Getting Okaasan OUT.

Had to get Okaasan dressed and OUT today.


Her hula class was meeting at someone's apartment complex community center for a practice for their upcoming performance day.　As I've mentioned before, this isn't just a group of ladies who get together and enjoy hula dancing once a week - they consider themselves a team of semi-professionals who are endlessly getting ready for performances...in front of other classes from the same community center.
All taken very seriously. Very Japanese this: doing a hobby very seriously.


As is Getting Okaasan Ready to Go Out. a serious job.
It's a job with many stages.


9 am I reminded her/ told her that there WAS such an outing today.
9.30 am I started running her bath and told her about it all over again.
10.15 to 11 am I prepped a bit of food on the table for her and helped her locate the right hula dress and beads - although I completely forgot the imitation flower headpiece.
11 am I reminded Okaasan that we were due to leave at 12 o'clock by car.
Her usual Monday hula is at 1 pm with a house departure by 12.30...this is all half an hour earlier.
11.15-30 Okaasan ate bits of food.
11.45 am Okaasan is sitting in front of the TV with her hair in rollers. Still in pajamas.
I put on my coat and get my handbag to give her the visual clues to GOING OUT = SOON!
11.55 am I am reminding her again that the event starts at 12.30 downtown.
Maybe time to get dressed?
12  I get the dress and beads into a bag and into the car.
Okaasan finally gets dressed. Gets the curlers out of her hair.
Then we have 5 minutes of which handbag and keys and subways cards and purse.
Get two more curlers out of her hair.
Oh...and which scarf should she take...


Finally: 12.10 I get her out of the front door.
Drive her downtown and deliver her to the hula dance practice by 12.30 pm.


Oyome-san duties completed.


I came home to spend a quiet afternoon. And did a quick clean of her room - swept up armfuls (literally two armfuls) of underwear and little pink cotton vests and put them all in the washing machine - she just leaves them piled up on the sofa and the smell of stale clothes in mounting.
I left enough on her sofa so she doesn't think too much has been disturbed.
I hung some on the clothes hangers back in her room and the rest upstairs in our apartment to dry. Took out old newspapers. Emptied the trash boxes.


Tonight Yujiro and I are meeting an old student and her husband for more cheap food/drink on one of his Groupon discount ticket offers.
I've ordered sushi for Okaasan's dinner and will leave it out for her.


How on earth would Okaasan get out and go to these events without us? It would all be very very confused.