Song of Ice and Fire

There haven't been many series that I've been able to keep up with since moving to Japan. Luckily, my Texas library has allowed me access to ebooks and downloadable audiobooks. If I didn't have these, I'd probably be reading more classics, since they are public domain and I get them at sites like Project Gutenberg. But because my library card is still good, I've been able to read George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, also known as A Game of Thrones. I'd been wanting to read the series before HBO adapted it. It was one of those things on the "to read" list that I could never quite get to. I'm not sure when it first aired on TV, but I started reading A Game of Thrones (book 1) shortly after Emma was born. I just finished A Dance with Dragons (book 5). This is a series that will surprise you. I've thought many times that I knew where the action was headed and how the plot would resolve itself, only to have all my expectations go awry by some new plot twist, usually in the form of a character death. If you don't like your protagonists to die, don't read this series. Like Joss Whedon, George R. R. Martin is not afraid to kill off popular characters. No one is safe from his pen. Martin has changed my mind about characters too. Those that I started off hating, I'm now liking. Some that I thought would be integral to plot have faded into the background. Maybe they'll come back later, maybe they'll stay scenery, I don't know. That's one of the things I'm loving about this series. I can't predict it. And its why when book 6 comes out next year (cross your fingers) I'm immediately going to get my name on the check out list. (If I bought #6, I'd have to buy all the rest, and right now baby food, clothes, and plane tickets are a higher priority.)

. . . and then we were deported.

No, we haven't been deported, but it seemed like we were going to be for a little while.

What Happened:

Right before Christmas, Mark got a phone call from the Immigration office in Takamatsu. He had no idea what they wanted because the person who called didn't speak English and Mark couldn't figure out what he was saying with his limited Japanese. So Mark's boss contacts them and they tell her that there's a new procedure that we need to go through for Emma. They say that we just need to go down to their office with some documents so they can update their files, or something like that. They there's no rush on it, take on your time. So we do. We have a lot of little day trips planned for after Christmas and New Year's, so we figure we'll stop by on our way somewhere else.

We made it to the Immigration office on the last day of Mark's vacation. But things are not what we expected when we arrive. Instead of waiting in the nice, bright main Immigration office, we're sent to wait in a dark, gloomy corridor by an electronically locked door. There's another family there, so we don't feel that anything is wrong. An immigration officer takes our documents to make photocopies and when he comes back, he leads us to a cold vacant room, with only a table and a couple of chairs in it. We still think things are okay, until he pulls out the "Flowchart for Deportation Procedures."

Wait, what?

Yep. The real reason they wanted us to come in was to inform us that Emma has overstayed her visa and they are starting an investigation against her.

When babies are born to foreigners in Japan, they automatically get a two month visa (which we didn't know)and Emma's expired in August (which we didn't know). We should have gotten her a new one then (which we also didn't know)but we didn't. We weren't able to get all her US documents until September, and you've got to have a passport before you can have a visa. Besides, we spent a lot of time at the city office in Kanonji making sure she had all her documents in order. They told us she was fine, that she didn't need anything else, and we believed them.

Oh, and the officer who is telling us all this, doesn't speak enough English to explain what is going on. The only fluent English speaking officer is out at the airport manning the customs desk. So we've got this guy trying to get us to sign a bunch of forms (all in Japanese) who can't tell us what they're for, and all we know is that its about deportation and Emma.

I had visions of being escorted to a bus with her and made to get on a plane that evening. But, after a few phone calls to Mark's boss, we learned that she was not being deported, only that she is being "investigated". My six and a half month old is being investigated by the Japanese government.

This is only the start of the craziness. We have to go back in about a month for a hearing. They didn't have a date for us, but they will let us know when they schedule it.

We may be able to drag this process out until our contract ends in March, or if we get a new job in the states, we could leave early and avoid it all together. I can't help thinking that this could have been avoided if they had just sent a note in the mail or something. They know she was born. They know what sort of documents she needs and by when. Couldn't that have come in a welcome packet? A sort of "congratulations on being born, here's what you need to stay legal" thing? I would have found that more useful then all the nursing they gave me.

Bananas

We started Emma on solids this week with bananas, and she loves them. She reaches for the spoon and open her mouth wide and makes an excited hmmming noise when eating. When she discovered that the bananas actually came from a bowl instead of a spoon, she dove for the bowl.

She was a little cranky at dinner tonight because she didn't get a good afternoon nap, so whenever I took the spoon away to refill it, she would cry. So the evenings sounds went something like this: humm, mmmm, mmm, AAAAAHHHH!!!, AAAHH - hummmm, mmm, AAHHH, mmmmmm.

Eventually the crying won out, and not even bananas could console her. Laughing at my child is probably not the best thing a parent can do, but it was just so funny. Here she is with banana mush all over her face, arms out wide searching for the spoon, and alternating frown-y face with pure joy. And if you've ever seen her frown-y face, then you know how hilarious this was. If Mark were home, I would have had him take a picture.

New Toy

For my birthday, my mother-in-law gave me a book of knit patterns for wild animals. I finished one animal, the hippo, about a week ago. It ended up being a little bit larger then I expected.

But Emma seems to like it. She especially enjoys sucking on its ears.

A Little Whine

This is going to be a "poor me" post, so if you don't want to hear it, stop reading right now.

On Thursday, Mark and I went to a clinic to get our flu shots. I don't normally get one because I hate needles; but because Mark works with a lot of kids and is exposed to a lot of germs, and then exposes me, I thought the benefist would outweigh the few seconds of fear and pain.

On Friday, my arm started itching. I didn't think much of it. I was wearing elbow-length sleeves, so I didn't have a clear view of my upper arm. I figured I was itchy because of the changing weather. But that night I saw this:

Yes, that is from a teeny-tiny flu shot!

Is it any wonder that I don't like needles, when the result is like that.

It's not just in the States

Shortly before Halloween I went to the local dollar store to look for some face paint. I didn't find the face paint, but I did find Santa hats and tinsel. There are Christmas lights up in the downtown shopping area, and they've been there for at least two weeks. I haven't heard any Christmas music yet though, but that could be because I don't know what I'm listening to. And for the majority of the Japanese, Christmas is not a big deal. UPDATE: The lights are on and Christmas music is playing.

They're Creeping me Out

They're everywhere.

I knew they were here, but their numbers seem to increased over the past few weeks.

They like to hang out in alleys and gutters and the spaces between the trees. If you're not careful, you could walk straight into one.