2005-09-19

The alarm went off at 6:30, but we didn’t get out of bed until 7 (when the computer turned on). I offered to cook for Eriko and she requested an egg over easy that had been slightly steamed. Not sure what this fancy contraption is called. She was feeling tired and strange so she almost immediately went back to bed; I went ahead and left for work, arriving at 7:30. Work was pretty busy and time went fast. I ate lunch with Scott and Shai; we obtained burritos from Blue Water Taco a few blocks away and went back to the Isilon lunch room. At some point we began discussing politics; surprising enough Shai brought up the topic of a military coup in the United States and we discussed that for a little while. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that Shai would enjoy talking about politics; he is from Israel and you simply cannot hide from politics in that country. I left work about 2:15 as Eriko and I were headed for our first visit at the Nadeshiko clinic. The clinic is in Kirkland, about 30 minutes away, but (thanks to a Google map) we found it right away. At first the clinic was relatively empty; Eriko was filling out forms when a dad, mom, and their newborn (3 days) arrived to pick up a prescription. They brought along a friend and a grandmother. It was neat to watch the tiny little baby but then they left and Eriko was hungry and I was bored. Finally (about 4) we were able to see the nurse/mid-wife (our appointment was scheduled for 3, but she was apologetic). We had a nice Q&A session for about 30 minutes. At first she did a bunch of explaining to Eriko in Japanese and then I started asking questions. From that point on, Sachiko explained everything in English (I guess she realized that I was interested. ;) Traffic was slow so our trip back too a little more time but not much. Eriko made some noodles for dinner upon our return. I used the computer (and watched a little) while she watched Tokyo godfathers (a Japanese animation). Then we switched places and I did homework while she used the computer. She told me that her mother wanted her to have the baby in Japan and that got me pretty frustrated. I had to think fast to come up with some practical reasons why that shouldn’t happen - cost (insurance) as well as immigration. Eriko took a shower and I made some tea, then I took a shower. I did some homework and used the computer, and then we hit the sack.