ThoseSneakyJapanese... Baby!

A couple of nights ago we heard a newborn crying at night next door (opposite direction of Dickhead, thank god! We don't need three generations of dickheads living next to us, as two is two too many).

Mayu: "Is that a baby crying next door?"

Me: (listening) "It sure sounds like one, but it couldn't be theirs, as she hasn't been pregnant."

Mayu: "True, true..."

Me: "Maybe a relative is visiting..."

Well, just now, as I am finally putting away the coffee, olive oil and cashews that I bought I hear a bunch of kids playing next door. I look outside and see two of the neighbourhood girls holding this brand new ... baby!

So I grabbed my camera and took this photo:

The girls saw me and I waved. I asked if it's the neighbour's baby and they said yes!

My jaw dropped.

I closed my mouth and I asked when it was born and she responded, 2008, March 14th.

My jaw dropped...

Then the little boy next door who is just a few years old, but old enough to not stop talking saw me and said, "I'm a big brother now!"

My jaw dropped...

Well, I went outside to the ruckus and congratulated the mom and the sister in-law (they live here both families on the same short street just four houses away from each other), and the grandma who always comes over and does all their laundry, and house cleaning, etc. every day (and has been doing as long as we've been here).

And I had to ask... "WHEN on earth were you pregnant????" And she laughed and said that's what everyone in the neighbourhood has been asking her. She said that she was here until the last month when she took leave and went back to her parent's place. Then she had the baby, stayed there for a while and just recently came back here (that's how they do it in Japan).

We HAVE seen her over the past 10 months... but never even once did it ever occur to us that she might have been pregnant!

I mean, I've been exposed during my two decades of being here (as most likely Matt and Dunnster will have experienced), cute coworkers, female friends, etc. who are "single" every time you ask them, and then the next thing you know they are going from "single" to "just married"! You have to ask yourself "when did boyfriend come in?" Usually Japanese women tend to be "single" or "I have lots of boyfriends" because they don't share this stuff with others who are not directly in their circle (even coworkers, believe it or not!). So I'm used to that.

But what I am NOT used to is a family that we chat with when they go to work, when they come home, and whenever we see them (in a blue moon?) to SUDDENLY have a brand spanking new baby!

Well, everyone, meet Kazuma Shimizu, a boy born March 14th, 2008.

ThoseSneakyJapanese!