Journey to Japan: Tokyo, days 2 and 3

One of the challenges of planning for this a trip was having no idea how long to plan for transit times, viewing times, and stopping at vending machine times.  A travel book or site can only give you a rough idea, but when you are travelling as a family of 8, all these things take more time. I had an itinerary mapped out, but by day 2, we were already revising it.  In retrospect, I wish I had routed us a little differently, or moved a little more quickly through one area in order to have a little time to see the pandas at the zoo or visit Mt. Takao just outside of Tokyo, instead of some of our other stops on the metro, but we managed to see quite a bit of the city, as you can see from these 50 million photos from just 2 days. Since we had 3 cameras working at any given time, we now have to get some external storage for our computer for photos. 

Some notable facts about Tokyo:

*It is a VERY clean city. Rarely did we see even a cigarette butt on the ground.  Also, we learned after transgressing, that people do not eat or drink on the subway. They don’t eat or drink on the street, even though there are vending machines all over the place. I think people must consume their beverage just after buying it right in front of the machine so that they can dispose of the bottle in the recycling spot.

*Normally we are not big sugary drink purchasers. But in order to keep our younger children motivated, we bought them several drinks a day along our route. Fortunately, most of the machines carry more flavored water and teas than sodas. A favorite: Pocari Sweat, a beverage a little like Gatorade.

*We also stopped for snacks at convenience stores and for ice cream cones at small shops. We all decided that although Green Tea ice cream looks and sounds appealing, ice cream that tastes like grass is not really that refreshing.  Green Tea Kitkats are tasty, though.

*We were somewhat disappointed not to see sushi bars on every corner, but noodle shops were everywhere.  Our favorite place for lunch was a fastfood noodle shop: you put your money in a machine, punched a ticket, gave it to the waitress and in seconds had a tray with tea, noodles, and toppings artfully arranged.  We crammed onto stools between businessmen, and followed their example in slurping our noodles. Quick and filling.

*Although Tokyo is larger than New York City, it did not seem nearly as crowded.  Early in the morning and in the evening the subways were packed and “pushers,” men with white gloves, would push people onto the train. They just keep cramming in.  During rush hour, there are “women only” trains, which we quickly realized when my husband tried to get on one, and the ladies gave him surprised looks. Politely.

But, other than the packed trains, we didn't see a lot of people milling around the streets.  No traffic jams – although lots of fearless bike riders.  A homogenous population, unlike New York. And everyone was soft spoken, except the welcomers in the shopping centers.  I’m sure we were the loudest people around.

Our itinerary for Days 2 and 3:

Day 2: Wake early, head to the fish market and find it closed, backtrack and head to the Imperial Palace, home to the emperor.  You cannot go inside, but you can wander through the beautiful east garden. Although you'd think it is a major tourist stop, we were among only a handful of people in the garden.  Next up was the Meiji Shrine, where the Emperor Meiji and his wife, who ruled Japan at the turn of the 20^th century after centuries of shoguns and opened it to foreign trade, are enshrined.  Their shrine is in an immense and beautiful park, almost like a forest in the middle of a major city.  It had an interesting and informative display about the history of Japan during Meiji’s rule that was very informative. More fascinating is that within 2 generations of opening borders, Japan was a major force in WWII. It seems a quick change in cultural attitudes, but my history is sketchy.

*Another note: It really is much easier to remember history when you see the context. I couldn’t keep names and places straight until our visit.  A strong argument for field trips.

From the Meiji shrine, we could see the park where the Olympics were held in 1964, which were the motivation for rebuilding Tokyo after the bombings of WWII (Quick! Company is coming! Tidy up!), but we just pointed the area out to the kids, and headed over to the shopping district, another place where our timing was off. We strolled through Harajuku, the teeny-bopper “kawaii” area, but we weren’t really shopping, except for a place to get crepes and ice cream (Strong French influence still evident). But people watching was colorful.  Then we headed to the ritzy shopping area, where we spent too much time in Kiddyland, Tokyo’s answer to FAO Schwartz, just with less floor space but more cutsy bears and bunnies and Pokemons.

From there, we went to Odaiba, a neighborhood built on a landfill. This area wasn’t really for us: mostly shopping malls.  The Toyota Megaweb showroom was neat and interactive, but we got there too close to closing time.  If we were the type to spend money on video games and Pachinko or who loved to shop, this would have been great, but for us it was a disappointment. The best part was eating in the food court where everyone could try something different, and we could share flavors. My husband’s Korean food was a favorite.

After this long exhausting day, we returned to the ryokan and gathered our towels and shampoo and headed a couple blocks over for one more cultural experience: the public bath, or onsen.  The kids were reluctant, and I was a little nervous myself, but several friends had encouraged us to try it. We may have concerned the concierge a little when our youngest went barging in with her shoes on, but, at least on the ladies side, the other patrons were helpful. We were shown the toilet, Turkish style, and encouraged to use it, then given a basket for our belongings. The girls were shy and wanted to wear their towels into the bath area, but another elderly lady showed us how we should hang them up. She also encouraged us to wash first, which I knew. Once we were all sudsed up and rinsed, we got into the hot bath. Our new friend showed us how to add a little cool water in the corner of the hot bath for the 5 year old, who still was as red as a cherry when she got out.  I was enjoying a good soak in the black water, when the 10 year old announced she was ready to go and the five year old said she had to pee, even though she had adamantly asserted she didn't have to use the bathroom a few minutes earlier.  I didn’t want to scandalize any of the other bathers, if they understood English, so I left the bath way too soon.  It turns out the boys were also ready to go, except the 8 year old, who has having a fine time moving his naked little body from the hot bath to the cold bath and back again. I'd count this hour as one of my favorite moments of the trip, or at least one of the most memorable.

Day 3: We hit the ground running again the next day. We returned to the fish market early, but then had to kill an hour before tourists were allowed in. Did a little shopping in the vegetable dealers' area, where a flea market of sorts was set up, and then got to walk through what was left of the fish auction, which was lots of large and unusual creatures.  I wonder how any fish are left in the sea if they do this nearly every day.  The tuna auction is supposed to be quite the scene. The older boys tried a little of the super fresh sashimi at a small restaurant in the market area. The younger kids weren’t interested and the restaurant was small, so I walked around the market area again with them and bought some little gifts for the neighbors, along with some rice bowls for us.

From there we went to the sumo neighborhood to visit the Edo Tokyo museum, which focuses on the period from about 1550 to the turn of the 20^th century, and to see the great sumo stadium which has a small museum. The Edo museum was very child friendly, and the sumo museum was amusing, if not extensive, so this was a great morning. We hoped to eat Chankonabe, the sumo wrestlers’ calorie rich stew and see a wrestler or two strolling around the neighborhood, but we couldn’t find either. We did, however, have one of my favorite meals at a curry restaurant.  I think we finished off half a dozen large planks of fresh-baked nan.  The kids were all ferociously hungry, and the waiter seemed to enjoy our appreciation of the good bread.

From there we decided to walk back to a station on the metro line, instead of the private line we had come over on, since we had the all day metro pass.  But we underestimated the amount of time it would take us to get to that point.  That was when the zoo got crossed off our itinerary, as well as a potential stop at the Tokyo Tower exit (which is a recreation of the Eiffel Tower, only bigger).  By the time we found the metro stop, we decided to head back to the ryokan, get our luggage and make our way to the train that would take us out of the city to Yokosuka, where we were staying with a friend who used to be in the Navy. 

This evolution also took much longer than we anticipated, because it was nearing rush hour by the time we got our bags and back to the subway. We then had to get a commuter line out of the city which was jammed, but here we were with our bags. I’m sure we annoyed more than a few people, even though we tried our hardest to squish into the smallest space we could occupy.  I couldn’t help feeling jubilant, though, that we had navigated the 4 train transfers without losing any kids or luggage on getting on any trains going the wrong way.

Needless to say we were thrilled when we met our friend at the train station.  He was extremely sporting about meeting us, even though we’d given him little warning about when we were arriving, since we had no phone or internet access.  Instead we called from a pay phone at the station. Happily, pay phones are still pretty accessible, even in the technologically advanced area of Tokyo.  (It also surprised us that very few places accepted credit cards. Maybe it is because of a distaste for debt among the Japanese?)

Better still, he took us to a little traditional restaurant near his house where we ate our only splurge dinner. We sat at a low table in a little area partitioned off with a rice paper screen and ordered several courses, including sushi, an enormous bowl of miso soup to share family style, meat on a stick, and a few other dishes, along with a little sake, which I don’t particularly care for.  It was a delicious meal.

To be continued ---.

Artful small space gardening

Book vending machines in the train stations!

A view of the Imperial Palace complex.

Famous bridge to Imperial Palace grounds, closed to tourists.

Gate to the Imperial East Gardens

Just a few of hundreds of beautiful large hydrangeas

The girls and I enjoying the gardens

Water feature

Jumbo sized koe

Shove those people on

In Jinbocho, the bookdealers district. 

Early dispersal of commuters outside Tokyo Station

Offering of sake at the entrance to the Meiji Shrine.

Opposite the sake, is a similar arrangement of wine barrels.

Huge cedar tori at Meiji Shrine

Meiji shrine

A wedding at the shrine. Very Cool!

These children were getting their photo taken in traditional dress and lots of makeup

View towards Yoyogi park, site of 64 Olympics

Peaceful spot in Meiji Shrine gardens. 

Nike store in Tokyo

Harajuku district

Kiddyland display. Boys's dream!

Crepes: good. Mango ice cream: delish. Green tea ice cream: eh

Seen at Shibuyu station

If it had been open, we could have gone up in the gold ball for free!

View of Odaiba

At the fish market

Shrooms for sale

The largest fish market in the world

This friendly shop owner gave the girls drinks and pins

Tuna carcass

Display of a midwife at the Edo museum

One of several modes of transportation to try at the Edo museum.

  

Amusing subway signs. 

In the sumo area, Ryoguku

Don't be a demon man on the subway!

Everyone will yell at you if you litter your cigarette butt!

A photo from the Sumo Museum of a scene the boys had hoped to witness

A small street shrine

Lotus blossom at Ueno Park

Journey to Japan - Day 1

The world travelers have returned.  It feels like we’ve covered a great distance over many days, but our flight was only 3 hours, and we were only gone 6 nights and 7 days.   But we walked our legs off.

You know how sometimes you go someplace, and you expect it to be very exotic and different, and then it’s really not that different? All the same stores and same food and same hair cuts?

Well, visiting Japan felt like we went someplace different.  I wouldn't say it was exotic, but the differences in the language, the shops, the food, the architecture, the fashion, etc., gave the feel of having travelled far, far away from Guam.  On the other hand, many of the flowers and birds were familiar – not from living in Guam, where there are very few birds because of the brown tree snakes – but from the Midwest. Sparrows, spirea, hydrangeas, rufous sided towhees, azaleas … The gardens and greenery were beautiful, even if most of the flowering season was over.  Guam is a brownish green; Japan is verdant.

Our journey began early Tuesday.  The kids were as excited to fly on a plane as they were about anything.  It happened to be the birthday of the youngest of our four boys, so everyone decided that he could have the first pick of seats: window, aisle, next to Mom or Dad… But even better, when we checked in, the attendant offered me and a guest an upgrade because of the number of miles I had accumulated flying back and forth to the States.  So the newly minted 8 year old got to sit by a window in first class.

The pleasure was a little lost on him: he didn’t like the omelette with roasted tomato and hash browns he was served, and he was disappointed in the movie choice, The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel. (This movie about old people from England coming to India and rediscovering a reason to live by hooking up with each other or reuniting with their gay lovers from their youth my husband rightly categorized as menopause art – a term we came up with to describe the naked fat lady art you see at art fairs.) He also kept putting his feet on the seat in front of him.

Before the person in front of him could get seriously annoyed, we arrived at the Narita airport. Narita is about an hour by train from Tokyo, so we had to take the Keisei Skyliner into Tokyo.  Before we left, I spent an extensive amount of time – probably more than I needed – to figure out the most economical way to get around. Tokyo has a Metro system and is serviced by the Japan Rail company, which I assume is the national line. Then there are multiple other private train lines that run out to the surrounding towns.  So it is a little complicated to figure out the best way to get around. The skyliner is definitely the best deal into Tokyo from Narita, unless you are doing extensive travel throughout Japan, in which case you can buy a weeklong pass for the JR lines.  Instead we bought a day pass for the Tokyo Metro, which is cheaper at the airport for foreign visitors. 

Nearly everything in the airport was in English or written in Romanji, as well as Kanji, the Japanese characters. Apparently there are at least 3 different Japanese written languages, but we didn’t know any of them.  Our illiteracy hit us hard when we left the Metro station at Ueno Park. I had some directions from the internet to the hotel – apparently just a 10 minute walk down a certain street. But we couldn’t read street signs. Unlike European countries, where you can recognize a name from a book, even if you can’t pronounce it, in Japan we couldn’t read anything.  We consulted our map and made our best guess as to the direction we were supposed to go. Fortunately, it was the right way, as we confirmed with a passerby who noticed our lost look and asked if we needed help.

Which way?

With all of our bags – everyone had a rolling bag and a backpack – it took us about 20 minutes to find our ryokan, but success! This traditional Japanese hotel was much smaller than it appeared online, just 6 rooms, but it was clean and tidy like everything in Japan.  We had two rooms – one with 4 tatami mats in a row, and one with 2 mats in one room and 2 in a little annex room. All the rooms had sliding doors and little low tables with cushions to sit upon. Each room had an electric water heater for tea, and a small television, that the kids turned on once to see a little Japanese TV.

Our first goal was to find a place for lunch before going to the Tokyo National Museum.  We wandered for about an hour trying to find something around our neighborhood that looked affordable, and ended up getting bento boxes from the convenience store across the street from our ryokan. This ended up being our breakfast solution also.  Had we just headed to the museum, we would have found half a dozen small restaurants and vendors just inside Ueno Park, which is on the north side of Tokyo, in a more residential area close to the University of Tokyo.  As we ate our lunches on a park bench, we noticed a line of men with big soup bowls. At first I thought they were tourists, but they were homeless men receiving a lunch. It surprised me to see homeless people living in the park under blue tarps because Tokyo seemed so clean otherwise. I would expect that there would be shelter or some other government solution.

You can almost see the socks I wore with my shoes.

The National museum was a good place to start our tour.  It was mostly an art museum - which I've missed sooo much in Guam.  I had one of those "ahahahahhhh" moments when we walked in and the lights were low and it smelled clean and dry.  The kids tired of ceramics quickly, but enjoyed the samurai masks, and it gave us an idea about what to look for in our visits elsewhere.  From the museum, we strolled through the park, past a couple of temples, and many large ravens. We bypassed the zoo, where a baby panda had just died a few days earlier, but in retrospect, we probably should have skipped a temple or shrine to visit the zoo and make the younger kids happy.

The national museum actually is several buildings, but we only visited 2. The kids were ready for some time to run.

A ukiyo-e print of Christians being forced to commit blasphemy.

After exhausting Ueno Park, we took the metro to the next neighborhood over, Asakusa, where there is a large and busy temple, the Sensoji temple.  The road to the temple was line with tourist shops, and a huge crowd strolled leisurely along the way.  Many people wore kimonos, which I assumed they wore just to visit the temple but perhaps they were making some kind of statement about traditional clothing.  Vendors sold small glass ball windchimes painted with a fireworks design and a plant with an orange lantern like flower. Someone gave both a windchime and a few of the flowers to our 12 year old. I’m not sure what is written on the hanging part of the windchime, but probably some kind of prayer for good fortune.

I think this is the Asakusa shrine, built in the late 1600s by one of the powerful Tokugawa shoguns, Iemitsu

I looked up the name of the glass windchime: Fu-rin

As we learned from our guidebook, most of the temple entrances have large torii, or gates, and this one has one of the largest red lanterns in the biggest gate called the Thunder gate.  Some temples are Buddhist and some are Shinto. The one is Asakusa is Buddhist, dedicated to Kannon, the goddess of Mercy.  It is Japan's busiest temple, originally built in the 600s, but reconstructed after earthquakes and bombings.

Before entering the temple, there is a fountain where people wash their hands and mouths – first left hand, then right hand, and then wash the mouth with the left hand. At another stop, charcoal sends up smoke that people waft into their faces for cleanliness. Finally, at the door to the inner part of the temple, people stop and clap twice, bow twice, say their prayer and clap again.  In Asakusa, a monk was praying and the temple drum was being struck. During this part, people threw round coins, the shape being another harbinger of luck.

It was not hard to find our oldest son in the crowd of short, dark-haired heads.

Tourists. It's funny to see myself in a lot of photos, because I'm usually the photographer, but we bought a new SLR camera right before we left, and my husband wanted to play with it. The quality is noticeably better.

The tower in the background is Tokyo Skytree, the world's second tallest building, which just opened in May. We did not take the elevator to the observation deck, because it would have cost our family about $250 for the view.

This funny baby is about $75 dollars. 100 yen is about $1.25.

A much fancier handwashing station in Asakusa.

This is actually at a smaller shrine near our ryokan.

After we observed these rituals for a time, feeling much like how a Buddhist or atheist must feel when visiting St. Peter’s or some other Catholic church during Mass, we gave each of the kids money to pick out what they wanted to eat from the vendors around the temple. This temple was definitely a marketplace.  The kids tried octopus on a stick, octopus balls, and a puff pastry thing with savory meat inside. I had a big omelette like thing that was full of vegetables and actually was bready more than eggy. It was delicious. The five year old begged for what looked like corn dog, and I caved since I didn’t want to throw away food.  Her dog was actually more of a sausage.  For dessert we had some little bear shaped cakes with red bean paste inside called nangyoyaki. They were fresh off the heat and delicious. We saw them all over the place in different shapes: birds, Hello Kitty, lanterns, etc.

Our most adventurous eater.

After a little research, I just learned that the reason we saw so many people in Asakusa is that we happened to be there for a festival: The Day of 46000 Blessings: At the Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa, the Japanese unique traditional event, called the Day of 46000 Blessings (Yonman-rokusen-nichi,) takes place in every 10th of July. As legend goes, if a person prays at the temple on this day, he/she would be the equivalent of 46000 days of prayers. Plus, Hozuki Ichi (the Chinese Lantern Plant Fair) also takes place in July 9th and 10th of July at Senso-ji temple. The Hozuki plants sold here are cultivated in Shikabone-cho in Edogawa-ku, and are really wonderful. (From http://tobu-discountpass.tobutravel.co.jp/en/kanko-asakusa.html)

So there you go. I thought I did so much research before our visit, but I'm still learning about this fascinating country and finding much to love, although I'm not expecting 46000 Blessings since we only took photos at the temple.

By the time we returned to the hotel, it was dark on the walk through the park.  But never did we feel unsafe.  More than one person told us that people could drop their wallet, and it would be there waiting for them the next day with all their money. Or someone would find them to give it back.  We saw little children riding the subway to school by themselves. And we barely saw any trash on the ground, not even a candy wrapper. Not only did we not see any trash, but rarely did we see a trashcan.  Near the vending machines, we’d see bins for recyclables, but apparently people pack their trash home. As we learned later in the trip, trash is a complicated matter in this area – everything is separated and rinsed and flattened and sorted into burnables, cans, plastic packaging, plastic bottles, incombustibles, and paper.  Then there is a pickup for recyclable clothing, furnishings and electronics.  Just one manifestation of Japanese efficiency. 

A faithful samurai and his dog and happy tourists

An unhappy tourist

The street outside our subway stop.

I can't get these photos to turn vertical and am too tired to mess with it anymore, so enjoy  them, but don't strain your neck. I intend to detail the next few days soon, so I don't forget . . .

On being a tourist

Usually this time of year, we're on our way or packing up for our annual cross country road trip to visit family. Suitcases, bags of food, book bags, a bag of movies for the car DVD player, food,  a bag of art supplies, more snack food ... all get loaded into the car, and then the kids and the dog are wedged in.  It's laborious, but we've done it for so many years, that we’ve become pretty efficient at the process.  And we never go hungry.

But no road trips this year. The kids keep asking if we’re going to see their grandparents.  I have to keep reminding them, “Not this summer.” I am the killjoy.

Instead we’re planning a trip to Japan. I’ve been spending hours searching for a hotel that will sleep 8 in our price range. I checked out all the library travel guides to Japan (3 of them) and ended up buying the Lonely Planet guide and highlighting the places I’d like to see. I’ve been studying Tokyo subway and train maps trying to plan an itinerary. I bought one set of tickets that had us flying into Tokyo and out of Hiroshima, cancelled them, and then rebooked to stay in the Tokyo area after realizing how expensive and tiresome that trip would be with six kids who know little about Japan and won’t remember which temple is which two days after we return home. I’ve called hostels and ryokans.  We’ve watched a PBS special on Japan, tried to learn some phrases and the symbol for “men” and “women” so we’ll use the right toilets. We’ve shopped for comfortable shoes. 

This process is taking at least twice as long as it takes to pack AND drive through the Midwest, and probably much longer, because I can’t commit. 

The other night I went to bed feeling sick. My head was throbbing from computer glow burnout and from wondering why I’m going to spend all this money on site-seeing. I don’t really care for being a tourist.  I’d rather take the money and fly home to the people I love and who love me and my children.  Cousins, grandparents, siblings, places.   My parents are probably reading this and saying, yes, yes, do!

(Turns out I really was sick.  I was congested and feverish for two days, then woke up in a sweat all better.)

But I’m not going to fly home, even though I thought I smelled a hayfield the other day and had an intense moment of homesickness.

This homesickness was brought on partially from reading Emily of Deep Valley. Emily’s relationship with her grandfather reminded me of all the hours I used to spend at my grandparents’ house on the way to or from track practice or work.  They’d feed me and ask about what was going on.  I want my kids to get to experience that one on one time with their grandparents.  I want to sit and be fed and questioned by my family. I’d be happy to be like Emily and stay in my little cottage, and while away the hours in the garden and visiting with the neighbors, taking on little acts of service here or there.

I was homesick for an image of life that doesn’t exist anymore. Not that my relationship with my family doesn’t exist anymore.  But I have a loyalty to the way of life I have chosen, both for the sake of my children and for my marriage.  As I am reading about visiting Japan and reading “The River Ki,” I’m reminded over and over about the sacrifices Japanese girls make when they marry.  They leave behind their birth families for years at a time, often forever, to take on a new identity in their husbands’ families.

I am not Japanese though, so I don’t have to give up those relationships.  I want to nourish these relationships that will always be a part of our lives, not just the friendships that are a part of our lives for the next year or two. I want my children to know and love their aunts, uncles, cousins, and especially their grandparents. I want them to have memories of their grandparents’ personalities and quirks and wisdom. 

But I also think the kids will gain something from this trip.  I want them to know that the world is a big place, but not limitless. It’s possible to be aware of both the colorful differences and the striking similarities between foreigners and ourselves.

Even with expensive hotels, the trip home would cost twice as much.  Tickets from Guam to the states are close to two thousand dollars right now. 

This isn’t about the money, though.  I’m also trying to honor my husband, who doesn’t want us to leave for 4-6 weeks.  The trip home is arduous, and our time here is relatively short.  We agreed that we should take advantage of living in the Eastern Hemisphere to see a little more of it.  I also agreed with him, that if we don’t go home this summer, we will go home next summer, whether with orders or as a vacation, especially since his parents will celebrate 50 years of marriage, and his sisters are trying to cook something special up.

Personally, I don’t really like being a tourist, and I’ve never really been motivated by wanderlust.  It’s not that I don’t like travelling: I like airplanes and other forms of public transportation because I don’t use it often.  I don’t have any phobias about eating, sleeping, and voiding in strange places.  I like seeing the places I read about, but I don’t have a bucket list of places I want to see.  

Traveling as a tourist, rather than as a pilgrim or to see family, is exciting, but then it’s over. I have to label my photographs right after I get them, so that I don’t forget what I saw.  The memories fade quickly, and as a tourist, you don’t really get to know a place.  And three-fourths of the time, I’m disappointed that a new place is not more exotic.   Even when I was younger, I didn’t buy into the idea that you have to go somewhere to experience something. That’s what books are for.

Most of my kids don’t like learning from books, though. They will learn more about the history, art, and culture of Japan from visiting it.  They will witness the cleanliness and efficiency of an enormous Eastern city, see a little of the incredibly varied and awe-inspiring landscape of Japan, (even if we’ll only see a fraction of central Honshu) and maybe remember a few of the phrases we’re practicing. I hope they will notice the pride that the Japanese have for their own culture and then, in returning, take pride in the culture that they have inherited. It’s probably a false ideal, but I’m hoping that by traveling with the kids, they’ll appreciate the diversity in the world God has created, but even more, I want them to be aware of the blessings they have, especially that of having a family who loves them and always welcomes them home.

Song for lifting hearts

A moment of happiness:

Reading Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan and looking up the youtube video of her performance.

Another good picture book biography we read recently:
For the Birds, The Life of Roger Tory Peterson by Peggy Thomas.

Summertime and easy living, but tough decisions

We've been sort of busy the last couple of weeks, but somehow running around here never seems like quite the hassle that it is elsewhere.  No traffic, short distances, a beautiful sky to look at, sometimes a scarlet sunset, sometimes storm clouds or rainbows. 

The kids participated in Totus Tuus Vacation Bible School this week. I can't praise this program enough. The youngers went in the morning and the middle schoolers and high schoolers went in the evening. A team of four college students, two girls and two boys, from Colorado provided all the labor. We just dropped the kids off, donated some snacks, and helped ferry and feed the college students.

All the kids loved it. They were excited to go, they talked and talked about what they did, and they LOVED the team members. They were cheerful, energetic, inspired kids.  We had them over for dinner and a coconut husking demonstration one night. I experimented with chicken kelaguen, which turned out a bit dry, but the team ate and ate.  I loved seeing my olders interact with them, asking questions, laughing, telling stories. The college kids were great role models of how someone intensely faithful can still be "cool" and fun to be around. 


Another night there was a potluck at the chapel, and my 7 year old asked if he could do Totus Tuus again next year, and I said, of course, but it might be different leaders.  He almost started crying.  

We also got to hang out with the team at the beach and on a hike and at a party at the end of the week. The chapel community really pulled together to show the kids the best of Guam.

The older boys enjoyed it so much they invited their Baptist friends on the second night. That night the topic was “The Body of Christ.” I was a little worried about what I’d hear back from their mom, but they wanted to go again the next night – when they talked about relationships.  Even with that embarrassing topic, they came again  the third night for adoration and confession (even though I'm pretty sure they didn't go to confession), and would have finished off the week if they hadn't left on vacation. A compliment to the team.

The last day  of Totus Tuus the fire truck came to wash the kids after they had a shaving cream war.

This is a great model for VBS.  The kids really like the college kids, the college kids get to brush up on their salvation history as well as have a great time in Guam. (They’ve gone snorkeling and boonie stomping, site-seeing and paddle boarding, all in the little free-time they have.) And best of all, the moms don’t have to exhaust themselves doing all the song and dance routines and cheap foam crafts that go along with planning and presenting VBS. The kids didn't bring home any crafts, but they still enjoyed this week better than any they've attended before.

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Summer vacation didn't officially start until the last day of school, June 14^th.  The following week, my older daughter was able to participate in the Reef Rangers camp put on by the National Park Service – a pretty sweet deal for free.  She did a couple field trips to sites of maritime merit, went snorkeling and put on little eco-skits at the end of the week. I don’t know if she learned anything new, but she did get to see some endangered species that are being bred by the agriculture department – the famous ko'ko bird and a Marianas Fruit Bat, also known as fanihi, particularly when cooked in coconut milk. 

I learned a little about fanihi myself – not only have they been overhunted, but since they only have one offspring a year, they have been severely depleted by the brown tree snakes.  My boys have been doing their part to exterminate this serpentine invasive species by hunting them at night along the fence line.  (They took the Totus Tuus boys hunting one night.)

Reef Rangers putting on a skit about sea turtles

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My research into native endangered species was a part of my preparation for scout camp. The week before Totus Tuus, the older boys and my husband the scoutmaster braved the rain and bugs for scout camp that was quite different from their other experiences. But since their expectations were extremely low, they ended up enjoying themselves more than they expected. I taught the environmental science merit badge, my first participation in scout camp, and probably enjoyed myself more than the boys.  It made me more confident that I would enjoy teaching fulltime. It also made me wonder why I didn’t do more planning for activities like this to make our home school experience more rich.

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So as soon as I made up my mind that I wanted to teach, I heard from the school that I’d applied to that they had decided to hire someone with more experience. No surprise. I wouldn’t hire me either, if I didn’t know me.  Although I would have put my heart into teaching literature, I had some doubts about how to present the material and come up with assignments in a manner that would be engaging, relevant, and substantive to eighth graders.  And those doubts probably came through in the second interview I had. Instead of telling the department chair about my experiences and plans, I asked her questions about her teaching style. It was a good conversation, but it probably didn’t give her much confidence in my ability. And as my mom pointed out, my ambivalence about the job probably showed.  Since none of the kids wanted to go there, it’s a bit of a relief, but I can't help being disappointed, not only because I do feel certain the kids would have received a good education there, but I would have sincerely enjoyed the opportunity.

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Now it’s back to the drawing board: make the commitment to home school again, go with the DOD school, or look into other options -- online school? The Baptist school on the island? The diocesan schools, unfortunately, do not keep up with the standards of learning that I'd like to see.  

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Part of the reason I think our home school experience was a chore by the end of the year is because instead of leading, I ordered the kids around. I relied on their books to do most of the teaching, instead of presenting material, which can be, I assume, pretty typical among home schoolers. I did not sit down every evening to plan the next day, as I would do if I were being paid to teach, as I did for my college class.  I don't know why I failed to work as hard at educating my own kids as I would at teaching other people's children.

Then there's the fact that the kids behave 30 times better for other people than they do for me. So would the DOD school be better for them, even though its academic standards may not be what I would like, because they would be practicing the virtues of obedience, responsibility, listening, etc?

My ambivalence about home schooling is influenced somewhat by seeing my older boys develop into their own persons as they interact with other adults and students. I struggle to do things like let them spend the money they are earning mowing lawns on baseball caps.  I want them to be like me, or like what I envision them being.  But I am also pleased to hear them praised by their teachers and coaches.  I don’t have the time or interest to learn about some of the things they find interesting, so I’m glad they are getting taught about WWII battles by someone who is really fascinated by warfare.  Ideally, all their teachers would be as passionate about their subject matter as this history teacher is, but I’m not sure that enthusiasm is always evident from certain teachers.

So the planning pendulum swings again. Swing to the right: I heard negative things about a teacher at the DOD school – apparently she doesn’t like boys.  And I got the Seton home school catalog today, which made me think, “Maybe if I followed a program…”

Swing to the left: I had to shut one of my daughters in her room this afternoon for misbehavior. She just turned her crying volume up full blast for everyone’s enjoyment.  That would not happen at school.

Maybe a magical new alternative will appear. . .

In the immediate future, the biggest decision is where to snorkel next . . .

A friendly octupus 

Some friends trying out our paddle board

Worn out after a busy week