A Vacation?
It's been a week away from Vesta, and I'm starting to miss it. Weird, I know. My in-laws are visiting from Japan from the 16th until the 26th, so it's been kind of a busy few days for me. Frankly, work was less tiring--maybe that's part of the reason. And of course I miss seeing all my cool co-workers! (The uncool ones are not missed at all, of course).
So my mother-in-law basically speaks no English. I don’t know exactly what she did when they lived in Brazil, back in the day, but I have to wonder how much Portuguese she learned. I understand a fair amount of what she says, but of course not everything. One bit of new vocabulary or a speeding sentence, and I’m lost. Last night she thought I was making stuffing, and I thought she was making rice. So we both didn’t make anything, because we thought the other was taking care of it. Unfortunately, my wife, who’s the most bilingual, was at work, and my father-in-law, who is the second-most bilingual, was surfing the Net, so he wasn’t too much help. Hence an annoying misunderstanding.
So, basically, it’s cool to have them, but I haven’t had much of a vacation day yet. This is their third visit since May, though-and next year there will be other relations, including a sister-in-law with a niece and nephew in tow. So I suppose that’ll be even MORE busy. I’ll have to be sure to use up all my vacation before then!
We thought there was going to be satellite TV installed before they came, but the stupid satellite TV people called and said they ran out of receivers, and had to postpone us for 2 weeks! Kuso. But they brought some videos with Japanese TV, which we’ve been watching. Mostly Japanese reality shows and talk shows, so lots of Japan-style humor. Not bad.
On top of that, Ma-chan and her parents have had a few conversations, which I couldn’t really follow, about sending Japanese TV across the net somehow. They were all looking at some webpage, and a Sony Airboard wireless display. I think they’re doing a Remote Desktop thing somehow. It seems pretty intriguing, so it will be interesting to see what it does, if they actually do it, that is.
I always thought video chat would be the most useful thing to go for, but I guess to my wife, TV is more important! Anyway, both we and they have broadband, so I guess it’s about time we did something to make use of the opportunities inherent in that kind of setup. The net is certainly the closest thing we have these days to a world society.
So, it’s about dinner time. I’m sure there will be more driving and standing in stores tomorrow. Thank goodness my family did away with the multiple gifts then, and now does a 1-gift per-adult white elephant exchange. Best thing we ever did. FAR less stress for everyone around the holidays, and kind of fun. The kids have different rules, of course. I sure would have been disappointed when I was a kid if I only got one gift.
OK, gohan! Let’s eat!
So my mother-in-law basically speaks no English. I don’t know exactly what she did when they lived in Brazil, back in the day, but I have to wonder how much Portuguese she learned. I understand a fair amount of what she says, but of course not everything. One bit of new vocabulary or a speeding sentence, and I’m lost. Last night she thought I was making stuffing, and I thought she was making rice. So we both didn’t make anything, because we thought the other was taking care of it. Unfortunately, my wife, who’s the most bilingual, was at work, and my father-in-law, who is the second-most bilingual, was surfing the Net, so he wasn’t too much help. Hence an annoying misunderstanding.
So, basically, it’s cool to have them, but I haven’t had much of a vacation day yet. This is their third visit since May, though-and next year there will be other relations, including a sister-in-law with a niece and nephew in tow. So I suppose that’ll be even MORE busy. I’ll have to be sure to use up all my vacation before then!
We thought there was going to be satellite TV installed before they came, but the stupid satellite TV people called and said they ran out of receivers, and had to postpone us for 2 weeks! Kuso. But they brought some videos with Japanese TV, which we’ve been watching. Mostly Japanese reality shows and talk shows, so lots of Japan-style humor. Not bad.
On top of that, Ma-chan and her parents have had a few conversations, which I couldn’t really follow, about sending Japanese TV across the net somehow. They were all looking at some webpage, and a Sony Airboard wireless display. I think they’re doing a Remote Desktop thing somehow. It seems pretty intriguing, so it will be interesting to see what it does, if they actually do it, that is.
I always thought video chat would be the most useful thing to go for, but I guess to my wife, TV is more important! Anyway, both we and they have broadband, so I guess it’s about time we did something to make use of the opportunities inherent in that kind of setup. The net is certainly the closest thing we have these days to a world society.
So, it’s about dinner time. I’m sure there will be more driving and standing in stores tomorrow. Thank goodness my family did away with the multiple gifts then, and now does a 1-gift per-adult white elephant exchange. Best thing we ever did. FAR less stress for everyone around the holidays, and kind of fun. The kids have different rules, of course. I sure would have been disappointed when I was a kid if I only got one gift.
OK, gohan! Let’s eat!