Being a tourist in my own country
And what NOT to take on a plane!
September/October 2023
The lounge felt so comfy and the room so welcoming. Boy how I missed lounges in Japan! Maybe if we could buy the house next door it would have a big enough living room for a sofa or lounge… Wouldn’t that be nice…!
Lounges, tables and chairs, comfortable mattresses, normal size bath towels… oh the things I missed in Japan that everyone in Australia took for granted!!! I’d been in Australia for only a week when I realised, my knees didn’t hurt anymore! Clearly all that crouching down to a low table in Japan, despite no longer siting on the floor, was damaging! And how quickly the body could heal under the right conditions.
As I was enjoying my time on the lounge, the kids were happily playing. Then the realisation hit me: Bob was sooooo much more settled here in Australia. He was still energetic and still did things without thinking or asking first, but he wasn’t so hyped up, we weren’t seeing the emotional meltdowns like in Japan, and his anger had certainly tamed. It was like he was back to the normal Bob, the Bob we use to know when living here in Australia… What was it about Japan that made him go so nuts??!! That seemed to bring out the worst of his ADHD?
My thoughts were interrupted by the Messenger ring tone. It was Shujin.
Okasan had been telling him that I had stolen her Singapore shirt and taken it outside and buried it under a tree. No kidding, that’s seriously what she was claiming!
No matter that I’m in Australia.
No matter that the shirt is in Japan.
No matter that that would be very out of character for me.
One cannot reason with dementia. She was adamant.
When I had first seen the shirt as she held it up to show me, she claims that I was jealous and I wanted it. I probably didn’t act excited for her enough as I should have, since I looked at it and thought it looked a little childish. An almost fitted black shirt with colourful sequins on the front outlining the word “Singapore” along with flowers and fireworks. It didn’t look like the kind of shirt a grandma wears! More like a 10 year old. She had misread my reaction, thinking I was jealous.
So now, Shujin was talking to me, his mum beside him, asking if I knew where the shirt was. I did. I directed him to her room and the drawer and Bingo! He pulled out the shirt. Once again, Okasan was all apologetic and Shujin and I were left laughing! We thought the Singapore shirt sagas were over, but apparently not!
While Shujin wasn’t having the easiest time back in Japan, the kids and I were having a blast in Australia. We’d become instant tourists and had started snapping photos of the wildlife and scenery. We were so excited to see even a magpie! Haha!!!
And the sky. Oh how beautiful the Australian sky is. So big. Clear. Oh so clear. Blue. Gorgeous sunsets. At Missy’s request, we even got up early to watch a beach sunrise, roping a heap of friends in to join us.
We saw beaches, rivers, farms, countryside, rainforests.
Went swimming, watched sheep shearing, met a baby calf, fed lambs, ate jaffles around a campfire, played tea parties, enjoyed cousins, enjoyed uncles and aunties, enjoyed grandparents, enjoyed friends.
We had a very wonderful few weeks in Australia going from one social event to the next! We caught up with as many people as possible, our time in Australia was filled with fun, laughter, love and lots of Aussie food (NO rice, hahaha!). All too soon our holiday ended and we found ourselves back at the airport again. It may have been torture to board a plane and leave Australia, but knowing that Japan was where God wanted me to be made it easy.
I had what would have been more than a suitcase full of Lego, distributed between three suitcases. I’d stuffed in as much Aussie food as possible, and of course the shopping items we’d purchased. I was not going home without shorts!
With our luggage checked in, we headed through security and when the time came, made our way to the boarding gate. I noticed several people standing around a bin at the gate, sculling their coffee. I fast learnt why carrying a coffee cup onboard wasn’t allowed…
All was going well. Take-off was fun and we were up in the sky. The seat belt sign turned off and Bob decided to eat his chia pudding. He had placed it in the net at the back of the chair in front of him. He reached down to pull the spoon out of his back pack (which was under the seat in front of him) when I heard "Oh no! MUM!" I turned to see his back pack on his lap and the chia pudding lying sideways in its cup on the floor, no lid. I quickly reached down and picked it up before that small, overpriced, $10.50 cup of chia pudding emptied onto the floor! Relieved that we didn't loose it all, I did notice that some had splashed into the aisle.
Sitting up I then noticed the man on the opposite side of the aisle. There was blobs of chia pudding on his arm, his shirt, his shorts, his leg, his forehead, his cheek, his shoe, his hair, behind his ear, behind his neck, on his seat, and on the seat in front of him (when we disembarked from the plane we also noticed a blob on the overhead locker!).
The lady sitting with him was in stitches laughing as she tried helping him. They were pulling out any sort of paper they could find to clean him up. The people in the row behind them got in on the action and were being spotters, telling him where else needed wiping. What an absolute catastrophe!!!
Bob also got chia pudding on his leg, sock and shoe. Oh my goodness!! I pulled out any sort of serviette I had in my handbag, clean or used! And then I remembered: I had wipes! I pulled out the wet wipes and passed them straight across the aisle. Once our neighbours finished with them I cleaned the isle and finished cleaning up Bob.
I made him sit and eat that pudding till there was nothing left. And made a mental note to never take such an item on a plane, ever again!
If you have you travelled outside of your country, what were some of the things you missed? What did you appreciate when you returned? Let us know in the comments!
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hahaha the chia pudding accident !
Interesting🤣🤣🤣