Chaos and Kairos

Blue-eyed Samurai

2009-06-06T20:55:00.002+09:00

The fact that I have blue eyes in a land of "black" eyes* is one that doesn't come to my attention very often. It has been quite a long time since the questions such as "how do you see out of your eyes?" have been asked of me. The boy that called me the "blue-eyed samurai" has grown up and stopped the reference. Also, since I only see brown eyes for the most part, my eyes don't stand out to me so much although sometimes they do seem strange when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror!

The other day I went to get contact lenses and I was repeatedly told that the lenses should be slightly larger than the black part of my eye and when putting them in to aim for the black part of my eye, etc. Finally the woman who was fitting the lenses realized what she was saying became a bit flustered. We then discussed the actual color of my eyes and decided that "black" could work for blue eyes as well!

It reminded me of one day long ago after preschool when I asked my light-brown-haired son what color his hair was and he said, "black". "No, son, your hair is light brown." "No, Mommy, it's black!" "Grass is green, the sky is blue, and hair is black!"

It makes me wonder what else in my world perspective needs expanding....

* Japanese use the word for black (くろ) to refer to the color of their irises.

For Sharon

2009-05-21T23:07:00.003+09:00

Okay, I have not posted anything here in ages, or more than six months for accuracy buffs. Well, we are in the process of getting rid of most of our stuff and packing up and shipping off whatever we can't seem to get rid of which is turning out to mostly be photos and tons (120 kilos to date) of books.

I have been saying goodbyes and connecting in strange and marvelous ways with people and memories from the past 25 plus years. Today we took a guest to the local bath house. I will not go into cultural faux pas at this point, but am relieved we did not get caught. (Even told our guest that I would act as if I did not know her if she was found out...rather pointless I know since we were the only foreigners there and she, at least, is an Asian foreigner so the fault would all be mine!) But did have a deja view experience dating back to the time I was at Dogo Hot Springs (1983) on the island of Shikoku and I was probably the only foreigner that the people in the bath had ever seen up close. As I stood up to leave the baths to return to the "put your clothes back on" area, everyone in the bath (women and children of both sexes) lined up and shook my hand. That and people coming out of shops and houses to stare at me as I walked down the street are experiences I will never forget. Also the myriad of people who would comment on the size of my nose.

Today an older woman in the local nice bathhouse kept miming a large nose and then pointing to me. She did it over and over. I wasn't quite sure of how to respond, so I just said, "Yes, my nose is large/tall" At that, 4 women, who were observing this, all said in unison, "Wow, she speaks Japanese." which in this instance simply meant that they understood the sentence I said but did not expect much more. It was like times have not changed (but they have since people are really not that freaked out by foreigners anymore and many will even carry on normal conversations without calling attention to my use of Japanese).

It is nice to understand what people are saying and not have to sign back!

Tokyo Citizen's Day

2008-10-02T16:32:00.005+09:00

October 1st is Tokyo Citizens Day and all public schools are off for the day and all city-run facilities, like museums and zoos, are free to the public. In the past we have gone to various museums and zoos and enjoyed the day off provided by the city. This year, I forgot about it until I noticed the kids weren't going to school and Takeshi came in all excited about doing something together as a family. Let's go to a Hot Spring. We can go to Hawaiians, Nasu or Yunessan. We decided on Yunessan since it was the closest (only an hour and a half away in Hakone) and we hadn't been since we went spur of the moment with Joshua in January of 2003. We packed up our bathing suits, figured out how to get discount tickets and were off. We had a great time in the baths together and later split up for segregated bathing.

I guess the new experience this time was with the "doctor fish". It was a special exhibit and we lined up for the 1:30pm experience. We joined a group of people and sat on the edge of a pool filled with doctor fish. At the given signal we all put our feet in and kept them steady while the fish swarmed around them and began to nibble. It was slightly ticklish and somewhat strange to see all these fish covering our feet. But I kept my feet still for the allowed 5 minutes. Then we all pulled our feet out slowly and walked around the pool to the trough of disinfectant. We waded through that and let the guides spray our hands with alcohol and we were done. My feet are definitely smoother. I would do it again. It was a very good day!! I think all cities should have a "Citizen's Day!"

Chaperoning has its rewards!

2008-09-07T23:27:00.003+09:00

Today I chaperoned the girls' basketball team for a local tournament. We left the house at 6:30am and returned about 6:45pm. It was a full day. One other mom went with me and we met up with the coach at the station near the tournament venue. It was a little less than a 10 minute walk from there. Halfway through I realized that I was the only chaperone for the journey home, so I had better pay some attention to where we were and how we were going. Our team tried hard but lost their tournaments. I did enjoy rooting for them and my voice is a bit hoarse!! I can see improvement in the team each time, so it is fun.

Anyway, near the end of the final match, one of the moms came and gave me a thank-you-for-watching-the-team-all-day present. I had never gotten one of these before. It was a whole squid! (Fortunately, cleaned and ready to cook!) I was told to fry it or use it for tempura. Kei made yakisoba for church and so we fried up the squid for a side dish and ate it together. It was really delicious. Tender and flavorful. Kie especially enjoyed it as you can see!!

Basketball Training Camp

2008-09-05T17:38:00.003+09:00

For four days this summer (August 24-27), I was immersed in laundry and Poccari Sweat and digital photography in the mountains of Sugadaira, Nagano, Japan. Each day began at 5:45am with waking the 26 Junior Highers and watching them run for an hour until breakfast. Two of the mornings involved climbing up to the ski slopes so the kids could run those. After breakfast it was 4 hours of practice, lunch, 5 more hours of practice, dinner and then 2 hours of 5 on 5 scrimmages (coaches against kids). I went along as one of 3 moms to do laundry, refill sports drink bottles and party in the evenings until 1 or 2am. Okay, so on the last night I fell asleep in the middle of the party.....but I was up at the crack of dawn each day and I pulled my weight in beverages and sweaty clothes!!! And I didn't make any huge cultural mistakes--at least none anyone will tell me about!
Seriously it was an excellent camp and I was impressed with the effort of the coaching team to work to develop each child--physically, emotionally and in character. They were not put off by bad attitudes or low skill levels. I watched each child change. They started saying please and thank you and clearing tables and they started noticing that they could do more than they thought they could and so could their teammates. They even started cheering for each other. It was amazing and I really enjoyed the experience. Takeshi joined us for most of the time so our whole family was there which was a special bonus. The coaches pronounced him "most improved player". (It was his first time to actually play basketball!!)
I would do it again in a heartbeat....after I have caught up on some sleep!!!

Basketball Tournament First Round

2008-06-08T16:16:00.003+09:00

Today began the first round of Kei's final basketball tournament as a Junior High Student. We were the host school for today's games and both our girls and boys teams go on to next weeks' games. This is a single elimination tournament so the stakes are high. After this tournament, the ninth graders "retire" in order to concentrate on studying for upcoming entrance examinations for Senior High School. Todays games were easy draws and both teams won by a large margin. The girls' score was 90 to 20 and the boys' score was 116 to 27. Ninth graders were the main players although the 8th grade teams got to play for a few minutes during the last halves. Seventh graders (and anyone else not on the court) cheered and iced and fanned the players during time outs. Kie was the stat person for the girls' game which she enjoys. She also likes to cheer. I like cheering too and it is especially fun when they are playing well, having fun, and winning!!

What do the moms do besides cheering, you ask? They make lots of rice balls for the coaches and referees!!!

Electives!

2008-04-23T17:23:00.002+09:00

Kei came home from school last week with a list of electives that he could choose from. There were 14 of them and ninth graders get to choose four. The first elective he choose was PE. ( It is not like he doesn't have PE in school. He has a regular PE class in addition to basketball practice three or more times a week! ) "Kei, shouldn't you be studying something?" "Well, I plan to take Social Studies but English class is below my level and I already know the math and science..." "Okay, well, then take a variety." So Kei signed up for PE, Social Studies, Art (drawing), and Music (traditional Japanese instruments). I found out today that he got into all of his classes.

Kie came home on Monday very excited with her own list of 7 electives. Seventh graders get to choose one. She wanted to take industrial arts. (It is not like she doesn't study art in school--she has both regular art class and industrial arts class!) "Kie, aren't you supposed to take something to help you with a subject you are weak in?" "They didn't say anything about that. Besides, I don't know what I am weak in and, Mom, they're ELECTIVES. That means you get to choose what you want! Mom, this class does things with trees. I love trees!" Can't argue with that. So extra art it is! And I think she meant "wood".

Parent's meeting

2008-04-15T23:00:00.002+09:00

Monday was the first parents' meeting for the new 9th graders. Kei has the same teacher as in 7th grade. The meeting began in the gym with the principal and five main teachers responsible for 9th grade all giving speeches. Oh, it began with the new music teacher who made us all sing. We sang a song that the 9th graders are all learning this year--it is a traditional song from 100 years ago and she said that all us moms had learned it in Junior High. She was appalled that only 10 out of 91 kids had ever heard it and told us we should do better!!! I felt especially bad since I did not know the song and couldn't sing very well. I felt MUCH better later when I found out Kei was one of the 10!!!!

After the speeches, we got into our groups to decide PTA responsibilities. Takeshi and I had already decided that we would not commit to any big roles this year. Our class finally filled all the positions. They also talked about recruiting moms for very short volunteer roles as needed. They said they needed 5 moms for the upcoming sports festival. So I volunteered. Nothing so strange about that, but I am still not sure what I actually volunteered for! I will either be participating in some type of relay event involving moms from all grades or I am patrolling the grounds for 30 minutes or I am a receptionist. I was too embarrassed to ask since I had volunteered myself! I guess I will just find out when the time comes.

The adventure continues...

Kei's Basketball Team

2008-04-13T15:43:00.006+09:00

Kei began 9th grade basketball on April 1st with a new coach. This coach has a reputation for making strong teams--even with no strong individual players. His teams have been top in our city. So Kei is quite excited for his last half year of basketball here. (Ninth graders only play the first half of the year since they have to study hard for high school entrance exams.) Takeshi and I went to cheer on Kei and the team at the opening games for this season. Kei's team won 73-40. It is fun to watch Kei (#18) play. He is quite a strong all-around player. He was feeling really good at the end of this game as he sunk the final basket just as the buzzer went off--3 pointer to boot! Doesn't get much better than that! (In this video clip, Kei starts out on the left and gets the rebound and passes to #33 who passes to #7 who passes back to Kei.)

Hello, Ogichu!

2008-04-10T18:48:00.003+09:00

On Tuesday, Kie officially became a 7th grade student at Ogikubo Junior HIgh. Here in Japan, we celebrate entrances as well as graduations. The entrance ceremony was nice. There are 91 students divided into three classes. Kie is in the B class. One third of the students are from Kie's elementary school. It was fun to see all the kids dressed in their slightly oversized school uniforms.

After the entrance ceremony, the parents divide into the classes and each class must select 7 PTA committee members. It is an interesting process and must be finished before they will take the official pictures. While we were working on this, the PTA president came over and talked to me. Her daughter has been in Kei's class every year. That perked up the other parents' interest in me a bit. (People are often afraid of me since they assume I can't speak Japanese and it usually takes some effort on my part to get over that initial barrier.) Our group decided 6 of the 7 positions and were having trouble filling the last spot. At this point the PTA vice president, introduced me to the group as having filled that position last year and then asked me to talk about it! So I gave a short appeal and one of the ladies agreed to do it! This should help the first parents' meeting go well for me! I did enjoy all the PTA stuff last year, but it will be nice to have some time off!

Kie is growing up nicely. We are very proud of her!

Momosan, Goodbye!

2008-03-26T16:22:00.007+09:00

Yesterday was Kie's graduation ceremony from elementary school. It was a formal event held at school in the morning. Speeches were given and diplomas handed out. Fifth graders thanked and sang to them. The graduating sixth graders charged the fifth graders to do their best for the school. Then they sang to thank their parents and teachers. At the end in unison, the 72 graduates said,

"Momosan Elementary School, Goodbye!
Momosan Elementary School, Goodbye!
Momosan Elementary School, Goodbye!"

Goodbye elementary school. Goodbye childhood and carefree times. We have grown up and we are moving on.

Game Cancelled!

2008-02-03T07:12:00.000+09:00

Today was an invitational tournament where we were to play against teams ranked in the top eight in the Greater Tokyo area. We were quite excited about the games. Well, not excited about the meeting time of 6:30am at the local park. But Kie and I got up, packed lunches and a large thermos of coffee and headed out the door to walk to the park. The main difference this morning was that is wasn't as dark as this time last month and it was snowing pretty steadily. When we got to the park we found out that the game had been cancelled because one of the teams could not get over the mountain due to the amount of snow and the host team's city already had over a foot piled up... I thought indoor sports were exempt from weather cancellations!! But I guess if the teams can't get there .... I was looking forward to the gym today because it is not as cold as the other gyms we have been at recently and I wouldn't have to pile on as many layers. (Usually I am in multiple layers with a scarf and a blanket, heat packs and a jacket on all day!! Inside!!) Now we are back at home and all I have to decide is which room I will be in today so that I can heat it!

This is a picture of our pond. You may be wondering how the fish do in winter. Well, usually the fish do very very well in winter. I love to see their orange shapes warming up the pond. If you look closely you will notice two things: one there is a layer of slush on top of the pond and two there is no orange in the pond. The fish were abducted about two weeks ago in the middle of the day. I stepped out for an hour and when I was back they were gone. Later in the day I got an excited call from Kie--Mom there is this large white long-legged bird (Lesser Egret for you bird people) on our deck.....mmmmmmmm.

Airports

2008-01-05T21:45:00.000+09:00

We picked Kei up from Narita on December 31st after his first international solo trip (to Cambodia) and today I dropped Takeshi off for his first European adventure (Hungary, Germany and Belgium). My current claim to fame is that I am now counted as a "regular" at the airport Starbucks!

Hiroshima

2007-10-29T22:36:00.000+09:00

We went into the city of Hiroshima on Sunday afternoon. Takeshi and Kie took turns driving the trolley. (okay I am kidding here... )
One of Kie's favorite foods is Okonomiyai which is kind of like a pancake stuffed with cabbage, pork, shrimp, squid, egg and whatever else you want.Takeshi had kimchee in his! Hiroshima style has noodles in it as well.
There were 26 of us, so we split up among different okonomiyaki stalls. Kie's group was across the way from us. Quite delicious!
Kei wasn't with us as he left on Saturday evening so he could attend basketball and not miss school on Monday. We arrived home around 8pm on Monday evening and Kei had dinner prepared for us!!!

The Ferry

2007-10-29T22:30:00.001+09:00

Since we were staying on an Island we got to take the ferry over and back. The ferry schedule is fixed and the ferries are punctual! Some of our group missed the final ferry and had to stay overnight on shore and some just missed the ferry and had to wait for the next one. (The wait could be from 15 to 45 minutes.) We were scheduled to take the 3:45 ferry to Hiroshima for our excursion one afternoon. We car-pooled and used the mini-bus to get there. We were in the first car and we arrived in time for the 3:30 ferry and so we boarded. The mini-bus was right behind us and we figured they would be able to board since they didn't have to park. Well, they got off the mini-bus and were just a few yards away when the ferry decided to leave without them. In one of the pictures you can see them (including Kie) on the dock as we take off!The pictures of Takeshi and I were taken just after we left our only daughter stranded on the docks of Etajima. (I am sure this will be part of her life story at some point....) We did wait for the next ferry with all the rest of our group to arrive before going into town!

On the way home we were running late to catch the 8pm ferry. (The last ferry of the day was 8:45pm). It was 5 minutes until 8 and we were still in the trolley--which, unlike trains, has to stop for red lights and let people off when they want to get off! We had a plan to have our fastest runners dash off and see if they could get the ferry to wait this time for all 26 of us! Our runners arrived at 7:59pm with all of us dashing behind them. Babies were being carried and toddlers were literally flying as they were drug along by their parents!! The ferry people had pity on us (or at least on our children!) and held the boat for 3 minutes! We were off at 8:03 just as the last person was stepping on!

Etajima

2007-10-29T21:11:00.000+09:00

Thursday October 18th through Monday October 22nd found us in Hiroshima on the Island of Etajima with fellow Asian Access Staff. The pictures show a little of what life is like at a government facility! Morning and evening meetings at the flag pole. In the morning there are group exercises! One morning Takeshi and Kie got to help lead. One evening I got to help take down the flag...

Sports Festival part 3

2007-10-10T23:26:00.000+09:00

It just isn't for kids you know... The parents have to be involved in some way! This year's PTA relay involved each grade racing to dress up a teacher. The teachers knew they were being dressed up, but they didn't know what they were being dressed up as.
The sixth grade parents dressed up Mr. Kawasaki from 6-1 as a first grade girl. Mr. Nakayama 6-2 (Kie's teacher) was dressed up as his mom. There were 10 parents from each grade plus the room moms (me and 3 others). I passed out the articles of clothing for the team members to dress the teacher with. Team members must wear a wig and carry a colored rope as they do this. Quite the competition. 4th grade won--they dressed up the male teacher as a high school girl anime character. We came in second. All the kids loved it. (Another teacher was a maid, one a fireman, one an imp, one a doctor) The costumes were very creative.

Kie's Sports Festival pt 2

2007-10-10T23:10:00.001+09:00

There was much more to Kie's sports festival than cheering! The morning included special dance numbers and competitions from the lower grades as well as the whole school large ball races. The goal is to go up and back over the kids' heads around some cones and end up on the stands in the middle of the school grounds. Red won the first round and white won second. The tie breaker was won by white (by our vantage point anyway) but the judges called it a tie and the fourth round was won by red. The white team was losing at half time. Lunch break and then the afternoon program.
The afternoon program had the "Horseback battle" competion which is pretty fierce. All 5th and 6th graders compete. Boys against boys and girls against girls. The anchor teams in the jerseys get double points. First round is all boys play and see which team can get the most hats from the people riding the "horses" of the other team. Then the girls go. White won both these rounds by a landslide. After this is individual competition. No hats. Group left standing in the ring wins. Kie's anchor team won! She was quite determined they would!!

Kie was having a great time all day!

Sports Festival part 1

2007-10-08T12:05:00.000+09:00

Kie's sports festival (undokai) was similiar to Kei's in that the day of the event was pouring rain. While Kei's school was able to wait it out a bit and proceed, on Saturday Sept 29th we got the phone call at 6:30am that the event would be postponed until Sunday. So Kie went to Basketball practice instead. On Sunday it was again pouring, so they had school instead! (If they have an event on a weekend they have to have a make-up day off during the week. This was already fixed for Tuesday October 2nd as October 1 is Tokyo citizen's day and kids are off school.) So Kie took her lunch and went to school for half day on Sunday. The next two days were off and Wednesday was a short day so Thursday ended up being the make up day for the Sports Festival. There was a pretty good turnout of parents and the weather actually turned hot.

Kie had two responsibilties. She was sub leader for the white team and she is head of the Physical Education committee. This meant she was responsible along with the leader for the team spirit and morale and that she was in charge of closing the sports festival with the final speech. In addition, if the white team won, her name and the leader's name would go on the trophy. (Her brother was leader of the white team two years ago, but they lost by 11 points and his name did not get on the trophy...)

Summer Festival part 2

2007-08-11T17:25:00.000+09:00

Here are a few more pictures. In no special order at present....

Summer Festival

2007-08-11T16:58:00.000+09:00

The last day of the first trimester of school ended on Saturday July 21st around noon. Then for two evenings the school celebrates summer with its annual festival. This year was its 22nd year. It is put on by the school (PTA, teachers), local merchants, and our school's dads group. It is quite the collaboration. Younger grades are responsible for single booths while 4th and up have a booth per class. Sixth grade class one is in charge of tickets (printing, selling, counting, etc.) and Sixth grade class two is in charge of hot dogs. I am the room mother for class two and the one responsible for summer festival. There is also another mom from our class that comes into help strictly for the festival and I work closely with her. The planning starts in April when school starts. It is quite the production.

We set up on Friday and Saturday. We start boiling hot dogs about 2 hours before it starts, pack them so they stay warm and start grilling and putting them in buns with ketchup abour 20 minutes before it starts. Lines are already forming. We have 1500 hot dogs to sell in 2 days. The festival runs from 6-8 pm. A lot of the kids (and some of the moms) are in summer kimonos. We sold 840 hot dogs on the first day and sold out about 10 minutes before closing. We sold out of the remaining 660 about 20 minutes before closing on the second day. We cooked hot dogs continuously. Takeshi helped out on the second day for most of it.

Hi-Tech Laundry, ER and Awards

2007-07-05T07:07:00.000+09:00

On Wednesday June 13th, we were doing major Summer cleaning and washing all the winter blankets to put away until next winter. Our usual laundromat had closed so we tried a new one. Wow! Very high tech--maybe this is only in Japan--but things never fail to surprise me here... The washer/dryers use an IC card which you purchase and personalize. You can program your machine to do whatever you want from washing to drying. There is even a special machine for hats and shoes. Anyway, each machine will do it all from start to finish AND notify your cell phone when it is done so you don't have to stick around!! Pretty cool.
Of course our mode of transporting the laundry is still pretty low tech, but it works!
Takeshi was in the middle of a laundry run while I was cleaning out the guest room when Kei burst in the front door an hour and a half before he was supposed to come home. He ran straight for the bathroom making noises I couldn't understand. I ran to him and saw that he was bleeding profusely from the mouth. We got the bleeding slowed so I could look at it and I immediately thought "stitches". (He had cut his lip in the corner very deeply.) Next, I thought "ice" and then "Takeshi"!! So we started icing it and I called Takeshi to come home NOW!! (We were so thankful he was around--he wasn't supposed to be.) Anyway, Takeshi called the local good hospital who told him that we need a hospital with a plastic surgery division and they recommended a large hospital 3 train stops away. Takeshi grabbed the car and they left for the ER. They left at 5:30pm and were back at 7:30pm with a bunch of stitches and some pain and anti-infection medication. Kei said he counted 28 stitches so we are thinking that he probably had 14. They were very small and the doctor did a very good job.
I took this picture at the hospital while we were waiting to get his stitches removed. Kei is resigned to having a mother who takes pictures of everything! The stitches were removed and his lip looks like it is back in place. He will most likely keep the scar, but it should get a bit better over time.
For Spring Break the 8th graders were given the assignment of making a poster promoting dental hygiene. Kei worked on his poster before, during and after our trip to Malaysia and Singapore. He was right at the wire getting it done and wanted to add some more color to it when his dad said that it was fine and just turn it in and be done with it! He turned it in and was done. Imagine our surprise about six weeks later when he came home with a paper saying that he had won the Gold Prize for his poster and that there would be a ceremony near the city hall. (We live in Suginami city/ward which is one of the 23 main cities/wards that make up the Tokyo Metropolis.)

We attended the award ceremony with our friends, the Everitts, who were visiting from Cambodia. We were even more surprised to find that Kei's poster is going on to the Tokyo wide contest as the representative poster from Suginami City!!
Kei was pleased to receive a nice certificate as well as a cool alarm clock radio CD player. He is now looking for more contests to enter this summer!!
PS. He came home from the ER with no instructions other than to come back in a week. We continued to ice it since it seemed like a good thing to do. He wanted to play basketball since there was a major tournament (semi-finals) coming up in a few days. Fortunately we could consult Dr. Dave (who wanted to take out the stitches for Kei!!) who said Kei should wait five days before doing sports. On Saturday the Everitts and I were walking to the neighboring train station when who should we meet but Kei's basketball coach and the Star Player 9th grader who was on crutches with his foot in a cast. After the coach said hello he quickly (beseechingly) asked if Kei could play in the tournament tomorrow. Since it was day 5 we said okay and Takeshi, Dave, and Malachi went to watch the game just in case. Kei was fine, but they lost the game. The girls (Lisa, Mary and I) took the trains to go see Kie's games. They won one and lost one. It was really fun having friends come watch our kids' games. Kie has until the end of next March before she graduates from this team, so if you are in the area, please come and cheer for her!

Junior High Sports Festival

2007-05-20T14:12:00.000+09:00

Kei's School Sports Festival was scheduled for Saturday May 19th at 8:40am. He left for school in good weather at 7:30am since he is on the Student Council and had to be early. We left at 8:10 as it was just beginning to rain. By the time we got to school it was pouring. Other schools cancelled the Festival, but ours decided to wait and see how the weather goes and make a decision by 9:10am. At 9:30 the decision was made to hold the festival in the gym for opening ceremony and speeches starting at 10:30. Then move to the outdoors as the weather permitted.So phone chains went out and we began at 10:30am. The rain had stopped but the grounds were soaked. The soccer and tennis clubs were assigned to dry up the grounds with mops, newspaper and rags. Later they sanded part of it. The schedule was rearranged so that big races would be later in the day.

School Sports Festivals are traditional from kindergarten through University and are usually held in the Spring or Fall. (Kie's elementary school is in the Fall.) They begin with opening speeches, cheerleading (involves one or two leaders, drums, whistles and lots of yelling) and warm-up exercises. Then the games begin.

The student council picks a game each year for the whole school to play. This year was "tamaire" or "put the balls in the basket". This is traditional game for kindergarten and elementary school lower grades. They changed the rules to make it more fun. Usually everyone starts with 2 balls and they throw to the basket and pick up dropped balls and keep throwing until the time is up. Then they count the balls that made it in and the team with the most wins. Kei changed it so that the boys are on the outside and girls in middle and girls throw balls to boys who throw balls in basket and then they switch places. It was quite fun to watch.

There is a lot of running in addition to grade competitions. The seventh grade jumps rope as a class. 40 on a team and the winners jump the most times in a certain time limit. The eighth grade does the walking on backs race. The 3 classes compete against each other. There is a boys team and a girls team from each class. All participate. The nineth grade does the 'caterpillar' race. Each class races around the track once. It is pretty difficult. One boys team and one girls team from each class. All participate.

Kei was in the 1500 meter race which is the longest race of the festival. There are whole class races as well as special entry races. Each student is in at least 5 different kinds of races.

Kei did the closing speech. He did a good job. Brief, which is always good in a closing speech!! The red team won. Kei was yellow. Came in second by 11 points. It was a good day and everyone played hard and had a good time. Takeshi really enjoyed himself as an official photographer. (It is my job with the PTA this year, but he was looking at the special armband so longingly and really wanted to use the new camera....and, well, I just couldn't say no....)

Boy's day and Basketball

2007-05-08T15:33:00.000+09:00

Between April 29th and May 5th are a series of holidays that make up "Golden Week" here. Kei had one day of school during the past week and Kie had two. (Kei's school's inauguration day is also during this week.) Many people travel during this time and Tokyo becomes rather relaxed and quiet. It is actually a nice time to stay home. Kie had lots of basketball games. Two full days of mini-tournaments and a half day of regular practice. This time they were all at our local school so it was easy for Takeshi and I to come and go. Kie played really well and it was fun to watch. They played tough teams and there was lots of drama. This picture shows Kie making a basket!! (She is in the black uniform, second from left.)
On Friday night we celebrated Boy's day, by having the grandparents over for dinner. We started at 6:30pm when Kie got home from basketball practice. We had tonkatsu with cabbage salad and rice and miso soup. We also had the tradition sweets for dessert. We had a nice time. This is a picture of the grandparents and Kei with his set of armour that we display every boy's day. (Takeshi has a small helmet that we display in the entry way!) Kei received this from his grandparents for his first boy's day 13 years ago. It is pretty cool.

Merlion

2007-04-06T13:15:00.000+09:00

One of the famous Singapore sights is the Merlion statue. This is a figure of a lion and a fish which has come to represent Singapore. For some reason, Kei was really fascinated by it and wanted to see the statue. He wanted to see the fountain one near the water (in front of the Fullerton Hotel) as well as the large one on the island of Sentosa.

We hadn't really planned to go to Sentosa, but since we were very close on our final day, we decided to go see the statue. (While we were there we also jumped on the luge ride down to the beach and took the sky ride back. It ended up being a fun adventure...)

The luge ride was fast and fun. We did the tourist thing and bought the photo of good friend Lori and the three of us since it came out so well....

Locked out!

2007-04-05T10:17:00.000+09:00

We left Aunt Nobuko and Uncle Dennis' house at 4:30am on Wednesday morning. We had a great time with them--visiting, eating, and see "local" Singapore. It was fun and we learned to get around on trains, buses and taxis. It is easy visiting a country that speaks English and where the time difference is only 1 hour! Anyway, we arrived back in Japan at 2:15pm and were out of customs at 2:30pm! Nice not to have checked bags! We took a train home and arrived in our town a little before 5pm. It was raining and very cold! (We were dressed for warmer weather!) I wanted to take a taxi home but the line was long so we bought umbrellas instead! The kids went home before me while I picked up a few items of food for us. I got home around 5:30pm to find the kids standing outside the house with our luggage out in the rain. It seems that our guests had fastened the front door security latch before leaving through the back door. This would have been fine, but we did not have a back door key with us. Kei and Kie tried their best to come up with ideas to get us in. I went to the in-laws house to see if the key had arrived. (Our guests were to mail the key to their house.) Well, since the in-laws are on vacation they probably stopped the mail--no key. I returned home. We tried some other options. Nothing worked. Kie was praying we could get in--she was especially cold! All of a sudden a man appeared at our gate--it was the building contractor from the remodel. He was coming to set up a time to fix a couple of things on the house! Wow! He called the door people who told us we would have to get a locksmith! Meanwhile Kei is studying the door and suggests a certain method which the contractor tries and we get a bit closer to getting in. He goes to his van to get some tools and Kei and I manage to get the latch off! So we were able to get in! Too cool! God is good!

Malaysia

2007-04-04T22:16:00.000+09:00

Here are a few shots from Malaysia. Kie with her favorite drink...fresh Mango smoothie! It is also her favorite fruit. She ate it every chance she got in Malaysia and also Singapore. Takeshi and I checked out a local market near our hotel in Melaka. We also had a nice banquet celebrating 40 years of A2. We were supposed to dress in our national costumes. I am not sure what this says about Takeshi...

The kids and I are now at Chiangi Airport in Singapore waiting for our early morning flight. I will post more later. We had a great time in both Malaysia and Singapore and want to come back...

Apa Khabar?

2007-04-01T00:11:00.000+09:00

Khabar baik, terima kasih!

We had a great time in Malaysia. We flew into Singapore on March 23rd and took three buses and taxi the next morning to Port Dickson, Malaysia. We left at 7:30am and arrived at our destination at 6pm. It was a good start to our current adventure!

We stayed at this resort on the water from the 24th through the morning of the 29th. Then we headed by taxi to Melaka (or Malacca). That is another blog.

We had rooms next door to the kids. Our shower was semi-outdoors. You could look up to see the sky and look down to see the ocean.

The food was also amazing. One afternoon/evening we went into KL (Kuala Lampor) to sightsee and eat! We had a good time and would like to go back when we can take it slower.

On the bus ride from Singapore to Malaysia I studied Malay and learned about 8 phrases and about 30 words. It came in handy and I had fun talking to people. The title means how are you and the first line is fine thank you.

Takeshi had a great time bargaining and Kei discovered that he likes to bargain as well. Kie and I prefer to find an ice cream or fresh fruit stand and wait for the guys to come back with their prizes!!

Girl's day

2007-03-09T23:52:00.000+09:00

March 3rd is "Hina Matsuri". It is a day to celebrate the girls in your family. Dolls are displayed and special sweets and foods are eaten. We celebrated with Kie's grandparents. Kie especially enjoyed putting out her dolls and we all had a nice dinner together. We departed a bit from the traditional food and had chicken w/egg rice bowls which Kei helped make. Although we did have the traditional clam soup and sweets!

It was good to celebrate our daughter!

What happened to February?

2007-03-09T18:04:00.000+09:00

How could I miss a whole month?? The signs of Spring have been all around in Japan and I have been thinking how unusually warm it is and how the frogs are here already and that the Cherry blossoms are starting to bloom in places.... In February this was unusual but the months have now caught up with the seasons.

The first sign of Spring at our house is the annual migration of the frogs. (I am sure there is an anthem that announces this somewhere.) First we hear the frogs from all sides of our house. They bark like small dogs. Then we start to see them at the door and along the path to the gate and next thing you know they are in the pond. The bottom of the pond is currently covered with frog eggs. The fish just seem to put up with it. The big difference between the fish and the frogs are that the frogs are afraid of us and the fish aren't. (This explains the absence of frogs in the picture.) Sometimes, I am afraid of stepping on the frogs but otherwise they are kind of cool.

Ueno Zoo

2007-01-28T22:48:00.000+09:00

This was our first no basketball or other activities weekend in a long long time. So we decided to go out to the Ueno Zoo. It is the zoo famous for pandas and I think it is the only zoo in the city of Tokyo. It is about a 35 minutes train ride from our station. We saw elephants and tigers and gorillas. Oh my!

We watched a male bear hog the fish to himself and growl loudly whenever the female bear tried to come near. We also watched the female bear work really hard from many different angles to get a piece of the fish for herself. And she did!
We learned that baby seals obey their mothers! This baby seal was playing with a piece of wood in a small hidden area. He came over and began playing in front of us and interacting a bit with the crowd. The mother was on the other side of the tank and gave him a warning bark. She then came over and barked at all of us and then at the baby who went back to his area. A few minutes later he came back out. This time she barked at him once from across the tank and he went directly back and didn't come out again!! I love object lessons! Even baby seals obey their mothers!!

Kie said the nikuman (meat-filled bun) was the best she ever had. She is our nikuman connoisseur! So it must be good!

These are my favorite animals! Now if I could only get them to be less like the bears and more like the baby seal!

Service (SaaBeeSue)

2007-01-16T17:59:00.000+09:00

Today Takeshi and I went on a date to Yokohama. We had a great time and came back to our station around 4pm. We stopped in at the toy shop on the way home to see if they had any tea dogs (ochaken). That started a chain of "service" events. In Japan, regular customers are rewarded by "service" which usually refers to extra merchandise. The toy store did not have any tea dogs, but asked if Kie liked them. We said that she did but we were looking for a friend of hers in the States. Well do you think she might like a little stuffed tea dog? You may have it for her. So they gave it to us. From there we went to the vegetable shop, I was given some candied apple slices and Takeshi was given two packs of Kimchee. From there we went to the meat shop and met someone we knew who gave us a calendar. I asked Takeshi if there were any other places to go before returning home since we seemed to be on a roll today....

Did I mention that we stayed in the toy shop for over an hour just talking to the owners and a customer we knew? We didn't even buy anything....

Cheerleading!

2007-01-14T15:01:00.000+09:00

Today I got to see my son play basketball on the Junior High School team. This is what I wore to sit INSIDE the gym and watch. ( The soccer mom's watching on the outside field had less on than I!!!) It was freezing!! This was the first game I was able to attend and it was fun to watch Kei play. I hope to be able to see more games. Takeshi was able to join us for the first half before leaving for baseball practice. We were the only parents yelling on the sidelines. This is partly because there were very very few parents there and partly because Takeshi likes to be involved! Once he starts I find myself joining in to the point that after he left I am the only one yelling. Nice play! Good shot! Defense! Don't give up! Go for it! One more basket! That's the way! LOOK! and SHOOOOT!!! (No I am not yelling this in English...)

I'm BAAAACK!!!!

2007-01-09T14:15:00.000+09:00

Where have you been, you ask? Well, it is not like I have been anywhere since returning from the States on December 20th. It is more to do with who has been here!!! Too busy having fun with friends.... It has been especially fun to catch up with some friends I have not seen in years. This picture shows some of their shoes!!

If you don't see your shoes here, then you need to think about coming!!!

(Those whose shoes are shown are welcome to return as well!!!!)

American Contraptions, pt 2

2006-12-19T16:09:00.000+09:00

Can you tell what kind of heater this is now?

It is a pellet heater. It runs on pellets that look like rabbit food, but are actually some type of compressed sawdust. (These heaters can also run on corn pellets.) Who knew?

Okay, everybody but me probably knew...

American Contraptions, pt 1

2006-12-18T14:58:00.000+09:00

What is this? This was sitting near a wall in the living room of my aunt's house is Arizona. I am used to seeing unfamiliar contraptions in Japan, but this is in America. Do you know what it is? Do you know what it does? I will tell you that it is a heater of sorts. It heats up the room safely and proficiently. What does it use for fuel?

In Japan we have various types of heating. The most common are gas, electricity, kerosene or some combination. In our home we have an air conditioning unit in the living room that cools the room in the summer and heats it in the winter. It runs on electricity. We also have a heating unit in our floor. This also runs on electricity. It is one of my current favorite heat sources in winter!

The other favorite is the bath!!

Reconnecting

2006-12-09T14:56:00.001+09:00

I arrived in the States the morning of the afternoon I left Japan. For some reason, this makes perfect sense to me and I can do the 41 hour day every so often. At present, I am a bit slower than normal (or perhaps I am unchanged but just think that I am slower because of the brain fog I am experiencing). It is nice every so often to have a legitimate excuse for incoherency.... The way my brain has been going lately I may have to start traveling more.

So far I have had a great day. Good flight, no baggage problems, time with my folks and seeing good friends this evening at church. I am looking forward to the rest of my time here.

The Chaperone Chronicles Continue....

2006-12-02T20:55:00.000+09:00

Today I helped three other mothers chaprerone 21 girls to the Tokyo All-Star Games. This time it was a new venue for all of us. We were given a map of the sports center where the games were being held and we were warned of a rather complicated train change.

We gathered all the girls and waited together on the platform to board the first train. It was unusually crowded with many high school students disembarking from the doors we were trying to enter. A few girls ran for another door and I noticed a straggler. I grabbed the straggler and threw both her and myself through the nearest open door and it closed. Whew!

I started counting girls while working my way towards another chaperone. We did it!! All 21 girls safe on board.

The only ones left behind were the other two chaperones. One of whom had the map.....

"About"

2006-11-28T11:48:00.000+09:00

Yesterday I chaperoned another basketball tournament. It is always an adventure. We met at the local train station at 7:30am with the goal of returning by 6pm. This trip required one train line change and a ten minute walk to the venue. When we got on the first train I asked how many kids we had with us. No one knew. We had both the boys' team and girls' team. (The coach was travelling seperately with the equipment.) One of the moms said there were 9 boys and we were picking up 4 more at a station en route. Great. How many girls? I was told to ask the team captain. She said 15.

I usually position myself at the end of the group so I can pick up stragglers. This way, I only have to worry about keeping up as opposed to where we are going. (I am a strong believer in playing to my strengths!) We changed trains and I thought I should count to make sure we had everyone. I got the 9 boys but came up with 16 girls! When I mentioned this to one of the other chaperones, she said that the captain was very "about". (When someone is "about" it means that they are not a stickler for details. If the answer is "in the ballpark" then that's fine.) The coach is also very "about" as was demonstrated at the closing ceremony when I asked if some of the girls had already gone home. He was surprised that I noticed! He said that 2 had left with their parents. He told me that I was the only one who asked about numbers!! I now realize that I really have no clue as to what chaperones are supposed to be doing.

Right before we left to return home, one of the other coaches (an American) told me that it would probably be okay if I got "about" everyone home.

Tonjiru and Basketball

2006-11-24T16:00:00.000+09:00

Today Kie's basketball team hosted three other teams for a day of short tournaments and hearty soup. The moms directly related to the elementary school that hosts Kie's team were in charge of the soup.

We met at the school at 8am to begin preparing. We borrowed a large pot (feeds 400!!) and a propane fueled burner from a local neighborhood association. The vegetable shop delivered the veggies at 8:30 and we started chopping.

We chopped up daikon (Japanese radish), carrots, onions, gobo (a long root), tofu, konyaku (devil's tongue), Japanese green onions, shimeji mushrooms, potatoes, and thinly sliced pork.

(Takeshi helped out for about two hours until he had to go to his baseball tournament which they unfortunately lost. He returned to watch the games around 3pm.) Once it was all chopped we dumped it into the boiling water, sat down, drank coffee and talked while we waited.

After about an hour we added the miso. Before we added the miso we realized that we needed more, so I was elected to go to the vegetable shop and get some. (I had my bike.) I stopped by the house to get some serving trays, dropped them off at the school and picked up the miso at the shop. We depleted their miso and were still short.

The shop owner's wife told me to wait and she went in and gave me the rest of her own miso from their kitchen. (Probably the reason it tasted so good was that we ended up putting it really good miso!!)
When it was done, we called the vegetable shop to come and take us and the soup to the school. Three of the ladies rode in back and I followed on bike.

We ended up serving soup for the next two hours and it stayed warm in the pot. It was really good, if I do say so!!!

Kei came and played on the Junior/Senior High team. The coach likes to use the older kids to give the top teams some good competition. Kei was the only Junior Higher. (#7 in the photo.)

Kie played well and we got to see her make some baskets as well as a free throw. She is blocking a player in this photo.

All in all a great day. Good basketball, good friends, good food, a good time and the family together for most of the day. We are very thankful.

Kie's School Play

2006-11-19T09:18:00.000+09:00

On Saturday morning, Kie's elementary school had the trianual school drama festival. (The school drama festival rotates every three years with the music and art festivals.) Each grade presents a 20 to 30 minute production which usually include a few musical numbers as well. Kie's grade did a story about a witch who gives up her powers to become human and fight against the evil witches. In the end, love and audience participation triumph over evil. It was quite moving.

Kie was one of the witches and performed her line and songs well. I was amazed at the level of performances of all the grades. I remember doing plays in elementary school, but nothing like this.

Kie is currently practicing for the all-district music competition. This competition is held each year for 5th graders. All fifth graders district wide compete. Each school performs two numbers--one instrumental and one vocal. Kie is playing the accordion in the instrumental number.

Kei's Speech Contest

2006-11-18T14:54:00.000+09:00

Kei did a great job at the speech contest. His grandparents came to watch as well. They have been to and judged many speech contests, but this was their first Junior High Speech contest. They thought that Kei had the best speech. Of course I agreed! Everyone worked very hard on their presentations. There were recitations, skits and a play in addition to the speeches. The play won the competition. I think it was a good experience for Kei and he seems to enjoy being up front. (Dad's genes I think!!) This is the first time I have seen him do something like this in English so it was especially fun for me.
English education here is quite interesting. There is only one level for each grade. Basically the students have to memorize lots of words and grammar and they are tested on all the material in the text book and in class. It is quite easy for Kei, as you would imagine. But sometimes he gets things wrong because, "we haven't learned that yet" or he would never say what the book wants the kids to learn. How would you do on this question:

There are two junior high students trying to talk to each other at a noisy party. Fill in the blanks.
John: What time is it?
Tom: ______________? I can't hear you.
John: What time is it?

Check the comments for the answer. (This was Takeshi's suggestion...)

My Vehicle 2

2006-11-18T06:31:00.000+09:00

On Friday before going to Kei's speech contest, I rode my bike to the home center to pick up a few things. It is about 15 minutes from our house downhill, uphill and then fairly level. I parked my bike in the bike parking and went in to warm up (it is getting cold now) and shop. I picked up a digital tape for the video camera I borrowed from a friend and a double curtain rail for our living room. (It has been over eight months since we moved back in so it's probably safe to put up curtains!)
The curtain rails can be adjusted to lengths ranging from seven to fourteen feet. I managed to stay on the bike and not hit anyone. Although one man did duck and I had to brake quickly not to run into a pole! I got safely to the very front of our gate when I suddenly lost balance and dumped the bike. I managed to move fast enough to save the curtain rail and remain standing. I was also able to entertain a group of delivery men. I narrowly missed entertaining a large group of construction workers. Their loss, I'm sure...

Junior High Finals

2006-11-17T08:12:00.000+09:00

This Thursday, Friday and Monday are Kei's 2nd trimester finals. On Thursday and Friday, testing is all morning and they are out by lunch. On Monday, testing is again all morning, but regular classes begin again after lunch. Thursday's tests were Math, Social Studies, and Music. Friday is English, Art, and Science. Monday is Japanese, Health/PE, and Industrial Art.
Two weeks before the tests all club/sports activities at the school are stopped so the kids can study. Personally, I wish they would keep some sports practices since Kei is just bouncing off the walls with all this extra physical energy. Last night, we gave him a dry mop to clean the living and dining room floors since he was so hyper. I went upstairs to spend time with my daughter for about 30 minutes. When I came back down, the first floor was sparkling. He had moved the furniture, hand washed and dried all the flooring, replaced the furniture and throw rugs and straightened up the couches. So, now I am thinking that maybe we should take him out of sports altogether....

Kei is also entered in the district wide Jr. High English speech contest. They take the top three English speakers from each grade from the nine district Junior Highs. Whoever wins goes on to the all Tokyo contest. He is working very hard to memorize this 5-minute speech. The speech is scheduled for Friday afternoon. He will go directly to the contest after morning finals. I have to remember to pack him a lunch....

This picure shows Kei's attempts to turn his school uniform (see above) into a tuxedo. I think the origami hankerchief adds quite a good touch.

My Vehicle

2006-11-16T09:06:00.000+09:00

This is the trusty steed that gets me to the grocery store every other day or so. It gets me to the laundrymat when it is raining or snowing. (We don't have a dryer. Well, we do have a dryer--it is called "the sun"!) It gets me to basketball practices and it gets Takeshi to baseball practices. It meets the kids at the station and Kie can still fit in the basket-seat in the back. So, I can actually go pick her up after local practices and from the train station. It takes me to friends' houses and to the local bath.

The picture is of yesterday's trip to the store for groceries. I went to Fuji Garden, which is a local supermarket and bought milk, meat, yogurt and bread. The milk, yogurt, and meat (sort of glowing!!) are on the back of the bike. Bread and rice crackers are in the front basket. Next I went to the local fruit/vegetable stand, parked my bike out front with everything on it, and bought eggs, mandarin oranges, bananas, and romaine lettuce.

Today walking on the way home from the station, I stopped at Seiyu (department-grocery store) and bought some octopus and okonomiyaki sauce. I also picked up a cabbage and some tofu at the veggie shop. I missed my bike!

The Secret to buying a Turkey

2006-11-11T15:44:00.000+09:00

Bring your tape measure!!!

The turkey must be less than 34cm (13 1/2 inches) to fit in our oven!!

Turkeys are somewhat hard to find here, but Costco often has them from November until they sell out (which sometimes is the following summer!). We now have our turkey for Christmas.

On Thanksgiving we will have "tonjiru" which is a pork-based soup with lots of veggies. We will be helping to serve 100. Did I mention it is basketball all day with my daughter's team and that we are hosting a few other teams at our elementary school?

Questions

2006-11-10T10:09:00.000+09:00

Sometimes I open up the last few minutes of class to questions.

"Does the US have big cities or just countryside?"
Me: "Does Japan have big cities or just countryside?"
"Okay, but some countries have only countryside, like India."
Me: "India has big cities!!!
"Why is American food so BIG?" "Why do Americans eat so much?"
Me: "Good question. I have no idea."
"Why are some Americans blond?"
Me: "Well..."
"Why do you have blue eyes?"
Me: "Well.... ask me something I can answer!!!
"You said we could ask you anything."
Me: "That I did. But I really only want you to ask me questions I can answer!"

All time favorite questions thus far:

How old are Americans when they learn English?
Why do you have a face that looks like a foreigner?
Do you really speak English? Are you really fluent?
Can you understand American movies without reading the subtitles?

Why can't you write kanji (Chinese characters), you can do math, can't you?

Same but Different

2006-11-10T09:44:00.000+09:00

Taught English to two Third grade classes on Wednesday. The first class just couldn't get the dialog.

Hi! Hello!
What's your name? I'm Beth, and you?
I'm Sam.

So we practiced rather pathetically for a bit and moved on to the alphabet. It was a review that required listening, memory skills and logic more than it did English. They got it. It was amazing. The class came alive and the teacher was even taking notes. It doesn't get much better than this.

On to the next Third grade class... They got the dialog. One of the kids even asked if she and her friend could do it in front of the class using their own names. Sure... So most of the 30 kids came up front and did it. Wow. On to the alphabet game. Could they do it? No, only 2 kids had any clue. So, I broke it down and made it less aural and more visual and they still struggled.

Same age group, same number of kids, same lesson, same methods....very different results....

Making Mochi

2006-11-06T16:32:00.000+09:00

After a morning joint basketball practice with another Tokyo mini-basketball team, they treated us to a mochi party.

Traditional mochi making is an art. This is a wood burning stove that was built 30 years ago specifically to steam mochi rice.. I don't know how many bamboo baskets of mochi rice they steamed.

Then people took turns pounding the rice while the hostess turned the steaming hot mochi. She did a great job of not getting hit with the mallet!

Once pounded it went to the flavor table and was portioned out in small pieces into bowls of grated radish (daikon oroshi), kinako powder, sesame, soy sauce, sweet bean paste, and a new one for me--green onion and dried bonito flakes.
We all ate way too much!

Does this look like your image of Tokyo???

Paying Attention

2006-11-02T22:38:00.000+09:00

I am beginning to think that I should, as a general rule, pay more attention to my surroundings.

I think it is fine to get lost coming or going from point A to point B four or five times, but by the sixth time you get lost you should at least be heading to point C. It is probably all the more important to know where you are going if you are leading other people there.

In my defense, I should point out that, yes I have been to this location many times, but always in the back of the parade. In front is someone's mother on a bicycle with a small child in a basket in the front of the bike and a larger child in the seat on the back. Then there are seven or eight kids ages 8 to 11 on bicycles and I am bringing up the rear on a bicycle with four of the kids' large sports bags piled on.

The mom in fronts' job is to lead. My job is to yell as loud as I can, "Stay to the right!" "Car!" "Stop!" "GO!" It is also my job to stop and pick up children, bags, and whatever else falls off the bikes en route. We do this for 20 to 30 minutes. Then we watch the kids practice basketball for 2 to 3 hours and then we reverse the parade and go back home. By this time it is dark. It is truly quite the adrenaline rush.

Two weeks ago, we were again schedulded to be at this venue. This time, I was the "veteran" chaperone and it was my privilege to lead the parade. A "rookie" mom brought up the rear. I am pleased to say that we arrived safely. I led confidently, like the little steam engine, saying to myself, "I think this is the way. I think this is the way."

Time to go home. I offer the leader's job to the rookie mom. She declines. So we start on the route home. At a stop light the mom in back says, "I am so glad you are leading. None of this looks familiar to me." Well, it doesn't look familiar to me either, but I was hoping that was because it was so dark.

My basic theory about being lost is that if I keep going, eventually, I will run into some kind of sign that will tell me where I am. This theory has worked well for me, although sometimes the signs tell me that I am very very far from home.

Knowing that I could not successfully retrace my steps, I continued on towards a large street. Had I turned right on that street, I would have recognized the next street and got home rather quickly. Almost a short cut. But I turned left and ended up at a different basketball venue and I actually remembered how to get home from there. (Okay, all the kids and the rookie mom knew how to get home from there...)

So what brought this up? After school today I took 3 kids and 2 large sports bags to venue A all by myself and we did not get lost! I took 5 kids and 3 large sports bags home from venue A in the dark and we did not get lost. And I only spent the first 5 minutes chanting, "I think this is the way. I think this is the way...."

The phone chain

2006-10-31T23:32:00.000+09:00

The phone rang around 8pm. It was somebody's father with a message to pass down the phone chain. He mumbled his name and gave no other introductions. He had a message and I should write it down. So, I wrote what he said syllable by syllable. While I was writing, I was trying to figure out 1) what did the message mean 2) which phone chain is this 3) whose father is this 4) which child of mine is it for... The father asked me to read it back to him. I did. Then he told me to pass it on to the next in line and he hung up.

The message seemed to be something about "parent participation" and "tomorrow".

What to do? I could simply wait a few hours for the phone call that would inevitably come following up on a break in the phone chain. I could call a friend for help. I could pick the most logical phone chain and just dial the next person and pass it on.

Usually I would wait, but it does get tiring always being the clueless foreign person. So I got my daughter's class list, called the next person and passed on the message in its entirety. I even felt proud of myself for not procrastinating.

Sure enough, two hours later, I got the phone call inquiring about the break in the phone chain...

Getting Started

2006-10-30T17:02:00.000+09:00

Today I was upset with my son and made him sit under the waterfall for an hour to contemplate and adjust his attitude. This method of discipline seems to be working...

Just kidding. I am trying to figure out how this works and both of us liked this photo. I am looking forward to getting the hang of this.

until next time...