I am sitting in the waiting room of Makena’s Mandarin for Munchkins class and listening to the kids’ cute Chinese songs. I can see her yellow bow bop up and down in time to the music! We love their I-Playgroup class, which is their first independent class for small kids, and wish that we could come more than once a week! Once Makena starts to repeat the things that her teacher says then we’ll put her in twice a week. It’s like a Chinese-only party with kids from all nationalities and some old Chinese toys...and an amazingly enthusiastic teacher! Makena LOVES it and has since her first day.
The other thing that Makena loves is her ballet class. Ballet is very serious here - uniforms are required even for the young set! Pink short-sleeved leotard, pink polka-dot tutu, white tights, and ballet slippers. When the girls turn 3.5 they have to wear their hair a certain way too! If only she would let me take her photo! Her teacher is Miss Twinkle (that is her English name) and Makena loves to sit right next to her during the sitting parts of class.
Her school has a little chef cooking club that starts in a few weeks. Since Makena wants to be an “astronaut chef mommy”, we think this will be perfect for her! She simply cannot wait until "chef school" starts. It's 1.5 hours and she will get to wear a special chef hat and chop, peel, slice, dice, stir, etc.
They are also opening a new soccer program just down the street from her preschool - she starts in May! Yay for soccer!
I spent a few days cooped up in our flat with a sick little girl last week. I even got to experience the hospital with her that Sunday (she will be fine), but I realized just how small our apartment is. There is no escape at all! I had to implement the only one toy out at a time rule because it was just getting ridiculous! That rule translates in two-year-old language to as long as you can still see the floor. It was so nice to have her fever break yesterday in time for her to attend classes today. If we were still in the US I know that she would not have nearly the activities that she has here. It’s a blessing and a curse. She adores her activities but always makes sure that she still *gets* to go to Montessori school every day. She was beside herself when I didn’t let her to go school or ballet yesterday because she was sick. “See, mama? I’m better! Are you not feeling so well? Let’s go Montessori School! Maybe see Miss Twinkle? Ballet? Peez?” It makes me feel better knowing how much she likes the activities that we’ve chosen for her.
Our only connection to the outside world is our Internet connection. During the initial days of the Japan tragedies we lost our connection; it is only recently fully back. I realized how much I rely on that connection! We were glued to our phones to find out what was going on and praying for those affected. Charlie has colleagues who are living as expats in Tokyo and they were affected also; the world is so small. It is so small that it is scary sometimes! Japan is so close to us, yet so far away during this tragedy.
