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 details after 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 😁

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  

    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

#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.

A little something I had in my head for a while.

Of Life : Mommy is sick.

I just recovered from the worst flu in my life scratching that I haven't recovered from anything for heaven sake. My body still aches, my head is still throbbing like mad, nostril is stuffy, I have thick brownish snot with tinges of blood, and my voice is stuck inside my voice box, cannot go out because my throat swells and hurts.

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.

Of Kids: Toilet Training Tips (Not!)

Assalamualaikum.

Ammar is totally diaper-free!

Ammar in Jinbei, a casual version of yukata, during his youchien's bon odori

Ammar is my second son, and he's turning 4 in January. Sebab dia dah yang kedua dan we had experience from toilet training amsyar two years ago, so we kinda know what to do. Masa amsyar, beria la gigih cari tips tu tips ni nak toilet train ni.......... but after toilet training two boys, I can safely say this 

NOT ALL TIPS CAN BE APPLIED TO OUR KIDS.

Aku bagi contoh la ek, ni tips toilet train yang aku dapat kat facebook. and my verdict.

10 Tips Potty Training hanya seminggu

1. Jangan marah anak kalau dia terkencing/terberak dalam seluar.

My verdict : hari pertama - ketiga, boleh lah tak marah. Cakap baik2, puji bila berjaya kencing dalam toilet. Masuk hari keempat, dia dah tahap sengaja tahan kencing sebab dia sibuk nak main, pastu terkencing sikit dalam seluar, pastu berlari masuk bilik air. Seluar dah selamat kena kencing 😑 kau rasa macam mana aku taknak ngamuk? Memang aku marah lah.... takde la pukul, tapi aku amek simpan mainan yang dia tengah main tu, esok baru bagi. Kalau dia terkencing pagi nasib lah dia 24 jam tak dapat mainan tu...... kalau tengah tengok tv, aku tutup tv satu hari. Tapi dalam pada  mendenda tu kau kena bgtau banyak kali kenapa kau buat macam tu. Tanya dia, kenapa mummy simpan mainan? Kenapa mummy tutup tv? Sampai dia faham.

2. Belikan underwear/spender cantik2 ada kartun untuk galakkan anak.

My verdict: berkesan 👍 sampai tahap dia leka main pastu tahan kencing macam aku cakap tadi. Aku selalu kata jangan kencing dalam seluar, nanti spiderman basah pastu bau busuk, kesian dia. Masa amsyar dulu dia siap nangis bila terkencing dalam seluar, sebab spiderman dia dah basah 😆 tapi sekejap je la perasaan sedih tu hahaha

3. Jika anak tak fasih bercakap, akan jadi lambat skit.

My verdict : yes and no. Yes, sebab anak2 perlu bersedia sebenarnya untuk potty train ni. And no, dia tak perlu fasih pun. Cukup dia faham kencing, berak, toilet. 

4. Untuk working parents, cuba amek cuti seminggu.

My verdict : aku slalu potty train masa cuti sekolah so aku sentiasa ada kat rumah, tapi nak potty train ni, mesti kena berterusan. Boleh je kalau kau tak cuti tapi kena kawtim dengan pengasuh/nursery. Kau kena train straight jangan bagi pakai diaper, termasuk lah waktu malam. Once dh off, off terus. Bila kau selang selang lagi la payah nak mula balik. Masa aku train amsyar, kitorang start on monday, jumaat tu nak balik kampung. Aku kata kat KF, betul ke ni? Kalau terkencing dalam kereta macam mana? KF kata takpe kita tawakkal. Alhamdulillah ok, berhenti dkt RnR (balik kampung dua jam je pun dalam kereta), lepas tol berhenti lagi. Dia tak cakap nak kencing pun kau paksa jugak dia turun pergi kencing. Jangan pulak kau belasah dua jam dalam kereta tak berhenti pastu bila dia cakap nak terkencing kau marah sebab RnR jauh lagi. Itu kau yang patut kena rotan.

5. Start hari Isnin

My verdict : betul 👍 nak bagi senang kira, dan ala2 macam starting a new phase in his life gitu.

6. Selepas minum susu, bawak pergi toilet untuk kencing selepas 15 - 20 minit.

My verdict : sila gigih ya mak2 bapak2 sekalian. Ni kena buat. Sampai sekarang amsyar dan ammar dah agak succesful pun mummy ni asyik berleter suruh kencing lepas minum air.

7. Hantar anak pergi kencing setiap 15min. Lepas tu panjangkan sikit 20 min. 30 min.

My verdict : betul. Paksa kencing. Kalau pun dia tak kencing, cebuk je macam biasa. Rajin skit mak ye.

8. Bawa anak pergi toilet sebelum tido.

My verdict : ini WAJIB okay.... sebab dia dah kencing pun belum tentu dia takkan kencing atas tilam.

9. Bangunkan anak tengah malam untuk kencing, 2 kali.

My verdict : ni aku tak buat hahaha... malas aku nak kacau diorang tido. Confirm mengamuk menangis pastu aku pun sama nak mengamuk. So aku akan suruh diorang kencing sebelum tido. Jangan bagi minum air setengah jam sebelum tido. Dan yang paling penting - WATERPROOF BEDSHEET. Sila beli. 

10. S.A.B.A.R

My verdict : beli banyak2 buat stok ok. You'll need it. hahahah

My additional tips - yang ni strictly untuk anak2 aku ye.. korang boleh la try tapi aku tak guarantee la result akan sama, sebab budak2 ni bukan sama semuanya kan. Tapi aku dah try kat anak aku dua orang, so far alhamdulillah la.

11. Jangan mengelat. Once dah off diaper, jangan pakai kan balik. Terus je off siang malam pergi jalan ke mana2 ke. Sebab bila kau dah pakaikan diaper balik, nanti lagi payah kau nak buang. Memang payah laaa... aku tiga hari pertama hari2 jemur tilam oi.. pastu baru sedar kewujudan waterproof bedsheet hahaha... seluar jangan cakap la, aku siap pg mydin beli seluar murah2 tu dalam 10 helai sebab cepat gila seluar habis, asyik terkencing dalam seluar je. Tapi bila kau totaaly off mcm tu, dia lagi cepat belajar. Plus anak2 aku semua kategori penggeli, taknak seluar basah, taknak tilam basah. So bila dia dh terbasah tu dia dah tak buat dah sebab dia geli hahahah

12. Make sure anak betul2 ready. Tak semestinya by ready tu umur dia dah banyak. Tapi maybe kau boleh ajar awal2, setiap kali nak kencing dan berak kau bawak pg toilet walaupun dalam diaper. So dia faham yang nak nak membuang kena pergi toilet. Mula seawal mungkin. Bila dah betul2 ready baru nak take off diaper completely.

13. Mak bapak laaaaaa yang paling penting kena ready hahahahahaha........ sabar kena banyak oi, tenaga pun kena banyak, selain standby sabar, kau kena jugak lipat segala karpet yang ada untuk mengurangkan benda2 nak dibasuh (sebab tu aku train masa summer, masa winter aje cari pasal nak lipat karpet, tak pijak lantai laaa anak2 aku hahahah), dan standby jugak mop dan baldi paling canggih dan senang bcz youre gonna need it!

Sekian tips dari mak anak tiga hahaha dua dah lepas, tinggal satu lagi, tunggu summer depan lah! See you later alligator!

Of Kids: Makan Memilih, Tolong!

Assalamualaikum.

Baru dua minggu 夏休み (Natsu Yasumi - Summer Holiday) dan aku dah tak sabar nak budak2 ni masuk sekolah balik! hahahahaha #makjenisapa

Bukan apaaaaaa...... tak larat nak masak macam2 benda dalam satu hari... my kids are the typical picky eaters, dan ada tiga tekak maksudnya tiga jenis dishes yang berbeza. Penat! Lepas tu paling sakit hati bila, kita dah penat2 masak ikut tekak masing2 (maksudnya empat lauk berbeza termasuk untuk daddy dia), tetiba dengan takde rasa bersalahnya diorang announce

"taknak makan nasi, nak roti dengan nutella" 

😓😑

Masalahnya, kalau pergi sekolah tu, aku bawakkan bento sama je pun hari2... tapi makan je sampai habis. Siap makan lagi kalau aku letak strawberry ke apple slices ke. Kat rumah haraaammmm nak makan sayur buah segala. Tapi kat rumah, kalau hari ni dah nasi dengan ayam goreng, kau janganlah repeat balik lauk yang sama esoknya walaupun hari ni makan banyak gila bertambah2. Confirm tak laku! Takkan aku nak bagi makan roti dengan nutella hari2 kan? Itupun aku dah tahan2 KF drp beli roti hari2. Kat sini roti satu pek ada lapan keping je, budak2 ni sekali hadap habis dah. Seminggu sekali je beli roti, Kalau diorang nampak je ada roti kat rumah, confirmlah taknak makan nasi!

Bento pergi youchien

Jadi aku dengan KF dan buatlah satu strategi ni... makan cuma waktu makan, dan makan apa yang ada. Kalau taknak makan, sukahati, dipersilakan lah lapar sampai waktu makan yang seterusnya. Tapi aku buat makan empat kali sehari lah, breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner. 

Nan hadooooooo! Aku ingatlah mampu nak bertahan kalau diorang taknak makan.....rupanya bila taknak makan diorang berzikir pulak kat telinga aku, amsyar nak makan apa ni, ammar lapar, ulang sampai boring. Hari pertama kedua mampu la aku nak bertahan, hari ketiga aku dah kesian, sebab bila aku biarkan, diorang memang tak makan apa2 wey! Hadudududududu.... hari keempat aku masak nasi lemak dgn ayam goreng, empat pot tak cukup! Hari kelima aku masaklah ayam goreng lagi, tapi nasi putih biasa jelaa... langsung taknak. Stress aku!

Pagi tadi bangun2 je mintak karipap.... kau ingat karipap tu lima minit siap kee nak oiiii... semalam aku buat donut dua puluh biji, habis oi tinggal empat biji dalam peti aku tak goreng lagi. Hari ni takleh donut dah, diorang dah boring, kalau aku goreng jugak confirm makan secubit pastu sepah. Pastu aku yang nak mengamuk aihh

Hari ni masak nasi dengan sup ayam, pastu taknak makan, mintak makaroni.. aku dah buatkan makaroni, dia makan dua ketul je pastu kenyang. Lima minit pastu sibuk lapar lapar hoiihhhhhhh marah ni marah maaaakk

Macam mana nak buat anak redhooooooooo je menerima makan apa adanya wey....aku tak kisah pun diorang taknak makan sayur, makan nasi hari2 dengan apa lauk pun aku dah bahagia daaaahhhhhh.... dah la kat sini takleh nak beli, kalau boleh beli kuih2 tepi jalan tu lain lah ceritanya!

Kbai mak nak bertukar hijau sambil pegang rotan.