It has been very warm this week. I spotted many cherry trees with cute pink flowers here and there.

People have their cherry tree in their front yard or back yard, but they usually have only one. As far as I remember, in Japan they usually have their cherry trees as a group, not as only one. So, the cherry blossoms look different in each country.

It interestingly matches to its people’s culture and traditions. Japanese work as a group while Americans work as an individual.   

My last residence in Japan was located in the mountain. The area was surrounded by many cheery trees. I used to enjoy walking in the pink world in every spring.

It just only 10 years ago, but it feels to me as if my life in Japan was one of my past lives.

I cherish my experience in Japan as my sweet memories, and enjoy every experience here in my new country.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today almost all the day time, our Internet service was out.

We used to use the different provider, but their Internet service frequently became unavailable. In those days my husband dealt with the online university classes. Everything was done online. The frequent Internet disconnection was stressful for him. Due to the disconnection, he sometimes could not keep the deadlines of submitting some assignments.

Those days our neighbor family strongly recommended us to a local small business who offers a WIFI Internet service. The new company’s cost was almost similar to the previous one, so we switched to them.

Since then, we have used this local small company for these past five years. Our neighbor family was wrong. This company was far from “an excellent one” as they described. From my experience, this company’s WIFI becomes unavailable very, very often.

This is a small company; a family business. I have talked with the business owner and some workers. All of them are unbelievably arrogant and rude. They never apologize for the inconvenience of Internet disconnection.

You might think why we don’t already switch to a different Internet provider, right?

Here is the reason.

We live in a small town. We have only two Internet providers available; the previous one and the current one.

Both of them set almost similar price ranges. They both charge the installation fee of $300. This installation fee will be waived if you have a contract with them for three years. They will charge a penalty fee in case of the early termination.

I already know the Internet connection of the both companies is frequently cut off. So, unfortunately, we don’t have any option but to survive with either one of them.  

I am hoping a new Internet provider company will start their business in our area. Hopefully it will happen very soon.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

It’s been very hot since the 1st of this month. Although the temperature drops in morning and night, the temperature rises all the way up to 26 centigrade in daytime.

During the last weekend I asked my realtor to send the maintenance guy to switch from heater to cooler. The guy has not yet contacted me for scheduling the date and time as of today.

This maintenance guy has an opposite preference from me for some reasons.

When it comes to switching from cooler to heater in autumn, he wants to do so as soon as possible, which I am reluctant to do so. He would come to our house even before we requested the service. He wanted to switch it earlier than I wanted. I needed to negotiate with him to postpone the switching date to some weeks later than he wanted.

On the other hand, when it comes to switching from heater to cooler in spring, for some reasons, he is reluctant to do so quickly, which I am eager to do so as soon as possible.

With that reason, I need to contact him several times and ask him to come as soon as possible. It always happens in March. I hope this time I won’t need to do the same procedure as previous years.

It is hot. I need to use the cooler as soon as possible.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My departure day to Japan is just around the corner.

I don’t want to travel with lots of cash in my pocket. I am planning to use a credit card whenever I can. I want to withdraw cash on an as-needed basis. Thus, I’ve been researching the best way to withdraw cash in Japan.

I asked this question to my bank through an online chat. A female agent answered my chat.

I learned from her that in case of withdrawing cash through a debit card from an ATM in Japan, the bank charges 1% transaction fee. She recommended me to use a credit card instead of a debit card. She said the bank waives the 1% transaction fee in case of withdrawing cash through a credit card.

I never thought of using a credit card at an ATM. In fact, I didn’t know we can use a credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM. 

After I ended the chat with her, for some reasons, my gut feeling suggested me to ask another agent to make sure about using a credit card. I could not fully believe what the female agent recommended.

***

I asked the same question through an online chat again. This time the male agent received my question.

This male agent wrote his chatting with a whole bunch of typos. He used lots of abbreviations and omitted words. Maybe it was normal for him, but it was hard for me to quickly understand what he wrote.  

Anyways, he told me totally opposite from the first agent.

He said, if he were in my position, he would bring US dollar cash and exchange it to Japanese yen at the airport. He recommended me not to use a credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM. It will cost much more than I can expect. We chatted for a while, but he never explained the clear reasons for his recommendations.  

For some reasons though, my gut feeling urged me to take his advice, rather than the first female’s advice.

***

I mentioned about my chatting experience to my husband. He suggested me to try one more person.

So, I did. My husband was right. The third person did a great job to clear my questions.

***

On my third chat conversation, a male agent picked up my question.

He recommended me not to use a credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM machine in Japan.

When withdrawing cash from an ATM in Japan;

– It is considered as “advanced cash.”

– Although the bank waves 1% transaction fee, it charges 3% advance fee instead.   

– APY (the interest rate) of 15.50% will be imposed to my credit card account daily until it is paid off.    

– I will need to pay for the service fee charged by the ATM owner. The service fee amount varies to the ATM owner. Some people posted they were charged $5 for the service fee.

***

I am so glad to know this in advance. I will follow the third agent’s advice.

I will not use a credit card to withdraw cash from an ATM. If needed, I will use a debit card instead.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Last night we came back from the airport around midnight. After we took a bath, we finally could go to bed around 1 am. We were so exhausted because of the airplane delay.

My husband had a very long day yesterday.

On the departure morning, after he had only one hour sleep in the hotel, he checked out the hotel and left for the airport. He arrived at the airport by 4 am. He finally went to bed last night at 1 am. That means he had been awake for 24 hours yesterday.

This morning he could not get out from bed until 9 am. He still looked exhausted after the rough day.

We enjoyed our family get together time all day today. Nothing particular. We watched two DVDs and took a walk in the neighbor area. That kind of regular routines relaxed my husband a lot.

My husband was so happy to eat my homemade food. I can easily imagine how tough his three weeks were. Eating the restaurant food every day for three weeks should be really tough.

We all are glad his return to our house.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My daughter and I were excited about this evening. Because my husband would be coming back from his business trip this evening. He had been in Hawaii for the past three weeks. We missed him a lot.

His flight was scheduled to arrive at our local airport before 7 pm. I was planning to leave the house at 5:20 pm to pick him up at the airport.

Around 4 pm, I received a text message from my husband. He said his plane would be delayed because the pilot got sick. The airplane company was searching for the replacement the pilot.

First, it was announced to be delayed for 45 minutes. Then, the information page was updated to be delayed for 1.5 hours. Every time I refreshed the page, it kept on updating to a two-hour delay, a three-hour delay, and finally, it reached to a four-hour delay. The airplane company could not find the replacement pilot for the flight.

I felt sorry for my husband. He should be already exhausted after the long flight from Hawaii, then he would have to wait for another extra four hours.

I told him to eat something nice to get ready for the long waiting time.

Then I got another text message from him. He said he just got a replacement flight that would arrive at the local airport at 10:18 pm. It was better than arriving after 11 pm.

He finally got on the airplane and came back to us. My daughter and I were so happy to have him back at our house. Not to mention, my husband was so happy to be able to sleep on his bed at his house. Our own house is the best place to relax.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Spring has come. I felt the spring’s arrival with my spring allergic reaction. It was terrible to have runny nose and sneeze.

I took out my Vicks’ Personal Steam Inhaler from the closet. I need this equipment once a year, around this time of the year. I like this equipment. I like to put two drops of peppermint essential oil in the attached vapor pad. After several minutes of vapor therapy, my allergic reaction usually calms down.

Other than my spring allergic reaction, it is nice to have spring. The temperature was raised up to 23 Centigrade. It was nice and warm.

***

In the night my daughter and I went to the movie night at school. The school PTA offered a free movie at the cafeteria. They sell some snacks such as popcorn, hot-dog, chips, candies and drinks. The snack sales money is used to support the school activities.

Tonight’s movie was Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).

We bring our own blankets and pillows. We freely put our blanket on the cafeteria floor, just like a picnic. Kids gathered up with their friends on the blanket. They enjoyed the movie with their friends.

It was cute to see kids enjoying their social time with their classmates.

Since I forgot to bring a pillow to sit on for myself, I needed to sit on the cafeteria chair. Sitting on the hard chair for two hours made my butt hurt. Next time I should prepare better.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I had my twelfth acupuncture treatment.

This time my acupuncturist added something new. I had needles in my both ears and in my both ankles of the pressure points for kidney. With the needles on, I had a tuina massage. I love her tuina massage. It was so relaxing and comfortable.

I have some dull pain in my right upper jar. My acupuncturist put one needle in my right cheek.

We discussed about the possibility of the cause of the pain. She thinks it might be arthritis.

I was shocked when I heard the word arthritis. I thought it was for old people. On my second thought though, I admit I am reaching at the old age. I am closer to 50s. I should accept the reality and do the appropriate actions to maintain my body.

She advised to put warm pad on my right far before going to bed. If it is arthritis, the pain should calm down.

I asked her some advice for a long flight. My trip to japan is coming closer.

She showed me the way to massage both ears.

She also mentioned wearing a pair of compression pants or compression socks might be help to prevent legs from swelling up.   

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

Today I run into a pack of javelina while I was driving the neighbor area.

The pack was crossing street in line. It was interestingly long line, so I counted them one by one. There were twelve of them. Two big ones and ten little ones.

Luckily I was in the car. Wild javelina can be vicious when they are hungry.

***

Now I am back home, thinking about the pack of javelina. One idea popped into my mind. Oh yeah, they are the animals of this year. This year is the pig year in Chinese horoscope.

My running into a pack of them (precisely twelve of them) was a good luck, I guess. 

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪

My daughter and my mother-in-law are besties. They get along with each other very well. They love each other very much.

Now that my daughter can type sentences, I let her use my cell phone. My daughter texts to her grandmother, and her grandmother replies back to her. They continuously communicate through text messages.

Whenever we run into something fun, my daughter asks me to let her use my cell phone. My daughter would take a funny photo and send the photo to her grandma. She always adds “I love you grandma. I miss you” at the end of their conversation.

I wish my daughter could read and write Japanese too, so that she can do the same thing to my mom. My mom would be very happy to hear from her granddaughter saying she loves and misses her grandma. I really wish that will happen.

♬ Any feedback? (^^♪