A return to Universal

As promised I brought my angels back to the theme park.
Hitomi really does have a lot on her plate and so sadly once again she couldn't be with us for our trip out. It's wonderful news for the studio and for her dream but with my thinking on that I feel the loss of something missing in my life. Don't misunderstand me please, I love the role of Mother, although I'm not sure I can be the stay-at-home type. I feel that I still have so much to give and I want to find a useful niche in society. It is not about finance since she alone is now the one with a regular income because I have other sources of income. It really is about being useful, using my skills (other than part-time events modeling) and finding a place. A place where I can feel that I belong and I can be a useful contributing employee. Unfortunately not many companies are really hiring women with children and those that are only offer menial work for low pay. It never occurred to me about the problems that Mother's face that could make us feel this empty. I even feel victimized because of my life role.
 Before my children came to live with us and I had full time employment, I had naturally assumed that girls get married, have a family and enjoy the role of mother - a housewife and raising her children. It's a role I wanted so much and now that I have it I will admit that I love it and I wouldn't change it for anything but I despair at the lack of employment options that are available, or should I say are not available for us.
From some people I know, I have had the chance to be a cashier in a food market, a waitress in a high pressure fast food restaurant and I could even be a cleaner in an office building. I am not demeaning these menial tasks because of pride. I can do them I guess but wouldn't it be a terrible waste of my abilities?


Rina, my brother's girl, said that she would gladly look after my children if I wanted to return to a full time position but this misses my point and my objective. I still want and need to be a Mother to my Children but I want to find a position that will challenge my abilities and do so in a schedule where I can manage that and mothering. Do I ask too much?
Sorry, I am just letting off my frustration as it streams from my fingers into my keyboard!

On Thursday I took my children to see a new school. It's the one that I attended as a young girl and I told them about some of my days at that school and I had them smiling, which was a good thing because I wanted them to be comfortable in their surroundings. Smiles and laughter are conducive to that. I was simply amazed to find one teacher still there who had taught me when I was there and after I introduced myself to him he smiled and he did remember me. He has aged fairly well in the twenty years since he taught me and when he asked what I was doing now I really felt awkward in saying I was just a full time Mother even though that for me carried a new sense of pride, so I quickly added that I was recently working for a girls magazine but I am now seeking a new position that I can fit alongside my home duties. He couldn't help me with that after mentioning a recently filled clerical position in the school office but he enjoyed a light conversation with my two little ones as he escorted us to the school office. After a very nice discussion with the head of school, my angels will begin their new academic year in this new school (my old school) after the Spring break in March.

On Friday we returned to Osaka once more and this time they both, no wait, all three of us enjoyed the Universal theme park. Those dinosaurs are still scary but my children liked to see me scared for some reason and so being the fantastic actress that I am, I made them laugh with my "I am so scared routine."  Thankfully they then they led me to the safer environment of the Charlie Brown studios. By the time we had finished playing and exploring in there and we had also visited Hello Kitty's fashion avenue and her cupcake dream (yummy cupcakes), we were ready for lunch. We left the park for the Universal cityscape because the food over there is not overpriced and in my opinion it is more healthy and nutritious. We all opted for a nice chilli prawn linguine which was delightfully ravished by three hungry mouths and it warmed us up from the inside on this bitterly cold day and once the chocolate ice cream had disappeared into our tummies the excitement of the park called out to us once again. Once back inside we waited in line for almost 50 minutes for the spider-man ride. It was an enjoyable ride yes but the wait for that and for the other rides is just too long. The angels had their faces painted and then we watched and took part in the Shrek adventure show where we all got wet from the waterfall but thankfully we were (proverbially) all dried out when the dragon came to save the day.