Correction. One man. The man I live with. The man I am supposedly going to stay married to for the rest of my life. Ha!
It's not that bad, my usual drama queen instincts are taking over but man I was pissed this morning. This is what happened; I'm sick of making bento, I think it's stupid in this ridiculous heat and becoming very tedious for me so I thought a sandwich might be a nice change. Discussed this with cock smoker (AKA Ryota) and he agreed, he's a sandwich kinda guy, it was all good.
So last night when I was just falling into dreamland, Ash was snoring, cock smoker was snoring, I was on my way to snoring, the thought struck me that we have no cooler bags at our house and the sandwiches would go all sloppy if I didn't use one. So the good loving wifey that I am, I trotted over to the in-laws house in my jammies and got a cooler bag, put bottles of water in the freezer to use as cooler bag blocks and then went back to bed. Cock smoker was none the wiser mind you.
Fast-forward to this morning, I stumbled out of bed and bleary-eyed, made my little sandwiches. As I was about to pop them in the cooler bag cock smoker strolls over, throws his plates in the sink FOR ME TO WASH (as always) and said "I'm not taking that, it's too big."
I instantly started slamming things around at that point and when I asked why, he said that everyone would laugh at him for having a big cooler bag.
What are we, like fucking 12 years old now?? They would all more likely be jealous that he had cool fresh sandwiches rather than a box of melting Japanese crap! I put this point across but it was going nowhere. It ended with me leaving them and telling him to do what ever the fuck he wanted.
This is where Ryota and I differ the most I think, he is very worried about what other people think, where as I really don't give a fuck.
Another example, when Ash was born, Ryota claimed he wanted to do all the clothes shopping for him because I would put him in cheap clothes. Of course I will, he's inside the house and spitting/pissing/shitting/vomiting on his clothes at hourly intervals! It was a different story when it came to the crunch though and Ryota learned the hard way that cute clothes are the hardest to get get on and off, not to mention ridiculously overpriced.
Ryota has 5 days off starting tomorrow so we'll either have a great holiday or we'll kill each other, either way never boring!
EDIT: OK, feel bad now, just got a very sweet apology mail complete with cute bad English. My cock smoker's not so bad really.
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rant. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
This weekend officially blows
So our great beach weekend was..... cancelled!
Fuck it I was so looking forward to swimming and getting out of the house for a bit. Long story short there was a family argument of some kind involving Ryota's mum and boyfriend (who's house is at the beach) and first of all we were leaving early, then late, then staying 2 nights, then just the day then it was all cocked up and cancelled.
10 things that blow about this weekend~ (Written Sunday)
1) No beach
2) Raining
3) Had a fight with Ryota over something so stupid I can't remember what it was.
4) We not only didn't go to the beach, we didn't do anything at all.
5) Had to sit for 3 hours talking to the tooth fairy.
6) Ryota slept for 3 hours in the day leaving me to look after Ashton and do all the housework then cooked him dinner. Arsehole! (Still slightly fighting if you couldn't tell...)
7) Didn't eat dinner due to fight protest but now bastard hungry and no food in the house.
8) Having post-birth issues STILL!
9) Ryota lifted Ashton up and smacked his head (hard) on the low beam becasue our house was made for fucking midgets.
10) I ripped my finger open on our new kakigori machine and it stings like a bitch!
Ok I should explain a few...Went to the turtle and tooth fairy's house to kill some time and Ryota ended up helping his Dad fixing something in the garage so I was left with the tooth fairy and of course Ash fell asleep right when I didn't want him to. So I had to make chit-chat and the woman is fucking painful pardon my french. There's a rumour she used to work in a snack bar and that's where they met but I don't see how that is possible, her conversation skills are rubbish, in the end I was so desperate I just started washing up the dishes in the sink!
Won't go too far into the post-birth issues becasue I know there are a couple of people who may read this giving birth in the near future, but let's just say the war wounds popped out and I was freaking out, I should probably go to the Doc, with all the country swapping I never actually got examined after pushing that huge peach head out.
10 reasons why this weekend didn't blow that bad~ (Written Monday...)
1) I was riding the crimson wave so beach probably wasn't that good of an idea anyway.
2) After my tiff hunger strike Ryota went out and got me the best takoyaki ever and I swallowed my pride right along with it!
3) There was a massive thunder storm (it was great but the thunder was so loud the house was shaking which was pretty scary!)
4) We ended up going to Mino falls which was very pretty and we even saw some monkeys!
5) We're making new plans to go to the beach.
6) I finally had time to make a photography portfolio.
7) Did I mention we saw monkeys!?!
8) Have eaten so much home made kakigori I'll be on a sugar high until Christmas.
9) Got to take some amazing photos, going to be hard to choose 5 good ones.
10) And with the fighting, comes the great making-up.
So it didn't turn out to be all bad, I was well pissed off to begin with but gotta make the best out of a no beach situation I guess!
Amazing how much an attitude can change in a day though...
Fuck it I was so looking forward to swimming and getting out of the house for a bit. Long story short there was a family argument of some kind involving Ryota's mum and boyfriend (who's house is at the beach) and first of all we were leaving early, then late, then staying 2 nights, then just the day then it was all cocked up and cancelled.
10 things that blow about this weekend~ (Written Sunday)
1) No beach
2) Raining
3) Had a fight with Ryota over something so stupid I can't remember what it was.
4) We not only didn't go to the beach, we didn't do anything at all.
5) Had to sit for 3 hours talking to the tooth fairy.
6) Ryota slept for 3 hours in the day leaving me to look after Ashton and do all the housework then cooked him dinner. Arsehole! (Still slightly fighting if you couldn't tell...)
7) Didn't eat dinner due to fight protest but now bastard hungry and no food in the house.
8) Having post-birth issues STILL!
9) Ryota lifted Ashton up and smacked his head (hard) on the low beam becasue our house was made for fucking midgets.
10) I ripped my finger open on our new kakigori machine and it stings like a bitch!
Ok I should explain a few...Went to the turtle and tooth fairy's house to kill some time and Ryota ended up helping his Dad fixing something in the garage so I was left with the tooth fairy and of course Ash fell asleep right when I didn't want him to. So I had to make chit-chat and the woman is fucking painful pardon my french. There's a rumour she used to work in a snack bar and that's where they met but I don't see how that is possible, her conversation skills are rubbish, in the end I was so desperate I just started washing up the dishes in the sink!
Won't go too far into the post-birth issues becasue I know there are a couple of people who may read this giving birth in the near future, but let's just say the war wounds popped out and I was freaking out, I should probably go to the Doc, with all the country swapping I never actually got examined after pushing that huge peach head out.
10 reasons why this weekend didn't blow that bad~ (Written Monday...)
1) I was riding the crimson wave so beach probably wasn't that good of an idea anyway.
2) After my tiff hunger strike Ryota went out and got me the best takoyaki ever and I swallowed my pride right along with it!
3) There was a massive thunder storm (it was great but the thunder was so loud the house was shaking which was pretty scary!)
4) We ended up going to Mino falls which was very pretty and we even saw some monkeys!
5) We're making new plans to go to the beach.
6) I finally had time to make a photography portfolio.
7) Did I mention we saw monkeys!?!
8) Have eaten so much home made kakigori I'll be on a sugar high until Christmas.
9) Got to take some amazing photos, going to be hard to choose 5 good ones.
10) And with the fighting, comes the great making-up.
So it didn't turn out to be all bad, I was well pissed off to begin with but gotta make the best out of a no beach situation I guess!
Amazing how much an attitude can change in a day though...
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Kawaisou Grandma, Kawaisou....
I love and hate 'kawaisou' in Japanese, I'm going to say it's 'Too bad' in English but it just seems so much more useful in Japanese. And as useful as I find it, it annoys the shit out of me when it is used referring to Ashton. Slight Japan/ in-law rant is in order I think...
Now that Ash can move anywhere, not crawling yet but man that kid knows all the angles, turn, wriggle turn and he's in the kitchen with knives and chemicals and all that anti-baby stuff. I discovered this the hard way when I put him down in the living room and 5 minutes later heard a crinkling noise only to discover him with his big head stuck in a shopping bag. (I know, I know, won't get mother of the year this time.) So we're being extra careful about leaving him anywhere by himself, I'm going to look at investing in some sort of gate contraption soon. This said, if he is busy playing with something or is all milked up and calm then I can leave him for a little bit while I get whatever I need to done.
Today was a stinker, like Japan summer, I always forget how fucking hot it is hot, so when I went to hang the washing out upstairs I left Ash playing with his monkey. I'd only just got to hanging out the undies when he started whinging , but i know his cries by now, and it was a more of a 'Hey, walking, boobs, get your arse back here bitch!' rather than a 'Hey walking boobs, I'm ingesting poisonous chemicals right now bitch!' So I decided to quickly hang out the washing then get back into the air-con heaven.
By the time I got downstairs even through the sweat pouring into my eyes, I saw that that the front door was wide open. Now had it not been for the lil' ol' lady slippers strewn in the genkan I may have very well broken out the baseball bat and gone to town on Obaachan's arse thinking she was a robber, but of course, living so close to the in-laws, I know better.
Ashton was smiling up at Obaachan the little shit, and she started in on a "Ohhh Ashton's by himself, kawaisou neeee" spiel which just pissed me off.
I'm not a 'let them cry it out' mum, but I'm not a 'pick the baby up as soon as they make a noise' mum either, I usually let him cry a bit, finish what I'm doing, then go see what he's chatting about. It's kind of hard to use this strategy though, when people pop in all the freakin' time to check on the baby!
But whatever, Grandma is pushing 100, I can forgive her, doesn't mean it doesn't piss me right off though!
But today wasn't only meddling Obaachan, no, BIL came waltzing in asking to borrow our car while I was just about to hop in the bath. Anyone who bathes a baby by themselves knows this drill, you get naked with bubby then both jump in together. So I must have looked like such a twat scrambling to slam the un-slammable sliding door holding a naked baby with my bits flopping all over the place! I think BIL got the point when I just threw the keys at him through the crack (heh) of the door and just screeched, "Don't fucking crash it you little bastard!!" (In English) When he asked me what I said I just said "nothing" and he left thank god.
Saying all that, we're escaping to the beach this weekend, I'm excited!!! The beach isn't like a normal Japanese brown rock shitty beach either, it's actually really pretty. I hate the fact that I can't swim any further than the stupid barrier, but apart from that it's great and will also be Ashton's first beach visit!
Hope everyone is staying out of the heat, happy hump Wednesday!!!
That's what I was thinknig Obaachan!!!
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Feeling better today
Happy to say my bitchy mood has passed, PMS perhaps?
Ryota knew as soon as he got home last night that I was in a foul mood, and my bursting into ridiculous girly sobs probably didn't do much to help. He's not the best with girl problems though, the first thing he said was "Wait, what day is it?? It's not mother's day is it??" Poor flower is scarred from my last hissy fit. He then went on to just repeatadly ask me what was wrong, I tried to explain I couldn't put my finger on it, just felt shitty. But that wasn't good enough for him. Bloody men, clueless!
I then made the mistake of trying to explain it to him in Japanese, when I said "I feel like my life has no meaning" he said I sounded like a suicidal building jumper, which I wasn't I was just trying to explain to him that I'm a pretty shitty housewife, I really am. I can cook OK and the house is clean(ish) but I'm just not made to be a housewife. I liked my job, I was good at it, I hated quitting. But I couldn't get across to him how having no job and being an average housewife really makes me feel quite useless. However it did feel better to get it off my chest and I scored a massage out of it.
Also my MIL asked her boss for tonight off (she really is nice, I don't give her enough credit) so we are going to the snazzy Kobe restaurant tonight. We've got a late booking so hopefully I can milk Ash up and he'll sleep over at the in-laws so I can have a shandy or 10. I'm a little pissed at the short notice because I have nothing new to wear but it feels nice to not have to cook and just do my hair and make-up and stuff. Although I MUST run today, I think that's why I felt so shit yesterday, no running days make me feel like a housebound baby whale.
P.S. Happy 4th of July Yankees! Blow something up for me.
Ryota knew as soon as he got home last night that I was in a foul mood, and my bursting into ridiculous girly sobs probably didn't do much to help. He's not the best with girl problems though, the first thing he said was "Wait, what day is it?? It's not mother's day is it??" Poor flower is scarred from my last hissy fit. He then went on to just repeatadly ask me what was wrong, I tried to explain I couldn't put my finger on it, just felt shitty. But that wasn't good enough for him. Bloody men, clueless!
I then made the mistake of trying to explain it to him in Japanese, when I said "I feel like my life has no meaning" he said I sounded like a suicidal building jumper, which I wasn't I was just trying to explain to him that I'm a pretty shitty housewife, I really am. I can cook OK and the house is clean(ish) but I'm just not made to be a housewife. I liked my job, I was good at it, I hated quitting. But I couldn't get across to him how having no job and being an average housewife really makes me feel quite useless. However it did feel better to get it off my chest and I scored a massage out of it.
Also my MIL asked her boss for tonight off (she really is nice, I don't give her enough credit) so we are going to the snazzy Kobe restaurant tonight. We've got a late booking so hopefully I can milk Ash up and he'll sleep over at the in-laws so I can have a shandy or 10. I'm a little pissed at the short notice because I have nothing new to wear but it feels nice to not have to cook and just do my hair and make-up and stuff. Although I MUST run today, I think that's why I felt so shit yesterday, no running days make me feel like a housebound baby whale.
P.S. Happy 4th of July Yankees! Blow something up for me.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
CRAZED FOREIGNER GOES ON A CHOPSTICK KILLING SPREE AT LOCAL FAMILY RESTAURANT
Well, that's what the headline very well could have been had I not contained myself.
I think I'm pretty reasonable when it comes to being foreign in this country.
I can put up with the stares.
I smile and wave when a gaggle of Junior High School girls point and say, 'look at that American!!' "Hellllooooo American!!!!"
I grit my teeth when someone comments on how "big" I am, sure I know they mean tall and there is a language issue, it's all good.
Unlike some of my friends I don't get angry when someone responds to my Japanese in horribly incorrect English that I can barely understand.
As per Green eyed Geisha's complaints today I can put up with non-apologetic umbrella bashing during rainy season.
I manage to just give slightly puzzled smiles when grilled about my foreign 'high' nose or 'sauce' face.
All these things usually don't bother me that much.
But the other day, the royal host waitress just. Went. Too. Far.
As I mentioned, we went to get Ash's passport the other day, and a few things annoyed me in the morning so I guess I was pissed to begin with.
For example, the morning of passport day, we went to Midori denka to buy my Rodeo Boy III. (Stay tuned Monday when it arrives for pictures and the Rodeo Boy III back story!)
Now Ashton tends to go a bit mental in Midori Denka so we usually carry him instead of putting him in thebaby car stroller, I think all the bright lights and incessant jingles get to him. Don't blame the little fella, hell if it wasn't for the free massage chair scamming I'd be going mental too.
After we'd made our purchase and had been informed that it wouldn't arrive until Sunday I huffingly went to the register clutching our credit card while Ryota dealt with the squirming, shrieking, not-so-cute-today baby. When I gave the register lady our credit card (which is in Ryota's name) she hesitated to give me the pen and said she needed the cardholder to sign the receipt. Ryota was walking around with Ash and I explained this but she gave me an apology and said she really needed him to sign. I was tempted to tell her my name was Ryota but instead I called the 'cardholder' over and he told the lady that I was his wife and it was fine if I signed. She persisted to piss me off and apologised with pleading eyes for him to respond to her love of rules and sign the paper. So I took over baby duty and he scribbled on the paper. Fuck me lady I'm obviously not stealing his credit card, who cares who signs!? A few more 'moshiwakenai's' and bowing later, we were out.
After bitching with Ryota on how 'atama ga katai' Japanese staff are, we went to our local photo shop to get Ash's passport pici, they told us they couldn't do it and directed us to another shop. That shop told us the same thing.
This went on until the 5th store finally said they did baby passport pictures. The shop where we ended up were actually really nice and said they'd give us a good deal on portraits of Ash if they could use the pictures to put up on their wall, so I'm glad we actually ended up there! It was a family run store and the Grandad spent about 15 minutes holding Ash and parading him around to his customers exclaiming how cute he was.
So it's like I took 2 steps back with the photo shop hunting and 1 step forward with the nice family.
Anyway, on to the Royal Host twit.
I'm not a huge fan of Royal Host as far as family restaurants are concerned, more of a Gusto girl, although the comfy boothes and club sandwich with chips are always pretty good after a big night on the piss.
In the old days, when going for lunch on a hot day I would have been searching for the place with the cheapest, coldest beer I could down at 1pm but as priorities have changed I now search for places where the baby ca.. stroller will fit and whether or not there is a nappy change table on the premises. So Royal Host it was.
It was air-conditioned, nice and big, and not too busy, perfect. We settled in to our booth and Ashton was giving everyone big gummy grins. The waitress brought us our iced water with a big smile and all was dandy, I was even forgetting the midori denka incident.
While Ryota was in the toilet our waitress (who was about 50 I imagine) came over and asked if I had any toys with us for Ashton. Now my Japanese isn't perfect, but the fact that I could understand and respond to this fairly random question I think indicates that I can speak Japanese, no?
I told her yes, we have toys, and no, we didn't need any scummy, second-hand, drooled on toys from the royal host toy box.
We then chatted for at least a few minutes about how old Ashton was blah blah blah. We chatted. IN JAPANESE.
Ryota came back and we ordered our food, which for the record was a 'Japanese colorful set' for me and Katsudon for Ryota. The colorful set wasn't so colourful in the end but quite tasty all the same. When twitty McWaitress lady brought Ryota's food, she also brought our utensils and turned TO RYOTA and said "Can she use chopsticks?"
I fucking hate this cunting question. How can she not know that I would be able to use chopsticks? I'm clearly not on holiday, I clearly live in Japan. I talked to her in Japanese, why would she ask that question but more importantly why the fuck would she ask RYOTA that question??
Ryota gave a sly smile because he knows how much that question pisses me off and started to respond but I cut him off with a curt "Yes I can use them."
The curtness was obviously lost on her because when she came back with my food she asked Ryota "Oh, can she drink Miso soup too?"
I was still bitching about the chopstick question while she made the miso soup remark.
Now if I was eating sashimi, I could possibly understand surprise but miso fucking soup?? You can buy miso in Woolies now!
Ryota and I had a discussion about it when she left the table and he claimed she was being kind, which I get, that's why I didn't spear her eyeball with the chopsticks and throw the scalding miso soup in her face. But I tried to explain to him it was like him going to Australia and the staff turning to me and asking if he could use a knife and fork and if he could eat fish and chips. He said I should just let it go, she was being nice.
I have now vowed to not go back to Royal Host. Well, until the next time I want to sleep on the comfy chairs while waiting for the first train in a drunken stupor.
I think I'm pretty reasonable when it comes to being foreign in this country.
I can put up with the stares.
I smile and wave when a gaggle of Junior High School girls point and say, 'look at that American!!' "Hellllooooo American!!!!"
I grit my teeth when someone comments on how "big" I am, sure I know they mean tall and there is a language issue, it's all good.
Unlike some of my friends I don't get angry when someone responds to my Japanese in horribly incorrect English that I can barely understand.
As per Green eyed Geisha's complaints today I can put up with non-apologetic umbrella bashing during rainy season.
I manage to just give slightly puzzled smiles when grilled about my foreign 'high' nose or 'sauce' face.
All these things usually don't bother me that much.
But the other day, the royal host waitress just. Went. Too. Far.
As I mentioned, we went to get Ash's passport the other day, and a few things annoyed me in the morning so I guess I was pissed to begin with.
For example, the morning of passport day, we went to Midori denka to buy my Rodeo Boy III. (Stay tuned Monday when it arrives for pictures and the Rodeo Boy III back story!)
Now Ashton tends to go a bit mental in Midori Denka so we usually carry him instead of putting him in the
After we'd made our purchase and had been informed that it wouldn't arrive until Sunday I huffingly went to the register clutching our credit card while Ryota dealt with the squirming, shrieking, not-so-cute-today baby. When I gave the register lady our credit card (which is in Ryota's name) she hesitated to give me the pen and said she needed the cardholder to sign the receipt. Ryota was walking around with Ash and I explained this but she gave me an apology and said she really needed him to sign. I was tempted to tell her my name was Ryota but instead I called the 'cardholder' over and he told the lady that I was his wife and it was fine if I signed. She persisted to piss me off and apologised with pleading eyes for him to respond to her love of rules and sign the paper. So I took over baby duty and he scribbled on the paper. Fuck me lady I'm obviously not stealing his credit card, who cares who signs!? A few more 'moshiwakenai's' and bowing later, we were out.
After bitching with Ryota on how 'atama ga katai' Japanese staff are, we went to our local photo shop to get Ash's passport pici, they told us they couldn't do it and directed us to another shop. That shop told us the same thing.
This went on until the 5th store finally said they did baby passport pictures. The shop where we ended up were actually really nice and said they'd give us a good deal on portraits of Ash if they could use the pictures to put up on their wall, so I'm glad we actually ended up there! It was a family run store and the Grandad spent about 15 minutes holding Ash and parading him around to his customers exclaiming how cute he was.
So it's like I took 2 steps back with the photo shop hunting and 1 step forward with the nice family.
Anyway, on to the Royal Host twit.
I'm not a huge fan of Royal Host as far as family restaurants are concerned, more of a Gusto girl, although the comfy boothes and club sandwich with chips are always pretty good after a big night on the piss.
In the old days, when going for lunch on a hot day I would have been searching for the place with the cheapest, coldest beer I could down at 1pm but as priorities have changed I now search for places where the baby ca.. stroller will fit and whether or not there is a nappy change table on the premises. So Royal Host it was.
It was air-conditioned, nice and big, and not too busy, perfect. We settled in to our booth and Ashton was giving everyone big gummy grins. The waitress brought us our iced water with a big smile and all was dandy, I was even forgetting the midori denka incident.
While Ryota was in the toilet our waitress (who was about 50 I imagine) came over and asked if I had any toys with us for Ashton. Now my Japanese isn't perfect, but the fact that I could understand and respond to this fairly random question I think indicates that I can speak Japanese, no?
I told her yes, we have toys, and no, we didn't need any scummy, second-hand, drooled on toys from the royal host toy box.
We then chatted for at least a few minutes about how old Ashton was blah blah blah. We chatted. IN JAPANESE.
Ryota came back and we ordered our food, which for the record was a 'Japanese colorful set' for me and Katsudon for Ryota. The colorful set wasn't so colourful in the end but quite tasty all the same. When twitty McWaitress lady brought Ryota's food, she also brought our utensils and turned TO RYOTA and said "Can she use chopsticks?"
I fucking hate this cunting question. How can she not know that I would be able to use chopsticks? I'm clearly not on holiday, I clearly live in Japan. I talked to her in Japanese, why would she ask that question but more importantly why the fuck would she ask RYOTA that question??
Ryota gave a sly smile because he knows how much that question pisses me off and started to respond but I cut him off with a curt "Yes I can use them."
The curtness was obviously lost on her because when she came back with my food she asked Ryota "Oh, can she drink Miso soup too?"
I was still bitching about the chopstick question while she made the miso soup remark.
Now if I was eating sashimi, I could possibly understand surprise but miso fucking soup?? You can buy miso in Woolies now!
Ryota and I had a discussion about it when she left the table and he claimed she was being kind, which I get, that's why I didn't spear her eyeball with the chopsticks and throw the scalding miso soup in her face. But I tried to explain to him it was like him going to Australia and the staff turning to me and asking if he could use a knife and fork and if he could eat fish and chips. He said I should just let it go, she was being nice.
I have now vowed to not go back to Royal Host. Well, until the next time I want to sleep on the comfy chairs while waiting for the first train in a drunken stupor.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Mother's Day in Japan officially blows
So this year was my first mother's day, and I know that those such holidays aren't celebrated as much in Japan as they are in other countries, but my hubby is pretty savvy to the western culture stuff, as I think I am to Japanese culture, so usually we meet in the middle. Not yesterday.
I think I had every reason to be pissed, and pissed I was. I'd been dropping hints all week about mother's day, I bought a present and made a card for his mother and grandmother and sent my mum a gift well in advance. So by these things I thought it would be pretty clear that mother's day was important to me in some way. Obviously not.
Sunday started like any other day except I wasn't all chirpy as usual, then I went on a cleaning frenzy as I tend to do when miffed. Then I cuddled up with Ash on our futon for a 'sleep' which was actually a cry. I was thinking how good it is to have a two-storey house now, when we lived in the apartment I wasn't able to have a good private sob.
Anyway, Ryota knew something was up and came to talk to me. I am very annoying in arguments, I do the whole "I'm fine, just having a bad day/headache/PMS" etc. Even though it's clear that I'm angry or upset for a reason... Ryota often tells me how Japanese I am in that way haha.
After I finally started to tell him why I was angry the flood gates really opened, I started ranting about how we skipped the romance part of our relationship and that he got off easy with no dates and presents and stuff. After I said that I felt like a selfish bitch but I can't deny that's the way I feel sometimes, and he doesn't get that I don't want expensive gifts, I want gifts from the heart, or at least the head. Making something, doing something he knows I like and all that stuff that men are just not programmed to do.
I also pulled out the 'we never even had a proper wedding' card, which I know upsets him, but I figure if I don't tell him, the bottling up could be dangerous later on.
I felt muuuccchhhh better after letting it all go, but then he went overboard and started up the "I'm a terrible husband" guilt trip bullshit, took me shopping to Nishinomiya gardens, (which is awesome by the way) and tried to buy me expensive stuff which pissed me off soooo much cos it showed that he just didn't get it. *sigh*
I may have overreacted a little but I think it was more of a build-up of a few things, the fact that I always feel a bit homesick on holidays and being a housewife can send you insane.
I think relationships take time and effort on both sides, so I have to try harder too.
We made up though and like always after an argument, feel refreshed in some way. we agreed that I wouldn't do anything for fahter's day this year, (but I know I will) and then we'll start fresh from next year when he will spoil me rotten.
I think I had every reason to be pissed, and pissed I was. I'd been dropping hints all week about mother's day, I bought a present and made a card for his mother and grandmother and sent my mum a gift well in advance. So by these things I thought it would be pretty clear that mother's day was important to me in some way. Obviously not.
Sunday started like any other day except I wasn't all chirpy as usual, then I went on a cleaning frenzy as I tend to do when miffed. Then I cuddled up with Ash on our futon for a 'sleep' which was actually a cry. I was thinking how good it is to have a two-storey house now, when we lived in the apartment I wasn't able to have a good private sob.
Anyway, Ryota knew something was up and came to talk to me. I am very annoying in arguments, I do the whole "I'm fine, just having a bad day/headache/PMS" etc. Even though it's clear that I'm angry or upset for a reason... Ryota often tells me how Japanese I am in that way haha.
After I finally started to tell him why I was angry the flood gates really opened, I started ranting about how we skipped the romance part of our relationship and that he got off easy with no dates and presents and stuff. After I said that I felt like a selfish bitch but I can't deny that's the way I feel sometimes, and he doesn't get that I don't want expensive gifts, I want gifts from the heart, or at least the head. Making something, doing something he knows I like and all that stuff that men are just not programmed to do.
I also pulled out the 'we never even had a proper wedding' card, which I know upsets him, but I figure if I don't tell him, the bottling up could be dangerous later on.
I felt muuuccchhhh better after letting it all go, but then he went overboard and started up the "I'm a terrible husband" guilt trip bullshit, took me shopping to Nishinomiya gardens, (which is awesome by the way) and tried to buy me expensive stuff which pissed me off soooo much cos it showed that he just didn't get it. *sigh*
I may have overreacted a little but I think it was more of a build-up of a few things, the fact that I always feel a bit homesick on holidays and being a housewife can send you insane.
I think relationships take time and effort on both sides, so I have to try harder too.
We made up though and like always after an argument, feel refreshed in some way. we agreed that I wouldn't do anything for fahter's day this year, (but I know I will) and then we'll start fresh from next year when he will spoil me rotten.
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