Spring break is over, and the time off has allowed us to revisit priorities and push through the finish line on this year’s commitments. I’m looking forward to continuing to help build a volunteer program at the elementary school (called JOSHU, Japanese for teacher assistant) and working with other parents on programs at the middle school. I’m also very much looking forward to visiting my horse friends again! One of the irons in my fire (or do I have several fires going all at once?) is to help start a pony camp so base kids can get out into the nearby inaka and play with cute ponies this summer. I actually do have many fires going, and had to start – for the first time in my life – a note card at my desk with all of them listed so I can keep my head on straight. Some of the hot irons include working with groups on base to start a summer wood shop and strategy gaming club for Sam, a club or elective course in computer science hopefully with a tenant command for middle schoolers, and a roller hockey league for all ages, in addition to the pony camp, JOSHU program, PTO and School Advisory Council activities. As we filled our plates at brunch, I mentioned I would like to take Japanese classes to augment my very gypsy-style approach to learning (i.e., talking to friends and strangers). Dave picked up his plate and said…ummm…as we put more on the plate, something needs to come off. Ok… đ
Last night between Ben and Sam’s practices there was a brief meeting with parents to introduce some new families just joining the team. I managed to understand much of the introductions, and even introduced myself and the two boys in Japanese without stuttering too much. Relieved and proud of myself, I moved on toward the vending machine for some tea to warm me up for the next hour or so. (On weekends, hockey practice or scrimmages for boys in different age brackets requires about 6-8 hours each day, from leaving at 2:30pm to arriving home 9pm or later.) Suddenly, I heard a huge commotion, saw motioning hands and children hollering excitedly. I should have known it would involve Ben somehow. In the ensuing seconds of trying to decipher excited Japanese, I realized one common thread “CUP NOODLE!! CUP NOODLE!” Ben had managed to dump a full, just cooked, cup noodles in the stands. Oy. While waiting for the 3 minutes for the noodles to steep, he was doing some squats with another guy and had a little accident with his foot. I used his hockey socks to help mop up the seafood broth and two other dads (coaches) grabbed tissues to help us. It took a team of three to clean up the disaster. After I got done huffing a bit while figuring out how in the world this had happened – he’s very careful and very reliable with these Cup Noodle things he loves – we went and got another one. This time the BIG size. I sat by him the whole time as he ate this time, monitoring. Then I went to sit with some Japanese parents on Sam’s team and related the story in very bad broken Japanese with sign language to clarify. They taught me a few new words.
odoroite – surprise
tetara totsuzen – suddenly (while you were doing something)
jiko – accident
oosawagi – uproar
koboreta – spilled
Disasters are far more fun when you pick up new vocabulary. đ That said, Dave finds it interesting that his developing Japanese vocabulary has much to do with foods and culture…and mine? Well…I think it just reflects living with boys and adventuring. Of course there will be accidents and uproars. Right?
Cherry blossom viewing – hanamiÂ
It has been a long time since I have shared any notes about life in Japan. I am sorry. Itâs been a bit of a blur, frankly! The past three months have been very full. I enjoyed opportunities to travel for ice hockey tournaments with Ben â to Nagano and Gunma prefectures. (Dave stayed home with Sam for his practices and also some work commitments.) We also visited Nozawa Onsen in February as a family for a winter getaway. We were immediately impressed by the incredible powder skiing and quaint, mountain village, hot springs, onsen-cooked eggs, ramen, soba and playing in the snow. The kids have wonderful memories of our visit there and we plan to go back next year, and hope that some dear friends from Bainbridge and Japan will join us.
(These pictures are linked to albums in Google Photos.)
As March unfolded, I grew ever busier juggling transitions on all fronts â it is the end of one school year here in Japan, and leveling up for all the kids to the next grade. Thus, ice hockey teams change, goodbyes are said as folks leave for new jobs (one coach is now in New Jersey!), team managers migrate, and new schedules demand regrouping, translating, deciphering, and lots of white board notes! Our kendo family also had to switch dojos for a bit to allow for graduation ceremonies in the regular elementary school gym, so that entailed many text messages, map comparisons, and parking logistics. As a family, we have been very busy pushing through the third quarter of the school year, too. Sam missed three days of school due to a stomach illness. Catching up wasâŚwellâŚletâs just say the white board was busy.
It has been a logistically challenging time for me, the public relations and operations manager. An inordinate amount of time goes into simply showing up at the right place at the right time! Itâs cause to celebrate just arriving. I try not to think about just how much time goes into that, or I would feel very worn out. When I did finally acknowledge that a full Saturday morning was invested in pinning down the ice hockey schedule for one month (only four weekends of practices and games!), I laughed and decided that when I get back, if anyone allows me to manage a teamâŚI will enjoy sharing riddles instead of straight-up directions for the next game. Google translate is vexingly hilarious. Instead of saying ânext game is at Sno-Kingâ the translation provided by Google is more like âplease assemble at the general runway before the emperor with the white cloaksâ.
This spring break was going to be about making a break for it, going on long drives as a family, exploring more of our surrounds, more to the south and east where it might be really prohibitively hot this summer to enjoy traveling around. I wanted to visit Kyoto to see the cherry blossoms, too. Dave said Kyoto was super hot when he visited last time he was here (last summer) so spring seemed like a good time for that trip, on a high-speed shinkansen. I thought the boys would love that. But as the time drew closer, and friends were making plans for trips to nearby Thailand or Korea, it looked less and less sure that weâd be able to break free even for an overnight due to Daveâs work schedule. The USS Reagan is in port, and itâs busy getting the ship ready for its next underway.
Shoganai. Ukeireru. Acceptance. Be content where you are.
While I was running yesterday (Wednesday April 5) on base, on a beautiful sunny day (13 Celsius is perfect weather â Iâm getting accustomed to thinking in Celsius) I enjoyed noting how far along the cherry blossoms are to mankai (full bloom). There is some variation, but I would say not quite there overall. I thought about spring break, and if the boys might be disappointed. Thereâs much to love right here, though. For instance, pulling 40lbs of weeds for me so that we can enjoy a hanami matsuri (cherry blossom festival) right in our own garden. (Sam is not a huge fan of weeding. He had some choice quotes which really got me laughing.) They have been enjoying peanut butter and banana smoothie rewards for work done (the same ones I made often in Hawaii). Weâve also been eating through the fridge and pantry so the shelves are bare enough to clean (well, thatâs the story I tell Dave!), weeding out the closet, and delivering spoonfuls of frosting right out of the can to boys playing street hockey. These are good memories. And theyâre right here at home. We also checked out a Hawaiian-themed restaurant with terrific pancakes. The boys would love to return for garlic shrimp dinnerâŚlike the shrimp trucks we remember from Hawaii. Theyâre also really enjoying some Marvel movies â Ironman1, Ironman2, Thor, Spider Man. Iâm a bad mom â I havenât made a point of going to the movies or watching many with the kids. I just haven’t found them to be all that great, compared to nature films or documentaries (geek!). If we went anywhere for entertainment, it was usually to concerts â I love live music. BUT â but! It is so fun watching a few movies with them, and itâs a good bonding experience for the two boys. So movies, snacks, down timeâŚwhat could be better? They think Iâm insane for worrying about their spring break. They may be rightâŚ
HoweverâŚwe do live in a foreign country and I always have the itch to explore. SoâŚ
Tonight I took the boys on an excursion to a hilltop park nearby to check out the cherry blossoms. Last week, in the midst of the pre-break frenzy, I needed to cut loose for a bit and clear my mind. I ran for the hills, literally, and visited the cherry trees at Kinugasa Koen just prior to full bloom. I caught the park in the morning, with few visitors. It was peaceful, and as I suspected the hundreds of trees were not in bloom yet, just a few flowers on each branch. Last week, the park was decorated with paper lanterns, the food trucks were on standby, paths swept clean. But the trees were not quite dressed. It was like catching a glimpse of a bride before she emerges.
Today, exactly a week later, they were nearly full bloom when we visited the park at yuugure (evening time). It was very peaceful (except for my companions!). Sam made a few videos to share with friends who heâs working with on a Minecraft server to build floating islands. His specialty is crafting custom trees. Custom digital trees? The guy who resists hiking despite being on the trail since birth? This perplexed me. But I realized a few things while walking through the park at dusk with them.
I used to think that traveling all over on space-a flights and road trips with them as young children would instill in them a love of adventure. It did, and yet it didnât, really. No one was eager to move here to Japan. They are people, and they have opinions, relationships, attachments, just like we all do. We cried together as we considered what weâd be giving up in the move last August. But as we find ourselves somewhat tethered here to our new home over spring break, instead of launching further in exploration, they are content. They are happy. Very happy on our own patch of grass, tossing hockey pucks in the air and finding the first worm of spring.
Tonight on our dusk sanpo (walk) downhill, back into civilization in search of ramen, that all the adventuring made them âmore adaptable.â How right he might be. They do quickly adapt, and become comfortable. And my boy who resists hiking has a profound appreciation for nature and variation in trees. He knows a spruce from a fir, and develops far better and more intricate trees for Minecraft users than the standard tree. Amazing. This week I am being offered a gift â that of time â to get to know them, and assimilate who they are, who they have become, into my own mind. I need to keep appreciating them for who they are, and resist the urge to prod them to become who I think they could and should be. We parents feel so responsible for herding the chickens toward the best stuffâŚbut chickens have a way of finding the best stuff on their own. I will always remember one hen (yes, Wheat!), who needed to be hand-fed for months after adopting her, and absolutely refused to eat a worm that I found for her on one of her first forays out into the garden. She insisted on digging and scratching on her own, a centimeter from this writhing worm by her toes. Amazing.
Boys. I love you. Bloom as you wish, when you wish.
The Japanese feel that hanami â cherry blossom viewing â is a time to celebrate new beginnings. I like that. New Yearâs has always felt rather arbitrary to me, just a calendar date. Who says youâre really ready for a new year to start? But with buds developing, then blossoms gradually emerging, over a month you can mesh your psyche with the emerging blossoms to become ready for a new year. I like the visual cues. The petals are so papery that I think dawn and dusk are actually the best times for hanami when the petals arenât overblown in the bright sunlight. Itâs also more peaceful, allowing for reflection on the fleeting beauty. The Japanese also consider hanami to be a reminder that life is fleeting and precious, just like the petals which float from the branches within about two weeks.
I hope spring is emerging with hope and joy for you, too.
With all our love,
Dave, Alli, Sam and Ben