One of the things that struck me while visiting with Kuniko at the hospital was the total lack of any kind of activity.  It was really boring, with only pay TV to serve as background noise to a quiet hospital room.  Kuniko said that she missed the music from our house, and that made me really think about how often we listen to music.  I think we’re listening to music pretty much all day.

That got me to thinking how I’ve been wanting to upgrade our audio system.  The subwoofer is actually also an amp, and works quite well now.  Unfortunately the fan that runs inside to cool the thing down has been getting slightly louder, and I can see the writing on the wall.  If that goes, the whole system will go down.  So I’m on the market for some separate equipment that will make any breakdowns less of a problem.

Meanwhile Kuniko seems to be doing a little better, but she’s still without a lot of energy, and she is spending most of each day recovering in bed.  Yesterday she got a few phone calls from friends, family and coworkers, and I think that made her feel better.    We are considering going out and seeing a movie Friday night as kind of a reward for the end of the week.  Other than that I’m hoping to do some yard work outside since spring seems to be making an appearance.  I’ve got to plant some herbs for the warmer season.

At work we are slowly progressing towards the end of the course for my students.  My group lessons for new employees will finish in the middle of next week, and my one on one classes will finish the week after that.  That means progressively fewer classes but also more paperwork as I wrap things up for each student.  But it is good news, and it means that we’re starting to recruit new students for the next term starting April 1st.

Kuniko spent the day at home yesterday, but when I arrived it was clear that she didn’t just lay around.  The house was spotless, the laundry was done, and dinner was ready.  I don’t think she has figured out the concept of convalescence quite yet.  I urged her to get some rest, but I’m not sure it is in her nature.

During our stay in Bali last winter I introduced Kuniko to the rules of chess.  We played a couple of games in Bali, and during her hospital stay we played again.  I left her the ipad so that she could play the computer, and I think she’s hooked.  It is a lot of fun to play chess with a real, live person instead of software.  Last night we played two games before bed, and I can’t help but be reminded of playing chess in college with my friend Chuck Hyde.   He was a damn good chess player, too.  I think it is just a matter of time before Kuniko starts beating me regularly as well.

Yesterday afternoon at the hospital Kuniko passed her final test, a CAT scan, with flying colors.  Her blood numbers were back to normal, and the doctor told her he’d like to keep her just one more night to be safe.

And Kuniko said, “No thanks.  I’d rather be home”.

So the doctor said, “Fine” and she was allowed to check out.  She was checking out about the time I got home, so  I drove over and picked her up, and let me tell you – Kuniko was very glad to be back.

She talked to her bosses at work and told them what the doctor told her, she should stay home and stay out of stressful situations for the time being.   I think she’ll be off work for the next couple of weeks, so hopefully she’ll be able to discover meditation, write the Great American Novel, or else think of some ways to keep her stress under control when she finally goes back to work.

One interesting point was the bill for the hospital.  The final bill out of pocket for her was about 40,000 yen (around $450) for three days stay in a double room (the other bed was empty the whole time), and all the antibiotics, lab work, and a CAT scan.  It seemed pretty reasonable to me, but I haven’t been in the hospital in the US so I have nothing to compare it with.  Still, not bad I think.

I’m off to work now, but I’m happy to know that she’ll be home in bed today convalescing.

When I last blogged Kuniko had taken a day off on Friday to make sure she was completely over the flu. I left for work as normal, and she was dozing away in bed. Turns out she only took a little time off and felt well enough to go in to work around 10 am. Unfortunately, she suddenly got the chills again, and felt feverish. She immediately went to a doctor, who gave her some medicine and sent her home to rest. She wasn’t satisfied with his diagnosis, however, and we made plans to take her to a kidney specialist, because of the intense pain in that area.

So Saturday morning I drove her to the doctor, who told her that there was absolutely no way that she would be able to get on the plane the next day and go to New Zealand as scheduled. I think he knew that putting Kuniko in the hospital would be the only way to keep her from going on the trip. She is determined to do whatever it takes to support and help her students, even if her body isn’t up to the task.

So the doctor ordered her to check into the hospital for several days (at least) to get antibiotics in her, and she had to call her school and tell them that she was officially out of action. After getting her to the hospital I was dispatched to her school to deliver some important materials and apologize for all the trouble we were causing. It turns out that Hakogi sensei will take Kuniko’s place on the trip, so I think that was a relief for everyone.

On the way back I stopped at the house to load up on supplies. By the time I got back to the hospital Kuniko was already assigned a room and she was tucked into bed with an IV dripping antibiotics. It was her first time in a hospital, so I did my best to cheer her up. Mainly she was concerned about her students and their trip, and she felt like she let everyone down.

I spent the rest of the day with her at the hospital, and then finally went home in the evening. The hospital is about a 20 minute walk from our place, so it is easy enough to go visit. The nurses seemed cool and said that we could ignore the visiting hours signs and that I could come and go as I pleased without having to check in.

So today I went back to the hospital with more supplies for Kuniko, and she seemed to be doing better. She was still worried about her students and their trip, but I guess she finally heard that everything was fine from her school, so that was a big relief. Her fever was back down to a low enough level that they allowed her to take a shower, and that really helped her to feel better as well.

We haven’t heard when she’ll be able to come home, but I think she is still pretty weak, so even if she comes home I think she’ll need some rest time around here. Hopefully she’ll be able to come back soon, because I think she’d be a lot more comfortable here than there. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that she’ll be free to go tomorrow!

Last night Kuniko we t out with some coworkers after work, had a glass of beer, and then suddenly felt cold chills all through her body. She begged off early, and came straight home. I tucked her under the electric blanket and checked her temperature, and she had a raging fever (39.7 C / 103 F). We kept her full of sports drink and soup, and she crashed out early.

That is your body on exhaustion shutdown.

Luckily this morning her temperature was normal – her fever had broken overnight. She’s taking the day off work today (which may be the first sick day in her life as far as I know). I think normally she’d go into work, but she’s very aware that on the day after tomorrow she needs to be on the plane to New Zealand taking care of her students. Hopefully the day off will be enough to get her back on her feet.

Last night’s dinner was just an excuse to kill off the rest of the carnitas, and it was easy enough to convert them to pulled pork for sandwiches.  Luckily I always have some Yoshida’s BBQ sauce on hand, and instant BBQ dinner.  I experimented a while back with a vegetarian version of pulled pork by using eringi mushrooms, and it came out great, but last night had all the pork fat, and it is hard to compete with that.

Tonight I’m on my own as Kuniko has dinner plans with an ex-coworker and a future co-worker.  I’ll do my best to continue the campaign to empty our fridge.

Yesterday evening the weather decided to give us a bit of rain on top of the cold that is still sticking around.  That made for a very cold trip back home.  I don’t mind the cold temperatures, but once you combine them with either wind or rain things start to get miserable fast.  Luckily, our house was warm and toasty by the time we arrived.

A couple of good things happened last night.  We booked two more hotels for our trip, and also the Honda dealer returned our car.  They had taken it overnight for a routine maintenance check (leaving us with another car) and they delivered it back to us last night.  The service of coming to your house to pick up the car and returning it the same way is very convenient, especially for us as we’re both working.  Thanks, Honda.

Yesterday at work I had a chance to go out on the factory floor to listen to one of my students explaining an important point of the new prototype Washington Metro cars that they are building.  The customer is in town to inspect them, and so some of my students have to do some explanations in English to the customer.  My role was to pretend to be the customer and help my student practice what he was going to say and show.  I think it went OK, actually.  And it was interesting to work around the brand new trains.

That’s about it – off to work again.

Yesterday was a big milestone in planning our summer trip – I finished booking all our flights.  And there are a lot of flights.

For the first time we’ll be traveling in Europe in three countries that are not adjacent to each other.  Also the rise of budget carriers in Europe and their competitive prices means that we don’t have any plans that include a train ride at the moment.  I think we’ll probably end up on some trains at some point, but for the long haul stuff we’ll be hitting the airports.  A lot of airports.  All told we have ten flights on this trip, and that is a lot of take offs and landings.

Now our focus has shifted to hotels.  We’ve booked hotels in Istanbul and Santorini, but we’ve still got to find good places to stay in Granada, Barcelona, and Athens.  I’m loving the research, though.  I’m going to miss it when we’re all done.

Another busy weekend is over, and it feels like three days worth of activities happened in just one.  Friday night Antoine and I met up and caught up over drinks and chicken, and we even made it over to wine bar D to rendezvous with Kuniko and Koli.

Saturday we had the Yamajis over for dinner, and I spent the day cleaning house and making a big batch of carnitas.  I really liked how they turned out this time.  They are definitely an unhealthy indulgence, though.  I’ll have to wait a while before we cook those again.

This week we’ll have to focus on all the leftovers that are in the fridge.  I don’t think we need to actually make anything from scratch until next weekend.

Tonight after work I’ll meet Antoine for the first time in a long time, and we’ll catch up while running around Sannomiya.  It’ll be good to hear what he has been up to, and talk about his family and their holidays.   We’re kicking off the night at Rokko Beer Diner, and from there we’ll just have to see what happens.  Kuniko will also be partying in the area, so we might end up bumping into each other.  Sannomiya is a big place.

Saturday we both have the day off, and we’ll spend most of it cleaning house and cooking in the kitchen for a dinner for the Yamaji’s, who are coming over that evening.  It is our send-off for Yuki, and hopefully we can hear the latest details on his trip to study overseas in San Francisco.  The plan is to make a large batch of carnitas and serve tacos and guacamole for dinner.  Can’t wait – carnitas are a guilty pleasure for me.

Sunday we’ll clean up the aftermath and in the evening head to Kakogawa to spend some time with Kuniko’s parents to celebrate Kuniko’s birthday. It’ll be a busy weekend.

Kuniko made a great buy at school yesterday, and came home with 1.5 kg of homemade kimchee made by a Korean lady that visits their school now and then to sell it.  I love kimchee, and luckily for me there is no need to make my own when I can get great kimchee at every supermarket.  But the stuff we buy from this lady is really good, with a perfect balance of sweetness and spice.   My other source is a kimchee shop in Korea town near Shin Nagata, but the owner always tries to get me to take her out for drinks, so I don’t often go.

Kuniko got home late last night, so after eating a B.A.L.T. we went right through the first package of kimchee.  Tonight we’ll think of something else that can use kimchee as a base, and timing was serendipitous because my folks sent me a kimchee cookbook that arrived last night.  It will be Korean for the next few days, I think.

Yesterday was Kuniko’s actual birthday, and since she had her usual Tuesday half day off  she went to a baking lesson and got home just before I did.  She ended up cooking dinner herself, and it was delicious.  She made a shrimp and avocado salad with a mayonnaise/sriracha sauce, and then an avocado and pumpkin pasta dish.  Both of the dishes were excellent, and she said she just improvised the whole thing.  Awesome.

During her baking lesson she received several cakes for her birthday, and Valentine’s cakes and chocolates are still laying around all over the place.  We are slowly making progress but at this rate we’ll never catch up.  Today we’re bringing some of this stuff to work to try to give it away or eat it there.   There’s just too many delicious sweets to deal with over here.  I’m hoping we can get this monkey off our backs by the end of the week.

Day by day and step by step I’m putting together the itinerary for our summer trip.  It is something I love to do – almost as good as the trip itself.  Once again Kuniko has let me put everything together, and since the last few trips have been so good there is a little pressure to keep up the winning performances.  I love it.

At work there are 30 days left until my first year employees’ final presentation.  There are five groups and five presentations, and while some of the groups are looking very good, others seem to think that a month away is an eternity, and they’ll have plenty of time to wrap things up.  From my experience last year, one month is not quite enough.  Hopefully some of the groups will start to feel the heat and get to work a little harder.  I’d like them to make a good impression on the rest of the company next month.

It is oyster season in this part of Japan, and seaside towns are busy having festivals and other events to celebrate.  Because we have very few chances to go to something like this together, I was hoping to sneak out to that area and buy some oysters to bring back home and grill for dinner one night.

As it turned out, someone was way ahead of me.

Yesterday afternoon one of our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Tojo, called us up and warned us that they were on their way back from Hinase, a small town that specializes in oysters.  They said they had a bag full of oysters for us, and to get ready to receive them.  Awesome! We grilled them up last night and they were delicious.  I was a little worried that somehow I’d screw up the cooking and we’d get food poisoning for a week, but as it turned out, everything was OK.

Friday night we also had a really nice dinner out to celebrate Kuniko’s birthday a little early.  The restaurant was our current favorite, Anonym, and the chef outdid himself this time.  Friday night we were the only ones in the tiny restaurant, so we had plenty of chance to speak with the chef and his wife, and talk about all kinds of topics.  It was a really nice night.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day, and it went pretty much according to plan.  There was chocolate everywhere.  First thing in the morning Kuniko and I exchanged chocolates (marzipan for her, chocolate macaroons for me), and then we went to work.  I received some chocolates from the receptionists, since I often give them souvenirs from our trips.  It was very nice of them to do that – and I’ll have to remember them on White Day in March.

However, when Kuniko got home that night she was loaded down with homemade chocolates and cakes from her students.  There are enough calories on our counter to power a small city for at least a week.  Because they are handmade the timeline for eating them is a little shorter than usual, so once again we’re under the gun to eat a lot in a short time.  It’s that time of year, I guess.

We finally got the basic framework of our summer holiday sorted out and we booked the most important flights last night.  Based on the flights available, the destinations that we wanted to visit and the price we ended up changing the trip a little, and adding another country to the holiday.  This is what happens when you are high on sugar, I guess.

It is Friday, and tonight we’re celebrating Kuniko’s birthday at her favorite restaurant in Kobe.  Her real birthday is next week, but going out on a Tuesday night is not so exciting, so we moved it up to tonight.  Unfortunately she has to work all day tomorrow, but at least tonight she can enjoy some of her favorite foods in a relaxed atmosphere.

I’ve got no special plans tomorrow or Sunday, and no guests are visiting, so I think I can finally do some chores I’ve been meaning to do.  A quiet weekend!