Aya has been bitten by the Pokemon bug. She plays it on her DS every chance she gets. Well of course I let her play from time to time, kids will be kids! 😉
She is quite taken with it, that she began sketching and drawing the characters as well. Surprisingly, it turns out that she has an uncanny ability to draw even the most complicated ones. A budding artist in the making? See and judge for yourself:
Finally, a chance to perform on stage! Actually, Aya started taking piano lessons (in a group) as early as four years old; unfortunately, when we went to the UK, there had been no opportunity to continue her lessons (it was ‘life interrupted,’ for ALL of us). So that was about a year of hiatus. After coming back to Japan, it still took several months before I finally decided that it was time for her to start honing those skills again. Precious time wasted, perhaps. But I’m happy to say that Aya’s skills have improved considerably since then. 
For a first-timer at a piano recital, Aya played beautifully, and not even a trace of nervousness! (In contrast to her mom, who was visibly fidgeting all the way until her number was called.) Needless to say, I’m a very proud parent!
Without further ado, here’s the video clip of her performance:
I was cooking dinner one evening, and my sweet daughter Aya was helping me in the kitchen. Out of the blue, she asked me, "Nanay, what does bitch mean?"
I was taken aback, and immediately I worried about where exactly she had heard that word. Did she hear one of her classmates or friends say it (bad, baaadd children!)? Did she hear it on TV? The Internet? Or worse, did she ever hear me say it out loud? Well, at least my conscience is clear that I have never said that word in front of her. If you’re a responsible adult, it’s only natural and expected that you filter the vocabulary you use in front of children, particularly your own. Still, despite our best efforts, it is next to impossible to shield our children from the so-called evils of the real world. It’s all part of growing up in an imperfect society. Sooner or later children will find out that both nice and nasty things are out there in various proportions.
Anyway, in between chopping vegetables and putting meat to sizzle on the wok, I tried to explain to her the meaning of the b word. I said, "Well, it has two meanings. The first one is that it refers to a female dog. The other is a nasty one, and that’s what some people call nasty people who are mean and not nice. You shouldn’t use that word because it’s a bad word."
Aya looked thoughtful, the way she always did whenever I explain a word or idea to her. Then as if she suddenly remembered something, she immediately left the kitchen.
When she came back, she showed me the Illustrated Classics for Girls book I recently bought for her, the one she has been reading by herself recently. Gingerly, she opened a page and pointed at a passage on Chapter 3 of The Wizard of Oz:
But the scarecrow had an idea. "If the tinman chops down this tree, we could use it to cross the ditch."
Oh…my…gosh! It was ditch, not bitch, you hopeless schmuck. Trying to hide my embarrassment, I quickly explained to her the meaning of the word ditch.
Lessons learned:
1. Children ask simple questions, but adults make a big deal out of them.
2. Adults just need to listen carefully to what children say (if only to avoid blunders like this one).
🙂
"Why did the banana go to the doctor?" my six-year-old daughter asked me one day. Startled, I replied, "Well, why don’t you tell me?"
Grinning from ear to ear, she excitedly said, "Because he was not peeling well!" This was followed by loud girly giggles. Wow, I thought to myself. Did she just tell me a joke in English? I mean, she actually understood what the joke was all about: a word play on "peeling" and "feeling." I was so amazed. Just months ago I couldn’t imagine her telling me a joke like that.
She had another joke for me: "Why is 6 afraid of 7?" The answer is: "Because 789." A word play on homonyms!
And here’s another: "Why is Cinderella so bad at football?" "Because her coach was a pumpkin!" Oh, I see! I thought it had something to do with the dainty glass slippers not being suitable for football, bwahahaha.
She picks these things up from school, friends, TV, and the internet. As any normal child at her age would, I guess. But I could also observe that she really likes English as a language – in fact, nowadays she never talks to me in Tagalog or Japanese anymore. Even when I speak to her in Tagalog, she responds in English. And she loves to use "big" words in her sentences, too. Words like "wonderful," "recognize," and "realize," among many more. Maybe it’s no big deal for children whose native tongue is English. But considering the fact that we never really used English at home prior to coming here, and that she practically grew up in a Japanese environment, her astounding progress in English is a real delight to me as a parent.
Her reading skill is also growing in leaps and bounds. I encourage her to read me stories every night. It’s a great way to learn new words and increase one’s vocabulary. I remember that as a child I didn’t just read books, I devoured them. I’m happy to see that my daughter is also developing this affection for books. One of her most favorite hangouts in Cambridge is Borders, believe it or not. 😉
There was also a time when she recited out to me:
I hear and I forget,
I see and I remember,
I do and I understand.
I did a double take and blurted, "What did you say?!!" Where did that come from? Well, I’m sure she learned it in school, but dear me, it sounded so profound, so Confucius-like. It reminded me of the times when I learned how to operate a machine for the first time. Understanding only comes when you do it yourself. 🙂
Same way with language, I suppose. Use it to learn it. Guess I’ll have to be put up with Ms. Ingglisera’s* jokey jokes for a while. 😛
*Ingglisera = refers to a person (female; Ingglisero is male) who likes to speak in English even if it’s not one’s own native language. Sometimes used in a derogatory manner (but I’m not really sure why!).
Last month, the thing we had dreaded the most finally happened: Aya had started teething again. She was right on schedule, because children start losing their teeth around the age of six. Problem is, the milk tooth where the permanent tooth was supposed to move into was a stubborn one. It wobbled a bit, but it didn’t seem ready to give up its place yet.
I didn’t know what to do, honestly. I have very vivid memories of my Daddy wrapping a thread around my tooth and pulling it with all his might. I wailed with all my might in return – although it didn’t hurt that much, the thought of having my tooth pulled in brute force surely wasn’t a happy one.
I consulted Baggy. He only had one advice: go see a dentist.
I wasn’t so sure I needed a dentist to do the job. After all, as far as I remember, none of us kids (in my family) went to a dentist just to have our milk teeth pulled out. And actually, neither did Baggy. Still, he insisted that it was the right thing to do.
Anyway, I consulted my cousin, who is a medical doctor. Her advice was the same: go see a dentist.
A few months ago, Baggy and I were faced with a dilemma. We had to make a decision on where Aya will go for her schooling. We had to decide fast, because if Aya were to go to an international school, she will have to enroll in September. But if not, then she goes to public school in April next year.
As you could probably tell, we were fortunately saved from having to make this decision by leaving Japan and going to the UK. Just in the nick of time! No Japanese public school or international school for Aya, she’s going to a primary school in England! Yipee! How cool is that? 🙂 Or as the locals say here, it’s brilliant!
But now, having recently received the official notice for school admission (see image on the left) from the city government (schools are assigned based on residence), we are back to facing the same dilemma. Akala niyo nakaligtas na kayo! After all, we won’t be staying in Cambridge forever, and surely by next year we will be back in Japan. Of course, we are not forced to put our child in the assigned school, but if we do give our consent, all we have to do is return back the card with our details and personal stamp (hanko). If not, then we’ll have to tick one of the boxes at the bottom to explain our reasons/circumstances why we refuse to do so.
Personally, I am not convinced that attending a public school in Japan would be the best thing for our daughter. Why? Primarily because of the following reasons:
The title above not only refers to the difference in convention of spelling adopted in British English as opposed to that adopted in American English.
I’ve just recently found out that here in the UK, not only are the recommended immunization schedules different from those in Japan, but there are also required vaccinations for diseases which are not required in Japan. I expected that there would some differences, of course, as conventions vary from country to country. It also depends largely on how old your child is.
However, I was surprised to know that in the UK immunization scheme, Aya is overdue for not just one, but several types of routine childhood vaccines necessary for living in the UK.
It has been a while since I last posted a video of Aya playing the piano. She is now in Primary 4, thankfully. Just six more months to go before she moves on to the Junior course. She has improved a lot since last year. She still enjoys playing and learning how to play the piano. What is more important for me at this stage is that she is having fun while learning, and appreciating music at such a young age. Well, I guess in a way I’m learning, too, because there is no one else in the house who can supervise her. But the truth is that it’s not easy for me, because I don’t really play the piano (just trying hard!). In a way I’m being forced to learn with her. Yan kasi. 🙂
Anyway, I’ve uploaded a couple of videos to YouTube. The first video is where she played “Kawaii Hanataba.” (Go figure what it means in Japanese…kawaii is cute, and hanataba means…uh, I dunno.) The second video is where she played three short songs which she learned in Primary 3: Aoi tori, Ohayou, Koguma no Ma-chi, and Rondon Bashi (London Bridge).
Do forgive the mistakes. After all, perfection is not achieved overnight. 🙂
I’ve just received a copy of the city-issued newsletter, Tsukuba no Ko (Issue 61, 2008 03 18). This issue is interesting for me because it reports on the results of a survey conducted last year among parents who use the public daycare system in Tsukuba. I participated in that survey, if only to contribute positively, in my own little way, to the improvement of this very important system. Why? If you were to ask me if there was one single thing that has allowed me to work all these years, it would be the hoikusho, or daycare. Aya has been enrolled in the daycare since zero-sai, or "zero" years old (a convenient way of referring to children’s age below 1 year old). I love the daycare because it is well-structured, organized, and dependable. It has allowed me to work without worrying about my daughter. Aya loves the daycare too, for it is where she enjoys playing and gets taken care of for the most part of the day, and she has developed really nice relationships with the kids in her class.
I’ve heard of the moves to privatize the daycare system across Japan, but I couldn’t really say that I understood well the reasons for it. Why? Because despite the fact that there are a number of foreigners like us who use the daycare system, there has been virtually no effort to communicate to us these things in a language that we understand. Personally, I would very much like to know the issues related to this very important aspect of our life here, because it affects us directly. But how? It is already complicated as it is. I think I’ve gotten some handouts at one time or the other about the privatization move, but I have a feeling that it is just stashed away somewhere in my growing pile of papers. Gomen ne, zenzen wakarimasen.
I just want to share video clips of Aya playing the piano while practicing for her performance in their class concert. It’s still a good two weeks away, but she has already memorized the notes by heart. I took her video so we can watch it together and see her mistakes. It’s also a pretty good way to evaluate her performance so we can correct errors and see how else we can improve it. Well, I’m not a piano expert, so I just try to give suggestions based on what they learned in class so far. Maybe the piano experts among you could give suggestions and comments? 😉
Without further ado, here are the videos I’ve uploaded to YouTube: