There's a way.

There was a bazaar at my children's school today. This is one of annual events which is held to gather people and money. Some people say fundraising is a must for any PTA's activities at school; however, I'm a bit skeptical about the notion.

Visitng a bazaar is fun. Children look very happy, and guardians can get to know each other through preparing for bazaars. I admit it; of course, but holding a bazaar sometimes can be someone's annoyance. Some kids need to be without their mothers until the end of the bazaar, because their mothers are quite busy for preparing. They can't enjoy a bazaar with their mothers, because their mothers have to fundraise.

I used to be a member of a school committee; I had to be at school almost every day, and my children needed to wait for me until I could take a rest.
"Why can't you stay with us?" my daughter asked. I couldn't say anything but "Because I have a job."

I think that's why many mothers are reluctant to take a responsibility for their school's activity. Mothers like to enjoy a bazaar with our children, not to take part in fundraiser.
Having said that, it wouldn't be good for us to avoid joining our school's activities as a member of PTA. What shall we do...?

As I couldn't stand my pain in my shoulders and neck any longer, I went to see a doctor to have acupuncture this afternoon. I was a bit nervous because I had never experienced it. To tell the truth, I had been a bit skeptical about its effect on us until I made up my mind to try. Well, we have no choice when we suffer from something bad, don't we? As they say, "Seeing is believing." Now I feel very relaxed after having acupuncture.
I had an image of a remedy using needles as a kind of torture, but I found that's not true. As you can see in the picture, the needles they use are so teeny-weeny that we easily forget to have ones on our arms.

Somehow, I have been suffering stiff shoulders for 2 weeks. At first, I thought I caught a cold. I had a slight fever, and I felt drowsy all day even when I was watching my favorite films.

This morning, my husband asked me, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, why?"
"Well, I woke up in the middle of the night last night because of your pretty big snoring."
"Oh, my...."

I rarely snore when I was sleeping. When I snore, I'm always under the weather. Does it have to do with this terrible stiff shoulders? I'm writing this diary, bearing my pain in my back...

I felt very tired last night, so I went to bed earier than usual. Although it was 8 pm, I fell asleep at once. When I woke up this morning, my family had already got up. To my surprise, I kept sleeping for 13 hours!

Although I've still been studying English myself, sometimes I am an English teacher. I started to teach adults, because I wanted to try something new for my English ability. In fact, teaching is learning. I've been learning a lot from my students.

Ikeda-san and Okamura-san are my students. I got to know them around two years ago, and they have always been with me since then. They are the same age as my mother, but I'm really comfortable with them like when I'm with my friends. Today, we went out for lunch after lesson.

What a spread! We enjoyed chatting over delicious cuisine. To my surprise, they bought me lunch! "It's no big deal. We'd love to," they replied. I didn't know what to say...