Spring is here.

Haru ga kita.

In Japan, the school year begins in April. The Pumpkin Prince and Princess have new teachers and new classmates at day care. And I have new co-workers. I have gained more co-workers than I have lost. One of my biggest gains is a senior level type back from maternity and child care leave. There's more work, but since there's more workers, I'm not feeling it. Yet.

A couple weeks ago, we went to Yokohama. I had work stuff to do, and the Pumpkin Princess and Daddy went to the Anpanman Museum. I'd always thought Anpanman was less commercial than Disney (they certainly are less strict about copyright) but this museum proves me wrong.



Please note very cute but extremely inferior quality headband on the Pumpkin Princess's head (1500 yen= $16 or thereabouts) and also very cute helium balloon (1000 yen=$11 or thereabouts).





And this adorable box of cute breads...did not taste as good as those from the bakery 3 minutes away from hour house, and cost three times as much.

One evening about a week later, we saw this.



Those of us in, say, the American Midwest will probably shrug and wonder why I am making a fuss. However, in Pumpkin City, snow is in and of itself a very big deal. Snow in mid-April has not happened in 14 years.

Fortunately for almost everyone, including the Pumpkin Daddy, who changed his winter tires a couple weeks prior, but not the Pumpkin Princes, who was excited about getting to build the first snowman of this year, it started raining about an hour after the photo was taken, and the snow was completely gone by morning.

I'm home!

Tadaima!

OK, back from Vienna...much accomplished in terms of both work and play, thanks in no small part to the excellent company (boss and two junior co-workers).



This is the seat belt on an Austrian Air economy class seat. I would have thought it was Wonder Woman if 1) I were flying on an American airline 2) the wings were not there.



Johann Strauss. In gold.



St. Stephan's Cathedral was being restored. How cool are those drapes that accurately show what they are covering?

We rode the elevator to the belfry and saw this.



"Ich fergebe Dir" is painted on a roof. This would translate into "I forgive thee" were it not grammatically incorrect. Not that I would have known if the sign hadn't told me...Anne?



No Starbucks for us, not that I'd complain.

Sorry, no work pictures. I don't write about the technical aspects of work here, unless I need to do so when one of my co-workers is living out an episode of General Hospital.

While I was away, the Pumpkin Prince and Princess stayed with my parents during the workweek, and the Pumpkin Daddy took them to his mom's house on Friday evening. While there, the Pumpkin Prince chose that time to develop a very high fever. This involved a febrile seizure and an emergency trip to the local duty pediatrician (I am slightly disturbed that these did not happen in that order, but at this point, only slightly, since he is obviously fine now). What has happened with the Pumpkin Prince (again, he's fine now, I'm talking about what he and my parents and the Pumpkin Daddy went through while I was gone) makes it hard for me to go on another trip like this, but I do hope that other people at work will be able to, because there is so much to be gained.

It's OK!

Daijoubu!

I've pretty much been absent from my online world since around Christmas. I took advantage of a sleepless night to do taxes and make a very quick entry.

Nothing bad has happened, on the contrary, everything is fine, if hectic. The Pumpkin Prince and Princess have so far managed to avoid full-force infections of the bug du jour after the Pumpkin Princess's swine flu episode. I am constantly impressed and grateful at how healthy they both are. New Year's had my brother and his family over, a fun time was had by the Pumpkin Princess and her cousin, but I think the Pumpkin Granny found it rather stressful.

Work is busier than ever, but there is not that much I can do about it except to pace myself to produce as much as possible, And when I say this, I mean total work output for my entire career, not the short term. For example, sometimes maximizing productivity involves putting off work that should be done but does not have to be done right now, in favor of dinner and bedtime at a reasonable hour, and opting not to put in extra hours and spending time with the Pumpkin Daddy and Prince and Princess instead.

It saddens me that there are people who have not figured out how to pace themselves, and they become burned out and depressed, and end up staying away from work for extended periods. To a certain extent, it also angers me, because when they are not at work, their work becomes my work.

And I should probably eat my own words, because in just a couple more weeks, I'm headed for my first work related overseas trip since I gave birth to the Pumpkin Princess. To Austria, no less. I've been listening to German language instruction CDs during my commute, but I expect most of the people I encounter will have some command of English.

There's only one thing you can do.

Dekiru koto ha hitotsu shika nai.

Picture a group of 30 or so boys, five or six years old, on the stage of the local civic hall. The hall is packed, with parents elbowing each other for prime video recording positions. The boys are wearing white shirts, black pants, and black neckties. They are also wearing sequined gloves on only one hand, and black fedoras on which fake jheri curls have been attached. They dance enthusiastically and skillfully to a medley of Michael Jackson music.

There is a time for everything. There is a time for pondering and discussing the irony in 30 adorable 5 and 6 year olds dancing to "Billie Jean" and "Human Nature" and "PYT." There is a time for pondering and discussing what Michael Jackson would have felt if he saw the adorable boys shaking their arms to "Thriller". There is a time to remember when you pinned the photo cards of beautiful children your internet friends had sent you on your bulletin board, and called it your Michael Jackson collection.

However, this would not be the time.

The only thing you can do when faced with a stageful of day care pumpkins trying to Moonwalk is cheer and applaud wildly.

One after another

Tsugi kara tsugi he

This time, when my 20something co-worker came into work with her pink and blue patterned hose, I recognized them as such, and felt all up-to-date and informed.

My job for the morning was to teach a group of four university undergrads. One of them stumbled on an answer when I was quizzing him. The correct answer was "ADC" but he stammered "A...C...D...um, C..."

I couldn't resist. "No, not AC/ DC. In this particular instance, Heavy Metal would be a bad idea."

I got four blank looks.

"Have any of you heard of AC/ DC? The band?"

Again, four blank looks.

"Do any of you know what Heavy Metal music is?"

Yet another quartet of blank looks.

That's it, I'm going to wear granny shoes to work every day from now on.

That or feathered bangs, 80's style.

Don't jump off!

Tobioricha dame!

The Pumpkin Princess went back to day care Friday. The rule is that a child with H1N1 must stay at home for at least five days and have a "proof of recovery" signed by his or her pediatrician. Since the Pumpkin Princess was fever free by day 2, we went to the doctor on the morning of the fifth day and asked for (and got) the necessary paperwork signed.

No one else caught it from the Pumpkin Princess. The hand washing paid off or the virus was a watered down version or a combination of both.

I understand that Japan is unusual in that we get Tamiflu so easily. And yes, I wonder if it is really necessary for basically healthy kids like the Pumpkin Princess. Giving the Pumpkin Princess Tamiflu was an interesting experience. It was the first time anyone in our immediate family had taken it. The pharmacist told us it was bitter when mixed with vanilla ice cream or yogurt, and suggested mixing it in chocolate ice cream or cocoa. The first day, while her fever was still quite high, she cried that it was bitter and didn't want to take it (even in chocolate ice cream). After some convincing (and threatening), we did manage to get her to take it, and went to bed. The next day, she was much better physically. However, she was even more prone to temper tantrums than usual, and when she was not throwing temper tantrums, she was constantly giggling and climbing on and jumping off the furniture. If she were a little older and if this strange hyperactivity were a little more severe, I can easily see her jumping off the balcony, like the teenage boy who took Tamiflu for his flu and died when he jumped off the balcony of his high rise apartment.

My friend's daughter who did the whole H1N1-Tamiflu thing 2 weeks ago was also jumping off the furniture once her fever went down and she was feeling better. My other friend's son couldn't take or keep down the Tamiflu because it was too bitter. His fever lasted for a couple of days, but he never had a "can we peel him off the ceiling" thing going, and now he's just fine. So I don't really know if the Tamiflu helps or hinders. I expect the authorities on the subject will put out a report of some kind at the end of the season. It'll be interesting to see what they say.

For this, three wins, one loss (for now)

Kocchi ha (ima no tokoro) san shou ippai

H1N1 (aka swine flu) has struck the Pumpkin Clan, but so far, only the Pumpkin Princess has it, and even she is jumping around and asking for ice cream without the benefit of acetoaminophen (Tylenol to my American friends).

Sunday was pretty wild, though, since we headed to the Sunday duty clinic (in Pumpkin City, the city Physicians' Association designates a "duty clinic" where you go on Sundays. Clinics which belong to the association (OK, pretty much every single clinic in town) will see patients that Sunday. There are a couple internal medicine duty clinics, a GYN clinic, an ophthalmology clinic, an ENT clinic, and a pediatrics clinic designated as duty clinics each Sunday and National Holiday. For really serious stuff, you go to the Emergency Department (Ambulance Clinic to my Brit friends...I think) of a good-sized hospital, but some of the bigger hospitals (like the Red Cross Hospital and University Hospital) will fine you if you go in after hours for something mild like a splinter or a cold and tell you to go to the duty clinic next time if you don't like the fine, which is something like 7000 yen, or $80 depending on the exchange rate).

So Sunday morning, a whiny Pumpkin Princes crawled into the Pumpkin Mommy and Daddy's bed, and Daddy said to Mommy, "she's hot!" Mommy went downstairs to get the thermometer and confirmed that she did indeed have a fever. She took the Princess to the Duty Clinic (which was, fortunately, only a 5 minute drive from the Pumpkin Palace) and was told there was an hour wait, so as soon as the receptionist took copies of the health insurance card and the Pumpkin City medical care card, they went home and had a snack of Pretz and milk.

The tired looking pediatrician, who was a woman slightly younger than the Pumpkin Granny, took a nasal secretion sample (and gave the Pumpkin Princess a mild nosebleed in the process) and declared her positive for type A influenza, which, this early in the season, translates into "I'm pretty sure it's swine flu". She wrote a prescription for Tamiflu and Tylenol. We were told to wait in the car, and the pharmacist from the pharmacy conveniently (heh) located right next to the clinic brought the medications to us, we paid our 50 yen (for the container, the meds are paid for by health insurance and Pumpkin City because she's a child). We drove home, took the first of the Tamiflu and Tylenol, and the Pumpkin Princess went to bed.

Later that day, an unhappy Pumpkin Prince was discovered to have a temp of 38 degrees (100 or thereabouts). Pumpkin Mommy called the clinic and asked what the wait time was and was told it was an hour and a half. So she went alone, got checked in, went back home, waited around for about an hour, and went back with the Pumpkin Prince. The only problem was, the Pumpkin Prince was energetic and happy and smiling at all the harried looking parents in the waiting area who had brought their feverish kids too weak to move. We waited for about an hour (in addition to the time spent at home) to be told by the same pediatrician, who looked even more tired than she did that morning (I think she must have seen no fewer than 200 kids that day) that he looked way to happy to have influenza, took a nasal secretion sample at my asking, and declared him negative for type A flu.

I think we should have told the receptionist we were going home when he started smiling and making happy gurgling sounds at the sick looking 7 year-old girl who was carried in to the exam room by her dad.

Anyway...Monday, I took the day off work and took the Pumpkin Princess to her usual pediatrician. By then, she was fever free and chowing down custard pudding and strawberry ice cream like no one's business. However, the city day care system requires that once you are diagnosed with influenza A, you can't come to day care until you are fever free and have finished the required 5 day regimen of Tamiflu.

Tuesday morning, the Pumpkin Daddy announced he felt feverish and a bit achey, but so far hasn't been able to break the 37.5 degree mark (99 or thereabouts). The Pumpkin Prince measured in at 37.5, so we kept him home, and I stayed home as well (and cancelled a Wednesday work meeting just in case) but has been smiling and gurgling and crawling after the Pumpkin Princess (who is jumping off the sofa as she watches Cinderella II on DVD). I feel fine except for a runny nose I've had since early last week.

So swine flu vs. Pumpkin Palace is 1 to 3 so far. Here's to hoping it stays that way.