Yesterday we went and ordered Keita school uniform. We had gone last week but because the biggest one they had fitted him perfectly, they said he needed a bigger size and it would take a while for it to arrive (remember that the uniforms they stock are up to 16 year old and they were all too small!) Yesterday's one is just on the big size but since he has 3 years of hopefully not outgrowing it, that is the one we'll go for (at 50,000 yen a go I REALLY hope he doesn't outgrow it). His shirts will have to be custom made because he has such long arms - just like me - and they will lengthen the cuffs or something. That's all very well for now, but what happens when he has outgrown them and needs longer - they can't keep lengthening just the cuffs! The top of his sports uniform is 5L (which means large, large, large, large and even larger!!). He definitely has my genes and not Setsuo's.

Talking of whom......he has a cold so had to stay in bed all morning. I think he did feel lousy but there is definitely a difference between a man's cold and a woman's cold! It would be nice to be able to switch genders now and again.

Guess what we had for dinner last night - Yakiniku!! We opted for 'all-you-can-eat' and we really did manage to get our money's worth! Because Keita is still in elementary school, he was cheaper but I'm sure they didn't believe me when I said he was only 12 - he was bigger than all the waiters! Only another couple of months until he has to start paying adults prices but I think we've done well to have been able to get the discount for so long since he has eaten more than any of us for a long time. We all came home well and truly stuffed!

Yesterday we got a fax from Kana's teacher at her Japanese school to say that she will be staying with her host father's parents for a couple of days while the family is away (didn't say where to but probably something like a wedding). I know she has already met them so I don't think she will be too bothered about it. Actually I've just looked at it again and the dates say she stayed with them last night and will stay again tonight. That's probably why I haven't had an email from her for a couple of days. She has been writing regularly which is nice and since it's all in English, it's good practice for her too. I'm keeping a copy of all of them so that when she comes home, she can see how much her English improved over the months!

Today I went and collected my new drivers license and because I hadn't broken any rules I got the gold, 5 year one and only needed to stay and listen to a lecture and watch a video for 30 minutes as opposed to over an hour! Last time I only got a blue one because I got a parking ticket - it wasn't even me that did it, it was Setsuo but because he didn't have his driving license on him (illegal in Japan), I had to pretend it was me that had been driving the car.

After that, I went into Umeda to meet up with the other coordinators of the Osaka English teachers group for a meeting. It was nice to be out of the office/house and catch up with them.

After teaching 2 classes, I'm about to go home and trying to think of what to cook for dinner - these days it seems to be the same old thing and I'm tempted to ask if anyone wants to go out for dinner. Hopefully, if they agree, it can be something other than
Sushi which is what Keita ALWAYS chooses. If he can't have that then it's almost certain he will ask for yakiniku (meat cooked on charcoal in the center of the table). I'll tell you tomorrow if I was right!

Once again, nearly a week has gone by without me posting.

We had snow at the weekend - the first in years! It only snowed for about 6 hours but the flakes were huge so it even lay on the ground. The next day was lovely and sunny though so it disappeared just as fast. Since the ground was still soggy, once again the baseball match was cancelled much to Keita's relief. I didn't think he got that nervous but obviously he does! Instead we went to Costco, a sports shop and then basically lounged around even though we should have been packing.

We have moved quite a bit of stuff although there is loads still to go. After doing what we did last week, I was aching all over but now that my muscles are back to normal, I need to get back to the packing again.

Lisa took my car back to Sanda at the end of last week with the intention of bringing back on Saturday but because of the snow I told her to keep it a bit longer. I think it's going to be hard to get her to bring it back although she knows she has to.

Today it's another holiday here but Keita has practice, I have lessons and Setsuo is in his office so it's just another day for us.

I couldn't get all the photos on the last page so here are some more of us fooling around last night. Keita was saying how strong he was so he had to prove it by giving us all a piggy-back. He said Setsuo was the lightest and Lisa the heaviest but judging by the grimace on his face when he had me on his back, I reckon it must of been me who was the heaviest! Setsuo also had to prove that he still had the strength to lift Keita too!
(Don't look to hard at the background - it's a complete mess since we are in the throes of packing)

A couple of photos of the dogs - at last Daisy sat still enough to get a photo taken and the one of Spike is him in his usual laid back fashion! The other one is Kana trying on Keita's new baseball shoe. Kana's feet aren't small but compared with Keita's they are tiny!

Keita eventually ended up going on a drip on Saturday morning. He was starting to feel better but because he hadn't eaten for a few days (which is totally not Keita!) the Doc said it would be quicker to get all the medicines in that way. I'm glad I wasn't there because Keita really has a fear of needles (going back to when he had his ganglion drained twice) and usually just about passes out at the sight of needles. Anyway, it seemed to have done the trick because he is back to his hungry self.

Because it was raining again on Sunday and Keita's baseball match was cancelled, I got to have a lie in and also finally start on packing things. It took almost a day but we got the things in the bookcase and cupboard under the stairs, boxed. It shouldn't have taken so long but there were boxes of photos under the stairs so of course we had to look through a lot of them before realising it would take weeks if we continued that way! At least it's a start.

Yesterday was Setsuo's birthday too but instead of a birthday cake, we opted for Mr Donuts! It's a shame because it's also the 'Setsubun' festival too so what we eat on that day is decided - no going out for dinner to celebrate! It's a long, thick sushi roll which has to be eaten facing a certain direction and not cut up, sardines and also dried beans that you are supposed to throw all over the house and then outside too (I conveniently forgot to buy them although with the house in the mess it is at the moment, it couldn't have got any worse!)