a real weekend!

with daddy unexpectedly home, we finally got to enjoy a weekend - a real weekend full of fun - for the first time in a long time! friday night we hired a babysitter and enjoyed an evening at the officers' club (how fun, we walked just up the street and there we were!) with many of our san diego friends who are actually here on deployment.  it felt just like home seeing all of our squadron friends here in our hometown and more than once i found myself scanning the club for other ladies i am used to seeing around.  it was nice to have some time out to just relax and play and have adult conversations without worrying about diapers exploding or cooling down spats or doling out snacks. it was a much needed night of fun.  saturday morning i had the honor of spending the morning with my first clients here in iwakuni and that afternoon we enjoyed a summer music festival hosted here on the base. peter's creative movements dance class performed a little number and i was impressed by the way his teacher handled the large group of multiple children in different dance classes who performed back to back to back to back. for having only been to three classes and being in front of a large group of people, peter did a great job.  he knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing and other than glancing at distractions from time to time (there were a lot of them!), he followed right along. the rest of the festival was spent spread out on blankets getting to know our new friends, enjoying the plethora of giant bounce houses, the free snow cones and the delicious all-american bbq along with the bands performing (ahem, we did feel old as we kept commenting about the music being much too loud). the kids did great, and we had a lovely time. and then, just like that, suddenly the kids had had enough sugar and jumping and sweating (yes, another super hot and humid day) and we headed home and collapsed into bed. reid and i even watched (most of) a movie together. happy times!

we made no mention to our kids about the cotton candy, and thankfully they didn't ask!  the idea of p&b with this level of sugar in his system scares me a little. ;)

we got there much before the crowd due to peter's dance performance, so they had the  bounce houses all to themselves

miss erin leading all the kids in stretching - peter was participating very nicely, although the picture doesn't show it. i was impressed with how well he listened to miss erin and sat patiently while they waited for their turn.

a friend had a great idea to bring her blanket and as soon as it was spread out, the kids all collapsed on it in relief. it was quite hot, so a place to lay down in the shade was perfect.

betsy bravely flying down the gigantic bouncy-house slide. she loved it!

dance performance in full effect - i was bummed the little dude was in front of peter the entire time so it was hard to get a good picture

curtis and one of his new little girlfriends enjoying the tickle of grass - he is 2 days older than little miss

so fun seeing san diego friends here in our new home town!  i had the priviledge of attending the birth of his daughter just before we left san diego. :)

and today i was invited to celebrate a new friend and client who is expecting a baby sometime in the next month-ish...what a great group of gals. i have been so overjoyed to meet so many lovely women in such a short time!

japanese yochien hunt: part I

we've known for quite some time that we wanted to send our children to japanese schools if possible so they could fully appreciate the culture. as young as they are, this was one way we could ensure they would have memories of life in japan being different from "normal" and opening their eyes to how different life is around the world.  after a little shuffling of logistics to ensure childcare, transportation and translation for my friend caroline and i, we finally got it accomplished and visited three of five local japanese yochiens (preschools) in iwakuni.  it was a really enjoyable day getting out in our community after spending so much time on base lately, and there truly is nothing more adorable than a preschool - it doesn't matter what country you are in. everything is tiny and colorful and the staff at all the schools was warm and welcoming and apologetic - they are on summer break during the month of august so the air conditioning is off and the school is mostly empty of students and staff, other than small groups of children in daycare during summer break.
the details for the most part of all three yochiens we visited were the same. school begins from summer break (month of august) on september 3. registration packet and registration fee are due when you decide you'd like to attend and then you order your uniforms through the school which includes a backpack and in some cases a hat. some have a supplies fee and some of them give you a school supplies list. you end up buying class shoes (little white slip-ons with bottoms similar to keds) out in town.  two of the three provide lunch (kawashimo does not, but two days a week you can pay extra for lunch). there is a lot of time spent on craft activities, language activities, song/dance (many performances throughout the year and celebrations for festivals that include dance/song) - typyical of what you'd expect from a preschool in the states, minus the japanese lessons. the teachers speak only japanese so they are immersed in the language from the very start. they try to spread out the american children so there are only 1-2 per class at most schools. class size is approximately 20 students with 1-2 teachers per class. they all include bus service as space allows (since we are starting mid-year, its possible we may not have space on the bus this year) and the teacher rides on the bus with students, ensuring their parent is waiting there at the bus stop for them.
my friend caroline did some loose conversions of monthly tuition for five full days a week of preschool plus lunch and bus service.  this is what she came up with (does not include registration fees, uniform prices):

Minami - $372/mo

Higashi - $310/mo  

Kawoshima - $264/mo
to me, this is quite impressive considering what we were paying in San Diego for a wonderful three half days a week for a preschool ($310/mo).  obviously there is a spread in pricing, but like anything in life, it is important to make a decision that feels right. price is important. atmosphere is important. confidence in the staff and school is important. and really, momma wisdom about choosing what is best for your child.
the language barrier was little to nothing as we had a friend along who could translate and two of the three schools also had at least one english speaking staff member along. other than having to rephrase our questions or clarify the statements they made to be sure we had understood correctly, the language was not an issue at all.  the schools were all close-ish to our base (10-25 minutes approximately, depending on how many lights you were stopped at or how lost you got).  our lovely neighbor agreed to drive us so we didn't have to attempt to remember all the rules of the road and navigate our way there, and he provided excellent company and entertainment for the day as well as some fabulous tour-guiding and pointing out some spots of interest.

Higashi Yochien - about 10 minutes from main gate. This school was smallish - but more school like than most preschools in the states. they have a courtyard in the middle for outdoor play and a small pool for swimming class in the hot months before summer break as well as gymnastic class once a month in their large multi purpose room. i was very impressed with the facilities and they have an english speaking staff member.

One of many Higashi classrooms, they are extremely well kept and maintained and organized with nice natural lighting. There is a 2-3 year old class, several 3-4 year old classes and some 4-5 year old classes.  Each classroom has a piano which i loved. There is obviously a lot of time spent on art as the walls are covered with it, and all three schools visited mentioned the same thing about art being a part of each day.  Starts around 8:30, ends around 2:30.  Wednesdays are shorter days with class ending at 1:30.

stairs leading to older kids classrooms - i asked if it said "1, 2, 3..." and she said "no, it sounds from music...do, re, me - so they can sing as they walk up the stairs."

there is something really adorable about teeny tiny urinals.

yes, shoes off...they wear class slippers when they are inside the buildings. i adore this custom

school is currently out for summer, these are the summer childcare program for working parents. they are eating in the multipurpose room - they also do performances here on the stage behind these kids as well as gymnastics class.

winter and summer/gymnastics uniforms which you buy when you turn in your registration.

bus picks kids up at the base gate, the teacher rides the bus and makes sure the parents are there waiting when they get off. they mentioned the bus to our base may be full already for this school year so we would potentially be driving our kids to school (the new school year starts in april in Japan) - we are mid-year right now.

kawashimo yochien - about 15 minutes another direction from the main gate.  The parking lot is not next to the school, so there is a little navigating to do to find the right path through people's yards to get to the actual school.  no english speaking staff as far as i know. there are many people who send their children to school here from base. it appears to be the least expensive option for preschool. it was a lovely facility, but definitely more dated and less tidy (in my opinion) than the other two.

some kawashima daycare kids

fun to see some of the artists' names in english and others in japanese

Minami Yochien - about 20 minutes from main gate, just a big past YouMe Town. This is the largest of the three schools. the woman pictured is one english speaking staff member, there are a couple more. one is my new friend who has offered to help me with some translating and asked me to help her jr. high daughter with english. yes!

they were all peeking out at us, more summer childcare kids in just one classroom

beautiful minami classroom

this place had lots of natural light and beautiful paint up on all the windows - felt very happy

little sinks in the hallway

had to get a picture of the slippers were were given at the door of each yochien. what a nice custom to keep things clean. brilliant actually....its refreshing to live in a country where they take really excellent care of everything and pay great attention to detail in everything they do.

emergency exit slide for upstairs classes...who wants to put preschoolers on a staircase when crisis strikes. another brilliant idea.

minami main yard - another courtyard play area at minami yochien

minami yochien lunchroom - you can see the food prep area where meals are cooked fresh on site. they eat standard japanese food. :) happy dance.

little pool at minami for swim lessons in hot months. how fun - an in-ground pool that is above ground.

winter (left) and summer (far right) uniforms with gym uniforms in the middle and little blue smocks that are worn during the school day.

after the preschool visits, on our way home, our awesome neighbor stopped at the dragonfly...its a lovely little consignment shop full of all sorts of treasures - a great place to buy used furniture. there was a whole rack of yukata and kimono - i could spend hours exploring this place. they had a tiny clothes dryers smaller than a mini-fridge (some of them were apparently a washer and dryer all in one. fascinating). i need to go back there with a japanese friend so i can ask all my questions. there are always questions....i love learning about life in japan!

our fun day ended at a little cafe similar to denny's (but better food options) called joyfull. our neighbor-tour guide said we had to try the shaved ice and yes, it was so wonderful! mine is a fruity syrup with ice cream on top and caroline's is green tea syrup with a yummy sweet red bean paste on top. can't wait to go back with the kids

there are two more yochiens to visit, we're planning a trip on tuesday. i am looking forward to having our decision made, our registration turned in and our suppies ready. it will be so odd sending my little man off to school 5 days a week, but i think he will absolutely love it and it will certainly allow me to turn my attention to creating more age-appropriate pre-pre-school activities for betsy as well as allowing me time to whip around our community and explore with only two children in tow, dabble with the details and decor of making our house our home and really delve into the professional development of continuous training for my birth services business and learning japanese. i am working on connecting with a japanese tutor who will come to my home, perhaps after bedtime hours so i may really do my best to get some language skills while here in this beautiful country. we still have no car, but my drivers license is handy to have as several friends have loaned me their car (and watched the kids) so i could go buy groceries or run occasional errands. other friends have met me at the post office to drive my packages to my front door while i transported my three babies on the bus back to our home. lots of time-consuming logistics with no car ( and LOTS of sweating)...but its certainly possible with planning and patience and helpful people every where it turn. yes, i am absolutely loving our time here. an added bonus this weekend: reid was able to come home from a week spent on okinawa with his squadron. they had to evacuate the jets from okinawa before the typhoon struck. we are certainly enjoying the unexpected time together while it lasts. the kids were super excited to see him walk through the door the other day!

yanai: goldfish lantern festival

waking up to cranky littles and a disaster of a house is my least favorite way to start the day, but today....today it was a little more tolerable because last night we had an adventure!!!   
the first week we were here i gathered up the preview which is a monthly publication on base with all the happenings in the area on base and outside in the real world too.  i scoured the preview, read it cover to cover and filled out my calendar with reminders of events and their locations, times and the dates that sign-ups were required...just in case we found ourselves needing to get out of the house. ahem....that's just about every day of our lives in this house!  the base does a great job of keeping everyone informed of what's happening in the area and often sponsors tours to attend events all over japan.  one that caught my eye was the yanai goldfish lantern festival. i didn't know a thing about it, but it sure sounded intriguing and i knew yanai wasn't that far down the coast so i tucked it into the back of my mind for another day when i had more time to digest the logistics of taking a family of 5 on a tiny road trip.  well, daddy and i have been working our tails off to keep the plates spinning - getting the house somewhat squared away and helping the kids adjust to our new normal.  i've been so grateful his new squadron allowed him to stay here with us for the week after our move-in to help us get settled - he's been my super-handy-man and i've appreciated all his help with furniture assembly, childcare, heavy lifting, meal prep, running around base...and holding me up in my weaker moments.  thankful he gets me and my need for organization when life gets nutty.  i can't help it, i'm pre-programmed: when i am stressed, i need to clean. so, in short order we've gotten the house more and more squared away (highly functioning without the cuteness and touches of home that will come with time) and suddenly i found myself looking outward, longing for some adventure - or at least a better peak of where we lived. we arrived in the black of night so i really didn't see anything on the drive from hiroshima to iwakuni other than a giant full moon and a bit of cityscape lighting in the distance.
i knew the biggest challenge for us was transportation to and from the event as we don't have our own vehicle yet and the one reid is borrowing from a squadron buddy to run around base with is not big enough for our team of five.  we could take the train to yanai but even the walk to the iwakuni train station is a bit too much for the kids to handle in this heat - the distance isn't too bad, but the time spent in the heat is just too intense and they are done before we ever get started.  i remembered the base rented vans and asked reid to check into it. if we could drive a van to yanai, we'd be just fine. off he went and returned with a fancy van and set about installing the three carseats....in the heat of the day, its exhausting work! i got on the phone with the base information office and she had a packet of maps and directions all ready for reid to pick up when he got there a few minutes later.  it had rained the entire morning so i scurried about packing our backpack like a boyscout, preparing for another downpour.....everything got put in gallon size ziplock bags. we decided to try this outing without a stroller and packed two baby carriers, some snacks for the car and headed out.
it was really just so energizing and liberating to be going on a trip, in japan, in our own car, without any assistance....just going.  as we went along i snapped pictures and let reid do all the thinking and driving.  and thankfully he saw the crazy elderly man who decided to walk his bike across a cross walk, in front of our car that was going along at a good clip with a green light....he literally stepped out and hobbled across the road about 20 feet in front of our car - thank goodness our brakes worked.  peter scolded daddy for the quick stop and he and i exchanged relieved glances (and i asked him if maybe he needed a new pair of underwear - phew, that was too close for comfort!).  note to self, people here just sort of go when they feel like it. he seriously never even glanced in our direction, even as the tires squeeled, he just hobbled on across the road using his bike as a walking aid. wow.  anwyay, reid had already internalized the directions so he made getting there super easy. i only helped at the very end figuring out which turn at which intersection would take us to the parking lot of mr. max (kind of a wal-mart looking store), which happened to be on top of the store. very cool. there was a parking lot on the ground level that was very small and very full - and men directing traffic up the super steep ramp that took you straight up on top of the store. costco, take note - you could save yourself a lot of trouble with this gig! what a brilliant use of space - and a great view of yanai too. we took the stairs down, used the restrooms right inside the store and then set off on foot for the mainstreet where the festival was held. it was just up the street, down some stairs and through and underground tunnel. tadah! in a country where we couldn't read much of anything, we had found it no problem. i really think reid and i should be on the amazing race together! what a dream that would be.  we always joke that together we have a fully functioning brain because we are both good at different things. he, for example, is always responsible for math, geography and history. :)
so the yanai goldfish lantern festival has a couple of different possible origins. the more probably origin is that the fishermen of yanai made goldfish lanterns for their children who would run through the streets with them in the summer. the folklore says the lantern tradition began when a starving samurai, unemployed during the Meji restoration was forced to take on piece-labor to feed his family.  the samurai, believing the goldfish to symbolize prosperity in abundance, decided to take a chance and sell goldfish lanterns.  when the samurai reached the market he sold out within the first hour and had enough money to feed his family and make more goldfish lanterns. source 
either way, the festival was just darling - the minute we came up from the underground walkway, the streets were absolutely lined with little paper goldfish lanterns. when we arrived around 4:30 pm, the festival was just getting under way and over the next few hours the streets were filled with people to the point that it was difficult to walk together (good call leaving the stroller behind, it would have been like a bulldozer moving through the crowd!).  we walked up and down the streets and a side street, testing out some of the yakitori (grilled, skewered chicken), some pastries, ice cream, noodles, beer and green tea in a can, hot dog-ish on a stick and later some shaved ice. not the most nutritious evening, but we enjoyed ourselves.  we both commented as we walked along that this was one of the coolest afternoons we had experienced yet and we were grateful since we were each carrying a little on our front and reid had the backpack on his back.  we peeked in shops, people watched.  i l-o-v-e-d checking out the japanese fashions and really enjoyed looking at all the beautiful yukatas (summer kimono) many of the girls were sporting.  aside from food vendors, their were childrens games and we even happened upon some traditional japanese archery. lots of little groups of kids standing around with their taiko drum groups, all dressed alike, waiting for the parade action later in the evening. the kids did really well, only a couple of meltdowns later in the trip and very likely because they were hot, thirsty and tired (and maybe crashing from their sugar high???). 
when the festival began, we thought it would be a parade like we're used to at home - it moves along the streets. earlier we had walked past all the goldfish lantern floats lined up like they were in a staging area so we presumed anywhere along the city street that was blockaded from traffic would lend a fine view of the floats passing. but we noticed the crowd pressing in one direction across the bridge as a large group of yukata-clad japanese ladies came dancing very, very slowly down the street. what i thought was the parade was basically the opening ceremony. and then the taiko drums started up....and the announcer of the event started his chanting...we didn't know then and still can't figure out what exactly he was saying, you'll see down below in the video i've attached. we have a hunch he is saying something like, "spin, spin, spin, spin!!!!" but...of course, we could be way off!  it was all so incredibly, deliciously interesting to take in. to try and digest the tradition - this awesomeness happens every single summer. every summer of their lives these young people have come to this same festival - i just think its so wonderful for people to have these types of recurring traditions, celebrations, ceremonies in their lives.  we were glad we had prepped the kids by watching a youtube video of the goldfish lantern festival from a previous year.  peter lit up and said "its just like on the video!" when we saw it happening.  showing it to him before gave it a little bit of normalcy and it was easier for him to digest. he didn't comment once on the taiko drums or the chanting being too loud - i was super glad since we didn't bring his hearing protection - maybe he's growing out of that?  we weren't sure how long the kids would last, as the fireworks didn't start until 8:30...so we just let them tell us when they were toast - and just like that, it was time to go, peter announced he wanted to go to bed.  we made the walk back to the rooftop parking of mr. max, put the kids in their pjs and strapped them into their seats with a sippy cup and a snack and headed back down the road like we'd lived here all our lives. i credit the ease of travel to reid's internal gps, he did great driving on the wrong side of the road. i'm looking forward to giving it a go - but will probably practice only on base for a few weeks until it comes a little more naturally for me to keep the car on the right (um, left actually) side of the road.  looking forward to our next adventure already!

passing through the downtown area of iwakuni - near youme town, actually. this area has more romanji (our characters) and english brands than you see in most areas around us. and there in the distance you spot the kfc sign...told you it was there. i shouldn't be so hard on it, it may be a great source of comfort for me at some point on this trip (remembering how happy we were to see a certain tgi friday's on the banks of the panama canal!)

literally driving right along the sea wall

beachfront property - interesting to note how they don't waste space with giant stretching yards or driveways. the houses sit right up on the street with just enough room to park their cars in front. most yards/gardens are fenced into the house area.

thankful for the romanji - without it driving and navigating would be a real trick.

pete showing off his yummy cream filled fluffy-light pastry. the man punched numbers into his calculator to show us how much yen we owed. many places use the same numbers as us - but of course most places use the characters. something on my list of things to learn stat.

some gals in their yukatas

a funny little sign

the view coming up and out of the underground walkway

in the food vendor alley - its starting to get crowded.

seafood :)

enjoying their ice cream - this gal was the ice cream machine lady

best. baby. ever.

right behind reid is a drop off about 4 feet deep - a gutter. and of course, my lady bug wanted to walk the tight rope right along the edge of it. my heart was racing every time she got close to the edge.

one of the floats getting ready. each "team" was dressed alike and was in charge of spinning their float. when it was their turn in front of the taiko drums, they'd spin in one direction for about 30 seconds, then recenter themselves in the circle of spectators and spin the other direction for about 30 seconds. and then they were done. it seemed like a competition but i'm not sure who was judging or what exactly they were competing for. but it was fun to speculate.  this is why i need local japanese friends!

boys taiko drum group around another float

once it got dark some of the goldfish lanterns were lit

the dancing ladies shuffling oh so slowly and dancing in an almost-hula-style, oh so gracefully down the street. it was almost like they were floating.

sorry video wouldnt load

i love the beautiful bow at the back of the yukata. hoping someone will teach me to tie one during our time here.

heading home in the underground walkway

stopped inside mr. max for another bathroom break before heading home and i couldn't help but take a picture of the mcdonald's menu that was right inside the door. a girl on base said the food was similar, but everything was smaller than the way its served in the us. perhaps we could take some notes!

this says exit. reid learned in his driving class - the picture of a man with a box next to it means exit. :) we are learning!