A week ago we attended the annual “Happyoukai” or presentation at the daycare. This is an annual event attended by all classes (but beginning this year, the 0-year-old and 1-year-old classes have been exempted). The very first happyoukai Aya attended was when she was in the 0-year-old class (three years ago), and since the kids in that class were still practically infants and in fact still wearing their diapers at that time, what kind of presentation can one really expect them to do? Most of them were just drooling and crawling across the floor while their frantic teachers were singing and doing most of the “action.” I kind of felt sorry for the teachers, actually. Anyway, since the kids have grown a little we expected a little more participation from the kids this time around.

The kids were singing, “Gattang, gottong, gattang, gottong…gara-garadon!”

We were amused to find out that the kids were able to prepare something substantial this time, and somehow their practices indeed paid off. Aya was one of the “ooki yagi” = big goats in their play. I could barely understand what the play was all about, but it was something about small goats, medium goats, and big goats passing through a troll mountain and being eaten by the troll who guards it. But unfortunately, for the latter half of their presentation, Aya drifted from the group and played on the floor along with some kids. Oh well. Kids will be kids, you know.

I guess they really wanted us to bond with our kids by having to eat lunch with them…:P

We had only wanted to stay for Aya’s presentation and make a quick exit afterwards, but unfortunately, it seemed as if the teachers anticipated that parents were apt to make a quick getaway if they could. So what they did was they whisked off the kids to the classroom and asked the parents to pick them up there, and accompany them back to the presentation hall to watch the rest of the older kids’ presentations. And that was not the end of it. That day was also “Obento no hi” or lunchpack day, and after the presentations we were asked to come back to the room with our kids and have lunch with them there. Have lunch – for those who actually brought their share of lunch (some parents actually did). Since we didn’t bring our own lunch, we ended up feeding Aya and watching the rest of them gobble their food. Shikata nai ne. Hay, the things they make us do. Isn’t it enough that we had to pay? 😀 At any rate, it was touching to see both parents attending activities like these. I mean, contrary to the notion that Japanese dads are seldom there for their kids – there were actually quite a number of dads there. I guess they took time off from work like we did just so we can attend the activity.

Enough complaining for now. ‘La namang magagawa eh. Wait till she gets to elementary! I heard that the PTA activities here demand a lot of the parents’ time and participation. Argh…

Yes, it’s another birthday, and this time it’s Baggy’s turn! Happy birthday Baggy dudes!

I’m sure masaya yan dahil meron siyang bagong new toy. 🙂 It’s a Sony. Sony what? Secret!

Happy birthday, Dad.

—
Future, The
by Matthew Arnold

A wanderer is man from his birth.
He was born in a ship
On the breast of the river of Time;
Brimming with wonder and joy
He spreads out his arms to the light,
Rivets his gaze on the banks of the stream.

As what he sees is, so have his thoughts been.
Whether he wakes,
Where the snowy mountainous pass,
Echoing the screams of the eagles,
Hems in its gorges the bed
Of the new-born clear-flowing stream;
Whether he first sees light
Where the river in gleaming rings
Sluggishly winds through the plain;
Whether in sound of the swallowing sea–
As is the world on the banks,
So is the mind of the man.

Vainly does each, as he glides,
Fable and dream
Of the lands which the river of Time
Had left ere he woke on its breast,
Or shall reach when his eyes have been closed.
Only the tract where he sails
He wots of; only the thoughts,
Raised by the objects he passes, are his.

Who can see the green earth any more
As she was by the sources of Time?
Who imagines her fields as they lay
In the sunshine, unworn by the plough?
Who thinks as they thought,
The tribes who then roam’d on her breast,
Her vigorous, primitive sons?

What girl
Now reads in her bosom as clear
As Rebekah read, when she sate
At eve by the palm-shaded well?
Who guards in her breast
As deep, as pellucid a spring
Of feeling, as tranquil, as sure?

What bard,
At the height of his vision, can deem
Of God, of the world, of the soul,
With a plainness as near,
As flashing as Moses felt
When he lay in the night by his flock
On the starlit Arabian waste?
Can rise and obey
The beck of the Spirit like him?

This tract which the river of Time
Now flows through with us, is the plain.
Gone is the calm of its earlier shore.
Border’d by cities and hoarse
With a thousand cries is its stream.
And we on its breast, our minds
Are confused as the cries which we hear,
Changing and shot as the sights which we see.

And we say that repose has fled
For ever the course of the river of Time.
That cities will crowd to its edge
In a blacker, incessanter line;
That the din will be more on its banks,
Denser the trade on its stream,
Flatter the plain where it flows,
Fiercer the sun overhead.
That never will those on its breast
See an ennobling sight,
Drink of the feeling of quiet again.

But what was before us we know not,
And we know not what shall succeed.

Haply, the river of Time–
As it grows, as the towns on its marge
Fling their wavering lights
On a wider, statelier stream–
May acquire, if not the calm
Of its early mountainous shore,
Yet a solemn peace of its own.

And the width of the waters, the hush
Of the grey expanse where he floats,
Freshening its current and spotted with foam
As it draws to the Ocean, may strike
Peace to the soul of the man on its breast–
As the pale waste widens around him,
As the banks fade dimmer away,
As the stars come out, and the night-wind
Brings up the stream
Murmurs and scents of the infinite sea.

In Japan, it is customary for the women to give chocolates to men on Valentine’s Day. Yes, women. March 14, on the other hand, is designated as White Day, and this time it would be the men’s turn to give gifts to women. In the Philippines, on this day I could imagine flower vendors selling flowers like hot cakes to love-struck guys and gals. As for myself, I would prefer to be at the receiving end, like the old-fashioned Pinoys back home.

But hey, it would please me nonetheless to receive red roses any time of the year, occasion or no. 🙂

30 long-stemmed red roses delivered today! Maraming salamat Baggy!!!

Happy talaga sa Valentine’s! Ang sweet naman, hehehe. 🙂

Children are like clay that can be molded in their early years by their parents. For instance, since my dad was a painter, all three of us girls learned how to draw and sketch from him. We all learned to appreciate art from an early age. Teach them the basics, and they will remember these for as long as they live. It’s this very malleability that makes it so exciting to interact with a child. Of course, when Aya throws up tantrums quite similar to what I do in those unguarded moments, I realize all too well that every bad and good thing she sees me do will also be copied and imitated in the same way.

When we were in the Philippines, I managed to find a science book of simple experiments that can be performed at home. Aside from the very easy methods explained in simple terms in the book, there are also colorful pictures and illustrations which accompany each experiment. So far we have performed three experiments, but it was only until the third experiment that I realized how fun it would be to document each one and post them in our blogsite. The first experiment was one involving the mixing of two imiscible liquids, water and oil. Add salt, then watch how the weight of the salt initially brings down the oil, then how it produces a bubbling effect as it goes back to the surface. I made Aya stir the mixture, then to her surprise, she found out that the salt disappeared but the oil didn’t. The second experiment was done with Baggy, this time using a balloon tied to a straw, through which a string was inserted and its one end is tied to a chair. Release the balloon, and whoosh! A rocket balloon. Aya found that experiment very exciting and they did it over and over again, much to her delight.

The third experiment was about convection: hot liquids go up, cold liquids go down. We let Aya do as much as her little fingers could, although most of the time we end up doing mostly everything. But the amazing thing is this – we still share the enthusiasm and the appreciation for the simple concepts in science. I always feel that warm rush of delight whenever I try to explain to her the “whys” of things. In my opinion, it’s never too early to expose one’s child to science. Other parents would expose their children to music, arts, or sports. Well, we want to expose her to something that we are passionate about. So there you go.

Who knows, maybe in the future I can even bring her to the lab and show her how to operate the laser, hahah. 🙂 My mini lab assistant.

First, Aya fills up the PET bottle with hot water from the faucet.

Aya adds food coloring to the water so we can differentiate the cold water from the hot water.

Aya holds the bottom bottle while I hold the other bottle containing cold water over it.

The red-colored hot water goes up and mixes with the cold water (of course the cold water goes down, but you can only see it up close). Triumphant Aya poses for the camera. Hoy Aya, tumingin ka rito!

Father and daughter do the experiment one more time, this time with more emphatic explanations from Dr. Baggy. 🙂

I remember my late Auntie Betty, who used to scoff at other people who refer to this year and that year as the year of the cat, dog, rooster, whatever. What rubbish, she said, because every year is God’s year. Shame on those who call it otherwise, she would add. I was too young to understand then what she was fussing about. Well, I guess we all have the right to call any year whatever we want. But for myself, I would prefer to call this year as “Our Year.”

We have so many projects, so many travels and plans in store for this year. During our family gathering on New Year’s eve, we prayed together for all our plans this year. As they say, we’ll do our best, let God take care of the rest. 🙂

Ang sarap ng feeling ng kasama ang mga mahal sa buhay. Talagang sulit ang uwing Pilipinas. Tumaba kaming lahat sa kakakain.

So here’s a toast to the year ahead – to life, success, wealth, health, and more blessings.

Aya has learned to draw, and almost everyday when we pick her up at the daycare, she would hand us some drawings she did while waiting. Here is a drawing of our family. From the left: Aya, Tatay, and the one with the pig-nose is supposedly me, Nanay (sigh).

She has also learned to write her name! A-Y-A spells Aya! 🙂