Tuesday 4 August 2009

Rant, Oink, Rant, Fucking-Oink!

I must say, this post will not have nearly as much effect as it would have last night, was much more fired up then! Let's see if I can re-create that blood boiling anger...

So all my in-laws have swine flu.
No other way to say it. Is it normal to be embarrassed about having swine flu?? Like dirty pig blood has infected their veins?? haha, I'm not quite so worried but Obaachan warned us all to keep our voices down when talking about it, she didn't want the whole neighbourhood knowing we were infected, I mean god, the oldest son married a gaijin, hasn't enough shame been brought on the family?!

It all started Saturday night when BIL started moaning about having a fever. Of course everyone ignored him and told him to man up, but by Sunday morning he had a raging fever and was coughing all over the place so Ryota being a good big brother took him to the docs. When Ryota came home he went into panic mode (as he tends to do) and just started furiously washing his hands and shouting "SALT WATER!" at me. Of course this sent me into a panic and I yelled at him to tell me what was going on. After much hand and throat cleaning he finally spluttered out that his brother had tested positive for the new strain of flu (which was the swine flu right, they just renamed it??) They were put into isolation at the hospital and had to register as 'infected' with the prefecture. By that night his mum and sister both had the chills and fever so it was becoming clear that they too were infected. Ryota had a sore throat last night but no real fever so we're hoping he's clear. He's at work today, becasue god forbid someone would take a day off for being sick in this bloody country. Ooooo it's starting, almost said fucking country, leave those for later...

So with Ryochan sick it's just Grandma, Ash and I who are still genki, and thank god, because if I get it, Ashton is more than likely to get it seeing as though he's still pretty much surviving off of my body fluids. Eww. Magic breast milk may just get him through it though. And I'm glad Grandma doesn't have it because even though she's genki for 82, I'm sure of a strain of swine flu wouldn't do her any good.
So with all the sickness and worry about sickness, our households are a little, tense, shall we say. I'm feeling the pressure as the only one who can touch Ashton. That means no running, no escaping, even showering is a struggle and at the moment he has one little tooth poking through with it's next door neighbour to follow so makes for one cranky baby.

So leading up to the rantiness of the post, I have to say we're all on edge, which led to the blow up last night.
As I think I mentioned before I'm getting unemployment payments and have to go to the hello work office once a month for about 10 minutes. 10 minute, 150,000 yen, meh I can handle that! Someone usually drives me and holds Ash or I scooter it and Ash stays with MIL while I go in, but when I was due to go in this morning with everyone in bed I just decided to walk with Ash in the stroller. As soon as I said this there was a flurry of phone calls from the in-law's house saying I couldn't do this becasue they wouldn't pay me if Ash was with me.

OK, for a start, I told the unemployment office I had a baby when i signed up, they know. It's not a secret. Second, MIL has brought Ash in with her when we've gone to the office before, they've seen him and me together, secret's out. But Ryota said that it didn't matter, if they saw me alone with a baby they wouldn't pay me because I can't work with a baby... When I asked what single mothers do he said they won't pay them. He also said if I went in there with pink hair and full of piercings they also wouldn't pay me because I wouldn't be able to work like that... What kind of a fucked up age are we living in. I suspected the in-laws were over-reacting and I gave them this answer to all their protests:

If they refused to pay me because I had a baby with me I would either:
A) Go off my nut then just lie and say the baby was my friend's bub that I was watching.
B) Go off my nut for at least an hour, storm out and then make the money by whoring myself out with English or any other whoring means necessary.
And I vowed that if they refused to pay me, we would definitely be leaving Japan for Australia within the month, and never coming back. Ever.

I honestly think this was a gross over-reaction on the part of my in-laws but the fact that it was even an issue for them shows just how bad this country is when it comes to discrimination. I'm spoiled, Australia has a very good welfare system, well, good if you don't want to work, but I do think they give too many hand-outs in Australia. Just can't please people like me!

But seriously, homeless people in Australia scare the shit out of me because they are usually junkies who will roll you for their next hit. Of course the homeless are friendly here, they just genuinely have nowhere to go and no money because there is no welfare system to help them. If Ryota died or left me I would be royally fucked and pretty much would have to go home.

Anyway, that was last night and I toddled off for my 40 minute walk in the 400 degree heat and they gave me my money and even played with Ashton while I filled out some stuff, as expected, it didn't matter that I had a bub with me. Ryota kept calling to make sure I was OK on my own and when I told him it was all good he apologised and admitted he forgets I can actually do things by myself. They seriously forget I lived here for almost 4 years by myself before I met Ryota.

Yup definitely not half as angry as last night, imagine the above post but insert a few 'cunts' many 'bastards' and lots of 'fuckings' and that's how it would have been. There were some more biffs but I'll save that for another post, Ashton is screaming the place down.

10 comments:

  1. Your unemployment benefits are based on when you were working anyway no matter what is your situation now ^^

    Hope they will get better though !

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  2. Next time they pull that on you ask them why the hell they have hoikuens for if Japan doesn't believe in working mothers! Katie from Brisbane

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  3. Well.... why would the bro be coughing over everyone... gosh.. I wonder how your BIL got it? When I go out, everyday I am a crazy hand washer... cause I know what the flu feels like and I don't want it..

    I have those sanitizer gels...99% kills bacteria..after shopping and touching carts.. I slather some on before I even touch my car, until this blows over, but even so I am still causious.. I don't use antibacterial soap.. cause I want my body to have a good immune but... I will do whatever to avoid the flu....

    Goodness.. man the BIL should have stayed home.. I bet that is why it shot up higher... goodness... just keep your hands washed, try not to eat with your hands outside if you can, touch your mouth etc without washing...

    Well have to be careful come winter but.... those pain in the arse but simple rules..should keep it at bay for you...

    How come you were laid off? Just curious...

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  4. I had similar situation when I got the benefit too - Our closest office was an hour and a half drive away so I had to take Shou with me. But they new I had MIL at home and she was my - she will be looking after the baby when I find this job I'm looking for - escape.

    Bugger shit damn (cunt and bastard!!) about the flu. I hope you don't get it cause seriously when mummy gets sick the house crashes down. Hoepfully regardless Ash will be OK. Will he take the bottle anyway??

    The new flu is so over-dramatised here. Honestly the normal flu kills way more people every year. That said, with Japan and it's media I am surprised that your inlwas didn't make the 'Hyogo has three new cases of the swine flu' statistics!!

    Good luck.

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  5. it's very frustrating when my husband and his family forgets that i can get by on my own. just yesterday when we (yes, all five of us) went to the OB/GYN because i thought i had a blocked milk duct. *sigh* i had yoshi call the clinic because i didn't know how to say blocked milk duct and they wanted him to come along with me. ooooh, scary gaijin who can't speak japanese. funny thing is, when i was called in, yoshi was outside with tommy because he was having a melt down! ugh.

    anyway, i really hope you escape the flu, it totally sucks, and i can't even imagine what it would be like during summer! i haven't had the flu in years and i'm hoping i don't catch it this winter!

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  6. omg sorry to hear that your in-laws came down with a case of the piggy flu crossing my fingers and toes extra hard that it stays away from you guys

    i am going to have to do the hello work thingy too and obviously have no one to look after the baby so she's going to have to come with me and i will probably have to say i will be putting her in 'baby kindy' should i get the magical job

    i might have a few questions for you on how the whole process works ;)

    anyways feel free to rant away about the whole "i can't do anything because i'm foreign" my inlaws are totally like that as well and to be honest I'm more competent than their son at a whole lot of "Japanese" things..


    big hugs

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  7. I dunno if you'd get the dole in Australia now with pink hair and piercings!
    Although they'd prolly give you a handout to get your hair recoloured.

    Homeless people in Aus scare me too - they yell at you if you don't give them money.

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  8. Sending 'flu stay-away vibes' to your house!
    Not nice to have a fever but in this heat it must be hell.

    Eventually the in-laws will realise you CAN do things by yourself but don't hold your breath yet. Sometimes it's still good to be able to play the 'don't understand' card but of course only when YOU want to do it!

    Hope your boobs survive those little teeth!

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  9. I can sort of understand the not tell the neighbors thing. The swine flu was so over dramatized I can see people forming a mob with pitch forks and torchs trying to run you out of the neighborhood :) Fingers crossed that you and Ash don't catch it too!

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  10. Megan~ That's what I said, and we were right! :)

    Katie~ Totally, I was ready with that card but thankfully didn't need it!

    Girl Japan~ Eww I know, BIL is soooo not polite when it comes to covering his mouth etc. It's gross! I'm a fan of hand sanitizer too nad we're being extra careful now.
    I quit because was preggers :) Can still get unemployment benefits thank god!

    Gaijin wife~ Thanks I think we're fine thank god! Ash probably would take a bottle but he much prefers the booby. Iagree, so much over-drama with the flu!

    Illahee~ Isn't it so annoying being treated like you can't do anything! But it has worked to my advantage a few times I must admit! Yup flu is horrid, I'm hoping to escape somewhere warm for a bit of the winter but we'll see!

    Sara~ Wow, super mummy has time to comment, well done! Feel free to ask away about hello work, it's actually really easy.
    hehe, know what you mean about being better at things than the Japanese son, I think cos we have to do these things we're better at them!

    Kathryn~ haha, so true. They'll call it the "get punk hair out of the workforce stimulus package"! Homeless people in Japan are like teddy bears compared to Aussie homeless eh!

    Ailsa~ boobs are surviving, barely... Thanks! Very true, I do like to play the 'I don't understand card' at times!

    Beamies~ We'd be hunted like shrek!!! ehehe. yeah I can actually understand the embarrassment too!

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