Yochien Visiting Day for Grandparents

of course its a bit of a trip for the grandparents and great grandparents to make it to pete's school for visiting day, so i tried to capture a bit of it for you to see. i arrived about 2 minutes late and when i peeked in the door of his classroom, i could tell he was looking for me in the sea of japanese faces - and when he did see me, his face just lit up. it was about an hour long opportunity to see what they are studying in school and what these tiny little 3-4 year olds are capable of. japanese schooling is fairly structured with a lot of memorization and they are already learning to recognize and read hirigana (one of four japanese writing styles). it was super cute to watch all these littles turn their chairs with perfection when the sensei indicated it was time. the teachers would walk around to adjust their posture, the way their feet were placed on the floor - all with sweet attentiveness and smiles on their faces. it was even more fun to watch the faces of the parents and grandparents crammed around the periphery of the tiny classroom (japan is just heaven for people-watching!). the teacher showed flashcards and one by one the kids took their turn raising their hand and telling her what the card said (ok, so i'm guessing about what was happening - it was all happening in japanese, so this is my gaijin, or non-japanese version of the events of the day). even peter got a turn - he knew when to raise his hand but when he got called on it took a little coaxing for him to say anything, and when he did, it was his go-to phrase "my name is peter!" - and everyone chuckled a little, much to his delight. and then the class went back to the flashcard drill. considering sweet peter-chan (-san is added to the end of the name of adults, -chan is added to the end of children's names or for terms of endearment) had only been in school for a week at this point, i was impressed they managed to keep him in his chair! after the flashcard drill they got out their books for reading pratice. their books open backwards from ours and in this case the text was written veritcally, so they read it top to bottom, right to left. the children opened the book flat on their desk in front of them to the first page - the teacher gave a preparatory command and each child said "hai!" (yes) and put their index finger up in the air, then she gave a second command of execution and each child said "hai!" and put their index finger on the first character. then the teacher read the text and once she finished the sentence, the children recited it back together in unison while tracing their finger along the characters. i have no idea how accurate their "reading" was but it was an impressive display at any rate. i could tell it was all sort of still new and noise to pete, but he partically complied with what was going on - he was struggling to pay attention with the distraction of the people all over the room and i could see a case of the wiggles trying to take over his body. :) after they read their book, repeating the finger tracing/reciting drill on each page they switched gears to meditation. it took me awhile to figure out what was happening as the sensei got out a tv (but i couldn't see the screen) and really calm music played quietly. the two sensei's walked around the room adjusting the kids posture again - and then i realized they must not actually be watching a movie because all the children's eyes were closed - it appeared to be some sort of meditation practice. calming the body and the mind. it only lasted maybe 3-4 minutes....but again, i was astounded seeing my boy sit (mostly) still with eyes closed along with his class. now my sweet little gaijin baby was rolling his head around and gritting his teeth and squinting his eyes tightly together, but his feet and his bottom stayed put and yes, he was actually participating in an activity that requires discipline of body and mind - and only one week into it. yes, impressive. after this the parents or grandparents got to participate in some fun - since i was the only one there for peter, i unfortunately did not get any pictures of he and i practicing a dance together that the sensei's taught us nor did i get pictures of the fun counting game we played with paper mache fish that the class played together.  it truly was lovely getting a little glimpse of his day at school as its such a challenge to get much information from him at the end of the day - i'm sure sometimes he doesn't even know what to tell me because he is not sure what to call it. he tells me little tidbits about his lunch menu or announces that everyone must wait to eat until everyone has their food served and enforces this rule at our table now (awesome!) or shares that he is thirsty but doesn't need a drink before school because he will drink tea at school.  i am really looking forward to seeing where he is at with his japanese skills by the end of this school year - and grateful that he has another two full years at minami. and little miss betsy will begin attending this same school when the new school year starts in april.

peter-chan spying his mommy across the room. that is one of his teachers, akemi-sensei - they sat near him most of the time...presumably to help him manage his tendency for wiggling.

family watching their kiddos "perform" across the room from me

eyes closed...not a very zen look on his face, but hey - you gotta start somewhere! :)

i am a little obsessed with how cute things are with japanese writing on it - kind of like most japanese fashions have english written somewhere on it - who knew english was so hip?

the uniforms they are wearing are their gym clothes - they have been preparing for sports day. there is a national holiday coming up called health and sports day - seems to be all about promoting a healthy lifestyle and i believe is also a nod to the time they hosted the olympics. in addition to a day off from school/work - most schools also have a sort of mini olympics sports competition/event, and that is what the kids have been practicing for all month. i'm looking forwrd to attending at the iwakuni sports park in a few weeks to see what its all about!

love seeing these cuties get off the bus with big smiles every day!

pete and his girl ashlyn