Long time no bloggy. There’s no particular reason for this. Perhaps my creative juices are flowing into other receptacles. Perhaps I assume the world has grown weary of the exploits of a chronically stressed thirty something mom in Yokohama. Do people still read non celebrity blogs? I dunno.
So let’s see…what is new. I took on a lot more work in April, and it feels like I’m just getting used to it now. The past few weeks have been a trial because the kids keep getting sick. And what am I supposed to do then? I’ve tried a number of things: take the day off (when possible,) reschedule when possible, send them to school iffy and hope for the best (this didn’t end well.) With no cooperative family nearby, how do you make this work?
It seems like I work four shifts every day, starting with the morning shift. This one is shit and I shouldn’t have to do it alone. I think HRH was literally hiding in the toilet this morning while the kids fought over who got to sit in front of the heater, 1 punched 2 who started to cry, meanwhile I was trying to make miso soup and hang laundry and maybe kinda get these kids to school on time, at which point 1 throws up. After all of this bedlam finally calms down, HRH emerges from the porcelain throne room as if nothing is amiss. Coincidence? I doubt it.
Shift two is actual paid work. This part is okay because it’s paid. That’s nice.
Shift three involved getting small people from school and wrangling them wherever they may need to be in appropriate states of stress. Homework. Dinner. Cleaning. This shift is kind of crappy, too. Then baths and stories and cuddles, which is nice. Until bedtime when no one will sleep. HRH usually comes home around this point and either a) asks for dinner, which pisses me off, or b) sees the kids are a mess and says he has to “work.” Inevitably, this also pisses me off.
Then shift four is getting ready for the next shift one. Laundry. Picking up errant Lego before they can successfully attack my feet. Preparing my work stuff while I can concentrate on it without being called to look for things that are exactly where I told you to look on the first place, dammit. This shift is critical, but it doesn’t happen when I fall asleep mid shift three.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how my life compares to my husband. I mean, he works one (long) shift, and gets paid for it. Apparently this also allows him to lord it over the rest of us.
There is a lot on TV here about women in the workplace, blah blah, but I’m starting to think we are working it backwards. Just like charity, maybe equality needs to start at home. There is no equality in my home. I have no idea how to achieve it. I don’t even really want help with house stuff anymore, just for people to stop making more work for me and to not complain already. Will I eventually resign myself to an even lower standard than that? Scary.
HamakkoMommy 
Nov 30, 2015 @ 21:01:27
I would much rather read your blog than a celeb blog. You deal with the difficulties of your life with great humour. I was in your position for a few year, raising small kids with no help from an ‘alpha male’-type husband (though in the UK, not Japan). It’s a tough business. You’re doing it under even more trying circumstances, as a ‘foreigner’ in a country that does seem to like them very much. I like your insights: I have learnt a lot about every day life in Japan through this blog. I hope you’ll keep posting when time allows.
Dec 01, 2015 @ 01:11:59
I agree with rebootme, I’d rather read your blog than some phony celebrity! I think you are brave and strong and raising a family is not always easy, I know! Keep up the good work!
Dec 08, 2015 @ 00:09:15
Yes, I did miss you!! The questions you ask are hard to answer but one piece of advice I have for you is to make your chores as easy as possible – buy a drier!! Just imagine how much easier your life would be. They are really not that expensive even in Japan and I would literally DIE without mine :)