Walking (as in exercising)

A consequence of the PE (pulmonary embolism) I suffered last month, I have to make sure to walk enough. I walk about 1 hour a day on weekdays and DH and I try to walk more on week-ends.

Today, we went to a nearby shrine, about 45 minutes walk from home. Here are some of the pictures we took:

Pain perdu recipe

I have to write down a recipe in Japanese as a home work for my Japanese course.

Let's write it in English and translate...

When I was a child, my mom would make "pain perdu" and I remember not liking it very much. Pain perdu means lost bread or left over. This would usually be two-three days old bread. A way to use it.

I make it with fresh bread, it is nicer :-)

4 eggs
1 dl milk
a little salt
sugar to taste
3-4 slices of 2cm thick bread (with crust)
1 apple
(option: cinnamon)

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Mix the eggs with milk, salt and sugar. Cut bread into 2cm squares and put it into the egg mix. Bread must absorb the mix. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Cut apple in small pieces.

Put the bread egg mix into a baking pan (silicone one will be easier to clean) and add the pieces of apple.

Bake it for 50 minutes.

Enjoy.

PS: I have also used the same recipe replacing apple with canned pear. In this case, I replace sugar with juice from the can (about 1 dl)

Japanese studies update

As I mentioned, I am now studying intensively Japanese three times a week. It is really hard. And my cold this week did not help (my brain does not function properly when I have a cold).

We use one book for the first month (1 chapter studied in about 3 hours, yup). After the first month, we will use s different text book, spending 2 days on each chapter (each lesson is 70 min and we have 2 lessons a day). Here is a sample of the text book we are using now.




At the same time, I am still working on my Kumon worsheets. At a much slower pace, though... Here are some samples of the Level C (3rd year elementary school, Japanese native children).

My favourite chocolate

In fact, the only chocolate I am eating these days...

Milch Extra from Frey, a chocolate maker that is sold exclusively through a major Swiss supermarket chain in Switzerland (they may export as well, but not to Japan...). I got the round ones in January, my mom sent me the egg-shaped for Easter and she also sent the chocolate bar (several of them) through a friend visiting Japan.

Cats

I just realized that I never write about my cats on this blog. They are a very important part of my life, this is why they have their own blog, fed with many many pictures...

Have a look here...

Thoughts...

About one month ago, I was in the hospital, recovering from pulmonary embolism.

Here are some thoughts I wrote to one of the egroups of friends I belong to.


Some of the things I have learned/realized very recently...

1) Really too bad DH kept procrastinating on the supplementary health insurance thing, because from now, my new condition will not be covered... And this hospital stay will be expensive (basic Japanese health insurance
does not cover all costs, one has to pay about 30% of the bill)

2) I am glad to have the level of Japanese I have (kind of intermediate), because without it, the whole day spent at as outer patient looking for what I had and the hospital stay would be really difficult. The doctor does speak
English, but tends to prefer Japanese. Specialized medical vocabulary is of course difficult, because I usually don't use it. Anyway, I will start intensive Japanese lessons from April 7. By then, I hope to be my usual self again.

3) Watch myself a little better: there was no way the breathing problems came from kafunsho (hay fever), as I thought... It is just so difficult to know what doctor to see. And if you visit an hospital as an outer patient, it takes so much time...

4) I am not such an Internet/TV/chocolate addict, since I could get off "cold turkey" :-)

5) I really cannot do the "idle" thing unless I am really exhausted...

6) the cats do like me very much: they behave strangely, wondering where I am and why I do not come back and spend time at home as usual. It seems that Momo is even not eating like usual. We are talking here about the adult male cat who is only rarely behaving like mama's boy. I do miss my cats...

7) knitting requires energy: I tried to do a little yesterday, but became quickly tired.

8) I miss my sofa... And my home.

9) There is no such thing as privacy in a hospital, at least ICU... And no body part the nurses have not seen...

10) If DH ever gets seriously sick, will I be as good as he is for me right now ? He is so patient, comes 3 times a day (while I am at the ICU, 2 times from tomorrow), brings me this and that, wash clothes etc

11) Communication can be a serious problem when your parents (& relatives) and your husband do not speak any common language... Parents and relatives speak French and Swiss German while my DH speaks English and Japanese. Luckily, some friends helped. But still...

12) Do not think that nobody will ever see... your cute pajamas... Because it might be the case someday...

Kumon studies update

Beside doing the Intensive Japanese course, I plan to still study regularly my Kumon sheets.

I graduated from level B (second year elementary school for native Japanese children) and started Level C. First chapter was easy to understand, because I knew the concept and words (it talked about Sazae-san and her family, a popular Japanese comic and anime character).

Second chapter is more difficult.

Interestingly, characters are smaller and texts contain more words, if I compare Level B and Level C.

Gambarimashou.

PS: to view some material, click here...

There is a reason why Intensive Japanese Course is called "Intensive"...

Because it is Intensive...

Level is pre-intermediate. Does not mean easy...

Three times a week, twice 70 minutes a time. And we have to learn the material (chapter) before the class and review after the class. Plus the home work.

We are going through the first textbook in a month, spending about one day (140 minutes) on one chapter. We will then switch to the second textbook, spending two days on each chapter.

Learning the material includes learning about 20-30 new words (vocabulary and kanji). Some I already know, most I don't (especially kanji).

Grammar is also getting more difficult, with long sentences that connect ideas. Instead of the more simple ones we can find in lower level.