We harvested.

Shuukaku shimashita.

The watermelon was tiny, and there was only one that was fully ripe, but the fact remains that we grew a watermelon in a container outside our dining area, and that it was just as sweet and juicy as any watermelon we have bought at the local supermarket.

This (is what we're doing) this year!

Kotoshi ha kore!
Does anyone remember last year's green curtain? And how were were up to our necks in goya (bitter gourds) that the kids didn't like?

I have learned from experience, and this year I went with something that the kids would eat.

That's right, I have watermelon vines growing in containers outside my dining area. They're small, and I'm probably only going to get four or five watermelons from two very large containers, but the cool factor of having watermelons growing in my yard is pretty much off the charts humongous. 

In other news...Snail's Pace English School now has a new student. Our neighbor's 9 year-old, whom the Pumpkin Princess idolizes, has joined in classes. I was having (somewhat expected) problems with getting the Pumpkin Princess to say stuff and carry conversations with me, so I recruited the 9 year-old. I've done one lesson without and two lessons with the new girl, and the difference was...well, me trying to force the Pumpkin Princess to do something she doesn't want to do, and a functional children's English class.

So there are now 4 students (the Pumpkin Princess, the new girl, the Pumpkin Prince, and the Pumpkin Daddy), which is pretty good for doing group stuff like games and practicing talking to each other. We'll see how it goes. Right now, my concern is that there might be two weeks in a row without classes because of my work and family stuff. I'm trying to think of a way to make up at least the second missed lesson without driving everyone crazy...

Can you read it?

Yomeru?

A Japanese first grader can write a letter by the end of May. Considering this is 2 months into  her first school year, this is an interesting situation. I don't think this holds true for American first graders.

The Japanese phonetic alphabet (hiragana or katakana) is a "what you see is what you get" alphabet. You read the name of the letter, and that's how that letter is pronounced (I understand Korean and Nepali are also like this). Not so in English. The name of the letter and its pronunciation are two different entities.

When I was in first grade, I remember my teacher, Mrs. Carter, doing phonics flashcards with us. The first graders would happily shout "ah! aaaaaay!" "ih! aaaaai!" "yuh! ih! aaaaaai!" as she flashed cards labeled "A," "I," or "Y."

Then we moved, and we went to a different school in a different state. This school did not do much by way of phonics. The kids were taught to read by recognizing short words.

I have started to try to teach the Pumpkin Princess English. I found a text I thought I liked, and I got the textbook and workbook and teacher's book, but it didn't make sense to me until last night, when I figured out that the Pumpkin Princess

WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO LEARN THE NAMES OF THE LETTERS UNTIL SHE HAS MASTERED THEIR PRONUNCIATION!

Apparently this is how they currently teach reading to children in the UK and Australia these days. It's called synthetic phonics, and when you stop and think about it, it makes perfect sense, and it's probably easier (if time consuming) to both children and teachers.

So I have the textbook, workbook, and the teacher's book.

But I am too cheap to pay 7000 yen for the set of flashcards.

Too much stuff!

Mono ga oosugi!
Every day, the Pumpkin Princess takes these things to school.

textbooks (subjects for the day must be checked and appropriate schoolbooks taken)
notebooks (see above)
pencil case (with pencils, red colored pencil, eraser, ruler, and black marker)
homework (something every day)
reading card (must read passages from Japanese textbook, signed off by parent)
chopsticks
napkin/ place mat
lunch bag (drawstring bag containing above chopsticks and napkin)
handkerchief
pocket kleenex

Every Friday, the Pumpkin Princess brings home stuff that needs laundering/ tweaking/ checking. Off the top of my head:

P.E. uniform (T-shirt, shorts and cap)
P.E. uniform bag (drawstring bag)
school shoes (white canvas slip-ons that she wears inside the school building)
school shoe bag (drawstring bag)
toothbrush
drinking cup (for brushing teeth)
lunch duty uniform (white coat and white hair cover cap. The kids have lunch duty every other week for the whole week. They fetch the buckets of school lunch, serve each other, and clean up)

The thing is, the Pumpkin Princess walks to and from school. And she is six. So on Fridays, she's carrying all this stuff home by herself. And all this probably weighs as much as she does. Doesn't this affect their skeletal growth or something?

April is the time when school starts. The Pumpkin Princess started school, but before that, she finished day care. The last day she was allowed in day care was March 31st. The first day of school was April 9th. This meant that there was a whole week without day care. So I sent her to gakudo for 2 days, and she spent the other 3 days at the Pumpkin Granny's.

Gakudo is after-school child care. The kids spend the time between the end of school and the time their parents come to pick them up in a supervised environment where they do homework and read books and play outside. On non-public school holidays (like spring vacation), they can spend the whole day there, but unless the gakudo has a special permit to prepare food, they have to bring their own lunch. Some gakudo have a contract with an outside catering service for box lunches, but I was too late to sign the Pumpkin Princes up for it.

So this is what happened.

Characters from the "Tamagocci" anime. The character on the left has ears of rolled salami skewered in place by pieces of fried spaghetti (safer than toothpicks).



Pokemon bento. The cutout of Pikachu was sold in packs in the local supermarket. I put it on a slice of cheese on top of a microwaveable frozen hamburger steak. The Pokemon ball is cutouts of salami, cheese and nori laid on a ball of plain white rice (and held in place with small drops of mayonnaise).

That was just two days in a single week. Come summer vacation, if I don't remember to sign her up for the catering box lunches, I am going to have to do this every day. Which, um, no. This is fun, but quite time consuming. Once every so often (to give me something to blog) is enough.

Mid-way assessment

Chuukan hyouka


So I made New Year's resolutions. Resolutions are made to be broken, right?

1. My desk is still messy.

2. I have not written anything on it. I did three new presentations this year so far, but that doesn't really count as writing as far as work is concerned. I did a lot of proofreading on a different "public space" desk, though.

3. I have not reassessed my career plan. I do know that I probably can't stay where I am for more than a few years, so this is definitely something I need to do.

4. I am still getting up at 5:30 every morning. The time between when I finish brushing my teeth and the Pumpkin Princess comes downstairs (something like half an hour) is the only time I have to myself at home. It has been put to good use. Things like sewing, decluttering, making the occasional boxed lunch, and prepping presentations (see #2) have been done during this time frame. I should probably post pictures of the lunches I made for the Pumpkin Princess earlier this month.

5. I think I am doing less late night junk food than last year, but not so much because I have made an effort to do so as much as it just kind of working out that way.

So I think I will clean my desk a little tomorrow. If I feel like it. If.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Shourai no yume ha nani?

I have the job I wanted when I was 14. But I kind of have other jobs that I wanted as a kid too. Except for one.

When I was 12, I wanted to be a writer. I blog, so that's writing. I also write and edit stuff for work. I am the person they come to when they need to write a letter in English that says "you are being an @$$" without actually saying "you are being an @$$."

When I was 13, I wanted to be an actress. I present sometimes, for research and also at training seminars. The training seminars in particular involve pretending to be more confident and knowledgable than I actually am. If that's not acting, I don't know what is...The drawback to this one is that I usually have to write my own material.

When I was 15, I wanted to be a diplomat. I am currently the designated international relations person for my department. When a group of Indonesian students wants to do a tour of the department, I am the one who makes sure everyone is ready for them. When a Nepalese woman wants to come work with us as a research fellowship type deal, I figure out which paperwork she needs to send where.

The job I don't have that I used to want? When I was six, I wanted to be a flight attendant. I am so glad I am nowhere near having that job. Those people earn every cent they get.