Today Kana turned 20 so only one teenager left which shows us how old we're getting.

She's going out for dinner with her boyfriend tonight so we went out last night to Outback steakhouse in Umeda. We, as in Kana, Aya, Lisa and boyfriend, Setsuo and I. After the meal Aya sent the photos we'd taken to Keita and I think he was a bit miffed that he couldn't be there too. Hopefully he'll get home for one day near his birthday so we can go again.

He was home a couple of weeks ago but only from 8am - 8pm and two of those hours were spent driving there and back but he managed to eat everything he wanted to, got a couple of hours sleep and also had time to meet up with a group of his friends. He's lost about 8kg since starting the school but the coaches want him to lose another 7!! I doubt it'll be that hard for him since he'll lose it with the training rather than being on a diet.

Kana, Lisa and I will go to Spain for about 19 days at the end of July which I'm really looking forward to. Hopefully I have the tickets and passports all in order this time and there won't be a repeat of the Guam holiday that wasn't! We'll stay overnight in Manchester both on the way there and on the way back so we'll hopefully be able to meet up with my sister at least for a few days. It feels like years (and in fact it is) since the last time I've been on a holiday. The only bad thing about it is that Keita will get home for about 3 days while we're away but Aya and Setsuo will be there at least.

Other than that, it's just been the same old routine of work and baseball. I lead such an exciting life!!

So much for trying to keep up to date!

As was expected, Daisy died last month. After taking the new meds for a couple of days she started fading fast and although I'm not completely sure it didn't have anything to do with the new medication, it was a blessing in a way. I'd been up with her for 2 nights and she finally died more or less in her sleep (she was on quite a lot of painkillers) at around 4 in the morning.

The day she died was one to remember as we had Keita's graduation ceremony in the morning and then the big earthquake in the afternoon. I hadn't had a lot of sleep so when my office started swaying, I thought it was just dizziness until I looked outside my window and saw the electricity wires dancing around. It seemed to go on for ages - a lot longer than usual - but I had no idea just how massive and destructive it would turn out. Even now the worst hit areas are still having aftershocks everyday and a lot of areas are still without water and electricity.

Keita is now at his high school and I don't think he's getting enough to eat because all of the emails I get from him are requests for food! He seems to be doing okay baseball wise and I heard (indirectly) that he's going to be playing a practice match with the senior team on Sunday.

I'm back at the high school after the spring holiday and have 6 classes as opposed to the 7 last year so it means I can get back in plenty of time for my own classes here. I've also just agreed to teach at a nearby company 2 nights a week. They initially asked for 5/week but 2 was the most I could manage. As it is, it now means I have an hour class every weekday evening which I'm sure I'm going to regret! On the other hand, I haven't started any new afternoon classes although have allowed 2 new students to start in existing classes.

We also have Aya's 2 dogs here too. They have settled down okay but are wild and have so much more energy than Daisy or Spike so it took us a while to get used to them! The other day when I went upstairs after work, the whole house was covered with toilet paper - Setsuo had left a roll on the table and the dogs had obviously had a great time with it.

Remember me? Long, long time for not posting.
A lot has happened since last September -

** Keita finally decided to go to PL Gakuin (it was the first and only school he went to look at) and since last year we've been busy with pre-tests, actual tests, uniform fittings etc and he'll have his entrance ceremony on April 7th. This month we have to get all his belongings sent to the school and he'll move into the dormitory the day before the ceremony. Now that it's getting closer, I think he's a bit nervous about it but over the weeks has met and become friendly with a lot of the other boys. This year there are about 35 new baseball students with about 12 of them being pitchers so he's going to have to try hard if he wants to get into games. Because it's a religious school, Setsuo and I also had to join their church so there have been things going on with that side too although Setsuo is doing the brunt of it! Last weekend there was also an overnight stay for the kids and parents that they both went to - I had a luxuriously, lazy 2 days!

** Spike died suddenly at the end of November. He was fit as a fiddle one minute and then just dropped down dead. We don't know what went wrong but it must have been his heart that just gave out. Daisy's cancer came back again but the vet ordered new meds from America that shrank it to almost nothing although after a few months, it stopped having any effect and is back again. She is on a new lot of drugs but I think is losing the battle as she's really lethargic and has a lot of trouble walking now. Time will tell....

** After the last post where I said Aya and Daisuke had finalised a date for their wedding, they have since split up. It had been on the cards for a while but Aya decided to move out around January and finally found a place that would accept dogs at the end of February. She has already moved in but Daisuke has been keeping the dogs until she gets settled. I think they're going at the end of the week so that'll be Aya's peace and quiet disrupted. We had always said that we'd have no more dogs after Daisy and Spike, but it looks like we are going to get Rex and Mocha. I'm neither elated nor unhappy about it and it'll be easier for Aya if we do have them.

** Lisa also moved out at the end of February. She obviously didn't learn from Aya because she has moved in with her boyfriend too. She is a bit further away from Aya but not that far - probably about 10-15 minutes by car. So after Keita goes to school, we are down to just Kana in the house!

** I started teaching two days a week at a High School about 40 minutes away. The hours are 10 -3 on Wed and 11-2 on Thurs although will change a bit from April. I am teaching the same age as Keita (1st year of high school) and the school itself is quite high level so I'm enjoying it so far. It's a lovely school, nice money and of course I also get paid during the holidays with 2 bonuses a year to boot!!

And that is about it! Hopefully I'll be back updating a bit more regularly from now on!