A couple of nights ago we heard a newborn crying at night next door (opposite direction of Dickhead, thank god! We don't need three generations of dickheads living next to us, as two is two too many).
Mayu: "Is that a baby crying next door?"
Me: (listening) "It sure sounds like one, but it couldn't be theirs, as she hasn't been pregnant."
Mayu: "True, true..."
Me: "Maybe a relative is visiting..."
Well, just now, as I am finally putting away the coffee, olive oil and cashews that I bought I hear a bunch of kids playing next door. I look outside and see two of the neighbourhood girls holding this brand new ... baby!
So I grabbed my camera and took this photo:
The girls saw me and I waved. I asked if it's the neighbour's baby and they said yes!
My jaw dropped.
I closed my mouth and I asked when it was born and she responded, 2008, March 14th.
My jaw dropped...
Then the little boy next door who is just a few years old, but old enough to not stop talking saw me and said, "I'm a big brother now!"
My jaw dropped...
Well, I went outside to the ruckus and congratulated the mom and the sister in-law (they live here both families on the same short street just four houses away from each other), and the grandma who always comes over and does all their laundry, and house cleaning, etc. every day (and has been doing as long as we've been here).
And I had to ask... "WHEN on earth were you pregnant????" And she laughed and said that's what everyone in the neighbourhood has been asking her. She said that she was here until the last month when she took leave and went back to her parent's place. Then she had the baby, stayed there for a while and just recently came back here (that's how they do it in Japan).
We HAVE seen her over the past 10 months... but never even once did it ever occur to us that she might have been pregnant!
I mean, I've been exposed during my two decades of being here (as most likely Matt and Dunnster will have experienced), cute coworkers, female friends, etc. who are "single" every time you ask them, and then the next thing you know they are going from "single" to "just married"! You have to ask yourself "when did boyfriend come in?" Usually Japanese women tend to be "single" or "I have lots of boyfriends" because they don't share this stuff with others who are not directly in their circle (even coworkers, believe it or not!). So I'm used to that.
But what I am NOT used to is a family that we chat with when they go to work, when they come home, and whenever we see them (in a blue moon?) to SUDDENLY have a brand spanking new baby!
Well, everyone, meet Ishida Kazuma, the new kid on the block, born March 14th, 2008.
ThoseSneakyJapanese!
I love you!
Cam
P.S. Maybe they're aliens ...
Thank God! When I saw the picture I was afraid one of the Jr. High girls was the mother.
ReplyDeleteRob - Stefnee's daugher Shasta is 12. A girl in her school, the same year, the same age (i.e. 12) just had a baby. Now if that isn't a *thud!* (sound of body collapsing on floor) I don't know what is!
ReplyDeleteSince both Matt and Rob have popped in (probably because their names called them, names can be powerful things until you forget your own during a severe head trauma or Alzheimer's) I guess we should be toasting this boy from our different parts of the country.
So boys... kampai!
Kampaiiiiiiii!
ReplyDeleteAny excuse to crack open the Holy Water also known as Woodford Reserve...
ReplyDeleteOh congrats!!! *beams*
ReplyDeleteThough... wow. *sigh* I was definitely pregnant. I think it's kinda cool that there didn't seem to be the weird "come the baby shower!" or weird "touch the pregnant lady's belly" things going on. But... wow. Just... wow.
It just goes to show you how "tightly knit" this community is..... nobody knows really anybody, but everyone knows all of the rumours that get spread by ... nobody and everybody.... especially about Mayu and I. You have to pay neighbourhood dues, and are expected to participate in the neighbourhood things... but when it comes to someone in the neighbourhood (on our street of total 13 homes) being pregnant and having a baby... nobody knew...
ReplyDeleteSeems... wow. Weird.
ReplyDeleteIndeed....
ReplyDeleteI... I don't know if I'd ever get used to that
ReplyDeleteI never have.... nobody uses these beautiful yards, everyone comes home from work and immediately goes in the house. You never see anyone again until they get in their car the next morning to go to work. In Tokyo, they all have shutters and close everything up so no light escapes outside... Here they all use thick ugly as sin curtains to block any possible chance of peering in (for creating more gossip, perhaps? That would make sense why they all block it off then...). It's a very very ... weird thing about Japan to me. And I have almost never been invited to someone's house/home for a simple visit. They never give house tours. They only take you to the one room... the visitor's room in the old houses, or the living room in the new houses... You can't just "pop in to say hi".... it's very very different from North American (and I imagine Euro) communities.
ReplyDeleteI have never ever gotten accustomed to it...
It's a lot like that in some communities here in The States.
ReplyDeleteEvery year we go to the beach in the tony town of Spring Lake, NJ
The street that fronts the beach is lined with million dollar home.
Great location right?
Well you never see anyone in these homes. No one sitting out on the massive porches enjoying the ocean view.
Occasionally you'll see the expensive car pull in and people go in to the house, but they're never seen out enjoying the house.
Oh... and when i was young the African American neighbourhood i grew up in was sort of like that. People were very private. My mow was too. As soon as it got dark the blinds were shut so no one could see in. Can't imagine what there was to see except us eating dinner then watching TV.
I guess i picked up a bit of it. I do not appreciate people just "popping" by. My home is not always company ready so i do not appreciate unexpected company.
And even if it is company ready and guests come to visit they are basically limited to the living area, LR, DR, and kitchen. Kitchen visitors are the best. It's so informal it's the place for gathering of the best of friends.
I think more and more that is the case. With everyone working outside the home, unless you have money for house keeper, the house work is left for the weekend. So you don't want anyone poppin in on a week night when the house is a wreck.
I love visitors... and I'm open to a fault sometimes.
ReplyDeleteLike Jaime.. it was painfully obvious I was pregnant.... good grief. From every angle!! *waddle waddle*
"That 12 year old" is back at school now, and I see her and the baby all over town... you'd think she was the prom queen. Turns my stomach.
Sometimes architecture is a hint. In my part of Greece, the houses and their outbuildings are built around a courtyard, facing inwards, and the gate to the yard is heavier than the house's door. We value privacy. But still, the gates are more often open than not, and people pop in for a chat, but staying only in the yard or the kitchen.
ReplyDeleteSweet!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cutie! Love ya.....
ReplyDeleteHmm,
ReplyDeleteYes, Sally? Hmmmm .... what?
ReplyDeleteMy family would drive your racist friend nutso because I don't think my children even know what the house is for.
ReplyDeleteIf I said "yes" to them eating dinner in the yard and sleeping in the yard, I'd never see them!
Given the baby's very sneaky arrival into the world, maybe he's destined to be a super spy!!!
Deb... my kids are the same way.... they don't understand WHY I won't let them sleep in the yard. "It's OUR yard! We can sleep in it!" *sigh* "No, get out of that mudhole and get into the tub... NOW!!"
ReplyDeleteMaybe we share the same children 0.o
ReplyDeleteOh *breath catches in my throat* that picture is just too sweet! Congratulations Cam's good neighbors!!!
ReplyDeleteawwwww so cute!
ReplyDelete