The Japanese school year has begun!
Clara and Taran finished their first full week of Japanese public school and they did great! No tears their first day, and they've had a really good attitude every morning. It's been a steep learning curve for all of us, lots of materials to prepare and organize and label and we've made mistakes, but the teachers have been very patient and understanding. Since Taran is a first grader, we also got to participate in a special ceremony for kids starting Elementary school, called a Nyuenshiki. All the first grade kids and their parents got all dressed up and listened to speeches from the Principal and others, and then the kids were shown their classroom while the parents mingled outside. Taran was very wiggly and I had to remind him to be quiet a few times, but we made it through.
I've been walking the kids to school in the morning and picking up Taran in the afternoon, since the first graders get out earlier than the rest of the school. I walked Clara home the first few days, but she's already okay with walking home without me, and there are a lot of neighborhood kids she can walk with, including a couple kids who live at our same apartment complex.
Japanese school kids help clean the school and take care of the school grounds, and Clara is very proud of her green pepper plant and Taran has his own flowers that he takes care of. All the kids at school (minus those with allergies/special needs) have to eat the lunches provided by the school, and lucky for me, my kids love rice, haha. They're pretty picky when it comes to veggies, but they like Japanese food in general and so I haven't had to worry about them going hungry at school, which is nice.
Clara and Taran have a Japanese Language Instructor who tutors them four times a week and helps them know what to do, where to go, etc. She's also been super helpful at answering my questions and letting me know if the kids need anything. Homework has been pretty manageable so far. They always come home with a math worksheet and a couple sheets of Japanese writing to practice, and they haven't had any trouble with it so far. Clara was supposed to be in 3rd grade, but since she doesn't read any kanji yet, they recommended she start in 2nd, and so her Japanese teacher is going to help her review her hiragana and katakana and then help her catch up on 1st grade kanji before she starts 2nd grade kanji. Since Taran is in 1st grade, he'll be going at much the same pace as his Japanese classmates, in writing at least. Clara and Taran are the only Japanese language learners in their school this year. I know they miss being able to talk to classmates, but they get a lot of one on one instructions as a result of being the only two kids in Japanese class and I'm confident they'll pick it up quickly.
Taran is studying English reading at home too, a little everyday, and his English reading is coming along really well. He can read a full page in his reading book now (we're using a text called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons). Clara still loves to read and we have lots of English kids books that we got from a fellow American Jet, and the local library has a good sized English section too.
In non-school news, the weather has warmed up already and the humidity has begun to set in. It's not too bad yet, we haven't needed to turn on the air conditioner, though we have had the fan on a few times. Our apartment is on the second floor and when I open the door and windows we get a nice cross breeze that cools down the house nicely.
I'm almost in my third trimester of pregnancy now and so far everything is going well. It's hard to sleep because my hips hurt and I have to turn a million times a night, and sometimes I get bad heartburn, but other than that I'm fine. The baby is very active, especially in the evenings, and the kids like watching his movements and feeling his kicks. Clara is SO excited for this baby to be born, she wants to talk to him and wants to hug my belly all the time. I have to keep telling her that sometimes mommy needs her personal space haha.
Braden is enjoying his work at City Hall. He says his coworkers are all really nice and the office atmosphere here is a bit more laid back than it was at the Prefectural Office in Nagoya. He does English story-time at the local library once a month and also does school visits in addition to his work doing translation/interpretation at City Hall. He has a little segment that he writes for a local city newsletter, and a lot of people at church and other parents at the school read it and tell Braden they enjoy his articles.
Sorry it's taken so long to write an update on the blog, I've been pretty distracted and kept putting it off, but I hope you enjoyed catching up with us!
