Jason is in a preschool class at Gakko with three little friends. He's had a great time doing all of the activities, playing with his friends and today, they had a tofu party!
Ben is enjoying his first year in Class A (the kids spend two years in each class). He's soaking up the Japanese folk stories, learning new songs and new Japanese words and generally having a good time. For Show & Share, he wanted to take a bottle of Ramune (Japanese soft drink) to show his class. But then he said, to really share, he wanted to bring one for everyone to try during snack. All of the other classes were so bummed to know that only Class A got this special treat.
Kara has moved up to Class B and is happy to spend time with her friends and cousins at Gakko. She's learned to tell time in Japanese, which she is also teaching me, while we drive places together and have time in the car.
The first few days, Jason's favorite part of his day, as he reported before going to sleep, was camouflaging into this little tree in the courtyard. He has worn camouflage colored shorts and a brown or green shirt four days this week, I think. One night I did an extra load of laundry, just so that he could be in his "gear" the next morning. But to hear his laugh (or squeal), as people are "looking" for him and cannot find him is worth the extra washing and drying.
Gakko has always been a family affair... Grandma started Gakko way back in 1980 when we were all kids. So it's great to see Grandma back, whether it's helping in the kitchen or just stopping by to say hello.
Sho agreed to be at Gakko for the two weeks and so I made him snack coordinator. There is no one better to be in charge of food!! Everyone has commented on how good all of the snacks are... which is not surprising. But we were surprised the day that only one of the three people assigned to bring snack remembered to bring in their yakisoba! No worries... In true Top Chef style, Sho pulled off the Quickfire Challenge of shopping for ingredients and making yakisoba to feed about 40 people in less than an hour. He will not be eliminated from the show :)
Uncle Ross (who lives in Los Gatos... nowhere near Parlier!!) has done an amazing job as our language instructor and has found fun and interesting ways to teach Japanese to kindergarten through 7th graders.
And then, after Uncle Ross (aka Sensei Ross earlier that morning) does his real work in the afternoon, he manages to have enough patience and energy to play with the kids and go for night swims!
And... we cannot leave out another important highlight of the week... The Warriors are NBA Champions!! The evening of Game 6, Grandma invited us over for dinner. So we are getting ready to sit down at the table and for the first time ever, Grandpa turns the television off. I asked, "what are you doing?" and he replied, "I didn't think you wanted your kids to watch TV during dinner." Ben responds, "whose kids do you think we are?" and implied "of course we're watching the game during dinner!"
I can remember when we were living in LA and Sho and I were still just dating (so about 13 or 14 years ago), people kept asking him why he wasn't a Lakers fan...and he always said his team was the Warriors. Even when they were terrible, he was a fan. So it was a great night when the Warriors became NBA champions and all of the kids were watching with us, pointing out Stephen Curry (Jason), clapping for every made shot (Ben) and calling the "and ones" (Kara).
It's been a great week. And I'm glad tomorrow is Saturday :)
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