This is the question I get asked the most when people find out we’re moving to Japan. The answer is always the same:
“I’m excited and terrified.” For many, they understand this answer 100%. But there are always those who wonder about the ‘terrified’ portion.
“Why terrified?” is the question. My first answer is usually something like “Why am I terrified to be moving to a *foreign country*?” The ‘foreign country’ emphasis usually takes care of some of the questioners. For others they still don’t understand. When I explain that we’re moving to ASIA not Europe, that can take care of a few more. But still there are those that don’t quite get it. So, here goes.
If we were not moving overseas, there would be less worry, but still some. There’s always a bit of uncertainty when moving to a new place. Less if moving somewhere you’ve lived before, but still, things change.
When moving overseas, there’s always the novelty of a new currency, new culture, and sometimes a new language, a new way to drive, and simply not looking local.
A few years ago, before we got our orders to go to Utah, we had orders to go to Lakenheath AB in England. At the time we would have been moving with a 3 month old and a not quite 2 year old. We were terrified even though there was no new language to learn. We got used to the idea and then the orders were changed. Now, in England, we wouldn’t stick out as foreigners very much because the language is English and we look like we belong. Yes, the currency is different and they drive on the left side, but with a very small language barrier and physically looking like we belong, those are small things.
Other places in Europe outside the UK, there’s still a currency difference, but we look like we belong and they drive on the right side of the road. Added to that though is a language difference. But, people wouldn’t immediately look at us and go “oh, foreigners”.
Moving to Asia, there are ALL of the changes. We don’t look Japanese, we don’t speak Japanese, they drive on the left, the culture is very different, as is the currency. In SOME ways, the fact that we look like what we are, foreigners, I can hope will work to our advantage a little. I imagine there are three basic thoughts when encountering Americans in Asia.
1: Oh, they’re just silly Americans, they don’t know any better, lol.
2: Stupid arrogant Americans…
3: Something somewhere in between.
These are all large generalizations, which I don’t like to make, but seem to be inevitable in my mind. So, my ‘terror’ comes from not fitting in and being uncomfortable while I don’t. I’ll never fit in 100%, just a fact of life, but I don’t want to be seen as the “stupid arrogant American” for any longer than absolutely necessary. Because of the base, I understand that most businesses around are kind of used to the Americans and it’s not too big a deal, but still.
On Facebook, there is a group called Misawa Asks. It’s purpose is for those who live at Misawa to ask where to find things, etc. and for those who are moving to Misawa to ask questions as well. One of the questions I see a lot is “Does anyone at ____ (store) speak English?” In one way, it’s nice that there are places where someone does speak English, but at the same time, I am uncomfortable with the idea that there is almost an assumption that there SHOULD be someone that does. It’s like the idea here that places should have someone that speaks Spanish. It makes me uncomfortable and grateful at the same time. I know I will be grateful for those places with someone that speaks at least a little English until I get more comfortable with Japanese, but I don’t want to be seen as someone who EXPECTS someone at a store to speak English, if that makes sense. This is the basis for my stress about the language barrier. I want to get out and see things and shop locally, but I don’t want to be a nuisance either.
In many ways the cultural differences go hand in hand with the language fears. I don’t want to do something that will show disrespect AT ALL. I know that initially I probably will and that for the most part it will be seen as in #1 above (Silly American as opposed to Stupid Arrogant American), but it still makes me nervous.
Currency and driving I’m really not that worried about. Different money is different money and I’ve dealt with it before (Canada and Jamaica). The driving has a little fear for me, but it’s VERY small. My mind seems to mirror pretty easily for some reason. We’ll see 
One thing that DOES NOT worry me is the availability of certain items. Again and again the other question I see on Misawa Asks is “Where can I find ___”. This can be anything from a certain brand of something to craft supplies. My basic thought on these kind of things is that no matter what other differences, Americans and Japanese are all HUMAN BEINGS. We all have the same basic wants and needs. We all need to clean ourselves and our homes, we just may have different ways to do it. Can’t find your specific brand of shampoo? I’m sure there is something in Japan that will work just as well. We all have books, toys, electronics, etc., we just may have different ideas on how to store them, etc. So, adapt! We all have hobbies. If you can’t find what you need to do your favourite hobby, see if there’s something else around that you can enjoy, although maybe not as much, or learn something new!
One last thing though. There ARE times I 100% agree with some of the grumbling. At the moment, there is an on-base first policy. This means that if you are single and of a rank E-4 or below, OR if you are of any rank and here with family, you MUST first accept on-base housing. The only people who have the option of living off base are SINGLE people of the rank E-5 and above (I *think* that you can also live off base on your own $$$. You do NOT receive the housing allowance for this, so one would have to have some means to acquire that extra income). This means we are also limited to home services that are on base. For TV this is Allied Telesis, for phone and internet this is Verizon. Verizon has a contract with the military to be the ONLY provider on base for internet. Problem is that the speeds are not always what they should be. They say that the DSL speed is ___mbps, but MANY experience MUCH lower speeds that what is advertised. It seems that Verizon doesn’t care that they’re not upholding their end of the contract, and the military doesn’t care either. IMO, if Verizon isn’t honoring their side of the contract, that contract should be null and void and allow another company to try. Allied Telesis has internet service at other bases in Japan and are working on a bid for when the Verizon contract is up (I believe in 2014). So, that is a “this sucks about living here” complaint that I 100% agree is valid, only because the option is to deal with the lousy speeds or not have internet access at all.
So, again, in short, YES! we are excited to move to Japan, but, yes, we have concerns simply because it will be SUCH a new experience. I will try to remember to post once in a while about how we’re adapting, how the kids are doing, what new things we’re learning, etc. Until then:
さよなら
(sayonara = goodbye)
first off, thank you to Dr. Seuss for the title
Crap. I haven’t written in a long time which means I need to play catch-up.
School – we took a break over the holidays and haven’t done a lot since. There are many reasons for this. 1) Over the holidays we got some interesting news – we’re moving to Japan! More on that in a moment. 2) The schools at the base in Japan are supposed to be quite good so we’ve decided to enroll both kidlets (K for Eion and PreK for Emma) and see how it goes.
Now, does that mean we’ve done no school whatsoever? Nope, just not a lot of structured. The kids do activities here and there and they learn from the world around them. Eion consistently wants to read a book himself at night time instead of being read to. Waiting for various things I pull up educational apps on the iPad or the kids’ Nook and they do those. But, with planning to move and other life, just too much going on to sit down and plan, so on the fly it is.
Japan – yep, you heard right! We will be arriving in Japan in early March. We’re going to Misawa which is in the norther part of the main island. We drove to Disneyland this past fall. I made the kids binders with activities in sheet protectors and they used dry-erase crayons so they could be reused. I will be doing the same thing for the airplane as we have a 2 hour plane from here to Seattle, and then a 10 hour flight from Seattle to Japan. I don’t really foresee any issues as the kids were incredibly easy to drive with on our 2 day drive to and from Disney. I’ll also probably pack a work book in each of their backpacks and any others in their luggage since we’ll be without the majority of our things for up to 3 months.
Actually, it’s that more than anything that prompted this post. I’ve gathered a lot of ideas on Pinterest, but I’m always ready for MORE! What do you do to occupy your kids on the plane (besides hoping they’ll sleep the whole way, lol)?
I also have another question:
When it comes to snacks on the plane, there seems to be 3 types of thoughts:
Kids usually eat healthy and they bring healthy snacks
Kids usually eat healthy but they bring whatever snacks will keep the kids happy, nutrition doesn’t play much role
Kids eat not so healthy and that trend continues
There doesn’t seem to be anyone where the kids usually kind of eat crap and parents opt for healthy snacks on a flight. Can’t imagine why….
Fortunately I think we kind of belong somewhere between the first two. Or more so, our kids eat a mix and I can bring a mix and keep them happy. My kids truly love apples and carrots so I can bring those healthy items and the kids will also love them. But they do also love fruit snacks which aren’t necessarily as healthy, but will keep them happy. I can also bring Cheerios and string so they’ll happily string the Cheerios on the string and have an activity, but then also eat the Cheerios when they’re done with that.
So, the question part is – what are your thought on plane snacks? Healthy or happy (if you have to make that choice)?
Eion is in Kindergarten this year. For his curriculum we are using:
Core – K4, Confessions of a Homeschooler
Math – MathUSee Primer
Spelling – All About Spelling (I hope to add All About Reading as well, but that may not happen this year); also using things from Christian Preschool Printables as they apply, and bulletins from Children’s Worship Bulletins as they apply.
Bible – Grapevine Studies (Introduction to the New Testament, Beginner level)
Art – World’s Greatest Artists, Confessions of a Homeschooler (we’ll be picking and choosing what we do a lot)
Geography – Road Trip USA, Confessions of a Homeschooler
Science – Road Trip Animals (Confessions of a Homeschooler) and various science experiments / kits
Emma is my Preschooler this year. For her ‘curriculum’ we are using:
Core – Letter of the Week & K4, Confessions of a Homeschooler
Math – K4, Confessions of a Homeschooler
Spelling – She’ll be doing activities from All About Spelling, as appropriate
Bible – She’ll be doing Grapevine Studies (Introduction to the New Testament, Beginner level); also using things from Christian Preschool Printables as they apply, and bulletins from Children’s Worship Bulletins as they apply.
Art – World’s Greatest Artists, Confessions of a Homeschooler (we’ll be picking and choosing what we do a lot)
Geography – Road Trip USA, Confessions of a Homeschooler
Science – Road Trip Animals (Confessions of a Homeschooler) and various science experiments / kits
I just purchased the last of Eion’s curriculum! We plan on starting the day after Labor Day, as it was when I was growing up. None of this mid-August stuff 
Anyway.
So, here is what we’ll be using, for those that are curious.
Math – Math U See – Primer – I think some of this will be too easy, but we’ll start with it anyway. If it’s really too easy, we’ll use it for Emma when she’s ready and purchase Alpha instead.
Spelling / Reading – All About Learning – All About Spelling Level 1
Bible Studies – Grapevine Bible Studies – Introduction to the New Testament
Art – World’s Greatest Artist Vol. 1
Science – Road Trip USA Animals for ‘Life Science’, various science experiments and kits for ‘other’ science.
Geography – Road Trip USA
Core / Other – Various ideas found around, plus revisting some of the K4 Curriculum we used last year and using some of the stuff we didn’t do at all last year.
A few of the things above I purchased last year or are / were free. Purchased this year were the first three – math, spelling and bible.
I’ve also re-organized my Pinterest boards a bit, so if you chose to follow individual boards instead of following me (good idea if all you want are education pins since I pin about a lot of other stuff too, lol), here are the new boards:
Kids School – Numbers / Math
Kids School – Letters / Reading
Kids School – Science
Kids School Stuff (things that don’t fit into one of the above categories but are still activities for them to do)
(this is the old board, so if you followed the boards before you already have this one)
Teacher School Stuff (organization, etc., anything that isn’t an activity for the kids, but more something for ME to do)
Also, the old ones:
Kids Crafts
Kid Stuff
Busy Bag Ideas
And as some of these ideas will easily carry over to future Olympics:
Olympics
While we’ve mostly taken a break for the summer, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for the kids to have a bit of an Olympics experience.
I have downloaded some themed materials from 3 Dinosaurs. Also some random coloring pages I’ve found other places. Most of what I’ve found and may use I’ve pinned here, including some of the random crafts we will likely do:
Olympics on Pinterest
First up and ready to go is Medals counting / charting:
Basically, we all picked a country to be ‘ours’ for the Olympics. No one was allowed to pick the USA, however we are still charting the USA’s medals. I picked France, Brandon picked Germany, and then I picked Great Britain and Italy and the kids picked which one they wanted. Eion picked GB and Emma was okay with getting Italy, lol. We’ll check the medal counts at the end of each day and mark the charts. Whoever’s team gets the most medals will get a certificate. Nothing too exciting, but kind of fun. I’m hoping this will be a tradition that can continue on for future Olympics. Those ‘in the know’ will also notice that all 5 countries we’re charting do happen to usually have a good number of medals.
A close up of the chart. I found the chart itself here. I added the country button from standard Microsoft Word clip art, the country name is made from the alphabet found here, and the page border was added from here. Then I colored in the words before printing.
As we actually work through some of the materials I’ve decided to use I’ll try to remember to take pictures. Many of the materials can be altered or reused for the next Olympics in 2014 (winter) or, with less altering, in 2016 (summer). Of course, by then, I’m sure there will be more materials out there again.
A little boy was having difficulty lifting a heavy stone.
His father came along just then.
Noting the boy’s failure, he asked, “Are you using all your strength?”
“Yes, I am,” the little boy said impatiently.
“No, you are not,” the father answered. “I am right here just waiting, and you haven’t asked me to help you.”
In light of that, in the off chance that someone is waiting to be asked, here’s the request.
This coming school year we will officially be working on kindergarten with Eion! He’ll be 5 in October and as such misses the cut off for public / charter / private schools here by 6 weeks. So, instead of telling him “you’re not allowed to learn that because you’re 6 weeks too young” we will be homeschooling. Big surprise, right? I’m excited!
With that, while I have found some thrifty ways to accomplish this, it’s looking like it will be about $350 for all the items I would like to have. This includes books and manipulates to cover Core subjects, Spelling & Phonics, Math, Geography (already have this), Art (already have this too), & Bible. There is an add on for a science kit subscription that we may also look into for an additional $15 or so a month.
Now, please understand, IT IS NOT THAT I CANNOT AFFORD THIS. We WILL figure it out by purchasing things a little at a time as needed. This is simply a request saying “hey, here it is.”
Here is an Amazon Wish List of the items I am looking to purchase. As I do purchase items I will update this list so this list should (hah) always be current with what I have left to purchase:
http://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/1T2ZPQF1X8455/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_ws_xyK4pb1W3SD29
I’m 99% sure that since all items are not actually available on Amazon, that the whole ‘send it to the Wish List address’ won’t work. So, if anyone is truly interested in donating any of these items, leave me a comment and I would be happy to discuss it with you more!
In addition, I have added a PayPal Donation link. I’m sure this will lose me some readers, but, again, it’s there just in case
If by chance you have any of the curriculum I am looking at in good used condition, I would also like to discuss that with you!
As most of the US at least knows by now, there was a solar eclipse today. At it’s height in the best viewing places, the coverage was supposed to be about 94%
Due to various circumstances, we didn’t get out to view it until it was almost at it’s fullest. Although I took WAY more pictures, these are about every 5 minutes (except for a time of about 8 minutes where clouds interfered between the 5th and 6th pictures here):
The pictures above were taken using a box pinhole viewer. The one pictured below, in fact 
The box is a shipping box, 18x16x6 according to the writing on the bottom. Emma’s birthday party supplies came in it.
I duct taped the flaps on the bottom and edges. The original tape was clear tape and I wanted to make sure there was as little extra light shining though as possible. Before taping up the last flap, place a piece of white paper in one of the short ends.
The above is the end the sun light comes through. Cut an opening (opposite end of the paper you put in), and then cover the opening with foil. Then poke a hole with a pin. I used a standard push pin. Essentially you’re making a pinhole camera, minus the film.
Now you see the viewing end. It’s on the opposite end as the hole AND opposite corner.
Then, aim the thing at the sun. After a while I realized I could prop the thing up using the kids’ chalk container instead of holding it. Duh!
Also seen on the table is the smaller cereal box viewer:
You can, of course, just cut this one the same as the larger box, but this way works too. This one, stand with your back to the sun. If you look hard you can see where it projects to inside. In person it is, of course, a clearer image.
And here are the kids checking it out:
Now. For those saying “my kids will never look in there”, you can try what we did to get Emma to look:
A: Emma, come here, look what’s in the box!
E: NO!
A: I bet there’s something really cool in there…
E: NO!
A: Emma, it’s ELMO!!
E: *runs over to look*
Yep. 30 minutes later she was still telling me that she didn’t find Elmo in the box. But while looking, she did tell me she saw the moon, so it’s all good, lol.
