Once Upon a Tanbo

What a fast month this one was… hard to believe that as of tomorrow June will have come and gone. I am thinking that the rest of summer may follow suit as we have lots of plans for visitors within the next month and a half which always makes things go by faster than just being on  your own.

I am sending in an application for a GREAT job. I will post more details once the deadline has closed as I don’t want to jinx myself but raving about it on here and having some random googler find it and get it 😉 Needless to say, if I get this one I am def. sitting pretty in terms of career satisfaction and future possibility. Its also part-time which is important to me but there is probably a possibility of going full-time in a different position in a year to 1 1/2 years from now which would work well. If you have any good job vibes please send them my way – heres hoping I will be called in for an interview. It isn’t a translation related job, but I can still “market” the experience from my CIR job for it. *thumbs up*

Anyways I probably won’t be posting much the next week as my Dad will be here which means that we will be going out quite a bit as 3 adults and a baby in our small apartment is not conductive to a lot of privacy. Sakura turned 11 months yesterday actually… not so much a tiny little baby anymore. She still isn’t anywhere near walking though – good thing or bad thing, you be the judge. She IS an escape artist though.

Yesterday I met up with Khea and Missha in Yurakucho for lunch and girl talk and we took the kids to the “play space” in the MUJI and I spent pretty much 75% chasing Sakura as she crawled out of the play space towards disaster (aka throwing the items for sale off of the racks) Not sure if I mentioned it, but I signed her up with a modeling agency last week.

I sent in pictures via their website and got an email a couple weeks later asking to bring her in for professional pics – so last week headed on off to the Shibuya area and Sakura took some very cute pictures. Not sure what will come of it, and not really sure if we will even go to some if any auditions, but figured if I’m working part-time maybe.. Sakura is such a ham and LOVES the camera/people that I figured she’d enjoy it as opposed to if she was super  clingy and shy (then I wouldn’t even have considered it)

So.. what else… not much really.

Oh, the weightloss continues! I’m down about 6kg from beginning of May. I can’t see a huge difference yet as I still have about 20kg left to go, but I did notice some of my clothes fitting slightly better and also got two new tops which don’t have tummy bulge nearly as bad as I thought – yay! Need to try and continue hooping and eating well while Dad is here but that will probably be hard.

Anyways def. hoping I will be at least another 5kg down by the end of summer.. but may be difficult with guests and such. Harusame noodle cups have been a life saver for me as they provide a yummy and filling lunch that I can pair with a salad or something else. Also long walks.. and of course 20-30 mins of hooping a day (occasionally twice a day)

I finally feel like I will be able to lose the weight… before this no matter trying I don’t think I had significant motivation, but esp. with wanting to get a job I know I should probably try and slim down esp. if I don’t get the “dream job” and have to look for Japanese companies who will think my “large” figure is a result bad “jiko kanri” (self-management)

Wow… Friday already? That went week fast.. probably due to the fact that I tried to get us out of the house as much as possible! It was only really rainy Weds. which was the most boring day of the week.

I’m not sure if its an exercise kick.. or jealously since Ryohei’s lost 8kg in the last 2 months but I’ve def. been watching what I eat and just trying to be active. Taking a long walk and trying to hula hoop continuously for 20-30 mins a day. Seems to be paying off… just a couple more kg until I am FINALLY back to pre-preg weight… I don’t exactly know what that weight was but I’m 1kg away from the first weight recorded in my boshitecho and that was at 12 weeks so I imagine my actual pre-preg weight was 1-2kg lighter.

But thats just the beginning.. my goal is to reach my first came to Japan weight which is 10kg away from now.. and THEN my lowest weight after that… which was another 10kg. So yah.. the road is long.. but summer is always a good time to start losing weight since the appetite is less voracious as usual.

I said at New Years I wanted to lost 15kg by June… but sadly… that did not happen.. so I WILL be at least 15kg lighter by Christmas if not reaching my goal. I think weaning Sakura really has helped a lot… she has maybe one less than 5 minute boobies a day right before bed and occasionally in the middle of the night – but now she’s started (usually) sleeping from about 8:30-5:30… yes its taken a LONG LONG time to get to this point.

Still no word on the job front… *twiddling thumbs* BUT I am finally getting the point where I know what I want to do. I’ve decided.. (stubbornly) that I do want to end up getting my Masters in Translation and/or Interpretation and so for the next 2 years or so I am going to try and save up so I can go back to school and achieve that goal. Not sure exactly where I will do it at, but possibly looking at schools in the UK since they are far cheaper than America and I won’t need a visa to go there if I can get my UK passport sometime in the next 2 years.

So… that is my goal.

I’ve already talked it over with Ryohei and he is ok with it… he even said he would consider coming to and going to English school for a year… we’d both like Sakura to be able to get UK citizenship along with her US and Japanese citizenships so who knows.. its nice to dream about right?

I’ve gotten so caught up in living in Japan, and the inaka, and learning how to be a Mom that I really have sort of lost sight of personal goals and having decided that I can save up and go back to school and get a high degree in something I really love has given me motivation again.

I feel like I’ve changed my mind up and down so many times, but I think that concentrating on translation and utilizing my Japanese skills would be best for a future career no matter where we end up.

So.. now I just have to get a job to save up.

And.. yay world cup!! Like I said my Dad is coming next Tuesday and we are hoping he will watch Sakura one night so Ryohei and I can go watch a game at “the Hub.” Its not a super romantic date, but we both like the sports bar environment and I want one of their yummy cocktails 😉

Ryohei came back this morning in good enough spirits. Apparently the fact that I wore one of this shirts to sleep in last night was unpleasing to him tho… oh well. Starting off on the “right” or should I say.. usual foot.

Sakura and I took a LONG walk today down to the river. It was a nice day, not too hot or humid with a good breeze. I had my ipod filled with Lady Gaga (no judgement!) and other such dancy/pop hits. It was a good time – hoping that this year’s rainy season has more days today and less like some of the crap that was last week.

Haven’t heard from the job thing yet… I guess thats to be expected since my interview was only Friday. I am feeling torn… I would really prefer to work full days, 3 days a week instead of shorter hours Monday though Friday. There are a couple kindies near me who take kids for 3-4 days a week only and I’d rather put her in 3 days a week than every day… when I broached the subject with the current job they said that it would have to be every day… so I’m torn.

Thoughts? Should I keep looking for something that better fits what I am looking for (translation and 3 days a week) vs what I (may) have already gotten (checking/proof-reading 5 days a week for shorter hours)

Ryohei is pretty much insisting I go back to work from August or so since are saving absolutely no money.. which is fine.. I just don’t want to be pressure into taking a job I’m not 100% or even 80% on when possibly one that is what I am looking for could come along any time.

So yah… what do you bloggers think… would you hold out or take a job if it came your way just cause it was the first to do it?

I might not even get the other job in the first place… so this could possibly be a moot point 😛

Ok.. not so sure about the last part. 😛

The last.. 3 days or so.. have been a big blur… holy cow. Wednesday was out bright and early for the Chiba Playgroup Lulu runs. Good times were had by all! Thanks for planning Lulu, see you again next month (fingers crossed!)

Thursday was another early start as Sakura and I trekked across Tokyo (literally from one side to the other) to hang out with Khea and Missha. Well.. the hanging out was really only for a couple hours Thurs. afternoon as after that it was more of Sakura being babysat and me heading in and out and in and out in to Tokyo. I had my class Thurs. night and then my job interview (which is probably why you’ve all showed up to read this right!?) this morning.

The interview… ahh the interview.

Thankfully I left 90 minutes early, the stupid Chuo-line was so SLOW it took me 3x longer to get to the station I need to go to than it should have. But being super early I was still in the door at 10 minutes until interview time. Two men from the company interviewed me.. one was obviously more “boss-y” than the other and he was “quite” concerned about how Sakura and her care would fit into me taking the job. So much so that pretty much they told me I wouldn’t be considered for it on the spot.

Ok…

But they still said take out translation test (which I did) and after that the not as “boss-y” guy came back and said that there might be another position at the “honsha” as opposed to the client office where the job I intially applied it was. The honsha is only about 20 minutes from us and the other place was nearly double that.. so they said maybe half-days 5x a week. At least thats what I’ll be “considered” for… however they said they already have 2 in-house translators SO my job would be mostly native check/proofreading… which (to be honest) is not exactly what I want to be doing. The whole purpose of me getting is a job is to work on my translation skills so that when we leave Tokyo I have a better chance of getting work whether it be more freelance or in another company. So I’m sort of conflicted…

They haven’t told me what the pay or hours will be either so I guess I’ll make my final decision after that. I did decide that whether I take this job or not… I def. think part time work would be a better fit right now (either half-days or 3 days a week full days) I also found another kindy I like that is on our line which will probably be the one I end up using if they have space (which after the weekend I guess I will need to look into) So I guess thats how things went… not at all what I was expecting.

The company seemed nice, I just sort of have a few reservations about the contents of the “other” job they offered me.. it will probably depend on the pay. I have a scale where under XX is a definite no where over XX is a definite yes… but theres a gray area as well.

Oh btw… my translation test included an “into Japanese” translation which I boooooombed. I knew how laughable it was as I was doing it…

Alright… and now my translation filled day needs to continue as I still have half of a project to finish before Sunday night.

(so tired tho… but I can get my best work done when Sakura is a sleep so I don’t really have a choice)

Not just a clever reference to the beginning of tsuyu (rainy season) which has left me all sweaty and gross. Not looking forward to the beginning of Japanese summer.

This week has turned out to be a crazy one and its only Tuesday. I have plans everyday until next Wednesday AND I got a translation project this morning… (haven’t had one since Golden Week and had been wondering if/when I would hear from them and boom right in my busy busy week) But oh well…

We went to visit Ryohei in the hospital today, he’ll be hooked up to an IV getting a steroid drip for three days and then in the hospital for observation until Monday afternoon. Lets just say bring Sakura to the hospital was not a great idea… she wanted to get at everything including Ryohei’s IV.. so I think we probably won’t be able to see him until Father’s Day on Sunday. We were going to go Friday but I think with my job interview and running back in forth to pick up Sakura it will just be too exhausting to try and keep her from getting into everything at the hospital like it did this morning on a full nights sleep.

Anyways gotta start working on my translation.. it was supposed to be done Friday morning, but I got the deadline extended until over the weekend… either way.. work work.

Back from a whirlwind weekend in Niigata for BIL and SIL’s wedding. Actually my first ever wedding in Japan. We headed out Friday late afternoon and Sakura and I just go back this afternoon. Ryohei decided to drive back to Tokyo from Niigata with a friend and they got stuck in traffic and aren’t back yet.

Sakura was a gorgeous wedding baby in a white gown preowned by SassyMoo’s PrincessP and I looked nice(?) in SassyMoo’s purplish gown she lent me. I’ll get picture up at some point when I’m not so tired.

Sakura had a blast playing with Iroha who has seemed to come out of her shell a bit and the two of them crawled around together. Anyways I was glad to be back to the city as Niigata was REALLY REALLY hot and of course the summer frog song and bug fest was in full swing. (BLECH!)

Allow me now to go on and on about my smart smart child. Sakura started saying the “baa” part of inai inai baa. It is SO SO SO SO cute. She will do it about 90% of the time so friends who will be seeing me in the next few days expect a demonstration 😛 She’s always giving lots of kisses and likes patting(hitting) me in the face. She shakes her head “no” a lot too… but pretty sure she hasn’t connected the meaning to the action – I think it just gives her a rush.

I have a busy week coming up culminating in my interview Friday. I found out that there is more overtime than I thought so depending on how much it may not be possible for me to take this particular position. I will ask at my interview just how much… but we will see. I’ve been doing some more “research” and it seems there is a bit out there.. so if this doesn’t work out I will hold off my job search until early/mid-August so that my parents can watch Sakura if I have any more interviews.

So yup.. Ryohei is in the hospital from tomorrow and not sure when we will get to visit him. His treatment is until Weds. so maybe it won’t be until Friday when we can go 😦 We will def. spend Father’s Day with him on Sunday though – so everyone keep him in your thoughts this week. I know he is bummed about having to go back in.

Anyways guess I will enjoy a bit of World Cup before Ryohei gets back, signing off!

GAH I just lost a whole post.

Anyways I have an interview coming up for the “unexpected” job next week.

Should be interesting and also requires a translation test so we shall see how it goes. I feel so-so confident in my skills but I get incredibly nervous whenever things are timed.

In any case it should be a good learning experience even if I don’t get it.

Also.. SO RANDOM but is there anything that after being pregnant you can’t eat now? I used to be able to eat onions just fine but I couldn’t stand them while pregnant with Sakura and now while I can eat cooked onions I still hate raw onions. I just munched some in a salad I was eating and felt disgusting.

Hmm… ok.. more updates later when I know more.