Yes, we still live in Japan. For some reason this year has been crazy. Always something going on. We just had a very lazy couple of days last
weekend. We were able to reconnect as a family and had some good down time. Made this week’s responsibilities easier to tackle.
Darin is busy with work. If he wasn’t we wouldn’t be here. Nature of the ISE (International Service Employee) beast. And sometimes it gets quite beastly. Since daylight savings time is being observed in the U.S. unfortunately Darin’s night meetings begin at 10pm.
Fifth grade is keeping Nathan and us very busy. His teacher is great, but very tough. He has high expectations for each child and pushes them to excel. He’s the Mrs. Bodenhamer of 5th grade, for all of you BPC High School affiliates. CA isn’t like public schools in the US. There is much less rote learning. Which makes our parental responsibility even more difficult. We don’t exactly know how to help. When we ask him questions he stares at us like we are speaking a foreign language, other than Japanese. It is a struggle at times but he shows great potential. His teacher assured us he is progressing just fine.
Nathan’s Kung Fu class ended. His sifu moved back to the US. There was no one to take over teaching so his sifu introduced them to Capoeira, a Brazilian dance. To watch, it resembles gymnastics, dance and marshal arts combined. It is cool. He attended one class and wants to continue. If he does, he will definitely get a workout! He is also doing swimming once a week and is just beginning piano lessons. He has a very active social life and is well liked and respected by his elementary peers. All the little kids love him too. He is truly a neat kid.
Caden is Caden. Always saying something to make us smile. Our favorite is when he begins an elaborately, fabricated story with, “Lasterday when I was all growed up….” We never know what to expect after that. He attends preschool four days a week. He should probably go five. It is obvious he gets bored on his day off, but I want to keep him home at least one day. I usually take him to Tully’s or Starbucks for a treat. I get coffee and chat with other mothers. He gets a smoothie, eats a sweet treat, and plays with friends. We are able to have some one-on-one time before next year when he enters school for the rest of his childhood.
September was busy, hence the lack of an earlier update. Carroll, my neighbor, bless her heart, gave birth to her fourth child. She has a 12, 11 and seven year old and now a newborn. Sweetest little baby. However, Carroll was in the hospital for six weeks before Jane was born. They detected a rapid heart beat in the baby so they had to monitor both of them. In the US they wouldn’t keep someone hospitalized for that long, but we aren’t in the US. Anyway, I organized a meal schedule for the family for what ended up being two and half months before it was all done. That kept me occupied along with the settling into school routine, Japanese lessons, weekly Bible study, and whatever else popped up…and there is always something popping.
October was Caden’s birthday. We had a celebration for him, his friend Alex and a new friend Alyssa whose birthdays are Oct 4 and Oct 3 respectively. The party was a superhero themed party. All 30, yes 30 invitees received a cape and a sword to fight off villains. They loved it! It was a huge success. A bit stressful and chaotic at times, but a success nonetheless.
I had the opportunity to enjoy a weekend in Seoul, Korea with eight other women. That's right! NO kids, NO husbands! So sweet. Unfortunately we didn’t engage in much culture. We shopped, ate, and shopped some more. Although I found out shopping does open a small window into the local culture so it wasn’t a wasted experience. Korean vendors are much more pushy. So is the rest of the population. They will push you aside to get where they are going. I’m used to being accidentally bumped into by a bag or an individual when the trains are packed, but not just shoved aside willy nilly. I also discovered that if you have a hankering for a McDonald’s cheeseburger you are out of luck. They don’t have cheeseburgers on the McDonald’s menu, only Bulgolgi burgers. Yes. Bulgolgi burgers. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t cheeseburgers. Bulgolgi is kind of similar to BBQ. It has a sweet, tangy flavor. A very traditional Korean dish that consists of small pieces of marinated beef stir-fried with veggies. It is served with cellophane noodles (transparent noodles) by real Koreans, or rice in our home. Thankfully Costco has prepackaged, already marinated seasoned beef ready to stir-fry. Oishii desu (Japanese for, “It’s very yummy!).
Hong Kong Disney was our Fall break destination. This is the first time we have actually left the country during a school break. The kids had a blast! Hong Kong Disney is a small park. Easily conquered in one day. Didn’t realize that before buying the “three nights at a resort hotel and two days at the park” package. While we didn’t see real Hong Kong, it was still a great vacation. We weren’t rushed at any time. The park wasn’t busy. Our maximum wait time was ten minutes. Which we thought was a horrible injustice since we had only waited five minutes for that same ride the day before.
As I mentioned Nathan is starting piano lessons. The keyboard we bought for this new extracurricular activity came in a huge rectangular box about five feet long and about a foot and half wide, just long enough to accommodate Nathan. One afternoon after Nathan got home from school the doorbell rang. I was in the middle of folding laundry and became annoyed Nathan wasn’t answering the door. Neither the door nor the phone goes unanswered in our house when Nathan is home. I opened the door to find Nathan lying in the box, on his back with his arms crossed like he’s dead. I had to laugh at his creativity and had a moment of pride knowing he has acquired my twisted sense of humor. Then I told him to go show Gloria, our friend on the 9th floor who I knew would also appreciate it. About a half an hour later he came back with two of Gloria’s sons both secured in the box. They popped out as we began removing the tape. Caden was not amused. He was a bit scared. He thought it was another piano. At any rate for the next two hours Nathan, along with Gloria, her kids, and a band of followers traveled throughout the apartment building ringing doorbells and scaring people. Gloria even carried a roll of packing tape to retape the box every time. At each apartment the kids would ask for help opening the box. The only time they worried was when the apartment resident would return with a knife or scissors to assist opening the package. In the end no one was injured and they all had a blast. Everyone was talking about it the next day. It’s been two weeks and I still haven’t been able to dispose of the beloved box.
The weather has finally cooled down and the leaves have changed. They are beautiful! We are planning to go on an outing to Arashiyama this weekend to view the fall colors. Should be fun. It is located near Kyoto. There is a bamboo forest nearby as well as a monkey park where uncaged, wild monkeys linger about.
Tuesday, November 23 is Labor Thanksgiving Day (Kinro kansha no hi) in Japan. The holiday is observed to commemorate labor and production and giving thanks to one another. According to Wikipedia it is a modern name for an ancient rice harvest festival known as Niiname-sai, dating back to November of 678. Traditionally, it celebrated the year’s hard work. During the Niiname-sai ceremony, the Emperor would taste the newly harvested rice for the first time. The modern holiday was established after WWII in 1948 as a day to mark some changes of the postwar constitution of Japan, including fundamental human rights and the expansion of workers rights.
That’s your history and culture lesson for today. The significance to us…Darin has work. Nathan has school. Caden has the day off. Darin gets Friday off instead, while both boys have school. BUT…on the Saturday after Thanksgiving we, along with fifteen other couples, will celebrate our American Thanksgiving with a traditional Thanksgiving feast! Looking forward to some turkey!
Wishing you all a safe and blessed Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for!
September was busy, hence the lack of an earlier update. Carroll, my neighbor, bless her heart, gave birth to her fourth child. She has a 12, 11 and seven year old and now a newborn. Sweetest little baby. However, Carroll was in the hospital for six weeks before Jane was born. They detected a rapid heart beat in the baby so they had to monitor both of them. In the US they wouldn’t keep someone hospitalized for that long, but we aren’t in the US. Anyway, I organized a meal schedule for the family for what ended up being two and half months before it was all done. That kept me occupied along with the settling into school routine, Japanese lessons, weekly Bible study, and whatever else popped up…and there is always something popping.
October was Caden’s birthday. We had a celebration for him, his friend Alex and a new friend Alyssa whose birthdays are Oct 4 and Oct 3 respectively. The party was a superhero themed party. All 30, yes 30 invitees received a cape and a sword to fight off villains. They loved it! It was a huge success. A bit stressful and chaotic at times, but a success nonetheless.
I had the opportunity to enjoy a weekend in Seoul, Korea with eight other women. That's right! NO kids, NO husbands! So sweet. Unfortunately we didn’t engage in much culture. We shopped, ate, and shopped some more. Although I found out shopping does open a small window into the local culture so it wasn’t a wasted experience. Korean vendors are much more pushy. So is the rest of the population. They will push you aside to get where they are going. I’m used to being accidentally bumped into by a bag or an individual when the trains are packed, but not just shoved aside willy nilly. I also discovered that if you have a hankering for a McDonald’s cheeseburger you are out of luck. They don’t have cheeseburgers on the McDonald’s menu, only Bulgolgi burgers. Yes. Bulgolgi burgers. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t cheeseburgers. Bulgolgi is kind of similar to BBQ. It has a sweet, tangy flavor. A very traditional Korean dish that consists of small pieces of marinated beef stir-fried with veggies. It is served with cellophane noodles (transparent noodles) by real Koreans, or rice in our home. Thankfully Costco has prepackaged, already marinated seasoned beef ready to stir-fry. Oishii desu (Japanese for, “It’s very yummy!).
Hong Kong Disney was our Fall break destination. This is the first time we have actually left the country during a school break. The kids had a blast! Hong Kong Disney is a small park. Easily conquered in one day. Didn’t realize that before buying the “three nights at a resort hotel and two days at the park” package. While we didn’t see real Hong Kong, it was still a great vacation. We weren’t rushed at any time. The park wasn’t busy. Our maximum wait time was ten minutes. Which we thought was a horrible injustice since we had only waited five minutes for that same ride the day before.
As I mentioned Nathan is starting piano lessons. The keyboard we bought for this new extracurricular activity came in a huge rectangular box about five feet long and about a foot and half wide, just long enough to accommodate Nathan. One afternoon after Nathan got home from school the doorbell rang. I was in the middle of folding laundry and became annoyed Nathan wasn’t answering the door. Neither the door nor the phone goes unanswered in our house when Nathan is home. I opened the door to find Nathan lying in the box, on his back with his arms crossed like he’s dead. I had to laugh at his creativity and had a moment of pride knowing he has acquired my twisted sense of humor. Then I told him to go show Gloria, our friend on the 9th floor who I knew would also appreciate it. About a half an hour later he came back with two of Gloria’s sons both secured in the box. They popped out as we began removing the tape. Caden was not amused. He was a bit scared. He thought it was another piano. At any rate for the next two hours Nathan, along with Gloria, her kids, and a band of followers traveled throughout the apartment building ringing doorbells and scaring people. Gloria even carried a roll of packing tape to retape the box every time. At each apartment the kids would ask for help opening the box. The only time they worried was when the apartment resident would return with a knife or scissors to assist opening the package. In the end no one was injured and they all had a blast. Everyone was talking about it the next day. It’s been two weeks and I still haven’t been able to dispose of the beloved box.
The weather has finally cooled down and the leaves have changed. They are beautiful! We are planning to go on an outing to Arashiyama this weekend to view the fall colors. Should be fun. It is located near Kyoto. There is a bamboo forest nearby as well as a monkey park where uncaged, wild monkeys linger about.
Tuesday, November 23 is Labor Thanksgiving Day (Kinro kansha no hi) in Japan. The holiday is observed to commemorate labor and production and giving thanks to one another. According to Wikipedia it is a modern name for an ancient rice harvest festival known as Niiname-sai, dating back to November of 678. Traditionally, it celebrated the year’s hard work. During the Niiname-sai ceremony, the Emperor would taste the newly harvested rice for the first time. The modern holiday was established after WWII in 1948 as a day to mark some changes of the postwar constitution of Japan, including fundamental human rights and the expansion of workers rights.
That’s your history and culture lesson for today. The significance to us…Darin has work. Nathan has school. Caden has the day off. Darin gets Friday off instead, while both boys have school. BUT…on the Saturday after Thanksgiving we, along with fifteen other couples, will celebrate our American Thanksgiving with a traditional Thanksgiving feast! Looking forward to some turkey!
Wishing you all a safe and blessed Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for!
