So, as of tomorrow Joisan will be in grade 8 and Taran will be hanging with the grade 9's again. They have both been working on their correspondence courses over the break so I think they are both feeling fairly motivated right now.
All the students at the Chugakko are going to be visiting Cowichan in October for the first part of the exchange program. Students from Cowichan will be coming here in January or February. Joisan has been working on her powers of positive thinking and she's really hoping that the definition of ALL the students will include her and Taran. I'm really not seeing the educational value in them visiting Cowichan for a week but since it's really up to the Board of Education here (they pay for the trip for everyone) I'm not getting my knickers in a knot over it. We'll let you know how powerful Joisan's positive thoughts really are!
We did manage to get the snowboarding trip organized for Saturday. Joisan and her friend Misuzu and Taran were going and then at the last minute Naoko decided to go too. I drove them all to the mountain (only 1/2 hour away - skiers take note for a potential winter vacation!!!) and they snowboarded all day while I sat in the cafeteria and worked on my computer. It was not very busy - probably because the snow was not very good anymore. The kids said the mountain they were on in the morning was very icy and not very good but the one they were on in the afternoon was better.
Misuzu's family came for dinner on Saturday and Naoko stayed as well. Ian made curry rice and salad. Ato san (Misuzu's dad) brought some crabs and we had an impromptu crab party before dinner. It was fun but the kids were all pretty tired from their long day.
On Easter Sunday - (I forgot that it was Easter until I heard from people at home) we had grand plans to use the last of the arcade coupons with Chinami and her boys. We went into Date in time to do some shopping before Naoki's (the younger boy) drum concert. Taran and Joisan both got new runners and we got some much needed groceries. On a side note... it is a challenge to find shoes big enough for our giant children. They both have larger feet than typical Japanese people. Of course back home they are probably both average with Taran at a size 11 and Joisan at a size 8. Anyway, after shopping we went to the recital. It was held in a small (130 people) theatre on the second floor of an office building. The remarkable part is that it was very well laid out and equiped. It had a raked audience and a proper stage with legs and blacks and curtains and a full set of lights with what appeared to be a fully functional booth. It was very impressive - and just what Duncan needs!
The concert itself was good. They had supporting players and a singer for all the drummers. It got a bit loud though so I was grateful that I happened to have a set of earplugs in my purse. Ian left before the end because it was bothering his almost 44 year old ears!) Naoki played the Beatles' Lady Madonna and he did really well. Afterwards we went to the park at the cultural centre rather than to the arcade since I had managed to leave the arcade coupons at home by accident. We tried to fly a kite that Chinami had in her car but there was no wind. The boys played soccer in the muddy fields for a bit and I had to yell at Ian to stop when he joined in since he's not supposed to be doing anything more than walking until June.
We went to Chinami's house for dinner again but this time we brought dinner. I had made a tomato sauce which I added some clams to and we had spaghetti and garlic bread. Taran and Joisan both enjoyed the time there where they can play video games and lego. It was a struggle to get them to leave!
That's about it for today. Don't get too attached to these more frequent updates since I will have to start back to a regular schedule this week too!
Happy Easter everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment