths/laps, but only on a weekday, when there would be few people. Today the pool was just full of people frolicking, playing with their kids, and walking back and forth in the water (a popular exercise in Japanese pools).
Mom’s got her own car now, a brand-new Honda Life (yes, she has a life), so she’s doing a lot of driving on her own now. Preparing to go to the pool, we came down the steps and unlocked mom’s car. The kids, however, began to fight over who would get to sit behind Daddy. As mommy was driving, Mickey wanted to sit behind dad, who was to plop himself down in the passenger seat. Milo, however, also wanted to sit behind dad, so he was unhappy with Mickey being strapped in behind me. An idea then came to Milo, which he repeated over and over: “Daddy drive! Daddy drive!” However, since mom was driving, this was not going to happen. Milo then calmed down a bit and then I told him that I would rest my (right) hand on his leg, which he gladly accepted and further calmed down. So off we went.
These days life has a lot of demands, and I find I can have a lot more peace if I just keep things simple. I try to limit life’s requirements to work, family, exercise, and managing our finances. When I’m at work (between classes and not on a gym day), I often set up my laptop and scanner. I have an old laptop that still works OK (although very slowly) and I leave me scanner at work, and I use my spare time to scan old family photos and upload them to my server. For example, I’ve recently scanned my kingergarten-Grade 3 photos. Eventually, I hope to have as many photos of my and Shiho’s childhood online as possible. Saving money is paramount now if we’re going to be able to afford a move back to Canada and build up a financial cushion that will allow me to survive the first few months without a job, if necessary. We were going to go back to Canada during my nine- or ten-day vacation this summer, but the airfares are really looking exorbitant (probably around $2,000 each for four people) and if I spend money like that there’s just no way I can save it up. The wife is home now with groceries so I’ll help her unpack. Later.
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06.05.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:25 am by Max
The title to today’s post owes a nod to the Guns N’ Roses’ rendition of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
Lots to blog about, as usual, but not much time (really, these days) to write. I’ve been paying through the nose for a lot of things lately. Like:
- about $2,500 to secure the contract for our new apartment (price includes damage deposit, first month’s rent, insurance and other fees)
- about $900 to pay for additional repairs required for our old apartment (kids tore up the place good)
And on it goes.
I’ve been thinking, lately, about how expats get dinged. We get fleeced by fees of all different colors. Here’s a sampling:
- exchange rate fee (currently 2.5%?) incurred whenever I use my Canadian-dollar credit card abroad
- wire transfer fees whenever I send money from my Japanese bank account to my Canadian account (they get you both ways, sending and receiving—but, like a friend of mine recently quipped, “Why does the receiving bank charge you to receive a deposit?”), along with the profit the sending bank makes on the money exchange itself
Anyway, too many darn fees these days. As for the kids, they are doing well, and when they’re with me they are able to say and understand quite a few things in English. Lots to say about the kids, but it will have to wait for later. OK, just one thing, then. When I take a bath with the family, Mickey likes to get out first with Shiho and Milo likes to stay with me to the end (I also need to warm up in the water for a while as I can’t fit in the tub with the wife and the kids and the wife gets cold really easily). When I started to towel Milo off the other day, he said, “Baby cold,” which I thought was really funny. Before, he might have just said, “Cold” or “Milo cold,” but he knows I like to think of him as a baby, so he made this interesting connection. After the bath, I often pick him up and cradle him, naked, in my arms as we go to the bedroom to get dressed. At those times, he often says, “Baby” too.
I have to write about my adoptive father, Robbie. Robbie passed away on Friday, May 23, 2008, at a hospital in Vancouver, Canada. He was holding my mom’s hand when he passed away, which was nice. At least he didn’t have to go alone, my mom said. Robbie had been sick for several months prior, and his condition began to worsen as the year 2008 progressed. The cancer in his esophagus was eliminated, but his various treatments, unbeknown to doctors until too late, had created a hole in his esophagus. Some of the food and drink that he consumed passed through this hole into his body cavity, creating an infection. Shortly before his death, doctors also found a blood clot in his heart. Robbie also suffered from a degenerative spinal disease (he was not able to walk very far) and a type of slow-acting leukemia. So in short, he had many health problems. Robbie’s life, like everybody’s life, had its ups and downs. He suffered from a lot of pain towards his end, which was sad. But all in all I think he lived a fairly complete and fulfulling life, and a fairly long one, too (he was 81). I am happy, too, that before he passed he was able to see the publication of his book, even if it did not sell well. Rest in peace, Robbie. My thoughts will often be with you. Love, Max.
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