After the long flight, we finally arrived at Kansai Airport in Japan. It was not our final destination yet. From there, we took the limousine bus for one hour. From the limousine bus stop to our hotel, we walked about 10 minutes.

The 10 minutes’ walking was tough. Since the street surface was not smooth, I could feel the suitcase’s wheels were rubbed and worn out as I walked. After we passed the half way, I felt my suitcase got much heavier than the beginning. I needed to pull it with my full strength. By the time we arrived at the hotel, my suitcase wheels were completely damaged.

I regretted my decision of walking. Before the trip, my parents strongly suggested me to take a taxi from the limousine bus stop to the hotel. I really should have listened to their advice. If I had taken a taxi, my suitcase wheels would have been still fine.

***

When we arrived at the hotel, it was already past 9 pm.

After I put my luggage in the hotel room, I went down to the front desk. I borrowed a screw driver from them and unscrewed the wheeled parts. The inside of the suitcase was also damaged, with some cracks and holes. My suitcase was unfixable.

***

After we organized our items and took a nice long bath, it was already midnight. Even though we were so exhausted, I was glad we made it safely.

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It was a long day as I expected.

My daughter and I departed to Japan. We woke up at 1:30 am and left the house at 2:30 am.

Right before we left our house, I threw some more items in my suitcase. I worried for overweighing my suitcase as it should not exceed 50 pounds. At the airline check-in counter though, I found out I didn’t need to worry. My suitcase weighed exactly 50.00 pounds. It was magically just right.

The flight connection is always hard for me.

Last time when we went to Japan, I chose San Francisco airport to connect the flight. I had a hard time to find my next flight’ information of the gate and the terminal.

This time I chose Los Angeles airport to connect to the next flight. It was still not easy at all. I could not find the monitor that showed the next flight’s information. I asked around the people. One security guard was kind enough that he escorted us to the closest gate, instead of just saying by words. He was very helpful.  

So, here was my route for the next flight.

After we got off the airplane, we took the shuttle bus to the closest terminal. It was Terminal 5. From there, we needed to take another shuttle bus to Terminal 4. We walked to the gate 41 of Terminal 4. There, you will see a sign showing to direction to Tom Bradley International Terminal. My next flight’s gate was TB135. We needed to walk a long way to get there.

We took Japan Airline. All the cabin attendants were Japanese. I felt relaxed as I could speak in my own language. At the entrance, one flight attendant greeted me by saying “Okaeri-nasai-mase”. It means “welcome back”. I almost cried. I was moved by the warm welcoming phrase.

The international flight from America to Japan is a long one. It takes 12 hours and 30 minutes. While in the airplane, I got very sick. I needed to go to the bathroom and vomited frequently.

My daughter didn’t get sick, but she could not sleep at all during the long flight.   

It was a very, VERY long flight for us.

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My departure to Japan is coming closer.

I will be leaving the house at 2:30 am. This time the connection of my flights is not very good. I will need to wait for five hours to connect to the final flight.

I will be arriving at the hotel in Japan around 4:30 am in Arizona time. Thus, my trip will take 26 hours from door to door. Yep, it will be a very long trip.

I am excited for seeing my parents and friends there.

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When I came back from the grocery store this morning, somebody was on top of our roof.

It was the maintenance guy that our realtor send to fix our roof. I was surprised on how quickly the realtor could arrange somebody to fix it this time. It usually takes more than one week after we request any service. I requested just yesterday. Maybe the realtor considered the roof repair as a priority high issue. I am glad she did so.

I was hoping the realtor would convince the owner into replacing the entire roof. The majority of our neighbors have already renewed their roof to a brand new one. Our house was built in 2002 so the house is 17 years old. I believe it is about time for this house to be needed to exchange the old roof to a new one. Our roof has been exposed under the very strong Arizona sun anyway.

My husband knew better than I did. He said the owner would be reluctant to replace the roof to a new one, because it will cost around $5,000. He thought they would decide to fix the stripped shingles only. They want to survive with patching up.

He was right.

The maintenance guy just patched up the stripped part only, not replacing the entire roof. What made me startled was that he didn’t even bring any new shingles. He used the old ones, the ones fell down on the ground, to put them back to the original place.

I am disappointed for their decision of not replacing the entire roof. That being said, I understand the owner is reluctant to pay any unexpected expenditure, especially for the house where they don’t live in.

Anyhow, our roof was patched up and it was quickly taken care of. I am happy for that.  

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It was very cold day. What made it worse was its strong wind.

While I was in the backyard hanging washed clothes, I heard something landed with a thud. It was very close to the place where I was standing.

It was a roof shingle. The total of four shingles were blown off from the roof by the strong wind. Now the roof has a bold spot in the middle.

I took a picture of the roof and sent it to our realtor. Hopefully she will arrange somebody to fix them as soon as possible.

My husband told me I was lucky and protected. I would get injured if one of the roof shingles had hit me in the head. He was right. I appreciate my family spirits and angels to have protected me.   

***

Today I had my thirteenth acupuncture treatment with tuina massage.

Today we did something new again. We are still searching for the best way for my body to heal.

My acupuncturist suggested to put some needles in stomach and leg, instead of ears. She put some needles on the pressure points on stomach for enhancing its function as well as the pressure points on legs for enhancing the smooth blood flow.

She also put some needles on the pressure points on legs and between the big toe and the second toe for accelerating my moon cycle. This is based on my request. I want to have my period start earlier than the scheduled day, before my trip.

Today’s recommendations:

– CoQ10 or uniquinol to support cardiovascular health

– To take a bath with Epson salt to accelerate blood flow

– To keep pressing the pressure points to jump-start the period cycle

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Since last night, we had a cold and heavy rain. The rain continued in the morning and the day time. The temperature dropped down to -1 centigrade. I needed to pull the electric heater out from the closet, which I had already put away.

I received an email from my Japanese friend. She told me it got very cold in Japan. She recommended me to bring extra clothes to stay warm. She is right. During spring time, the temperature fluctuates. I will need to get ready for cold weather just in case.

I started packing my luggage for the trip to Japan. I was planning to bring only one suitcase. When I started putting items though, it was easily filled up. When I weighed, it already reached close to 50 lb even though I haven’t put any items for my daughter.

I might have to bring two suitcase. I am easily overwhelmed by packing for trips.

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Since the beginning of this school year, my family has been discussing about my daughter’s school. She doesn’t fully enjoy her school life. Thus we have been considering about changing my daughter’s school. Homeschooling is another option for us.

There is one girl who has been my daughter’s friend for the past two years. They met each other at the club activities at the local library. The girl is slightly older than my daughter. The girl and my daughter get along with each other very well, because they share something in common, such as politeness and quietness in their personality.

This girl does not come to school. She told me she is being homeschooling.

I wanted to talk to this girl in private so that I can ask about her homeschooling. There were always some other kids or adults around us, so I could not talk to her in person.

Last week I wished I would have good timing to talk to her in person. This afternoon my small wish naturally came true.

While I was waiting for my daughter in front of the school office, the girl came to talk to me. Unlike all the time, we were not surrounded by anybody else.

I asked her if I could ask her about homeschooling. She gently smiled at me and told me I could ask anything to her. She was willing to help me.

From our conversation, I learned that she has been homeschooling for three years. The main reason for her to have chosen homeschooling was the school teacher at that time. She was doing great in her study, but the teacher gave her lower grades than she expected. Her mom didn’t like it because the mom knew her daughter was ready to learn more advanced level than her real age.

She said she likes the homeschooling program that she currently enrolls in. She can learn ahead as she likes, and she can study on her pace. But she is getting bored in studying and staying all by herself almost all the daytime. So, she decided to come back to school from this coming school year. She will be 7th grade.

It was great to have gotten to know her more through our short conversation. And it was great to know my wish naturally came true. That is the definite sign that I am being heard and protected by my family spirits and angels all the time. It is good to know.

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Last week we had warm days. But since this morning it started getting cold. The weather report says we will have rainy and windy days with low temperature during the entire week this week.

Maybe this is why the maintenance guy had not contacted me yet. I had been waiting for his contact to schedule to switch from the heater to the cooler.

My guess was right. He contacted me today and suggested me to postpone it until next week. He said we will have another winter day with the dropped temperature as 1 centigrade on this Wednesday.

***

I happened to encounter one happiness today. It is not for myself, but for my neighbor. One of my neighbors are the married couple without children. Now the wife got pregnant with her first baby.

What astonished me was her age. I believe she is around my age. She might be slightly older than I am. Since she has already passed her fifth months, her baby will be fine.

Their happiness made my day. I am very happy for them.  

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