Still in bed

出なかった熱が出たと思ったら、しつこい。下がっては上がり、下がっては上がり。これは風邪じゃなくてフルーだ。子どもたちはフルーの予防接種をしているのでかからないで済んでいるらしい。豚インフルじゃないと思うけど。子どもの頃、熱が出たら、ずっと好きなだけベットで寝ていれば、おかゆだのジュースだの自動的に出てきたのが思い出されます。18歳で大学に行くので家を出るとき、どうして誰か、「もうそういうのはおしまいよ」って教えてくれなかったんだろう。子どもが生まれるまで、たとえおかゆとジュースがでてこなくても、好きなだけ寝ていられたのが思い出されます。どうして誰か、「もうそういうのもおしまいよ」と教えてくれなかったのだろう。もっと満喫しておいたのに。あ~、もったいないことをした。

I finally got a fever, and once I have it, it never leaves me. It goes away and comes back and goes away and comes back. This must be a flu. Kids got flu shots the other day, so they are spared, I guess. Hope it is not a swine flu. I remember those days when I was sick in bed as a child, I got served porridge and juice and whatever I like without even asking for it. I wonder why people did not warn me that it would end once you left the house to go to college. I remember those days when I was sick in bed before our kids came along, I was able to stay in bed as long as I wanted. I wonder why people did not warn me that it will end once you have kids. I would have enjoyed it more.

A turtle and a detention note

このカメさん、小学２年生の娘が先々週あたり学校からもらってきたもの。クラスでの振舞いがよろしいとポイントがたまるらしく、ポイントが一定に達すると”Treasure Box（宝箱）"から何かひとつ欲しいものがもらえるしくみ。よしよし、でかしたぞわが子と思っていたら、今度はこのDetention Note(拘留措置通知）がきた。Detention Noteというのは、度重なる注意にもかかわらず、いけない行動を繰り返した場合にくる通知で、それをもらうと後日、学校が終わってから居残りさせられて、始末書を書かされて帰ってくるというもの。罪状は、ランチの時、一列に並ばねばならないところ、他のお友達を追っかけまわして先生の注意を聞かなかったというもの。本人いわく、先生は一度しか注意しなかった。先生いわく、何日も何日も何度も何度も注意した。さてどっちを信じましょうか。。ちゃんと、始末書を書いて帰ってきたよ。なんて書いたか、見たいものだわ。なかなかきちんとしたいい学校です。

This turtle came home with our 2nd grade daughter the other day. You accumulate points being a good student in the classroom, and when you have certain points by the end of the week, you get to pick a treasure out of the treasure box. With pride, I patted her on the shoulder. Now, now, this week came home with her a detention note. It said, "chasing other children in line, instead of lining up quietly," She said, "but (why do they have to start with this word?) the teacher warmed me just once." Her teacher says she warned her many many times over many many days. So whom should I believe? She was successfully detained after school on Tuesday, wrote a letter to the principal and came home. I like this school making resource available to teach kids how to be a good citizen in and around the class this way.

Down in bed

今日は風邪でダウン。持病のサイナスがやられて（副鼻腔炎というのかな、日本語では）、鼻から頭がズキンズキン。体の節々も痛むのに、熱が出ないのです。いっくら測っても熱がない。大熱だったら、両手を振って寝ていられるのだけどなあ。ソンな性分です。

I am in bed with a bad cold today. Whenever I have a cold, I have a sinus infection. My sinus is just exploding. I have a body pain all over, but somehow do not have a fever as always. I am just so envious of people who get fever easily. You have a good reason to be excused from daily chore that way.

Japanese Kite Festival

30分くらい南に下がったところにあるSeal Beachというところで、Japanese Kite Festivalというのがあったので、行ってみました。「6,000人が訪れる」とのフレコミだったけど、そんなに大きな人だかりもなく、凧もそんなに上がっていなかった。何より、ものすごい風で（だからここを選んだのだろうけど）、口のなかはジャリジャリ、紺色の車は真っ白になって帰ってきました。日本の食べ物の屋台がでると書いてあったので、私は個人的にヤキトウモロコシ・モードだったのだけど、夢に終わりました。残念！

We visited Japanese Kite Festival at Seal Beach, which is a 30 minute drive to south from where we live. It said on the flier that 6,000 visit this festival every year, but we did not see that huge crowd nor that many kites. It was sooooo windy (I guess that's why they chose this beach) and we came home tasting sand in our mouths driving sand-topped car which looked gray even though it is supposed to be dark blue. On the flier it said there are huts for Japanese food, so I was personally looking forward to having those yummy roasted corn ear, which ended as a dream.


子どもたちには、ボランティアが小さな凧を作ってくれました。小さいけれど、うまくするととても高くまで飛ばせるのです。

Kids got a free tiny kite made by volunteers. They are small, but some people were successully flying them high up in the sky.

Belated birthday

昨夜１１時過ぎに、主人がバージニア出張より無事帰ってきました。出張中にひとつ歳をとったパパ。遅ればせながら今日はみんなでバースデーディナー。うちはバースデーとくれば、必ずこのいちごショートケーキ。みんなの大好物です。

My husband, who was on a business trip to Virginia, arrived back at the LA airport past 11:00 pm last night. He had his birthday while he was away. We celebrated with his favorite steak dinner tonight. We cannot have any birthday without this strawberry shortcake. Everybody just loves it.

Nishiyamato Academy - revisited

子どもたちは、明日より西大和学園土曜補習校に通います。この写真の教科書を持って。数ある補習校、塾のうち、いくつか見学に行き、最終的には、西大和か塾での日本語の勉強かで迷いました。子どもたちは、バージニアにいるときにも日本補習教室には通っていたものの、親がボランティアで教師をし、子どもたちのレベルに合わせて授業を行っていたもので、教科書通りに授業を進めていく政府の認定校とは性質を異にしていました。日本の学年で１年生の下の娘の場合は、まだ比較的簡単に追いつけるものの、上の６年生の息子は学年相当の勉強からかなり離れてしまっているわけ。ということで、塾で自分のレベルに合わせた個人授業を受けるほうがいいのではないかとかなり迷いました。塾には、日本語の勉強を将来の大学受験に生かす方法（高校でのAPクラスや日本語能力試験などを通して）についてのノウハウも蓄積されています。しかしながら、「受験で得をするためだけに日本語を勉強するのではない。自分たちの血であり文化であるから勉強するのだ。１対１の個人授業より、たとえ最初は苦労しても、コミュニティーの中の一員として、仲間の言葉や行動に接しながら勉強するほうがいい」との主人の一言に、私も息子も同意し、西大和でがんばることに決心した次第。

ところがそこからが大変。息子の漢字レベルは小学校２、３年生レベル。自分の学年（６年生）より１学年落として５年生に入学希望することに決め(1学年しか落とせない）、入学テストを受けたものの、テストで出題された文章題が読めないため、ほぼ白紙回答。度重なる校長先生との面談。しかしながら、この学校のすばらしいところは、「それでも本人ががんばるというのなら、受け入れます」と言ってくれたところ。最終的に、家でのサポートを含め本人・家族とも相当の覚悟のうえ入学することを決意。

５、６年生といえば、現地校の宿題も増え、課外活動も本格化し、みんな日本語教育を断念するころ。その時期に、自分の能力より上の補習校に入ろうというのだから、かなりの向こう見ず。。。と、親が言ってしまったらおしまいだから、なんとかがんばろう。お友達で、日本から来たばかりで、英語がなかなか聞き取れず、ミドルスクールで苦労しているお嬢さんがいる人がいるのだけれど、お互い励ましあい、くじけそうになりながらも前に進みます。

明日、勉強することろを少しでも予習しようと思い、５年生の教科書を（読めというと漢字が読めないので）私が朗読してやったら(環境問題についてだった）、意味は９０％は理解できている様子。音にすれば分かるというだけでもバンザイ！ホソボソとでも、なんとかここまで日本語の勉強を続けてこられたのは、シャーロッツビル日本補習教室のおかげです。お世話になりました。

With these textbooks, kids will go to Nishiyamato Academy every Saturday starting tomorrow to study in Japanese. There are a great number of Japanese schools, cram schools, and private tutor services around here, and we have visited/tried several of those. On our final list were Nishiyamato and a private tutor. Our kids have been studying Japaense at a Japanese school, while we were in Virginia, but the school was a tiny organization run by parent volunteers, and the classes there most often could not afford following the grade level requirements set by the Japanese government. Our daughter is only a 1st grader in the Japanese system, so she will be able to catch up relatively easily, while our son, a 6th grader, will have to go through a hell to catch up, if he is ever able to. After a careful analysis of the current situation, I thought placing him with a private tutor would be the viable choice. This tutor we tried seemed compatible with him and has a knowledge base how to take advantage of the Japanese proficiency for college application, which could be a motivation for him to keep studying. However, my husband objected; " The primary purpose of his learning Japanese is not to get in a good college. He studies it because that's our blood and culture. It's much more beneficial to be a part of a community and learn from others' behaviors and thinking. " After all, we agreed, as a family, on his studying at Nishiyamato.

Well, it was a long way to come to a decision to choose Nishiyamato, and it was even a longer way after that. He has only studied Kanji (Japanese characters) up to the 2nd or 3rd grade level so far. Nishiyamato only allows kids to go one grader higher or one grade lower than their own grade level. Thus, he took the entrance test at 5th grade, one grade lower, but still the reading comprehension was a mission impossible for him. He could not read Kanjis. The answer sheet was pretty much blank. We had a series of meetings with the principal, and the final word of his is that if our son is committed to study hard here, then we will accept him." Great school.

The thing is when kids reach 5th or 6th grade, being busy with assignments from local schools and extracurricular programs, many of them leave Japanese schools. Our son is going totally against the flow, starting with the 5th grade which is even beyond his current capability. We must be so courageous or simply crazy, depending on the perspective. Well, we should not look back and keep moving forward, I guess.

We opened the 5th grade textbook to find the chapter they will be working on tomorrow. I read the chapter to him first, since he has a difficulty with Kanjis. Even though the theme was not a very concrete one (environmental issues), he was able to understand 90% of what was read. If read, he can understand. Yeah! We should be glad with what we have now instead of crying over what we don't, shouldn't we?

Bike to school

これまでの朝は車で送ってもらい、午後は歩いて帰宅のパターンから、行きも帰りも自転車通学に変えた息子。歩くと20～30分かかるところも、自転車なら10分。帰りも早く帰ってこられたほうがいいという計算らしい。

He has been dropped at school every morning and walked home after school for the past a few weeks, but now is switching to a complete bike commute. It takes only 10 minutes by bike, while it takes 20 to 30 minutes on foot. He decided it is more beneficial by bike being able to come home faster.


パパと何度か学校まで往復して、道の安全は確認したのと、これまでの帰りの徒歩帰宅のせいで、このあたりに随分慣れてきたらしい。なんだか一回り大きくなった感じ。学校にも慣れ、なかなか”いい顔”しているよ。以前より（小学校のときより）学校が楽しいとも。授業中、時間が早く過ぎるように感じるのだそうです。引越しには決して前向きでなかった息子なので心配していたけれど、よかったです。

He is now much more comfortable being on bike after a couple safety trips to school with his daddy and a few weeks of walking home from school. It seems he has grown to be a bit more confident 12 year old. Even though he is not really talkative about his school life, I can tell that he is pretty comfortable with the school. He looks quite relaxed. He says he has more fun at school than before (than at his previous school). The time passes much faster during the class, he said. Since he was never too positive about this move, we were sort of anticipating a bumpy ride, but so far soooo good.