Closed.

Kyoto city now has it's first swine flu (novel H1N1 flu, officially?) case.  A boy (10), who has not been out of the city for more than a week, was confirmed to have it.  That means, the virus is here in Kyoto area for a while.  Now all the high schools in the city, along with some elementary schools and kindergartens, which includes the one my daughter goes, are closed for one week.  We have talked about the possibility several times with her since the epidemic in North America hit the news.  I am not panicked, nor my daughter.  Just a little disappointed not to see her friends, and a little excited to have more TV time.

I just hope a quick recovery of the boy.  New strain or not, influenza is a nasty disease.

Officials recommend using use-it & toss-it type face masks when going out.  HA!  They're sold out.  It's OK.  I've made several of this.

Baah.

It's made of soft cotton double gauze.  They say it's not effective to catch sneezes and coughs, just works to some degree to prevent touching nose/mouth with unwashed hands.  I don't really care how much it works.  I simply like the idea of  having cute pink sheep close to me.

Tell the truth, I never liked and still don't wearing these kind of masks.  My daughter tried it, like, for 10 seconds and gave it away to her "friends" (toys, stuffed animals, dollies). 

Well, we'll just wash our hands more often.

Today, it's raining outside.  This maybe good for the purpose of restricting young children from going out & spread the virus, and is a bad, bad news to mothers who have over-energized and bored school-goers.

We (my daughter and I) are planning a little baking.  I am planning a little organizing on toys, too, but my daughter is not so keen on it.  Anyway, it's not so bad to have more mother-and-daughter time (yeah, it's a new mantra for me now).

Baah.