On Thursday the 26th we all worked very hard getting ready for a dinner party. B had discovered that the only time to have the six Japanese fellows he had been working with for the last year over for supper would be that night. I tidied the yard, and Misses A and M did a great job on the patio. Miss R entertained our Japanese girl. She goes to three different schools normally, and has her mom all to herself in the rare times she isn't in school. So I don't think she knows how to entertain herself very well...
B grilled Cartagena beef kabobs, and we had elote corn casserole, salad, taco chicken, and Mexican beans made in the instant pot. It was tasty! The six fellows were tons of fun. They played soccer with the girls in the back yard while B was grilling. The visiting girl and her mom also stayed for supper, so we had quite a house full.
We had a very fun dinner, finding out about the doctors, their families, and their hopes for the future. They almost all want to go study more in the US. This girl had this shirt, which I found very amusing. She had never read it before. We taught them all about rodeos, rodeo clowns, and rodeo crowns. We asked them about their favorite places to visit in Japan.
The fellows sent lots of pictures that they took of the evening.
Late that night, the Stomach Bug struck. Miss M was first, and she had it bad... A solid 24 hours of straight vomiting, misery, and sleeping.
Miss R was next, on Saturday. She didn't seem to have it quite as bad. Less vomiting, slightly shorter duration. Miss A had her turn on Sunday, and then B and I both got it on Monday. It was horrible! I had a good long non puking streak, all gone.
But man did it feel wonderful to feel better after it was over. I had extra strong sympathy for all the poor people sick with illnesses and viruses. I feel so blessed that I am rarely sick!
We started home school, for the two that weren't already home schooled, on Monday, the 23rd. Miss A had to design her child by flipping a coin for a science assignment, which is above. We have had, so far, a half week and a full week of virtual school. We have had two opposite experiences. Miss R's class seems to be going great. Her teacher does daily meetings on google classrooms. The kids get on 15 minutes before her, so they all talk and mess around together. I feel like this has been so helpful! R gets to see and hear her school friends, and it seems so normal the way they interact together. I think any vestige of normalcy we can cling to is super helpful for these kids. Anyway, the teacher goes over the assignments that are given that day. The assignments are all fairly clearly labeled on the google classroom page. R clicks on them, and does them. Some are some pretty dumb slide show things that are probably put out by the school for the whole third grade to do. Others are games from abcya, math man, spelling city, and the like. Miss R has fun doing them, and her teacher is available for video chat for a couple hours, so she usually has a question of some sort, probably just an excuse to get to talk to Miss Lewis. So for R, virtual school has been fun and something she can do pretty much on her own. I make her do science and history with Miss M, and sometimes language arts and beast academy for math. I (kind of) make her keep a reading log, and we have lots of other chores and tasks on the charts where I keep track of their days.
For Miss A, virtual school has been frustrating and stressful. Her seventh grade team is based on schoology, instead of google classrooms. I don't know if that's the problem or what. But I haven't noticed any video teaching going on. She just had assignments with due dates. The problem has been turning them in. Some teachers don't get email at home, so any assignments she emailed in got marked incomplete. For a couple days, we couldn't get our scanner to work, so we took pictures of her papers with my phone, and tried to send those in. But the teachers didn't like those. She did one set of science worksheets three times, and they still show up on her grades as incompletes. It has been a mess! So much so that we are probably going to pull her out to just home school. This week, currently, is spring break. We have been doing straight home school this week (I know it's spring break, but we're locked in our house! I figure we may as well do school...) and she seems to like it well enough. Rumor is that they are not likely to return to school this school year. So why force her to wade through all the technical difficulties?
The week of the 23rd we were babysitting an eight year old Japanese girl who's mom works with B. Again, I sent them all out to the playground as much as possible to soak in the sun and fresh air. At that point we still hadn't heard of any virus around base. I could just tell from the panicked news back in the states that we were going to tighten up restrictions here any day. On Tuesday, the 24th, B came home from work. I had made a new batch of soda bread, and I had the leftover colcannon (I made quite a vat of on Saturday, since I had free potato scrubbing...) all warmed up and ready for supper.
But B had heard that a restriction to stay on base was in the works, and if so, he wanted one last visit to Hamazushi first. I messaged his xo's wife to see if she knew anything, and she answered she didn't officially, but that her family was currently out in town eating out, if that helped. So we went out for sushi. Colcannon can wait.
As usual, A was extremely daring. Even tried cuttlefish.
R sticks with ramen. Although we ordered her some "hamburg" sushi.
M is deliberate in her sushi choices, but still daring. I stick with my favorite smoked duck with onion and mayo. Yummmm! We stopped by the fabric store as well. Interestingly enough, we stocked up on elastic! I thought we might need scrunchy making supplies. Now we are using it to sew face masks.
The next day I continued with the theme of "hurry and get anything you need off base before the word comes officially that we are trapped" and walked to Homes.
I bought a few more plants, went one last time to my beloved Daiso... Stopped at Umikaze park to look at the tulips. Goodbye Japan! I'll miss you!
It has been quite a ride! When the covid-19 virus started swirling around China, people here in Japan seemed to show mild concern. One heard the stories of the emergency stop switch being pulled on trains if someone sneezed, that sort of thing. I honestly thought they would be more freaked out by it all. They are famously hypochondriac! And the Diamond Princess was sitting just off shore here close in Yokohama, with people being fed to the virus in a classic case of epic mismanagement. But really, although Japanese schools got cancelled, no one seemed to change their behavior much. No cases were reported on base, and few seemed to be happening in the rest of Japan. I think everyone was desperate to maintain normalcy for the Olympics? It sort of seemed like no one wanted people to be tested, because no one wanted to know the results of the tests...
On base, people started to panic buy toilet paper, but nothing else seemed really to change. Our church and church activities were among the first things to close down. Kind of freaky! Then a smattering of other closures, which were honestly a bit frustrating. Because if you're not closing school, why cancel the middle school strings concert, and reading night, and other things? I was ready for school to be canceled long before they actually did it. I have a full year's worth of curriculum for all three girls, so I figured I was ready. In other ways I started getting ready. My friend Nicki mentioned a few months ago, "How is your pantry? Are you ready if this gets bad?" And I wasn't at all! So I started picking up extras, and thankfully got as prepared as you easily can in a smallish sort of house. All carried, of course, in the valiant stroller B converted into a shopping cart. We call her Sashiko, because I name everything.
The second big change for us, after church being cancelled, was the sudden end of swim team. Nicki and I took the girls for a private swim team, coached by Miss A, the day after that happened.
Here is SN and NF in front, with Miss R and AW in back.
Miss A tried to corral them all, but the little girls didn't last long before they went to swim for fun. Miss A and Miss M lasted for a pretty good workout. Although not the hour and a half three or four days a week they were getting from swim team.
This was all the week of March 16th. And that week they finally called off school. B and I took a long Friday walk way past Homes to some thrift stores I had been wanting to check out. We thought we better take advantage of only having one girl home for one last day. The thrift stores were fun. B found a nice woodworking folding bench, which I carted home on my stroller. Along with the plants and other stuff we got at Homes (which is like a Home Depot, but... louder.) We stopped at a new sushi place for lunch, Kappa Sushi, which had orders delivered by mini Shinkansens. Super cute! We also passed a beautiful jade plant in bloom. I had never seen one bloom before.
That Saturday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day. I made the girls spend the entire day out being wild at the playground, anticipating that we would, perhaps, soon not be allowed out. I cooked an Irish feast. I was surprised by the girls and their friends being desperate to scrub the colcannon potatoes. They actually lined up for the honor. I was happy to leave them to it!
Miss R and her friend LF made me a lovely arrangement of sakura blossoms tied onto a stick.
We had three adults and seven girls, and one dog, for our St. Patrick's meal of corned beef, colcannon, salad, soda bread (that disappeared very quickly), and fruit rainbows in a bowl because I was too lazy to form them into actual rainbows. The girls watched Luck of the Irish. Selma cleaned the floor. Even with all the company, B was still the only male present.
A post explaining what we have been trying to do with having church at home.
The last three months have been marked with abject panic and terror about a new disease, the Covid 19 variety of corona virus. We live in Japan, right? Where the entire nation pretty much consists of raging hypochondriacs. Corona virus has caused serious, and, admittedly, rather amusing antics here. Like the three week long toilet paper panic. And the $300 black market face masks. Oh, and don't forget, the emergency train brake being pulled for a passenger sneezing. Of course I feel very sorry and sad about the people who have the disease, and the families of those poor patients who have passed away. And I feel sad and angry for the imprisoned passengers of the cruise ship in Yokohama who were basically fed to the disease. I don't want to dismiss the real and terrible problems this disease has caused and is causing. But I have not been personally worried about my family or myself getting corona virus.
Three weeks ago, our church was shortened to a one hour Sacrament meeting. I thought this was fantastic! I volunteer as the person in charge of the little kids at our church, so this let me right off the hook. Pretty much. Then during the next week, it was announced that in our entire country all churches would close. We are all to have church at home, and luckily we have a man at home who holds the Priesthood authority to bless and pass us the Sacrament. I thought I would write about what we have been doing, since now the Church has announced that the ENTIRE church will do home church. This can seem intimidating, but the last two weeks have really been great experiences for us. The girls and I get dressed in "comfy" church clothes (still dresses or skirts, but stretchy ones we don't mind being in all day). Before we start, we put a pretty white table cloth on our cedar chest, which divides our living and dining rooms. B sets up the sacrament on that, covered with white handkerchiefs. I found a little tray at Daiso, the world's greatest dollar store, to pass the little cups of water. It's not pretty, but it works well, and holds eight of the little cups I also found at the hundred yen shops. I got five non-disposable ones, and plastic in case we have company. Sorry, the pictures were taken in a hurry to show a friend, and aren't pretty. The glass little tray that the cups are on in the photo is what we use for the bread.
We start with an opening hymn; we just sing acapella because we have our meeting in the living room, and the piano is in our school room. Then we sing a Sacrament hymn (no announcements...) and B passes us the Sacrament. He kneels behind the cedar chest to say the prayers. Then we sit still for about five minutes to think and pray. He says he did this when having church on the ship, since with only a few people, the passing of the Sacrament is so quick there isn't time for pondering. The first week we did home church was Fast Meeting, so all five of us took turns bearing our testimonies. It was amazing. Last week I asked one of the little girls who came with her mom (their dad is out to sea) to give a talk, and she told a great story from a Book of Mormon story book. Then I had asked Miss A to give a little talk, and she did about the fourth article of faith. Then we cast a conference talk up on to the tv from you tube and watched it.
After this, we went to the school room and everyone gathered around the piano. I let everyone pick their favorite Primary song, and we sang. The week before we stayed in the living room and sang along to you tube videos for the songs we are due to learn according to the primary schedule. There are tons that have the lyrics on the screen. Although most of them use the old blue cd tracks for the songs, and I strongly dislike those. Too slow, annoying, and, to quote Olaf, pretty pitchy. Not that we're the Tab Choir by any means. But anyway. After singing time, we recited the young women theme with Miss A, then I taught a lesson from the Primary Come Follow Me book. I had a coloring sheet to go along with the lesson, and that's it. Last week it all took just shy of two hours I think, but we weren't rushing. The week before we were done in an hour, and we split it up more, with free time in between stuff. Also that first week, the sister missionaries, who are confined to their apartment, taught us a lesson by Messenger. That was nice.
Other general Sunday stuff we've been doing in the afternoon that I like is building jigsaw puzzles while listening to old John Bytheway talks. The girls like that, and think he's hilarious. I like to take a Sunday stroll, but it seems the lovely Japanese spring is slow to come this year...
In short, I have enjoyed the last few weeks of church! It does freak me out that our church has done this. Is corona virus worse than I think? Is this practice for later? So, closer to the Second Coming, when things are truly horrible and it's not possible to meet in congregations, we can all be "Oh, no problem, we know how to do home church!" Is this another sheep and goat thing? Where the sheep are diligent and go to Heavenly Father's right hand, and the goats don't ever get around to it? It would be very easy to not make an effort to "do" church, when it's just on us. But I want to be a sheep! (Matthew 25, verse: 32 And before him shall be gathered allnations: and he shallseparatethem one from another, as ashepherddividethhissheepfrom the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:)
I also think it's very interesting that we, as a church, have been getting ready for this. I read this on a facebook home school group:
Nov. 28, 2018: President Nelson - "There's much more to come... Wait until next year, and then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest."
Dec. 31, 2019: China reports an outbreak of pneumonia... aka Coronovirus... and the magnitude of this outbreak has yet to be determined.
Coincidence? "There are no coincidences." - President Thomas S. Monson ____________________________
October 6, 2019: President Nelson - "General conference next April will be different from any previous conference. In the next six months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference that will commemorate the very foundations of the restored gospel."
March 11, 2020: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announces that the public will not gather for our semi-annual general conference in April due to the risks of the COVID-19. It will be broadcast via technology only.
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April 4, 2018: President Nelson - "In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost."
October 6, 2018: The Church announces the new home-centered church-supported Come Follow Me program to be implemented beginning January 2019.
October 7, 2018: President Nelson - "The new home-centered, Church-supported integrated curriculum has the potential to unleash the power of families, as each family follows through conscientiously and carefully to transform their home into a sanctuary of faith. I promise that as you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, over time your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Your children will be excited to learn and to live the Savior’s teachings, and the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease. Changes in your family will be dramatic and sustaining."
March 12, 2020: Church Services worldwide are suspended. As members of the church, we have been training for a home-centered church worship for over a year.
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October 6, 2019: President Nelson - "Meanwhile, please be assured that revelation continues in the Church and will continue under the Lord’s direction until 'the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.'"
Amos 3:7: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the Prophets."
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We are so blessed to have the Prophet leading and guiding us in these last days. I know he is led by our loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
"And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Mark 4:9
It was such a long month! And not just because of leap day. The Tokyo area may have had it's warmest winter on record, but that's not what I felt. Last year it seems like spring came much earlier. This year the flowers are slowly coming out, but the air around them doesn't match! Either that or I'm getting soft in my old age. In any case, I'm ready for some real spring. No more cold wet rainy wind.
Here are February's Fast Day Photos:
We took them after church in the park kitty corner from the church. It's a lovely plaza park with really nice fountains, and the beds are always nicely planted. A is wearing the dress she "helped" Grandma enlarge for her. She calls it her princess dress. R is wearing cowboy boots, because one Sunday after church, we arrived home to find our electronic key lock wasn't working. We had to wait for housing to come and replace it. During that time, the girls were playing in front of the Williams' house, and R, by dragging her toes on a plasma car, destroyed her Sunday shoes in about 15 minutes. These too small boots are her only option until she grows into the next set of shoes.
February was a month of swim meets... We had a meet at St. Mary's on the first. Luckily we got a ride with the Williams and Nortons. B was on call so couldn't come.
St. Mary's is kind of nice, in that it has a balcony surrounding the pool. It makes for easy viewing. Although it was so muggy and hot up there! Condensation kept dripping on our stuff and on us.
They played some cards, but mostly watched other people's tablets...
A, waiting to take the block.
R, waiting with Annie Williams.
Due to a very long story I don't care to remember, I had thought the swim team would be providing buses to take us to and from this meet. So I foolishly signed the girls up for events in both the morning and afternoon sessions, thinking I'd have to wait around for the bus anyway; they might as well swim. Alas, the bus didn't materialize, and we were left with a very long day...
It was fun though. The girls caught a ride home with the Williams, and I took the train.
We got our first of the early sakura.
M shares her birthday, here in Japan, with the holiday Setsubun. She was just starting another stint of home school, so we went together to the local shrine for their celebration. From Wikipedia: Setsubun (節分) is the day before the beginning of spring in Japan. Celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival (春祭, haru matsuri).In its association with the Lunar New Year, spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (豆撒き, "bean scattering").
First we had the all important Ceremonial Measuring. (She's 5' 1 3/4".)
We walked off base. She wanted a picture on a "mushroom." Mikasa Park is in the background.
The shrine was pretty empty when we arrived. There were musicians playing, and a cute little kid in a creepy mask. We walked over to look around More's City mall until two, which is when I had heard the celebration began. We found a bead store in the mall! And a new book store is under construction... Even if I can't understand the books, it makes me happy to have one close!
We went back to the shrine, and tried a sample of a mysterious white drink they were handing out. It was... white. And warm, and kind of lumpy. Not our favorite. I tried just a wee sip. M was more brave and drank about half the cup. If felt good to hold the warm cup at least.
The shrine was starting to get packed then. The musicians were still playing.
Lots of men came out with crates of little paper sacks. They all had to be introduced, so this took a long time. Then these men, as well as the ones on the stage, started throwing their packets out to the crowd. M got one, and the school group next to us gave us a couple others, since they got so many.
Inside were some soy beans, a five yen coin, and a paper with a hanko stamp on it. We went to a stand up close to the shrine and exchanged our papers for a prize. Depending on the hanko you had, you got a bag of rice crackers, cookies, or a roll of toilet paper. M got a bag of rice frito looking things, and I got a very tasty package of chocolate cookies that looked like koalas. No toilet paper. Which is fine of course, because Japanese toilet paper is pretty terrible.
I have declared this year a non-party year, but we had a special birthday dinner for M.
She wanted a lemon poppy seed cake, made from scratch. So she came up with this saying to put on it.
She said her most favorite meal was a salad bar, so that's what we did.
With home made rolls.
She got a new scooter, a stuffed elephant, and a bracelet for presants.
