Elementary school

This month I got very little done due to spending a lot of time in bed.  I now have a new doctor whom I'll be going to and hopefully things will be looking up.  Honestly, I am rather ashamed of how low and weepy I can get when things are uncertain or downright bad, and though I cling to trying to stay grateful for the positive, I am not doing a good job at expressing my faith with an upbeat attitude.  Oh so quickly do I doubt! 

A couple of days ago I was asked by the elementary school principal if he could interview me for the school's little newspaper and so I stopped in at his office after my crosswalk duty.  (Yeah, I managed to do all five days of crosswalk duty!  It was touch and go for awhile there...)  I took advantage of my visit to snap a couple of pictures of the front entrance to the school.

This is the ikebana flower arrangement this week at the entrance.  One of my neighbors, who is an ikebana teacher, takes it upon herself to donate her time and flowers to decorate the small table near the front door each and every week.  She has done this for years and early every Monday morning she brings a bundle of flowers and spends a few minutes arranging them for the children, teachers, and any visitors to the school to enjoy.  

I'm actually not sure what thses are supposed to be...  cellophane ribbons on coat hangers?  Hmmm.  Probably an art project having to do with Tanabata which is a star festival the happens during the summer...  The ribbon streamers are the same though usually they'd be hung on bamboo fronds...  So maybe I'm wrong.  It makes a nice dash of color though.  The little boy in front of the classroom is a first grader.  I can tell because his regulation backpack has the flourescent yellow cover to make him more visible to traffic.  He is also wearing the regulation yellow hat for the same reason.  And his slip on shoes are called indoor shoes to wear inside the building...  The children leave their regular sneakers and shoes in a cubby at the school entrance.

And this is the school entrance where the children leave their outdoor shoes and change into the indoor slip-ons.  Everyone seems to have been trained to keep things neat!

Above the cubby is this beautiful origami poster that I would think the teachers or maybe school volunteers has made.  It looks too complex for children to make but maybe not...  Isn't it a lovely burst of color?!  And it says "We are happy when we greet each other with a smile."  

This has been an ongoing project of the teachers to get the children to say hello to people or "good morning", to smile and look a person in the eye when talking.  For some reason, children (and adults!) rarely just smile and talk with strangers or even acknowlege someone they don't know...  I even get ignored by some of them when I greet them in the mornings and they KNOW me!  I don't think Japanese children aren't specifically taught social skills at home and unlike many American children who jump into a conversation or are curious about someone new, there are not many boisterous, talkative students EXCEPT WHEN THE CHILDREN ARE TOGETHER and playing with each other.  They are as boisterous and loud and as happy as any other children then... but not very good at MAKING friends or even seeming friendly...   Thus the emphasis recently to get the children to return a greeting to someone or, gosh, make the first move and greet the other person first!

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Luka update!

Leiya found a nice nature park to take Luka for some outdoor playtime.

Doesn't that look like a fun place to explore?

I'D love to play with all the wood and be in the forest like that too!

Luka doesn't look like a baby anymore!  We're glad we got to see his baby stage when we were in the States just 5 months ago.  These kids grow up so quickly!!!