September ILC Meeting

The first ILC (International Ladies Club) was last week. Usually this meeting is rather on the dull side because it's the annual "general meeting", so they just introduce the new board and talk about how much money we donated to various organizations and then we all eat a lovely Japanese lunch. I go to this one usually because all the Japanese ladies whose names you can never remember are always so delighted to see you again after a two month break, it just would make anyone feel special. I did come prepared, though: I haven't been having much luck with Japanese food, so I packed myself a lunch (which I started eating while the general meeting was still going on, much to the amusement of the ladies at my table who understood my reasons).
This meeting, turned out to be rather amusing, though, because the group in charge decided to teach us some string games after lunch, with the help of these lovely ladies:



I know the picture just looks like they all have put white gloves and t-shirts over their nice clothes and they have chef's hats on, but these women are fingers. Each of them has a lovely fingerprint on their hats (and a red nail on the other side). The one on the left is the thumb. One of the other women would explain to us how to do the string trick, while they would demonstrate on stage where we could all see:





It was really quite impressive. I've played a few string games before, and I never would have thought of using people as fingers to teach a crowd. Afterwards, they all came around and showed the tables individually what to do, so we could imitate their results:


Going to ILC and OSC events is like having a very large group of mothers around. Since all the Americans know I'm pregnant (I told one or two and it just spread), I have been getting boatloads of American advice. At ILC, one woman told me a horror story about her daughter's water breaking after she lifted and moved a bunch of stuff and bent over too much. I assured her I wasn't doing any heavy lifting. Heck, even my groceries don't weight that much (but Zack carries them when he's home anyway).
Japanese advice, on the other hand, has been minimal so far. I don't know if this is because 1) not that many Japanese people know yet, 2) they're just not as advice-giving in general, or 3) something else. I have recieved a few interesting tidbits for those of you who are curious though.
Fun fact 1: Japanese people count a pregnancy as 10 months, not 9. This makes explaining how far along I am a little challenging because I'm not really sure where the 10th month goes. I generally just say the weeks instead.
Fun fact 2: Japanese doctors worry if Japanese women gain more than 20 lbs during pregnancy. Thinking back, now, I wonder if the lady who told me meant kilos (which would make total sense with what Americans say), but she's usually on the ball when it comes to those kind of conversions, so may be they really are expected to gain less. I will be interested to see what this means for me when I go to the Japanese doctor in another month or so.
Advice on morning sickness: Take a walk/get some fresh air. This came from one of my classes of grandmother-aged women. It never would have occured to me, especially in the heat, to go outside when I felt sick. In fact, my instinct is to find someplace to lay down, not go out. But hey, it might work... If my whole neighborhood didn't usually smell like someone cooking something...
Dietary advice: Eat more fish. This one come from one of my bosses, who knows I eat almost zero fish on average. He cited the fact that fish have proteins (or are they fats) that are in the brain. When I told him that most American women avoid fish because of mercury, he replied that mercury really only builds up in "flat fish", the ones that live at the bottom of the ocean. He suggested salmon or tuna, which more or less lines up with some of the less conservative articles I've read.
And finally, I got in the car with a Japanese woman (another of my bosses) today and automatically buckled my seatbelt as usual. She was absolutely shocked. I should begin by stating that wearing a seatbelt has only recently (like within this year) been made a requirement in the Tokyo area, and around here kids rarely use car seats and even adults don't use seatbelts that often (though all the American rules apply on base). I suppose the fact that accidents are less common here might have something to do with this trend. Apparently, though, doctors actually advise women here not to wear their seatbelts after 4 or 5 months (depending on where that 10th month falls)! I assured this woman that my (maternity) pants were tighter than the seatbelt, and the baby would be fine. She was probably as amazed as I was.
Baby is doing just fine by the way. In a sudden burst of generousity, it allowed me to go out for Italian last night with no ill effects. I finished my pasta at lunch today and was very happy for what seemed like a "real" meal for once.
As usual, we'll keep you updated!