after running around to all the different local youchiens for visits and talking about dollars and "yen-jamins" (as my friend like to call the yen) and figuring out logistics and being given hand-me-down uniforms and scampering around to pick up supplies and signing all the forms...finally, today peter had his first day of japanese preschool at minami youchien. we eventually did visit all five of our local options and while they all had their own charming little nuances and differences, minami was the one we both (i was school shopping with my gal c) felt great about all aspects. its a sweet school with a beautiful property, excellently maintained school with amazing staff (several speak english or understand english), lunch meals made fresh on the grounds, school bus pick up and delivery to base with a sensei onboard to hand the kids off to their parents - we've heard wonderful things about this school from friends whose children have attended there - and well, we just went for it. today was the first day back from summer break (the month of august, mid-schoolyear for them) for all the students. i was really happy we were able to get in on the transition day back - it was a half day so it was perfect to just give peter a chance to ease into the new gig. we were to drop the kids off the first morning so we can take them to their class, pay, pick up school supplies and get any last minute questions answered. since we are still (yes STILL) waiting for our car, i got a sitter for my littles and peter and i rode along with our friends whose daughter was starting at minami today too.
we arrived around 9 am, during their morning transition time - parents are delivering kids, buses are arriving and students being escorted around. some children are playing in the courtyard while others have already ditched their street shoes in their cubbies by the door and donned their white room shoes to join their sensei's in their classrooms. the other day when we registered, i had machiko sensei (the english speaking teacher who helped us with the tour and forms, etc) write peter's name in katakana. last night when i was labeling his school supplies, i wrote his name in english and in katakana so he would be sure to recognize both of them. i'm glad i did - i was able to recognize his name on his shoe cubby today. and we also got more supplies provided by the school that i labeled before i left - both in english and in katakana. so fun!
for the first week of school, the kids are wearing casual clothes or summer uniforms with their summer smock during the day to protect their clothes - next week their wear their gym uniforms while they are preparing for the upcoming sports day, a national holiday in japan on october 8. it commemorates the opening of the 1964 summer olympics being held in tokyo, and exists to promote sports and an active lifestyle. the following week they switch to their winter uniforms. i happen to be a fan of these uniforms, surprising even to me; it sure takes the guess work out of getting the little mister dressed each day. score one for momma!
once we changed into his room shoes and said "ohio gozaimasu" to his teacher - akemi sensei, he hovered near me and occasionally played with some of the toys in the room while i labeled his supplies. he seemed very excited to be there but a few times said "i want you mom" and asked if i would stay with him. once it was time for me to go, he was absorbed in everything going on around him and said bye mom with a smile. before i left, he and i looked at the japanese rhinocerous beetle (kabutomushi, your japanese word of the day) that is his class pet - he was eating a little tiny cup of jello something or other. fascinating. no pet hamster in this country! :) then onto the next activity - all the students were being given plastic bags filled with water and the teachers were picking purple flowers off the vine by the entryway and putting them in the bags and tying a knot grandma-jan style (if you know my grandma, she ties knots in plastic bags for a hobby, hehe). then the kids were squeezing the flower and it was releasing dye that turned the water purple. after school peter told me that he later took the flower out and drank it - sometimes its hard to tell if the stories he tells me are stories from his imagination or the real deal. i wouldn't be surprised either way. (I got my answer later when i found the bag of purple water in his backpack - thankful the bag didn't leak!). i didn't get a lot of details from him about his day, as is typical - he said they sang a song and reenacted a little bit of it which was fun to see. later today he showed me how he learned to hold his hands in prayer position.
it was a half day today so we picked him up from the bus stop at the gate around 11:30. since i have no car and had 3 littles tote clear across base, i opted to jog with the babies to wait for him and bring a picnic lunch. once he got off the bus with a giant proud grin on his face, we played at the playground and had lunch before walking home. p&b rode in the stroller, finishing their lunches on the way home and curtis bounced happily home on my back in the ergo carrier. it was nice to squeeze a workout into the logstics of our day. for the first month, we are just sending him to school 4 days a week and taking wednesday off to stay at home together and go to dance class. once october hits, we'll see how he is doing and hope to send him 5 days if he is up for it. i am looking forward to seeing him absorb the japanese culture and language through school - and am excited that i get to glean some of his japan experience too since we are learning the language at the same pace. i'd say i'm at about preschool or less level right now too!
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| the list of school supplies we were responsible for supplying, grateful for the pictures! (from top to bottom): cloth lesson bag, cloth cinch sack for toothbrush and cup and hand towel, room shoes and shoe bag, cinch sack for utensil pack, cloth napkin and plastic cup, a rubberband for his calendar notebook, cinch sack for beads, and a cloth cinch sack for extra clothes in case of an accident at school |
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| room shoes and shoe bag - lots of color options, but the shoes are standard for all schools |
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| anpanman themed lunch cinch with utensil kit, napkin and cup - they are served traditional japanese lunches daily |
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| picture of a picture from the school's flier - yes, the teachers are really, truly that adorably sweet and insanely darling. they are all angels. |
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| pete and A walking to school together |
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| our babies are now big kids. wow. where has the time gone? |
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| peter and one of his teachers, akemi-sensei. his other eacher, asumi-sensei was riding the bus with students during morning pick-up |
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| showing him where to hang his towel and tooth brushing kit |
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| some of his class friends playing - the blue smocks go overtop of the uniforms during the school day to keep them clean. one thing i noticed: no one wears just plain white socks (poor pete). we are gonna have to find some jazzier socks. aunt carol to the rescue! ;) |
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| KABUTOMUSHI - the japanese rhinocerous beetle. that's your japanese vocabulary word of the day. :) he's eating this little jello cup that akemi-sensei put in when peter was looking at him. these are commonly sold in pet stores here in japan. |
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| pete's cubby with backpack, outside hat and water bottle (that's his name in katakana on the sticker). |
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| his classroom sign - he is in "sumire" (su-mee-ray) class which translates to "violet" |
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| dying the water purple with the flower - the teachers were really good about telling him the japanese word when he would say something to him and he has done great at repeating things back to them. eventually they will stick in his memory. they were really good about showing him what to do and using visual cues to get him to understand what was going on. she calls him peter-chan (adults have -san added to their name for respect (or their title instead of san if they are a doctor or a teacher, etc. littles get -chan added to their name, for endearment/respect) |
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| little mister man and his momma on his first day of japanese preschool. i was so excited for him, i honestly didn't get sad. (ok, so i spent this weekend feeling sad in a "wow he is growing up" kind of way...but its truly too exciting to even think for one minute i wish he wasn't going). |
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| the buses are coming to make their final drop - this sweet sensei took her job of blowing the whistle while signaling the buses into place, flight-line-style. she also stopped one of the littles from the younger kids class who made a beeline for the open gate, poor thing was yelling for his momma. i guess he wasn't ready for summer break to end. minami has a train bus (pictured, a cat bus and a dalmation bus) |
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| one of the only remaining lotus blossoms still in the field. when we moved here a month ago the whole field was full of blossoms. now it is ready for harvest. The renkon (lotus root) is the principal agricultural product of Iwakuni. |
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| lotus field - mostly sans flowers at this point - but you can see the lacy remains of where the flower would have been - looks a little like lace. i had some in a dish at a restaurant the other day after we registered for preschool, it was actually quite tasty! |
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| here comes the cat bus! (nekobasu...another vocab word. neko means cat) more than just a cute animal, the nekobasu is actually a really popular cartoon animal - an actual cat bus from the movie "my friend totaro" a japanese movie. we bought it at target before we moved here and it is awesome, the kids just love it - and its a fun way to sneak some japanese culture into our movie watching. |
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| here they come off the bus - oh man they are so grown up. i'm proud of these two! they were brave and full of joy about the whold thing! |
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| posing with the nekobasu sensei |
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| sweet baby curtis watching the whole ordeal sweetly from his stroller - he really wanted to be napping. :) |
