So, this is Christmas.
And what have you done...
Happy Christmas from north Japan!
VERY unusually, Dear Son and I are together at Christmas. Ski teaching, as you might expect, is not a booming business at the moment, so he is home to sit and eat a mountain of food with me.
After all those years of lonely Xmas eating with Okaasan at the kitchen table, while he is away at ski resort parties...it was very very nice to have him home.
A friend came and dined with us. We were masked and had windows open...sat at distance round the big table in my classroom (which is the only room decorated in the house) and STUFFED ourselves on delicious, slow roasted pork, burned sausages, veggies and cheesecake!
It was great. I had one class on Christmas Day, but a favorite student - so it wasn't too hard. And after she left I got cooking, and created the kind of Christmas feast that Brits love. All piled up on the plate, covered with gravy. Nothing fancy or nicely designed about a British Christmas plate.
Christmas Eve I went to the lobby of Okaasan's care home and delivered a card and present (flower pattern nightdress and pink socks). We included photographs of us in the card, so that the staff who opened it with her would have something to talk about. A few days ago Dear Son called Okaasan, but he said the call was pretty hard...he was talking into the silence....and he could hear the care home staff making sounds to encourage Okaasan's engagement in the experience.
But, we hope she was happy to hear his voice.
So, Christmas at home. My part of Japan has got the Covid new case numbers under some kind of control again...we are down to about 100 a day...while Tokyo soars to over 800 a day...it's all a stay home holidays.
We cancelled our plans to go to Okinawa in January. Just seemed like a bad idea, because Okinawa as a group of islands has limited medical services and will, inevitably, be a popular destination over the holidays. So, we did the responsible thing. We might do a local trip in February, to enjoy winter scenes.
So. Feasted on roast pork and mulled wine last night. Friend left around 8 pm, and he and I were snugged down by the TV with full stomachs and wind-down.
His phone rang.
It was the care home...
Staff reporting that they have one case of Covid-19 in the care home now. So they will only be able to do basic services from now on, trying to limit contact between staff and residents etc. Reassuring that they will continue to do their best with Okaasan and her eating troubles.
A shock to get a late night phone call.
Not such a shock to hear the reason....not really....
Kind of relieved that it wasn't something more dramatic, about Okaasan in particular...like, that she'd seen a New Year food thing on Tv and used knotted bedsheets to escape and go shopping for lily bulbs?
And so. We hope they can contain the virus. It's a big building with 11 floors of offices and residents. But, as we all know, when this virus gets into a building with sick and old people the situation isn't good. Back in November they had two cases in the connected hospital. Now it's in the main building.
No comments:
Post a Comment