Japanese Yochien Lunch

At the beginning of the school year, Ai Sensei asked us at the bus stop if Claire would like to start having Japanese lunch on Mondays and Wednesdays and a sandwich and milk on Fridays. I said yes, but I wanted to hear how she liked it after the first week and then again the next week, to make sure she liked it.


Sensei told me that she eats very well and I ask Claire and she tells me she likes it. One day she came home and told me, "MOMMY! GUESS WHAT?!?! There was a FISH in my lunch today!" (It was quite funny to Claire!) But she didn't seem to mind and I continue to ask her every Monday and Wednesday and she says she likes her lunch.

So spring forward to this month when I notice the menu in her handouts in her backpack

Which, of course, I can't read.  And the highlighted part cracks me up because I'm pretty sure that was just on my handout...I hadn't been sending in a fork, a spoon or a cup. :)  WHOOPS!  Gaijin!!!

So I asked Mick to take it to his Saint of a secretary, Miss Nika-san and she translated it for us (producing this awesome document...the Japanese do not do anything halfway).

I ask Claire every day and says she likes her meal and then I ask her if there was fish in her meal and she usually says no...but she's mistaken, as you can see! ☺

The sandwiches are beautiful. I saw them when I took cookies in for Claire's birthday. They are cut on the diagonal and one half was ham and cheese and the other half was a ham salad. The lunches really kick the stuffing out of the pepperoni and pickles or jelly sandwiches that I send in for her. No wonder she likes it so much! :)  I really need to go in there on a Monday or Wednesday to see the Japanese lunch.

Claire Bear will be the most Japanese of us

when we leave here, that's for sure!

Speech, experience and now expanded taste buds!

Claire's Entrance Ceremony at Yochien - April 2011

The Japanese school year begins in April, not August or September, and goes through most of the summer, taking August off. The opening ceremony is a BIG deal and the Japanese knew this and dressed to the nines for it. It was funny to see the Americans (save our friend Charlie, married to the fabulous Harumi, who was in his Sunday best) in regular clothes! Gaijins!!!!

First we gathered in the playground area for a few songs.

I like this picture because you can pick out the American in the background! :) (Next year we'll know to dress up!)

Then we went inside their classroom where they took roll

Patiently waiting her turn!

Hi Mommy!!!

Here she is raising her hand and answering "Hai!" which is "Yes" in Japanese when her name, "Claire-chan" is called!

She can recognize her name in Hiragana!

We ended the opening ceremony morning with a class picture with the Moms. Gigi wouldn't let me put her down, so she's in it too!

I'm so proud of our Claire Bear!

It's Going to be a Great Year!

Gigi Loves Justin

Olivia and Claire each got a Justin Bieber (Barbie) doll for Christmas. You push his belly button and he sings one of his songs. Gigi L-O-V-E-S the ♪♫ Baby ♪♫ song and plays with him all of the time. I didn't have the video camera, but clicked away and I think the photos are kind of like a flip book of old! :)

We should really put his clothes back on! ;-)

Why we have decided to not allow paint in the house anymore

In her teeth and on her tongue....

and on the back of her neck. Almost like she had help. Hmmmm....Claire was up there. Coincidence?

Very Proud of Audrey!

Don't you love catching your kids doing something great?

There's a lot of calling kids back to turn the lights off, hang up the towel, get your elbows off the table, do your homework, do your homework, have you done your homework yet, for the thousandeth time, put the salad forks in the salad fork place in the silverware drawer! Detail is important! Learn to do things correctly the first time so you don't have to do it twice.

Oh dear. You see how my days usually go now, don't you?  Parenting. Not for the faint at heart, indeed,

But today I sat down at the computer and Audrey was logged into her Facebook. It was on a mutual friend of ours page, so I thought I was logged into mine and I clicked on the "Notifcation" tab and saw that "Meru Chey commented on her wall post" as well as "Meru Chey accepted your friend request."

I leave her Facebook page and move to the next tab on Internet Explorer and it's a "Google Translate" page.

On the left (English) side it says

Hi Meru I'm so happy you got a Facebook

and on the right (Japanese) side it says

こんにちはメルー私はあなたがFacebookを持ってうれしい

There have been several new children in Audrey's class the past month or so and mostly they are Japanese. Generally, a service member has married a Japanese woman and then his (now) stepchildren come into our school and don't speak much English.

I am soooooooooooooo proud of Audrey for reaching out to these kids and not only forming a friendship, but going that extra step in making them feel valued by trying to speak to them in their native language, while they are working hard at learning English! 

Thursday I biked out with Audrey to her Kumon (Japanese) lesson and I peeked around the corner at the end and took several pictures in my mind of her smiling and interacting with the Sensei and trying so hard with the testing portion of the lesson.

She has really embraced living here in Japan and I'm so proud of her!!!

Must get back to the mundane Mothering (as opposed to bragging Mothering) now....but it's ALL WORTH IT!!!