Timotheos
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Maya Shimada Gough
Our baby was born at 5.45pm on Friday night. The day started off well, with us leaving for the hospital after a regular breakfast. Mika went into labour around 3pm (I say labour, being the time that she went to the delivery room in great pain and close contractions).
I snapped some photos with Mika's camera, just minutes after Maya-chan was born. Since then, I have been receiving a photo a day to my phone from my wife in the hospital. Our little angel is so beautiful. I look forward to when they come home on Thursday!
So, six days in the hospital. It's a long time. Not sure why, but I guess she just wants a break, and to make the most of this time of recovery in a comfortable place. Our house is freaking cold, and isn't something I would look forward to bringing a newborn baby to. Still, winter is almost over, and we will do our utmost to heat the impossible-to-heat place. Or at least one room. ;)
I drove to Kochi city four days in a row, and so today I'm quite tired. You could say that the timing was really good. Being born on Friday, it meant that I could spend the weekend travelling to and from the hospital, visiting. And then yesterday, my hard drive finally gave up the ghost, so I went to K-city to buy a new one; and to visit my wife and new aka-chan once again. Suffice to say, she was surprised to see me, unannounced!
Eddi stayed with her cousin over the weekend and has been with her grandmother since then. It's good because I have to get up early most days for work and can't possibly get her from youchien during the day. That, and it made it much easier to just jet into the city last night.
Today, it's a bit of a relief that I don't have school. Kitazoe sensei is away today, so I am in the office instead of teaching classes. It means I can take this afternoon off (three hours of nenkyuu, since I started early this morning), and spend time just resting -- and probably installing my new HDD (and all that that entails).
I currently don't have any photos of Maya that I can put up, as I haven't retrieved any off my phone. I can, however, affix photos that other people have put up on Facebook, having received them from Mika over the last few days. And I promise to do my utmost in getting some photos up once my family is home.
Timotheos
I snapped some photos with Mika's camera, just minutes after Maya-chan was born. Since then, I have been receiving a photo a day to my phone from my wife in the hospital. Our little angel is so beautiful. I look forward to when they come home on Thursday!
So, six days in the hospital. It's a long time. Not sure why, but I guess she just wants a break, and to make the most of this time of recovery in a comfortable place. Our house is freaking cold, and isn't something I would look forward to bringing a newborn baby to. Still, winter is almost over, and we will do our utmost to heat the impossible-to-heat place. Or at least one room. ;)
I drove to Kochi city four days in a row, and so today I'm quite tired. You could say that the timing was really good. Being born on Friday, it meant that I could spend the weekend travelling to and from the hospital, visiting. And then yesterday, my hard drive finally gave up the ghost, so I went to K-city to buy a new one; and to visit my wife and new aka-chan once again. Suffice to say, she was surprised to see me, unannounced!
Eddi stayed with her cousin over the weekend and has been with her grandmother since then. It's good because I have to get up early most days for work and can't possibly get her from youchien during the day. That, and it made it much easier to just jet into the city last night.
Today, it's a bit of a relief that I don't have school. Kitazoe sensei is away today, so I am in the office instead of teaching classes. It means I can take this afternoon off (three hours of nenkyuu, since I started early this morning), and spend time just resting -- and probably installing my new HDD (and all that that entails).
I currently don't have any photos of Maya that I can put up, as I haven't retrieved any off my phone. I can, however, affix photos that other people have put up on Facebook, having received them from Mika over the last few days. And I promise to do my utmost in getting some photos up once my family is home.
Timotheos
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Mada and fada
Mada means "not yet", and is a fairly common expression in Japanese. The not yet that I refer to is our baby. Mika's due date is this Thursday (the 11th). I suspect that after she goes to see the doctor tomorrow, things will start moving pretty fast. Our current plan is for her to go and stay with her brother from Thursday until she goes into labour. Thursday is a public holiday, so it's an ideal time to go back into Kochi, whether the baby is ready to pop out or not.
Life here in Taisho is the same as usual, as we await the birth of our newest family member. My schedule is pretty full as I visit my regular schools as well as the odd infrequent appearance; such as tomorrow, when I will be teaching at Kageno shougakkou, about 40 mins from here -- past K-town.
Well, the Japan life stuff out of the way, I want to expand this entry to reference a few blogs and sites that I frequent. And by frequent, I mean when I get time to read my google reader feeds (hint: it's not every day). ;)
Webcomics
Because I follow a few, I decided to list some notable ones under their own heading:
Timotheos
Life here in Taisho is the same as usual, as we await the birth of our newest family member. My schedule is pretty full as I visit my regular schools as well as the odd infrequent appearance; such as tomorrow, when I will be teaching at Kageno shougakkou, about 40 mins from here -- past K-town.
Well, the Japan life stuff out of the way, I want to expand this entry to reference a few blogs and sites that I frequent. And by frequent, I mean when I get time to read my google reader feeds (hint: it's not every day). ;)
- Sentence First: A blog about our wonderful, intricate English language. Stan has posted a few comments to my blog in the past, as we exchanged thoughts; and I enjoy leaving comments on his posts from time to time.
Stuff Christians Like: Jon Acuff is funny and insightful. I just wish I had the time to read his very frequent entries. It's almost as if he runs a pictureless webcomic. Classy stuff.
The Kitchn: For all aspiring chefs out there, it is a great source of everything kitchenesque; from recipes to tips and tricks that you can use between the kitchen sink and the cupboard.
Kotaku: My source of gaming news. And a lot of news there is.
Lifehacker: A lot of great articles, from home improvement to invaluable computer resources.
Japan Probe: So I can see more of this country within which I dwell. As if there wasn't enough excitement in Shimanto... -_-
Webcomics
Because I follow a few, I decided to list some notable ones under their own heading:
- Dominic Deegan: I have been following this since 2002. I think it's the only webcomic that I have read consistently for more than five years.
Ctrl+Alt+Del: It is more of a drama these days with the occasional standalone bout of gaming hilarity. The sillies keep me coming back (especially Fail Druid!).
Dark Legacy Comics: My favourite World of Warcraft comic.
Looking for Group: For pony!
Least I Could Do: I found this through LFG (same authors), and wish I had followed it from earlier on. I really dig the "Beginnings" strip that they post once a week.
Out at Home: I only recently started reading this (within the last six months). I like the art style and the stories have been pretty good so far.
Others: There are other webcomics that I follow, which I haven't mentioned. Some are gaming comics and others are mostly just dramas or short stories.
Timotheos
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Hiroshima Till Now
Before dad left, we took a trip to Hiroshima. We spent Friday the 8th visiting Peace Memorial Park, the peace museum and the castle. We also tried Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, which has egg on the top and soba noodles added.
Check out our photos from Hiroshima!
Since then, I have got back into the swing of things. The following week was fairly broken, as that Monday was a public holiday and the last three days of the week we had the mid-year JET conference.
This week, I have just been teaching as usual. Not much else to report, really. We try to relax on weekends and Mika is now going to see the doctor in Kochi city on a weekly basis. She is getting closer to giving birth. Hopefully we can visit the doctor together next week, as it could be the only opportunity that I have to meet him before we scream into Kochi city while Mika has contractions, whenever everything kicks into action.
It has been pretty cold, but that's winter, right. Hopefully it won't get any colder between now and the end of winter. But if it does, we will just have to handle it. Our house has terrible insulation (yet another disadvantage of living in a country that doesn't embrace change and encourages people to do everything inefficiently and with as much inconvenience and difficulty as their false pride can muster).
My schedule is pretty full, so I will be spending a lot of time at school during this last term. I just pray that I can gather the energy that I need to enjoy lessons and really have a good time -- especially at shougakkou. :)
Peace.
Timotheos
Check out our photos from Hiroshima!
Since then, I have got back into the swing of things. The following week was fairly broken, as that Monday was a public holiday and the last three days of the week we had the mid-year JET conference.
This week, I have just been teaching as usual. Not much else to report, really. We try to relax on weekends and Mika is now going to see the doctor in Kochi city on a weekly basis. She is getting closer to giving birth. Hopefully we can visit the doctor together next week, as it could be the only opportunity that I have to meet him before we scream into Kochi city while Mika has contractions, whenever everything kicks into action.
It has been pretty cold, but that's winter, right. Hopefully it won't get any colder between now and the end of winter. But if it does, we will just have to handle it. Our house has terrible insulation (yet another disadvantage of living in a country that doesn't embrace change and encourages people to do everything inefficiently and with as much inconvenience and difficulty as their false pride can muster).
My schedule is pretty full, so I will be spending a lot of time at school during this last term. I just pray that I can gather the energy that I need to enjoy lessons and really have a good time -- especially at shougakkou. :)
Peace.
Timotheos
Monday, 4 January 2010
Happy New Year 2010!
Hello and welcome to a new decade.
We had a good Christmas. Mika and I both had to work on Christmas Day, but I had a good time, and we had a good weekend following it, with skyping my family and opening presents.
Last Sunday (the 27th), I picked up dad from the airport in Kochi. He flew in from China and has been staying with us over the New Year period.
We haven't done anything really exciting, but we did go to Kochi one day to see Avatar in 3D while Mika and Eddi went to see the Disney movie, Up. We also went to Uwajima to see the castle, and one day last week it snowed a bit, forcing us to cancel our planned trip to Nakamura.
So things around here have been pretty slow, and now I am back in the office ready to face a new year. I've taken nenkyu for the rest of this week so that dad and I can spend the time together, and possibly travel a bit while he is here. That all still needs to be sorted out, but is definitely something to look forward to!
Mika finishes work on Thursday. At eight months pregnant, she is doing very well.
Also, as promised (a while back), I have uploaded all of the photos from my cellphone memory card. Some of them were taken on my camera, as during some of last year and 2008 I was using the same micro-SD for both devices.
Go to my Picasa web album to see some photos and videos from my time here in Japan. It is not a complete collection, but there are some there that I haven't uploaded here; and most are interesting to see. Of special note are the ones about making mochi, which Mika's mum did around Christmas time, in preparation for the new year.
That's all for now. I am planning on getting my hair cut this afternoon and taking advantage of this sunny weather -- despite the cold -- to clean my car. I am still on the lookout for a buyer. The sooner, the better!
Peace.
Timotheos
We had a good Christmas. Mika and I both had to work on Christmas Day, but I had a good time, and we had a good weekend following it, with skyping my family and opening presents.
Last Sunday (the 27th), I picked up dad from the airport in Kochi. He flew in from China and has been staying with us over the New Year period.
We haven't done anything really exciting, but we did go to Kochi one day to see Avatar in 3D while Mika and Eddi went to see the Disney movie, Up. We also went to Uwajima to see the castle, and one day last week it snowed a bit, forcing us to cancel our planned trip to Nakamura.
So things around here have been pretty slow, and now I am back in the office ready to face a new year. I've taken nenkyu for the rest of this week so that dad and I can spend the time together, and possibly travel a bit while he is here. That all still needs to be sorted out, but is definitely something to look forward to!
Mika finishes work on Thursday. At eight months pregnant, she is doing very well.
Also, as promised (a while back), I have uploaded all of the photos from my cellphone memory card. Some of them were taken on my camera, as during some of last year and 2008 I was using the same micro-SD for both devices.
Go to my Picasa web album to see some photos and videos from my time here in Japan. It is not a complete collection, but there are some there that I haven't uploaded here; and most are interesting to see. Of special note are the ones about making mochi, which Mika's mum did around Christmas time, in preparation for the new year.
That's all for now. I am planning on getting my hair cut this afternoon and taking advantage of this sunny weather -- despite the cold -- to clean my car. I am still on the lookout for a buyer. The sooner, the better!
Peace.
Timotheos
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