A Katie update, and away for the weekend, and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

A number of people have asked how Katie is doing, if the adjustment to life in Japan is going any better for her.

The short answer is: YES!

And here is the longer answer. The change happened about a week after the Halloween party. It was a Wednesday, and the dropoff at school went particularly poorly that day. Both Kate and Liv were reluctant to go to school (Wednesdays are often hard, as they have been away from school since almost a week before), both were hesitant to go into the classroom, and both needed to be held by the two teachers as I watched from the windows. One teacher had Kate on her lap as she played the piano, and the other had Liv on her lap as she led the good morning songs.

That was it, I thought. It was too much to ask of Kate and Liv, and we should probably pull them from school. I talked to John after his class, and he talked to the HGU person who talks to the preschool (nice, direct lines of communication, don`t you think?), and they started the ball rolling to pull the girls out of school. Not only did they seem unhappy, but it looked like they were demanding SO much of the teachers.

So, when I went to pick them up that day, I was expecting everyone to be sad, but instead, Katie came running out, laughing and telling me about the day. Livie was right behind her, a big smile on her face. The teacher said they had a great day.

We got an email that night from the HGU person saying they had talked to the girls` main teacher after school, and that she said the girls had a wonderful day. When the HGU person brought up our concern about them needing so much attention, and to be held for so long, and that we were worried we were keeping them from the other kids, they teacher was baffled.`Of course 3 year olds cry when their mothers leave. All 3 year olds do. They have just started preschool for the first time. Why wouldn`t they be sad to see their mothers leave and need to be held?`

And that is why, she explained, the school put them in a class with mostly 4 year olds who have been at school a year. Apparently, 4 year olds aren`t expected to cry when their mothers leave, and that would free up the teachers to take care of our needy girls, who would have regular 3 year old separation anxiety coupled with the stress of the Japanese language. They said they would be happy to hold the girls all day long if that`s what they needed.

That was certainly reassuring. And the next morning, both girls were so excited for school. They have been each school day since then (and Jack literally SKIPS to school). If anything, it`s been Liv who has been a bit reluctant to go this last week -- I think she`s been a bit sicker than Kate, and missed two days of school when Kate went alone. But there are no more tears, no more clinging to my legs when we get there... just excitement. And the teacher has started taking pictures of them throughout the day, playing with other kids, doing projects, eating lunch, etc. -- looking very much pleased to be there.

And their classmates seem to love them. When Kate and Liv show up, if John is with me, I go into their classroom first to hang up their coats and all of the kids run up to me asking `Katie-chan? Katie-chan? Olivia-chan?`I point to my shoes and say they are with their dad, putting on their inside shoes. They run to the door and hold Kate and Liv`s hands as they walk in. It`s amazing.

The other thing that has been amazing is how few stomach bugs we all have gotten this fall compared to most falls -- and John pointed out that it`s probably because all the kids at school (and our own kids) are washing their hands ALL THE TIME. It`s just a part of their routine, and each kid brings her own towel to school each day to dry hands... such a good system.

Jack loves his class as well, although he has been having a few problems with one of the bigger boys. The mom told me in English that her son thinks Jack is his best friend. And he is always eager to see him. But Jack seems nervous around him, and I asked him what he thought of that boy. He said he`s sometimes so nice, and sometimes mean. Tomoko said her son has had the same problems. Today Jack said that the bigger boy knocked down another kids`tower, and then said Jack did it. Jack tried to explain that he didn`t, but the other kid didn`t understand. These kind of situations happen even when kids speak the same language, of course, but it`s hard for us, as parents, to see. At Jack`s request, we are going to talk to the HGU person to talk to Jack`s teacher to let her know of our concerns.

But even with this one boy, it`s clear Jack is loving preschool here. They play SO much -- build and color and sing and dance. Perhaps the Japanese schools do more structured work in Grade One, and Jack missed the cutoff for that by just two months (kids have to turn 6 by April 1 to go to first grade). And I think the play is just what he needs. We are keeping up with some of the French -- he is writing in his journal in French most nights, and we aren`t too far behind on some of the assignments the teacher gave us. And except for brief moments of worry, we are pretty sure he`ll catch up once he is back in his French immersion class.

So those are the school updates. We`re heading out of town again for the weekend -- back to Jozankei View Hotel for waterslides and hot springs from Friday-Sunday (you can see pictures of it by clicking here). We wanted to make one more trip while we were here, and John and I discussed going to places that were maybe culturally or historically more interesting. But once we realized that the kids would be with us no matter how well we planned, we thought that this would be the place to go. They love it there, and so do we.

Well, these kids need to go to bed, so I should sign off. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Shinya the Great, and, In Praise of Mike and Debra

I believe there is a special place in heaven for people who are nice to children and pets, and if so, then many many years from now, Shinya will be sure to be in that special place. The former HGU student (who spent a year at UofL and is now a teacher) came to Sapporo this weekend. We had hoped to go to the zoo together on Saturday, but our colds kept us home, where Shinya played Lego, colored in Pokemon coloring books, and played countless other games with the kids for hours.

And then on Sunday morning, a time when other young people may be sleeping late at the very least, Shinya met us at Jack, Katie and Livie`s school to watch their performances with us. It`s one thing for parents to watch their children be dragged around a stage while picking their nose or not singing the words or keeping their back to the audience -- and then clap wildly at how well they did. It`s another thing all together for someone who is not even RELATED to those children to endure such a performance, and clap wildly at the end. Of course, Katie and Livie are madly in love with him. Who wouldn`t be?

And while I`m at it, I have a long overdue heap of praise to give to Mike and Debra Basil. They are profs at the UofL who came on the exchange three years ago, when their kids, Lisa and David, were 6 and 3 (David is a good friend of Jack`s and lost his first tooth on the same day Jack did). As you can imagine, Mike and Debra were able to prepare us VERY well for what 6 and 3 year olds might expect in Sapporo.

All of our favorite activities (the chocolate factory, biking along the river, which parks to check out) came from Mike and Debra. Restaurant suggestions, clothing suggestions, shopping suggestions, even the preschool recommendation -- are all courtesy of this very kind family. My handy-dandy electronic dictionary is actually Debra`s and I couldn`t live without it. They helped us get excited when I was in panic-mode, told us which things we`d want to bring (mac-and-cheese) and which things we could find here. They have made the trip all the better.

I think that`s all the thanks I will have for the night. I still haven`t straightened out the email and so have a new account set up with gmail. You can reach us at:

lisnjohn (at) gmail (dot) com

or at my work address. If you have written in the last week or 10 days to the telus address, the computer has eaten it. And if you have written before that and I haven`t replied -- I no longer have your email address. Sorry for any headaches this may cause.

The show

We had the big show today. What a spectacle! I will post a bunch of the photos on the Shutterfly site. Here is a glimpse of it.

The kids did great, which means they survived and no one cried (although K&O insisted on wearing pink and grey long sleeved shirts under their itchy costumes, much to the teachers' dismay.
We had talked to them earlier about wearing white long sleeved shirts but the teachers worried that we would be upset that our girls wouldn't then look like the other girls. Ummm... I don't think WE are the ones worried they will look different!)

But there were some wonderful parts. When the kids in each class went around to intoduce themselves, you could hear Jack clearly state "Jack desu, ganbarimasu"--roughly, "I am Jack, let's do our best!" in Japanese. And the little girl in green next to him kept her hand clamped on his hand and dragged him cheerfully wherever he was supposed to go (we were especially impressed with her). And Kate loved the dancing -- she knew ALL the moves and had a big smile on her face almost the whole time.

There were less-than-thrilling moments, too. Jack was picking his nose for most of the 25 minutes he was on stage (in his defense, it has been VERY runny and he didn't have a kleenix!) and Olivia kept her back to the audience most of the time (the picture here shows her position pretty much the whole time she was on stage). Neither Kate nor Liv's hair stayed back (they had said not to wear pony tails, because of the crowns, I suppose) and so they did some of their dance holding their hair straight out in front of their faces.

But they did it. They were so proud when they came out of their classroom with little cardboard "medals" from their teachers around their necks. We are so proud of them. And I think ALL of us are glad it's over.

And what a production. The costumes were amazing, the setting and props incredible, the lighting and sound tracks were pretty sophisticated for kindergarten, the kids so good in their learning of the songs and stories... it was clearly a lot of work for the teachers and students. We continue to be impressed with the school.

Sick

Last December, after our doctor fit all three kids in on Christmas Eve morning for a variety of illnesses, I freaked out about this trip. How -- HOW -- could we go to a foreign country with three little kids who tend to get sick in winter (especially Jack, whose asthma is triggered by cold viruses) and what would happen if they had to go to the doctor in Japan?

I knew the care here would be excellent -- but the language challenges, the bureaucracy, the headache of reimbursement, and more importantly, the lack of personal relationship when dealing with the persons I care about the most, it all worried me.

Well, this clearly didn't stop us from coming on the trip, although the worry of sick kids has been lingering in my mind since we arrived. And we weathered the stitches incident well enough (and we keep remembering to put the anti-scarring tape on Katie most days)... but last night, I thought we had hit the moment that I had worried about a year ago.

All of us have been passing a cold back and forth, and the girls were mostly on the mend. John and I were showing early signs of the cold (which is not shocking as various kids had been coughing in our faces all night for several nights) and so, in a proactive but smelly move, we had been eating raw garlic on buttered toast to try to stave anything serious off. (It's the kind of thing you have to do together, or the one who doesn't wouldn't be able to stay with the one who does.)

And Jack had been fighting it off, which was good... but then had such a hard day yesterday. For those who don't know about his asthma -- it's not the kind that is triggered by cats or exercise or the usual things. Instead, whenever he gets a virus (especially a cold virus), it seems to settle in his lungs and cause days of coughing, coughing, coughing. So he is very healthy about 65 percent of the year -- and seems to get very sick in the winter. Two years ago, we ended up at emerg five times one winter because of his asthma (I thought that should merit a named chair in the waiting room). Last winter was better -- he had two bad flareups, but didn't need the middle of the night run to the hospital for extra medicine. We have been boosting his immune system in various ways (cod liver oil, vitamins, probiotics and lots and lots of fresh fruits and veggies -- although he won't try the garlic sandwiches) and it has seemed to get better as he has gotten older.

But last night he could not stop coughing. I had emailed Tomoko, whose son Taiki has asthma, to ask what hospital one would go to in the middle of the night if one needed to (apparently, only one of the hospitals is open at night). And I worried. I wanted to take Jack to see Dr. Steeves or the Lethbridge emergency room or somewhere familiar... His inhalers didn't seem to be doing much. He looked pathetic. He was getting near the "red" zone on his peak-flow meter, which measures air flow. He did better in a hot, steamy shower, but would start coughing whenever he got out.

I mentioned to John that we might need to take him in. Then John thought of the one thing we hadn't tried that we used to do when he had croup as a baby. He bundled him up, and took him outside (luckily, the snow hasn't melted so it was nice and cold). And the coughing stopped. It started up again when they came in, but it wasn't as bad. I took him into the bedroom and opened the window, and was able to get him to breathe through his nose (kind of a yoga breathing), that seemed to help, too. Anytime he started to cough, I would remind him to breathe through his nose and it would stop. We snuggled for a while, with Jack breathing in the cold winter air through his nose, and he was able to fall asleep. At last.

And he woke up this morning with just a handful of coughs and a TON of energy. I think we made it through the worst (at least I hope so!).

I still worry that it will slide back down into the dangerous territory, and I hope we can make it home without needing to figure out the weird workings of nighttime hospitals in Sapporo, but we made it through what was one of my few real fears about coming here -- getting through a bad night of asthma without our familiar comforts and treatments at hand.

And as for John and me -- we are holding the cold at bay -- so maybe those garlic sandwiches are working.

First big snow

Well, `they` were right when they said it would snow later in the week. We woke up to about six inches of heavy, wet, wonderful snow.

At least the kids think it`s wonderful. Last night, I did a quick bike ride to the store, wearing many, many layers and smelling the snow that was to come, for a few staples. And I realized just how hard these trips will be when the snow falls. (Five people can eat a LOT of food.)

Until this point, I had felt pretty virtuous about not having a car while we are here -- isn`t it healthier for us, better for the environment, allowing us to eat the freshest of produce, blah blah blah -- but last night I came home and grumbled about owning a perfectly good minivan that is just going to waste in a garage, and would it be too much to ask that we could somehow teleport it over here, just for the grocery trips? Well, for that and for taking the kids to school (if I`m being honest).

This morning, it took us almost three times as long to start getting enough clothes on to get the kids to school. And for kids who have STRONG opinions about which coats and sweaters and scarves and mittens are itchy, and which need to go in what order, well, it is an exercise that would (and did) drive even the most patient person crazy.

Of course, the stroller wouldn`t go in so much heavy snow. And we were already late enough that walking was out of the question. And so John suggested we just pull the kids in the sleds.

I was not sure, but it turned out to be a perfect decision (and illustrates one of many reasons why I love my husband -- his ability to make grumpy events fun, or at least interesting). We got there on time, the kids had a blast, and while no other Japanese parents were seen pulling their kids to school in sleds (it seemed those who walked just left early enough), it worked out. Jack pulled the kids`backpacks home in the single sled, and the girls rode in the double.

The better perspective doesn`t mean I won`t be happy if it melts enough to do a big grocery trip this weekend (although John said we could just pull the groceries home)... and now that we are home, I can admit that it does look pretty.

Trip to Otaru to see the sea

We had a great little trip on Monday about 30 minutes away to the "small seaside" town of Otaru on the Japan sea. It was less small town and more "good-sized city," but the waterfront was beautiful and we understood why all the guidebooks called it charming. We walked along a brick path that parallels the canal through town, and admired the old warehouses that have been converted into glass studios and restaurants.

The glass blowing is actually linked to the town's fishing industry, as apparently they used to make glass bouys there... and when the fishing industry declined, they decided to make art instead.

Jack took the pictures below of the(very expensive) glass at the train station (you can see the reflection of his blue coat in the one of the Christmas tree), and you can also see my new (men's?) shoes that felt great on the trip. What do you think? Don't they look like men's shoes (granted, VERY cool, hipster big-city men's shoes...).


At the very end, I have added some pictures of Katie and Livie dancing (Liv in green leotard).

We don't have much else planned this week besides school and work -- the kids are getting excited for the big show on Sunday. Our friend Shinya (the former UofL student who is from Sapporo and had dinner at our house soon after we arrived) will come down this weekend and see the show! Now that's a good friend...

At least it goes both ways...

We had Tomoko, Taiki (Jack's classmate), and Keita (Tomoko's 3yo son) for brunch today. Tomoko is the friend who worked in Banff and knows quite a bit of English. She also loves maple syrup (she said she arrived back from her year in Canada weighing quite a bit more than when she left because of maple syrup -- so much so that her mom didn't recognize her at the airport). So we had French toast, eggs and asparagus, bacon, and fruit salad. Tomoko loved it. Taiki liked the French toast. And Keita would not eat a bite.

Keita finally agreed to a persimmon (the one fruit I didn't put in the fruit salad) and I was more than happy to prepare something extra for him.

At least other kids don't like "new" food. Whew.

In other news -- I have been meaning to answer questions that friends of Jack, Kate and Livie have asked. I thought others (kids or adults) might be interested in the answers, too.

* How do you make friends when you don't speak the same language? Luckily, playing is a kind of universal language, and so almost all of it can be done without speaking. Whether it's throwing a ball around, building with Lego, running around outside, or coloring, it seems all three kids have been able to communicate without speaking much, and all three have made good friends.

We have made sure that Jack watches Pokemon each Thursday night at 7 p.m., as all of the kids in his class watch it and try to talk to him in English about it. All three also know enough words to be able to say thank you, sorry, hello, good morning, and goodbye (and a few others each weeks) in Japanese. But it's amazing to see how easily you can be friends without talking.

* Why is everyone wearing the same bathrobe in some of those pictures? What are traditional Japanese baths? You can read more about onsen (public bathing facilities and inns around hot springs) and yukata (casual kimono worn at the onsen) here and here. We went to onsen at Lake Toya and at Jozankei. These trips, and the baths and swimming pools, have been one of the things we have enjoyed most during our time in Japan.

After you arrive at these big hotels, you find in your room yukata and flip flops for you to wear to the baths. They even had little ones for the kids. If you are just going swimming (and to the waterslide), you wear a swimsuit under your yukata and in the pools. But if you are going to sit in the hot tubs and warm waters, you do not wear a suit at all. Men and older boys go to one side, and woman, older girls, and younger boys and girls go to another.

First you scrub clean, and then you sit in the tubs. Some of them are REALLY hot, some are REALLY cold, some have bamboo or rocks on the floor, some have waves or jets... it's pretty great. After the first few seconds, it doesn't seem odd to be naked at all. Everyone else is, and no else seems to notice, so quickly, we stopped caring, too (in the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you Jack, Katie and Livie had NO issues walking around naked).

* Do they have Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas or New Year's? Japanese holidays are pretty different from the ones we celebrate in Canada and the U.S. The biggest holiday of the year is New Year's. People eat special food, send postcards, and give money to children. Many visit a Shinto shrine (like the one we went to for the 7-5-3 festival) after midnight on Jan. 1 or sometime during the day.

There have been a lot of fall holidays but not the ones we are used to celebrating. There has been "Respect for the Aged" day and Autumnal Equinox in September, Health and Sports Day in October, Culture Day and Labor Thanksgiving Day (an occasion for praising labor, celebrating production and giving one another thanks. Prior to the establishment of this holiday, November 23rd was celebrated as an imperial harvest festival called Niiname-sai) in November, and the Emperor's birthday on December 23 (the day we leave).

But because of so much interaction between Japan and the west, there were decorations for Halloween, and apparently there will be Christmas decorations as well.

That's it for now -- time to get these kids to bed. We are hoping to make a little day trip tomorrow to a fishing village. The weather is supposed to turn snowy later in the week, so it might be our last outdoor trip for a while.