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After a lot of talking with my husband and thinking, we decided to not enroll Motoki in the athletics club. As sad as it is to say, it ends up boiling down to money. Not that we can`t afford it (it is outrageous… But that`s not the issue) – but rather that it would be a total waste to have him join it now.
The school year ends in the middle of March. For the last few weeks there are various events… The only advantage to joining now is that we would only have to pay half the regular entrance fee… A discount of 3000yen. And in return, we`d pay 2 months worth of class fees (a total of 12000yen) for two classes. In my eyes, a complete waste. I`d much rather pay the regular entrance fee and start at a point where there are a normal number of classes each month.
Motoki was disappointed, but that is life. We will consider joining again in April.

I doubt there is anyone out there who cares about this as much as we do, but more fun car info after the break!
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Last June, we decided we wanted a new car. While we love and adore our car, it`s getting old (by Japanese standards). And, just about that time our air conditioning pump developed a problem. All repaired under warranty, but we figured that it was as good a time as ever. Our car`s shaken expires in March, so it seemed a good idea to buy a car before we would have to pay those fees again. On July 1st, we put in an order for the 2010 Prius.

I have never bought a car in the US – but I understand that the whole purchase process is quite a bit different there. (Please correct me if I`m wrong…) Apparently you go to a lot and look at the available cars, usually choosing one of the many on the lot or ask the dealer to have one delivered from another lot somewhere. If you`re unlucky, you may have to wait a bit until another shipment comes in and the model/color you want is available.
In Japan, when you order your car – they make the car for you. You choose your options, your color, etc – and they actually send an order to the factory. Dealers only have display models, nothing you can drive home. Normally this doesn`t take all that much time. When we ordered our current car, it was made and at the dealer to pick up in a week or two. However, when there are a lot of orders you have to wait your turn. You get your car pretty much as soon as it is made, but there is still a wait.
With the 2010 Prius, the number of orders was (and still is) much higher than the actual manufacturing speed. We placed our order on July 1st, and have finally received news that it will begin on the production line the 17th. The car will be delivered to the dealer the week of the 25th, and we will be able to pick it up on the 27th or 28th. We will have been waiting for 8 months.

The dreaded business trip was finalized and my husband left yesterday. It is only supposed to be for a month or two… But that`s exactly how last year`s 6 month trip started. I can`t say I have high hopes this time around either.  Back to being a pretend single mother…