My husband noticed two big, cyst-like pimples on my chin this morning and said,
“Eh, you spent so much time washing your face, and you still get pimples? What’s the point of even washing your face thoroughly like that? Such a waste of resources. I don’t even have a facial cleanser and I have no pimples at all.”
I felt like smacking his back with the spatula in my hand 😒 Why lah so berlagak like that.
“ It’s because my two hormones, the ones needed for me to carry YOUR offsprings are not balanced you bright boy.” I answered annoyingly.
“You’re not even having your period right now, why are you blaming hormones?”
That’s why, you don’t marry an engineer who never took biology his entire life.
I’m ovulating, genius. 😒
#nasibbaiksayang
Saturday 24 March 2018
Thursday 22 March 2018
Of Japan : Fresh Milk and Fish Head
I bought a huge half fish head for 500yen a few days ago, and four liters of fresh milk for 165yen per liter excluding tax. My youngest still drinks from bottle (at 2.5yo, not a very Japanese thing to do I know) and we had trouble finding halal formula here so I've been resorting to giving him fresh milk since day 1 we were here. So in total it had costed me about 1200yen in total, which if I were to convert to ringgit, it'll be around RM45. A huge amount for fish head and fresh milk, right? So I told hubsy
"If we don't convert our purchases to RM, food around here is relatively cheaper than Malaysia, right sayang? I mean, where do we get fresh milk in Malaysia for RM1.65?"
It's this thing we Malaysians do here, we don't convert yen to literal ringgit (100 yen would be equivalent to about RM3.70 real time), but we always 'assume' 100yen is equivalent to RM1.00, so that everything make sense. I mean, canned drinks from vending machine is around 120yen each, in RM it would be what, RM4.50? That didn't make sense, right? 😅
Anywayssss. Back to our fresh milk. So my husband started comparing
If you work part time in McDonalds Malaysia, you will receive about RM6 per hour. Say you work 8 hours, that means you will get RM48 per day. A liter of Farm Fresh fresh milk is RM7.40 (from Tesco website).
Here in Japan, part timers in Saizeriya (a fast food chain store) are paid around 800yen per hour. Ok lets say for argument sake, they receive 600yen per hour (remember that we assumed 100yen is equivalent to RM1 earlier). After 8 hours they will be paid 4800yen in total. A liter of fresh milk is around 180yen (including 8% tax).
In Malaysia, you have to work at least two hours (RM12) to afford one liter of fresh milk (RM7.40).
In Japan, working just one hour (600yen) will allow you to buy three liters of fresh milk (540yen).
100g of medium sized prawn is 177yen. RM2.90 in Malaysia (based on Tesco website)
10pcs of L sized eggs is 190yen. RM3.00 in Malaysia (assuming RM0.30 per egg)
Boneless chicken is about 400yen/kg. RM12.90/kg in Malaysia.
Cheapest 10kg rice in Japan is about 2900yen. RM22.90 in Malaysia.
Frozen french fries 190yen/kg. RM5.99/kg in Malaysia (Tesco brand)
Chicken nuggets is about 600yen/kg. First Pride Chicken Nugget is RM11.99/kg (I was gonna compare with Tesco brand but it tasted horrible so it will not be fair)
And everything is taxed 8% here. No exception. Even sometimes if you buy fresh fishes and vegetables in wet markets, you will also be charged that tax.
Now compare what you can buy with 8 hours of working part time in Malaysia vs in Japan.
Can't you see the difference?
Lets see from another perspective. Say.... luxury.
Fresh graduates teachers' starting salary : RM2300 vs 200,000yen.
Iphone X : RM5149 vs 112,800 yen --> 2.23 vs 0.564 (price:salary ratio)
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (128GB) : RM3399 vs 107,800 -->1.48 vs 0.539
Adidas Deerupt Runner : RM500 vs 14,040yen --> 0.217 vs 0.070
XBox One X 1TB : Rm2399 vs 53,978yen -->1.04 vs 0.2698
Japan's cost of living doesn't really look like it differs that far from Malaysia now, isn't it? At some aspect I think it is way cheaper here.
BUT. A big fat humongous but there.
While the vehicle prices are relatively cheap here, maintaining a vehicle is a. whole. other. different. story. I've blogged about it roughly in previous entry but I'm gonna blog about it in detailsafter I understand them fully hahah when I have mood to do detail research again 😆
P/s: But this is only applicable to residents here, because we receive allowance and salary in yen. If you're a tourist, this 'assuming' thing will never work out for you, because you converted RM to come and spend here and 100yen really means RM3.70 😅
P/p/s: this entry is a lot of hard work hahah. I don't think I'm gonna write any informational entries like this again after this. At least not anytime soon. Expect more random, pointless rants after this 😁
"If we don't convert our purchases to RM, food around here is relatively cheaper than Malaysia, right sayang? I mean, where do we get fresh milk in Malaysia for RM1.65?"
It's this thing we Malaysians do here, we don't convert yen to literal ringgit (100 yen would be equivalent to about RM3.70 real time), but we always 'assume' 100yen is equivalent to RM1.00, so that everything make sense. I mean, canned drinks from vending machine is around 120yen each, in RM it would be what, RM4.50? That didn't make sense, right? 😅
Anywayssss. Back to our fresh milk. So my husband started comparing
If you work part time in McDonalds Malaysia, you will receive about RM6 per hour. Say you work 8 hours, that means you will get RM48 per day. A liter of Farm Fresh fresh milk is RM7.40 (from Tesco website).
Here in Japan, part timers in Saizeriya (a fast food chain store) are paid around 800yen per hour. Ok lets say for argument sake, they receive 600yen per hour (remember that we assumed 100yen is equivalent to RM1 earlier). After 8 hours they will be paid 4800yen in total. A liter of fresh milk is around 180yen (including 8% tax).
In Malaysia, you have to work at least two hours (RM12) to afford one liter of fresh milk (RM7.40).
In Japan, working just one hour (600yen) will allow you to buy three liters of fresh milk (540yen).
100g of medium sized prawn is 177yen. RM2.90 in Malaysia (based on Tesco website)
10pcs of L sized eggs is 190yen. RM3.00 in Malaysia (assuming RM0.30 per egg)
Boneless chicken is about 400yen/kg. RM12.90/kg in Malaysia.
Cheapest 10kg rice in Japan is about 2900yen. RM22.90 in Malaysia.
Frozen french fries 190yen/kg. RM5.99/kg in Malaysia (Tesco brand)
Chicken nuggets is about 600yen/kg. First Pride Chicken Nugget is RM11.99/kg (I was gonna compare with Tesco brand but it tasted horrible so it will not be fair)
And everything is taxed 8% here. No exception. Even sometimes if you buy fresh fishes and vegetables in wet markets, you will also be charged that tax.
Now compare what you can buy with 8 hours of working part time in Malaysia vs in Japan.
Can't you see the difference?
Lets see from another perspective. Say.... luxury.
Fresh graduates teachers' starting salary : RM2300 vs 200,000yen.
Iphone X : RM5149 vs 112,800 yen --> 2.23 vs 0.564 (price:salary ratio)
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (128GB) : RM3399 vs 107,800 -->1.48 vs 0.539
Adidas Deerupt Runner : RM500 vs 14,040yen --> 0.217 vs 0.070
XBox One X 1TB : Rm2399 vs 53,978yen -->1.04 vs 0.2698
Japan's cost of living doesn't really look like it differs that far from Malaysia now, isn't it? At some aspect I think it is way cheaper here.
BUT. A big fat humongous but there.
While the vehicle prices are relatively cheap here, maintaining a vehicle is a. whole. other. different. story. I've blogged about it roughly in previous entry but I'm gonna blog about it in details
P/s: But this is only applicable to residents here, because we receive allowance and salary in yen. If you're a tourist, this 'assuming' thing will never work out for you, because you converted RM to come and spend here and 100yen really means RM3.70 😅
P/p/s: this entry is a lot of hard work hahah. I don't think I'm gonna write any informational entries like this again after this. At least not anytime soon. Expect more random, pointless rants after this 😁
Tuesday 20 March 2018
Of Japan : Biskut Kapal
This, is one of the flavours of the ever so famous biskut kapal among Malaysian tourists who came visit Japan. Seriously, they all came looking for this thing.
And I think I can safely say on behalf most Japan residents, this biskut is overrated. They taste good like good chocolate, but that's all.
Japan has too many other chocolates that taste a lot better than this. These two are among my personal favourites.
On another note, I've been thinking of writing about places I've been in Japan. But I don't want to put photos of my kids without watermark, and it's too time consuming to put watermark in each and every photo.
How lah how.
Of Love : Compromise
On of my husband's favourite distressing method is sketching 3D house plans, for our future house which we plan to build from scratch (God knows when). He could spend hours doing this, and every time I saw him concentrating on his laptop screen, I will remind him about the things I want from a house, which are
1. Super organized and modern kitchen, with tons of storage spaces, a wide counter and huge sink
1. Super organized and modern kitchen, with tons of storage spaces, a wide counter and huge sink
that can fit at least two large pots. The sink must be overlooking a window, so that it's always dry.
2. A huge refrigerator. And by huge, I really mean HUGE. Industrial size.
3. An organized laundry space with a dryer and hanging rails
4. A small walk-in wardrobe with mirrors as closet's doors so that we only have our bed in our
bedroom, no clothes on sight
5. Two sinks in our bathroom, one for each of us.
And that's pretty much it. I don't care about living room design or the colour of curtains. I don't ask for make up area or dressing table or even vanity mirror because I never put on make up in the house anyway (always in the car 😆). I couldn't care less about the type of sofa or how should our garden looks like. Really. Even in the house we are currently living in, everything was pretty much decided by him.
And in his designs (yes there are plenty 😅) he complied with everything I asked for, except for two sinks in the bathroom. He just couldn't understand why do I need two sinks, we have been living perfectly okay with only one all these while.
Until last night.
For a few months now I've been religiously following a whole skincare routine before I went to bed and after I woke up in the morning, because I've been feeling guilty for not taking a good care of my skin all this time and now that I have turned 30, I need to start doing things so that I don't 'age' before time (and also because I've started to notice a few fine wrinkles on the corner of my eyes). Usually in the morning I wash my face after I've finished preparing breakfast and bento, and at night, the ritual usually happen around 11 o'clock before I go to bed. My husband will usually brush his teeth right after he finishes his dinner, so we never really bumped into each other at the tiny sink.
But last night we had a late dinner, and after I finished cleaning the kitchen, I went to do my facial ritual as usual. When I was at the second cleansing, my husband came in behind me and wait for a few seconds, before he went out of the bathroom again. After at least a good five minutes and I was in my toner phase, he came in again and said
"It has been a few minutes already, why are you not done yet?" with a super annoyed voice and went out into the toilet to do number 1, I guess.
He went out of the toilet a few minutes later and I was in my first moisturizer phase. He waited behind me, for a few minutes and watched me as I finished applying my second moisturizer and eye cream. After I finished all the rituals, I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and exited the bathroom.
He entered our bedroom a few minutes later, wiped his face with my face towel and said,
"Now I understand why you wanted that second sink. You took at least 15 minutes washing your face, it's too annoying to wait."
Victory for me. 😆
All photos are from Google
3. An organized laundry space with a dryer and hanging rails
4. A small walk-in wardrobe with mirrors as closet's doors so that we only have our bed in our
bedroom, no clothes on sight
5. Two sinks in our bathroom, one for each of us.
 |
And in his designs (yes there are plenty 😅) he complied with everything I asked for, except for two sinks in the bathroom. He just couldn't understand why do I need two sinks, we have been living perfectly okay with only one all these while.
Until last night.
For a few months now I've been religiously following a whole skincare routine before I went to bed and after I woke up in the morning, because I've been feeling guilty for not taking a good care of my skin all this time and now that I have turned 30, I need to start doing things so that I don't 'age' before time (and also because I've started to notice a few fine wrinkles on the corner of my eyes). Usually in the morning I wash my face after I've finished preparing breakfast and bento, and at night, the ritual usually happen around 11 o'clock before I go to bed. My husband will usually brush his teeth right after he finishes his dinner, so we never really bumped into each other at the tiny sink.
But last night we had a late dinner, and after I finished cleaning the kitchen, I went to do my facial ritual as usual. When I was at the second cleansing, my husband came in behind me and wait for a few seconds, before he went out of the bathroom again. After at least a good five minutes and I was in my toner phase, he came in again and said
"It has been a few minutes already, why are you not done yet?" with a super annoyed voice and went out into the toilet to do number 1, I guess.
He went out of the toilet a few minutes later and I was in my first moisturizer phase. He waited behind me, for a few minutes and watched me as I finished applying my second moisturizer and eye cream. After I finished all the rituals, I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and exited the bathroom.
He entered our bedroom a few minutes later, wiped his face with my face towel and said,
"Now I understand why you wanted that second sink. You took at least 15 minutes washing your face, it's too annoying to wait."
Victory for me. 😆
All photos are from Google
Saturday 17 March 2018
#randomrant
I've moved on.
Everything that had happened between us, it's all in the past.
The hurt, the tears, the blood, all that phases are now over.
He's happy now, I'm happy that he's happy. It did hurt a little, no, a lot, seeing that it's not me who is making him happy. At first. A long first. The longest, hardest first in my life. I won't lie.
But now it's all over.
I took the steps forward. I want to be the bigger person.
I fell. Broken. You have no idea. But I got up a better person. Stronger. Classier.
Faking a smile, taking longer strides, and let my success after success speak for themselves.
I was fine before him. Of course I will be fine after him.
He was just a chapter. A book. A life.
I'm ending that chapter now. Closing the book. Leaving that life.
And I'm ready for a new chapter. I'm opening a new book. I'm living a new life.
I'm still broken. There's no mending my broken heart. It will never be the same.
But I'm no longer on the ground. I've picked up every piece. I've put them back together. Never the same, though. Way more fragile.
Hence the higher wall I've built around it. As my defense.
Until I'm less fragile. Until I'm ready to be broken again, while hoping I won't.
Which is not going to happen anytime soon.
But I plan. We plan. I had a lot of things planned.
Yet up there, there lies a bigger Planner. The best Planner. Him who makes things happen. Him who allows things to happen.
And I trust Him. I believe He knows what He's doing. I believe He knows what's best for me.
So I got up. I moved forward.
And pray hard to never be broken again.
Everything that had happened between us, it's all in the past.
The hurt, the tears, the blood, all that phases are now over.
He's happy now, I'm happy that he's happy. It did hurt a little, no, a lot, seeing that it's not me who is making him happy. At first. A long first. The longest, hardest first in my life. I won't lie.
But now it's all over.
I took the steps forward. I want to be the bigger person.
I fell. Broken. You have no idea. But I got up a better person. Stronger. Classier.
Faking a smile, taking longer strides, and let my success after success speak for themselves.
I was fine before him. Of course I will be fine after him.
He was just a chapter. A book. A life.
I'm ending that chapter now. Closing the book. Leaving that life.
And I'm ready for a new chapter. I'm opening a new book. I'm living a new life.
I'm still broken. There's no mending my broken heart. It will never be the same.
But I'm no longer on the ground. I've picked up every piece. I've put them back together. Never the same, though. Way more fragile.
Hence the higher wall I've built around it. As my defense.
Until I'm less fragile. Until I'm ready to be broken again, while hoping I won't.
Which is not going to happen anytime soon.
But I plan. We plan. I had a lot of things planned.
Yet up there, there lies a bigger Planner. The best Planner. Him who makes things happen. Him who allows things to happen.
And I trust Him. I believe He knows what He's doing. I believe He knows what's best for me.
So I got up. I moved forward.
And pray hard to never be broken again.
A little something I had in my head for a while.
Monday 12 March 2018
Of Life : Mommy is sick.
I've been sick since Tuesday last week and it's going to be Tuesday again tomorrow. That means, home hasn't been functioning properly for a week now.
Kids skipped school, no proper breakfast, no bento for hubsy (and kids, hence the ponteng), no proper lunch or any meal for a week. I basically got up, popped in some acetaminophen, cooked a little, and slide myself into the thick blanket again. Repeat.
Until the acetaminophen stopped working. On Thursday. And my head throbbed like it's gonna explode in any second.
Later that night hubsy said, "We go clinic tomorrow. You have your sick face on.You rarely have your sick face on."
But he had a big presentation on friday (nihonjin has this thing of having lab meetings after 6pm, I honestly don't understand why), by the time he got back, the clinic would've been closed already so I told him we go on Saturday morning.
We had a nice lunch at an Indian restaurant near our house and went grocery shopping after. And despite such good Sunday weather, we stayed at home the whole day (and drove the kids mad because they were bored).
I woke up this morning with better feelings, made proper breakfast (nutella pancakes and hot milk for the kids and yakisoba for hubsy), prepared bento for them, did some laundry because the sun is out, and update my blog. Please pray I make it until 'publish'. I have like 5 drafts I haven't get to finish yet.
Now I wanna go annoy my youngest with my cuddles.
P/s: this is my attempt for regular blog updates. Some entries might be random, some might be even useless. But if you're reading please bear with me until I get the momentum back, okay? Oh heck maybe I still write nonsense even then.
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