Hello all!
It's been a little bit since my last post, but wanted you to all know that things are going great! The weather is becoming warmer, the plum trees are beginning to blossom, and there is great news all around.
These last couple weeks have held graduation for both the JHS and the elementary school. It's been interesting. The graduations are so formal. I had to get my suit out again for these. There is no talking and no smiling during events like this in Japan, even though it is an event of celebration. The JHS students were all crying about the end of their time there. There was way too much crying for my stoic tastes. However, before you think that they were crying over completely nothing, I need to mention that everyone goes to different high schools. High School is not free in Japan, and they all have to test into them, so this also means saying goodbye to all of their friends.
While I got over the crying at the JHS easy enough, what was worse was when I went to the elementary school. It was a very cold day, and they don't have heating in the gym. They had a few space heaters which a couple of the mothers with newborns were standing around to keep the babies warm. Interesting, anyway!
Speaking of babies and the name of my post... I'm having one! Well, er... Lindsey is... so I'm going to be a pops! It's been really exciting. At first I didn't think I was going to be able to go to the first doctor's visit because of the hours that they are open conflicting with my own work hours, but I had a scheduling change and ended up being able to go! It was really good that it happened because there was a bunch of paperwork for Lindsey to fill out and so it was good I was there to interpret and translate. It was even better that I got to go because I got to see the heart beating on the screen! The baby was 2mm then and Lindsey tells me it should be about the size of a rasberry now.
The doctor spoke a little bit of English, too, which was great. Just the important words, but was willing to use the English which was nice, as well. We found out that Japanese women don't take prenatal vitamins (well, maybe a very, very small percentage) and Japanese doctors don't prescribe them. Interesting how the differences in culture spread even to things that we feel are necessary/unnecessary to personal health.
Oh and we've been asked very often whether or not we will be finding out the sex of the baby when the time comes, and yeah, hands-down we are. To me, waiting holds absolutely no attraction and Lindsey is also very indifferent. Besides, I don't think we have the money to buy both a pink and blue set of everything ;) Oh, and I hate the color yellow :D haha
We're really excited because we didn't think that we'd be able to have a baby while we were in Japan and had given up. The doctors in the U.S. had told us that we would need medical assistance in order to get pregnant, so there was all the more reason to think that we needed to wait until we got back to the U.S. for a longer amount of time for it to happen.
I'm looking into information on Title 19 and other ways to pay for the baby since we don't have health insurance in the U.S., won't be able to stay longer in Japan where we DO have health coverage, and don't have any money to pay for the expenses of hopital bills and the like. We're not letting it get us down that we don't have the money; we're too excited about having the baby! However, if you know of any options, please let us know, because we could use the tips!
On another note, my mom will be arriving in Japan today! At 17:55 Japan Standard Time her plane will land at the Sendai Internat'l airport. We'll pick her up and have a fun time hanging out for the next couple weeks! We hope to go to the Kansai region (Kyoto and Osaka) while she's here as long as everything is going fine with Lindsey and the baby. The Cherry Blossoms (sakura さくら) should be in blossom while we're down there.
And special thanks, as well, to both Mom and my sister, Roxanne! Mom is bringing some of Roxanne's old maternity clothes for Lindsey. Just in time because Lindsey is getting a little uncomfortable in her own clothes. It's lucky she's lasted this long, but the fact that she lost so much weight since coming to Japan has made her normal clothes feel bigger!
On one last final unrelated note, I wanted to let you know that although I have not yet fully greenlighted the project yet, I am very vested into the feature film that I mentioned making this fall. I will give full details later, but for now here are a couple things that would be interesting to note:
-The film will be shot in HD (High Definition)
-It is a Thriller/Fantasy
-It will have an accompanying COMIC BOOK series (also available as an app on iTunes)
-It will have an accompanying VIDEO GAME series
-There is ALREADY a very good chance that all of the FUNDS to make the movie will be covered!!!
There will be opportunities for you all to follow the movie as it goes through all stages of production, and even ways to get involved! Also, there will be a few opportunities for sponsorship if you have a company and would like to get some web traffic while supporting the film at the same time! (the sponsorship opportunities will be outlined at another time, but if you're already interested, let me know!)
I hope you are all having a wonderful return to spring, and that you all made it through the Ides of March without stab wounds in your backs!
Luke
It's been a little bit since my last post, but wanted you to all know that things are going great! The weather is becoming warmer, the plum trees are beginning to blossom, and there is great news all around.
These last couple weeks have held graduation for both the JHS and the elementary school. It's been interesting. The graduations are so formal. I had to get my suit out again for these. There is no talking and no smiling during events like this in Japan, even though it is an event of celebration. The JHS students were all crying about the end of their time there. There was way too much crying for my stoic tastes. However, before you think that they were crying over completely nothing, I need to mention that everyone goes to different high schools. High School is not free in Japan, and they all have to test into them, so this also means saying goodbye to all of their friends.
While I got over the crying at the JHS easy enough, what was worse was when I went to the elementary school. It was a very cold day, and they don't have heating in the gym. They had a few space heaters which a couple of the mothers with newborns were standing around to keep the babies warm. Interesting, anyway!
Speaking of babies and the name of my post... I'm having one! Well, er... Lindsey is... so I'm going to be a pops! It's been really exciting. At first I didn't think I was going to be able to go to the first doctor's visit because of the hours that they are open conflicting with my own work hours, but I had a scheduling change and ended up being able to go! It was really good that it happened because there was a bunch of paperwork for Lindsey to fill out and so it was good I was there to interpret and translate. It was even better that I got to go because I got to see the heart beating on the screen! The baby was 2mm then and Lindsey tells me it should be about the size of a rasberry now.
The doctor spoke a little bit of English, too, which was great. Just the important words, but was willing to use the English which was nice, as well. We found out that Japanese women don't take prenatal vitamins (well, maybe a very, very small percentage) and Japanese doctors don't prescribe them. Interesting how the differences in culture spread even to things that we feel are necessary/unnecessary to personal health.
Oh and we've been asked very often whether or not we will be finding out the sex of the baby when the time comes, and yeah, hands-down we are. To me, waiting holds absolutely no attraction and Lindsey is also very indifferent. Besides, I don't think we have the money to buy both a pink and blue set of everything ;) Oh, and I hate the color yellow :D haha
We're really excited because we didn't think that we'd be able to have a baby while we were in Japan and had given up. The doctors in the U.S. had told us that we would need medical assistance in order to get pregnant, so there was all the more reason to think that we needed to wait until we got back to the U.S. for a longer amount of time for it to happen.
I'm looking into information on Title 19 and other ways to pay for the baby since we don't have health insurance in the U.S., won't be able to stay longer in Japan where we DO have health coverage, and don't have any money to pay for the expenses of hopital bills and the like. We're not letting it get us down that we don't have the money; we're too excited about having the baby! However, if you know of any options, please let us know, because we could use the tips!
On another note, my mom will be arriving in Japan today! At 17:55 Japan Standard Time her plane will land at the Sendai Internat'l airport. We'll pick her up and have a fun time hanging out for the next couple weeks! We hope to go to the Kansai region (Kyoto and Osaka) while she's here as long as everything is going fine with Lindsey and the baby. The Cherry Blossoms (sakura さくら) should be in blossom while we're down there.
And special thanks, as well, to both Mom and my sister, Roxanne! Mom is bringing some of Roxanne's old maternity clothes for Lindsey. Just in time because Lindsey is getting a little uncomfortable in her own clothes. It's lucky she's lasted this long, but the fact that she lost so much weight since coming to Japan has made her normal clothes feel bigger!
On one last final unrelated note, I wanted to let you know that although I have not yet fully greenlighted the project yet, I am very vested into the feature film that I mentioned making this fall. I will give full details later, but for now here are a couple things that would be interesting to note:
-The film will be shot in HD (High Definition)
-It is a Thriller/Fantasy
-It will have an accompanying COMIC BOOK series (also available as an app on iTunes)
-It will have an accompanying VIDEO GAME series
-There is ALREADY a very good chance that all of the FUNDS to make the movie will be covered!!!
There will be opportunities for you all to follow the movie as it goes through all stages of production, and even ways to get involved! Also, there will be a few opportunities for sponsorship if you have a company and would like to get some web traffic while supporting the film at the same time! (the sponsorship opportunities will be outlined at another time, but if you're already interested, let me know!)
I hope you are all having a wonderful return to spring, and that you all made it through the Ides of March without stab wounds in your backs!
Luke
10:02 PM |
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