Trip to Tottori - Part Two

After a good night's sleep, T was up and raring to go (wearing Daddy's sandals and carrying K's bag)...

After breakfast we left the hotel and went to the toy museum. Downstairs they had an area set up as an old-fashioned school-room, and a display on traditional songs. A lot of popular children's songs were composed by people from Tottori, or at least have some kind of connection with the area.

There was also a room full of instruments for children to get their hands on...

Next we headed upstairs, to a large room filled with toys to play with. If we lived in Tottori city I think the boys would want to come everyday! There were lots of lovely wooden/educational toys and games, more musical things, an area for little ones and a workshop area for crafting.



There was also a very uncomfortable-looking ball pool!

K soon discovered a room with a huge collection of train tracks which he could play with. H and K stayed there for ages a while, but T and I returned to the main area to prevent Godzilla-esque railway destruction.

Finally we went up to the third floor, which houses an exhibition of toys through the ages, arranged thematically. H and I enjoyed spotting things from our childhood, and K found more trains!

After that it was time for lunch. H's brother lives in Tottori but unfortunately was busy that day. However, he did give us a great recommendation for a place to have lunch: a buffet-style restaurant where we most definitely got our money's worth :-)

In the afternoon our adventures continued - and that will be Part Three...

Summer time

This year's rainy season seems to have dragged on forever. Weeks have passed under grey skies, clouds preventing the sun from easing the stifling humidity. The heavy downpours bring some relief and cooler air, but opening the windows to take advantage of that also allows the rain to come in...

If I were writing haiku, hydrangeas and frogs would be suitable (if obvious) symbols for the season. Instead, here's the photographic version, from our garden on Saturday:





Tiny little frog on a camellia leaf

 Late afternoon on Saturday, the clock/weather station in our living room reported that it was 27 degrees and over 80% humidity. Not comfortable.

Yesterday brought a sudden change though. The sun came out, the clouds disappeared; the temperature rose and the humidity dropped.... well, a bit. Our living room hit 34 degrees, with a mere 55% humidity, and today has been similar. For both days, a heat stroke warning was issued. At least yesterday there was a breeze and, in the late afternoon in the shade of the big tree, it was lovely in the garden. T was napping upstairs, H was preparing dinner in the Dutch oven, K was reading and I was relaxing. I just lay on the grass, watching the swallows in the blue, blue sky and enjoying the breeze and the absence of mosquitoes.

Today was Marine Day (海の日、umi no hi), a public holiday in Japan. With no wind, we couldn't bear to be outside and finally started using the air conditioning. I always try to put it off as long as possible because of the Pringles effect; once I start, I won't be able to stop using it until autumn.

We didn't really do anything special over the long weekend (see above). I worked most of the day yesterday, K had swimming today and we went out for lunch a couple of times. I also finally finished a little sewing project I've working on for ages, but I'll tell you about it later. Mainly we just had a bit of a rest and tried to stay cool, unlike the participants in yesterday's triathlon here in town. They swam for 3km in the sea, cycled up Mount Daisen and back and then ran a full marathon, all in temperatures in the mid-30s and under blazing sun. Impressive? Of course. Insane? Maybe...

Tanabata

July 7th is Tanabata, or the Star Festival. There are several versions of the legend, originating in China, but all involve a pair of separated (star-crossed?) lovers. The princess Orihime (represented by the star Vega) and her lover Hikoboshi (represented by Altair) are separated by a river (the Milky Way) and can meet only once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month, and only then if the weather is fine.

Sadly for them, it was a rainy Tanabata this year. On the evening of the 6th K's kindergarten held its summer festival. The boys put on their jinbe and went to enjoy some typical festival fun, such as fishing; firstly with a hook for a bag of snacks...

...and then with a spoon for little bouncy balls:

The main Tanabata activity nowadays is to write wishes on a strip of paper and tie them to bamboo decorated with paper/origami ornaments. The wishes are generally about self-improvement or goals for the future. Children often write wishes like 'to be good at baseball' or 'to be able to eat all my vegetables'. K's class all told the teacher what they want to be when they grow up, and she wrote all their wishes onto paper strips for them. K said he wants to be the kindergarten bus driver...

Even at the little nursery where T goes once a week, they had a little Tanabata celebration. T came home the previous week with some origami paper for us to make decorations with and some paper strips to write his wishes on, all to be taken back and tied to the big bamboo branch at nursery. So what do you think T wished for? Well, H and I did our best to read his mind and wrote 'to be able to talk soon' and 'to be able to play together well with K'. We brought home a section of the bamboo with his decorations on...

Finally, on the 7th I made Tanabata Curry. OK, so it's basically just curry trying to look pretty...

The rice in the middle of the plate represents the Milky Way, separating the two sections of curry. In Tanabata Curry world the weather must have been good, because there's the (shredded omelette) bridge joining the two sides. Then we have some carrot and omelette stars and some sliced okra (conveniently naturally star-shaped) for added celestial goodness. The only snag was that K didn't want to spoil it by eating it...





A weekend away

The 4 of us recently spent the weekend at Tamatsukuri Hot Springs, about an hour away from home. H's younger brother got married that week but didn't have a ceremony, so the 2 families gathered for the weekend at a traditional resort to celebrate and get to know each other.

The ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) we stayed at was quite big and very fancy. The entranceway (pictured below) overlooked a lovely garden and there was a roof-top open-air bath as well as the 'ordinary' hot spring baths on the ground floor. H's brother had said that it would be a casual weekend, but I knew that his parents would ignore that and dress quite formally, so I didn't want to turn up in jeans. For the boys I appliqued matching neck-ties onto plain T-shirts for a bit of smart-casual fun. K is very proud of his ability to hop and stand on one leg lately, hence the Long John Silver pose...



In the evening we ate dinner in a huge banqueting hall, rather over-the-top for our party. The happy couple sat at the head of the room, in front of the gold screen, and the 2 families sat in lines facing each other. It's a typical setting for this type of party, but not really very good for getting to know each other I think. H's brother is the youngest of 3 brothers and his wife is the youngest of 3 sisters. All the elder siblings are married and have at least 2 children each, so it was quite a lively get-together. Oh, look, there's H's dad in a grey suit and his mum (only half in the shot) in a black lace dress - I knew it!

In traditional fashion our meal was served on individual tables and brought out little by little, although not in 'courses' in a Western sense. There was sashimi, crab, steak, deep-fried goodies cooked in the room in front of us and all kinds of little dishes of who-knows-what. This photo is of K's meal - I think he got the best deal actually, especially as he got an adult portion of crab from his allergic cousin.

Once the meal was over, the children enjoyed running riot around the room, and I was happy to let H's mum be on T duty for a while...

After taking the waters, it was time for bed. The hotel provided yukata, light-weight cotton kimono for wearing around the hotel and as pyjamas. They even had K-sized ones...

While we were downstairs, the maids laid out the futons for us. H had a headache and soon fell asleep. K and T, however, were very excited and didn't settle for a long time. It was the first time for T to spend the night out of the confines of his cot and he continued to explore the room long after K had fallen asleep. Actually, I fell asleep before him too! I woke up a few times during the night, and found T fast asleep in a completey different place every time. I got up first in the morning, while the other 3 were still asleep, and here's what I saw:

I forgot to take a good picture of the room, but it was big! The screens in the top-right of the photo above opened onto a view of the gardens. It was a corner room and behind me, as I took this picture, was a small seating area in front of windows overlooking the town. There was a full bathroom, a large entranceway to the room, and a whole other small room, which we simply used to put our bags in.

Down on the ground floor there was a small courtyard in the centre of the hotel, where you could sit and dangle your feet in the hot spring water. K and I tried it out after a big breakfast, back in the banqueting hall again.

Everyone went their separate ways after check-out at 10am, but it seemed a shame just to go home. A 20 minute drive brought us to a small aquarium, mainly featuring aquatic life from the 2 nearby lakes. These lakes are actually joined to each other and finally open onto the sea, so the water in them grows increasingly salty as you head east, creating interesting and varied eco-systems.

Both K and T enjoyed looking at the fish, especially in this 'bubble-head' tank!

After lunch we drove further around the lake until we got back to Matsue. I'd heard there was a nice park there for young children so we stopped for an hour and K had a good play, before heading home again once more.

Kindergarten

Back in April, K started full-time Japanese kindergarten (yochien in Japanese). Typically children attend for 3 years, starting the April following their 3rd birthday, although classes for 2 year-olds are increasing now too. K started going to an international pre-school 2 days a week when he was about 2 and a half, and after turning 4 in March, joined the 2nd year of kindergarten.

By British standards, there was a lot to prepare. Compared to a lot of other Japanese kindergartens, I got off pretty lightly. Here's what he needed in the clothing line...

The checked shorts, navy jacket, yellow beret and white polo shirt with coloured buttons comprise the uniform, which he wears to go to and from school each day (with navy knee-high socks on special occasions). However, once he gets there, he changes into his PE kit; the turquoise shorts and white T-shirt at the top of the picture. Then there's the spotty blue smock for art, a collection of little hand towels (bottom right) and a draw-string bag for the PE kit. I made the bag and bought the towels at a shop, but the other things were all ordered via the kindergarten.

Next, K's 'daily goods'...

Each day K carries the little brown backpack (kindergarten issue) containing a hand towel, a little folder and notebook for parent/teacher communication and the green drawstring bag pictured above, containing his chopsticks (in a case), a cup and a toothbrush. There is school lunch every day except Thursday, when he also has to take his packed lunch (the pink and blue box), water flask and plastic sheet to sit on (underneath everything else in the photo). On Fridays he brings home his indoor shoes (the white plimsolls, customised with planets by me and a couple of felt-tip pens) in the yellow planet bag at the bottom right. The larger yellow bag also comes home on Fridays, with his PE kit, a book borrowed from the school library, maybe some artwork and anything else that needs bringing home. On Mondays we mustn't forget to send all those things back again! Mums are supposed to make all the bags, although some buy them or persuade a friend to make them instead. I was pleased to have a definite need that I could fill with something I'd made myself, and K was pleased to have planet and vehicle themed bags!

Finally, the things that stay at school all the time...

The yellow box at the back has K's name on it and contains (going clockwise) a pair of scissors, a pot of glue, a box of marker pens, a box of crayons, a board for play-dough, a sketch book and play-dough in its case. We only had these things at home so that we could label them all with K's name (and when I say 'we', I mean 'H'). Everything, each individual crayon, is named, as is everything in the other photos, as well as all K's underpants, socks and anything else he may ever take to kindergarten. Since term started, K has also acquired a bright orange 'French Legionnaire' hat for playing outside, a straw boater for summer instead of the beret and a couple of name badges to attach to his uniform.

Finally today, I'll just show you a couple of pictures from the entrance ceremony that was held for new students at the beginning of April. Here's K just inside the main entrance of the kindergarten, under an arch that says 'Congratulations on starting kindergarten'. This kindergarten first opened about 40 years ago (H and his brothers all went there!) but it was renovated a few years ago and is really lovely now.

After meeting with K's teacher and getting lots of bits of paper, we joined all the other parents and students in the hall for various speeches and songs. Here, all the staff are being introduced (K's teacher is the woman in the cream suit...):

OK, she's the woman in the cream suit standing next to the woman in the dark suit, pretty much in the middle. Is that better?

After all the ceremonies, photography and information-sharing, there was just enough time for a little play in the playground before heading home again for lunch. By local standards, this kindergarten has quite a large outdoor area, with a grassed area as well as a sandy area with swings, slides, climbing frames and so on. The most popular things though are the 2 water pumps. Around here you only have to dig down a couple of metres to hit water and the kids love pumping out water, digging channels for the water, and generally coming home as muddy as possible.

In the last 2 months K has already had a great range of adventures and experiences at kindergarten and he's settled in really well. There's lots more to tell you but I think that that is quite enough for today...

Yup, still here

I'm not sure how it happened, but it's been more than 2 months since I last wrote anything here. If you're still here, then thank you and worry not, all is well in the Monkey household.

In the last 2 months.... K has started kindergarten and swimming class. Mum and Dad visited for a month and we took several day trips together. T had his first birthday and started going to nursery one day a week. I started teaching at the university again (that same one day a week). H turned 40! In amongst all that there have been barbecues, visits with friends, a stomach bug, some light gardening and all those little everyday things that keep us busy...

For today, a couple of lovely pictures of the boys taken by our friend Marvin at a barbecue here last week. It is Very Good being friends with a professional photographer who specialises in portraits, don't you think so? If you're in the market for some great pictures, or just want to look at some, check out Marvin's page here, or his Flickr here.

St Patrick's Day Parade

So none of us are Irish, and St Patrick's Day isn't until next weekend.

But that didn't stop us going to Matsue yesterday for the St Patrick's Day Parade and Irish Festival. Actually I went on Saturday night too, to enjoy a few drinks and some live music at 'The Shamrock', an Irish pub set up for just 2 days a year!

Then yesterday the whole family headed out to watch the parade. It was pretty cold and there was even the odd flurry of snow, but we had a good time. We got there early in order to eat our way around the food stalls before the parade began - it's always about food for me. There was everything from Irish broth, quiche and green beer to chicken satay and Thai green curry and we did our best to sample it all. K also enjoyed playing with all these guys who were waiting to walk in the parade...


It's not really a terribly impressive parade, but a bit of fun nonetheless. Led by St Patrick himself (and some boy scouts)...

...there was a marching band (K's favourite part - instruments!), some people juggling and yo-yo-ing, a tin whistle group and more.

The balloon guy surprised me by presenting his heart-on-a-stick to me, not K. I'm very easily pleased :-)

Once the parade had finished, the various music and dance groups performed and were judged(and Vivian's dance crew won, once again!). By then though we were keen to get in out of the cold so we went up to The Shamrock again and had, variously, hot tea, Irish coffee, apple crumble, ham salad, scones and mango juice. Yum!

I drove us back home and on the way all 3 'boys' went to sleep, even when I stopped at the supermarket on the way. Mind you, I fell asleep putting T to bed, and then slept right round to this morning...

Oh, and we did all wear green for the day, but unfortunately it was all hidden away by extra layers of coats. So here we all are! Happy St Patrick's Day!

Happy Birthday K!

free printable bunting available here

We celebrated K's 4th birthday on Monday. It was a busy and fun day!

The day started with a few presents and cards and, of course, the birthday crown, which I found just in the nick of time...






While K went off to pre-school, I made his cake. I baked it the day before, but it was the decorating that took the time. It's actually made from individual cupcakes (you can see the silicon liners reflected in the foil), placed together to form a train shape. I'm afraid I can't take credit for this great idea; I found a (reduced-price) kit like this one at Jusco!




After school, it was party-time! This was the first time K had had a children's party for his birthday; until now it's just been family. Since there are 'only' 10 children in the older classes at K's pre-school we thought we'd invite them all. With a few siblings coming along too we ended up with a guest list of 15 little ones, plus some mums, although in end illness brought it back down to 13 (including T!).

From what I hear nowadays, kids' parties back in the UK can be major events. I, on the other hand, had the advantage that no-one here really does kids' parties for birthdays and so there were no expectations. I kept it very old-school, just the kind of party that I had when I was little. We had the classic party games (pass-the-parcel, musical statues, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, balloon-between-the-knees relay...), cake and juice, and goodie bags at the end. Pretty much all of this was new to everyone concerned, who I think were just expecting the kids to be
running riot
playing freely.

thanks to A's mum for this pic - I completely forgot to take photos...

The day before the party, K announced that he wanted to play the planet game. No, I didn't know what that was either. He informed me that it involved me (the Sun) standing in the middle and everyone else holding a balloon and walking around me, in the correct order according to a list of planet roles composed by K.

So H and I spent Sunday evening blowing up balloons (he hates to blow up balloons and I cannot tie them. What a ridiculous pair), and the game was duly played at the party. It did prompt one older girl to ask 'Is this a game??' but K later declared that it had been his favourite part of the party.

Anyway, the party went well and I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed themselves. Once all the guests left we had a quick Skype chat with Mum and Dad and then, seeing as I couldn't be bothered to cook, we went to Joyful for dinner, a treat in K's eyes. Back home again there was another cake, a gift from pre-school...

...and then yet more present-opening. Everyone who gave K a gift obviously knows him and his current interests so well. Presents included 2 space books and a set of space stickers, an inflatable globe and a couple of little books on geography and flags, workbooks for English and math, and a Chuggington annual.

K finally headed off to bed just after 9, but was still awake reading the afore-mentioned Chuggington annual at 11. I thought (hoped!) that this might mean a little lie-in the next day, but at 7:15am, K was up and in our bed - bringing the Chuggington annual with him...

So happy birthday little K! The past year has been a big one for you, becoming a big brother. This year brings many changes too, starting with Japanese kindergarten next month. The night before his birthday K said that he was looking forward to his party but was sad about not being 3 anymore. I think this means we need to dial down the 'you're a big boy now' phrases, however positively we intend them. Perhaps, especially with T around, K feels pressure to be 'big' and on his best behaviour.

Don't worry K. You can still be my sweet little, planet-obsessed, book-loving, photograph-taking, cutting-and-gluing boy for as long as you like. I love that you love to share things, that you're (generally!) so kind and gentle to your little brother and that, like me, you love to get out and about and see people. I even love it when you come into our bed in the middle of the night but shush, don't tell Daddy I said that ;-)