It’s all a big change for a small child - moving to a completely different country - yet Rhiannon is coping brilliantly on the whole.
Apart from a few moments when she becomes overwhelmed missing her friends in the UK, she has settled into her new life remarkably well. She has had a lot of time off school though. She left her first school in the UK early in November and a place won't be available here until January, so this means we are spending a lot of time together. Maybe this is helping her get used to the whole new life ahead of her.
However, I am very much looking forward to being able to visit the shops on my own when she has her two acclimatisation days at school... I need some 'me time'!
Overall, Rhiannon has taken to city life like a duck to water; she hops on and off the Metro like a seasoned commuter and isn’t fazed by the crowds and noise at all, which is quite surprising as she hated loud noises in the UK.
One difficulty we’ve encountered is the incredibly dry air in Tokyo at this time of year, which is compounded by our hot air heating system. Two problems this has caused are flyaway hair (Rhiannon) and a huge static build-up (me).
Rhiannon’s long, fine hair is completely unmanageable and the cat won’t come near me due to the sharp shock he receives through his nose on contact. A friend kindly suggested I fit an earthing strip to either myself or the cat!
As this wasn’t entirely practical, and Rhiannon won’t allow her hair to be cut, we bought some humidifiers which helped not a jot. I guess we’ll get used to it.
Unfortunately, the dryness also proved too much for Rhiannon’s delicate nasal membranes and the poor girl succumbed to frequent severe nosebleeds which upset her considerably. Her nosebleeds occur almost every night around 3am. Mercifully, we eventually found a remedy; she rubs Vaseline in her nostrils each night and this has solved the problem.
Another predicament is Rhiannon’s fear of the ‘shower toilets’ found in most stores. She was startled by her first experience in one when an automatic ‘running water’ sound turned on automatically, and is absolutely terrified by the wires and buttons attached to the seat. Logic will not prevail in this case. She is just about OK with the heated seats, but would much rather use the Japanese style facilities.
Something to keep working on!
