From Japan, 2011

I'm currently in Japan, living at my parents' place. I brought back not only my luggage, but even bigger things namely my husband and daughter this time. My parents are delighted to see their first grandchild, and our living arrangement has settled into a nice routine.

I've started my new blog 今日から始めよう. As you've probably guessed from the title, it's written in Japanese. I feel a bit ashamed that I haven't kept up this old blog of mine, but well, you can always start from today which is a sort of the title of my new blog. Well, I might concentrate on my new blog from now on, but I'll come back to this blog when I want to write some random (but maybe important) things in English.

Two big incidents in 2009

There are two big incidents that happened this year, 2009.
The first one is my pregnancy, which was planned but came as a nice
surprise nonetheless.
The second one is William's gallbladder surgery. It was a key hole surgery,
but the four punctures on his tummy and a big cut just below his tummy
button looked pretty painful to even look at. Something was apparently
inserted through his belly button, which I'll spare you with the details
(to be honest, I don't know what was done down there, but we don't want
to know, do we?).

Anyhow, I'm going to become a full-time Mum from the end of
September onwards. Gosh, how am going to do it? Just hope that so-called
"mother instinct" kicks in when I see my baby.

Our baby has got a name: Sachi Jerika Lucas. Sachi comes from a Japanese
word, meaning bliss and happiness. Jerika is a made-up name created by
William's eldest daughter Albany, and it is based on William's parents' names .
At the moment, I'm working on my PhD thesis that I'm determined to finish
before Sachi arrives. People call their PhD thesis as their babies.
Well, in my case, I feel I'm having a hard labour already!

Serious talk

Wow, I've been away from writing my blog for several months. Now, it will take some time to get back into this blogging:-)

But let me get into what I've been doing recently. I've been reading Eckhart Tolle's books and thinking about quality of "consciousness" a lot. The books taught me to disidentify self from my mind (current thoughts and emotions) that can be pretty negative at times. The space between mind and Being (an observer of your mind) was a new concept to me, but I started experiencing quiet moments when I can observe what is going on in my mind without attaching my sense of self. It is such a revelation, as I don't need to condemn myself whenever some negative thoughts pop up. Also, perceiving the gap between my mind and being provides me a sense of peace and serenity I yearned for. Being in the present and experience the Here and Now. This is such a simple message, but it's not so easy to put into practice on the daily basis. Let me know if you know a good way to practice this.

Nabe

Martin & Mizuki invited us to a NABE party the other day. It is a Japanese pot dish in which you put some stock (water and a seaweed "conbu") and throw anything (vegetables, seafood, meat, mushrooms, etc.) you fancy. It is cooked on a table gas cooker. All the juice from different ingredients makes the dish extremely special. Once you get full with all the ingredients, it is time to throw the last banquet of noodles or rice to finish it. The noodles and rice absorbs the delicious taste of the soup, whose flavour is indescribable. The first bite brings you to heaven, the second bite to Nirvana, the third bite to... you don't know where you are anymore. The technique to enjoy Nabe is that you have to find a fine balance between being selfish and being considerate of others' well-being. Obviously, you have to take turns to get your share and you do it yourself. When your turn comes, you have to be considerate enough to leave some for others, but you have to be bold enough to get some goodies for yourself. Also, there is an element of treasure hunting, too. Quite often, nice things are sunk in bottom, and you have to know how to find them without appearing to be too greedy! It may sound a bit technical and difficult for beginners, but don't worry, you'll get the hang of it very soon.

Hanami

This is a cherry tree in our garden. Although the tree is still small, those cherry blossoms make me happy all the same.

A Personal Best

I did it! I ran a half marathon at 1 hour 39 minutes 13 seconds. This is a great achievement, as my aim was to run under 1 hour 45 minutes. Next year, I'd love to set a personal best of 1 hour 30 minutes. It'll be a big challenge, but they say 'If you can dream it, you can do it." I'll take a word for it! Although my whole legs, especially my calf muscles, are still sore and I'm walking like an old lady, I'm already looking forward to a next fun run (10km), which is held in Outram at the end of this month. The course is very flat and straight without much variety or scenery to speak of, but the afternoon tea they provide is just fantastic. It's worth taking part in for the sake of enjoying good food with all the other runners. What else would you need after a good workout?

Never-finished art

I thought I'm sick of writing, but here I am, still getting pleasure from putting words down on the computer. I set my foot in the Art School for the first time yesterday. Ryoko, who studies there, took me to a tour around the school. Its atmosphere and environment were so different from that of the Otago University. We walked around different classrooms where all sorts of art materials and heavy machineries occupied the space. I saw students' works that were casually displayed inside and outside of the building. I realized that art students interact with various mediums to express themselves, through painting, printmaking, jewelry making, metalsmithing, photography, textile, etc. I was somewhat envious of them who appeared to be freely and liberally expressing themselves and having fun! But, in spite of their outward appearance, I bet that they also face a lot of difficulties and agony during the process. I think the following words are true for all creating activities "Art is never finished, it's just abandoned."