Noah's observation day and also emergency drill...

Last Thursday was Noah's observation day. This was for the entire school. Also, same day was our once a year big emergency drill at the elementary school too. In case of...a huge earthquake or whatnot. Our school practices with the students and with the parents. Because when it happens... we will know where to go and what to do. Hopefully none of us... ever have to actually encounter a disaster such as this so close to home...but just in case, we have practiced. So anyways back to the observation day part first. Us parents could go any time of the day, except for lunch. And watch any class. I enjoy that they have class as usual... and don't make it a "special" class just because us parents are there watching. I enjoy seeing what they *really* do. We went to the school around 9:55am. We stayed until 12 noon lunch time. And then we went back around 1:25pm. Because the practice disaster drill would be starting at 2pm.

We also watched Noah during an entire gym class too. So, we stayed honestly for the majority of the day. And Noah was really happy... that as always... both mom and dad are always there for him. Yes we are...always-always! : ) We love you *so* much Noah! : )

And now it was time for the emergency drill to start. We sat near the gymnasium for the longest time. Until they said over the loud speaker to go and stand near the basketball area or near the gymnasium. Since we were already sitting near the gymnasium, Noboru suggested us to go to the basketball area, as it was closer to the "kid pick up point" and I agreed. So, we stood here for a good 5 minutes and then they sounded the sirens...gee whiz they were **so** loud. Like peel the paint right off your house type loud. But of course to be fair... they need to be..in time of real emergency... we all need to hear. The kids came out of the school, single file. 

These are the flags that show a giant 1 for first grade 3 for the 3rd grade, 6 for the 6th grade, ykwim. 

So the sirens are going....and yes like I already said, they're... mind numbingly loud at this point. The kids are coming out of the school like I said single file. I see parents way in the background. 

Go kids go! You are all doing a fantastic job!

All in the rows and grades they belong to. And now the next step...the voice on the loud speaker says in Japanese...slowly walk to your child's teacher and tell them who your child is and they will call the child and then ask the child if you are indeed their parent. Since we were standing close, I got there first. And although the teacher knows me, since we have had him... as Noah's sensei for 3 years. However I still said in Japanese, because you are supposed to...this is practice...so I said... "Hi, I'm Noah's mom, Mrs. X" And he smiled and said "okay Noah you're first!" And when Noah came the teacher asked Noah. "Is this your mom?" Hmm western lady (that the sensei has seen for 3 years straight, he transferred here 3 years ago) plus *extremely* western looking hafu child...I mean duh!!!...but again... it's not personal... it's just practice. So... Noah smiled and replied, "yes!" And then the sensei smiled and said in Japanese, "okay bye you guys!" And we said good bye too. And by now Noboru is walking towards us too. And we left the school. By now parents, grandparents whoever could show for your child was now walking towards the teachers too. We waved and greeted our friends as we passed them and they passed us... on the walk out of school and down the hill. All in all... it was a pretty nice observation day and emergency drill. : )

Emergency disaster drill at our local elementary school for Noah. And 2 fun days out with my good friends (2 lunches, 1 trip to Starbucks and 1 movie, we’ve been hanging out a lot lately)

Once a year our local elementary school has an "emergency disaster drill" for all grades 1st-6th. And each child is supposed to be picked up by a parent or grandparent. And every child is supposed to know how to walk home from the school. Japan as you know has lots earthquakes and they want the kids prepared. Basically if disaster should strike while the kids are at school. They are taught and have practiced to all file down out of the school ASAP and go and stand in rows, a row for 1st grade, 2nd grade and so on. Stand someplace not near any building or structures. Which is quite easy for our town kids... considering we live in rural Japan, lol. And given since our school is built in a spot where no other buildings are near. So the spot is easy. Anyways...that day May 19th was the set "practice drill" and all the kids would be getting out at 2pm because the sirens and alarms would start at our school at 2pm. Us parents were already standing outside in the field waiting for the sirens to start. I snapped this pic around 1:40pm-ish. The kids at our elementary school have a whole bunch of nice raised garden beds and the kids at our school tend to the veggie patch inside those raised garden beds. Noah along with about 6 other classmates tend the veggie patch on Wednesdays. This pic was taken on a Thursday so this was a different bunch of kids tending the garden that day (a different bunch tends the garden on different days of the week). They pull weeds surrounding the veggies, water the veggies. Pick them when they're ready. Our school also has a huge amount of rice fields too. Noah and his grade/class and a couple other grades planted the rice a few weeks back too. I love that our school teaches the kids about the importance of growing your own vegetables and rice. 

The note says every year. Parents stand in the basketball court and wait for the sirens. Which I did. I then watched each grade file out quickly... with their randoseru  (backpack) and belongings to take home for that day. 

Hey! I recognize that Mr. Mustacho shirt! It's you! Hi Noah! And hi fellow 5th graders.

Good kids good kids, seems these kids have got this emergency drill stuff...down to a science! 

You can see long rectangular flags in the distance and all grades in their rows separated by grade. The flags just have numbers on them. Like the #5 for the 5th grade obviously. : ) And 2 for the 2nd grade. You know what I mean. That way god forbid...another huge earthquake rocks around here. The kids will know the drill. Know the routine and know how to quickly file out of the school. Stand in a safe spot... not near any buildings or structures with again...living in rural Japan that's super easy. And just kids wait for your parents to come. Meanwhile... back to the drill. The person on the loud speaker said, "all parents go stand next to your child, but stand on the right side of your child" And if you should have more than 1 child at this school stand with your youngest child and then go and collect your other children" Okay heard that message. No I do not have any other children attending elementary school. I used to... but now only 1 attends elementary school. But okay heard the message loud and clear. So, I went and stood next to Noah on the right side of Noah. : ) Meanwhile the teacher starts from the head of the line. It's all alphabetical order. Noah is 10th in line. And the line moved quickly. The teacher walked to each parent and child duo to make sure we were actually their parent. The teacher just visually checks, the school is small so every teacher knows all us parents anyways... and he also verbally just says/asks... "you are his mom right?" and you just say...yes I am. It's just the rule they have to ask everybody... even though they already know. And yes... It is pretty obvious...that I am his mom. Everyone else at the school is 100% Japanese except 2 kids are half Japanese and half Filipino but they look totally 100% Japanese/Asian and that's not a bad thing, that's okay. Nothing wrong with looking Asian or Japanese, I married a Japanese man, I find some Japanese men, super hot. : ) Meanwhile there is only 1 western mom/American mom there and that's me...and given... there is only one extremely looking western/white hafu child (Noah) at our school. It's pretty much a no brainer...who is his mom and who is my kid, lol.  So clearly we are together. They know that and by our faces it's clear we're together. Plus everyone knows us. So it's pretty quick. And soon enough we were on our way home. Emergency disaster drill done for another year. Yay! : )  

I have recently met up with my 2 really good friends lately. I met them at yochien years ago. Our first get together was just 1 day after the emergency drill at the elementary school. We met Friday May 20th. We met at our fave Indian restaurant. 2 of us had pumpkin curry and 1 of us had the butter chicken. We each had a combo/set. Our curry came with salad and drinks and a huge naan. We sat for at least an hour and a half at the restaurant enjoying the excellent food. And after that we 3 went to Starbucks. Clearly this all happened in the small city nearest my town. Because my town doesn't have stuff like that hahaha. : ) We 3 sat at Starbucks for ages. We talked and talked and talked. We laughed. I had the best time. We actually stayed until 3pm. I live farthest away. They live in that small city. But I live way over in my town and it is a bit of a drive and given Noah gets out at 3:45pm most days now. I had to leave Starbucks at 3pm to make the drive back to my town. This was the day we had pizza for dinner. I am pretty smart with time management and stuff like that. And I know I'd be out of my home all day long. And knew I'd be home around 4pm and frankly that is a pretty late time... to start and begin supper. So...I made the pizza dough that Friday morning. We weren't meeting up for lunch until 11am. So, after dropping off Noah at school that Friday morning, at 7:15am. I went home, jumped in the shower, washed my hair and face and body. Blow dried my hair put my makeup on in 10 minutes or less. By 8:45am I was totally dressed hair done makeup on. And so, that's when I made my pizza dough. After I had it resting. I quickly vacuumed the downstairs swooshed the downstairs toilet. And by 9:30am. I had done tons already. had dinner basically in the bag. Was dressed. And I basically chilled at home until I left at 10:30am.  Oh while at Starbucks, we had made another meet up and we decided to go to the movies the following week. This picture was snapped the 2nd time I met up with my friends when we 3 were at the movies in Narita at the Humax movie theater. We stopped to look at the display for the upcoming movie and as we were looking and talking about it, I snapped a pic of it real quick of it.

May 25th, I think it was a Wednesday. We had a plan to go and see a movie that would only be showing for 2 weeks at the movies in Narita. Not even our local closest movie theater wasn't showing it. We went and saw a movie called "Spotlight" We 3 went to the morning showing of that. How was the movie? It was a good movie. It won 2 Oscars. It's a serious movie. Serious topic. It's basically about sexual abuse by Catholic priests. A huge cover up that happened in Boston. I'm glad I saw the movie. Would I buy the DVD? No. Would I watch it again if say...I were on a 14 hour long haul flight? No. It's a..."I'm glad I saw it. But wouldn't watch it again though." After the movie we walked across the street to the Narita mall. We went to Capricciosa for lunch if you show your movie ticket stub you get a 10 or 15% discount on lunch and given they have lunch specials for 1000 yen so... our lunches were like 850yen or something like that. We each had a lunch combo/set. Sorry in America we say combo for combination and in Japan we say "set" so...I always just use both. We each had our own salad and pasta. We each had a drink and a dessert. I had the garden salad, the tomato and garlic pasta oh that is SO good. a peach tea and tiramisu for dessert. After that we left and went home. Lucky for me, Noboru was off work that day, so he was able to swing and get Noah. We knew I wouldn't be able to make it in time. I got home about 5 minutes after they got home. So, I didn't do too bad of timing, but I did okay. : ) What did we have for dinner that night? Again...I plan ahead... because I don't think it's fair that we miss dinner just because I go out with my friends. So, I always plan ahead and make sure dinner will never be a problem. Basically...I make sure we won't starve just because I go out. And that's fair. : ) So, what I did was....I made Japanese style curry with chicken and veggies the day before, I doubled the amount and made 2 boxes worth. And I did that so we would be having curry pasta the day I would go to the movies. So when I got home. I warmed up the cold curry...pulled it out of the fridge. Meanwhile, I boiled some water for some pasta. And plated up some salad. We actually had a pretty decent supper the night...and considering I was gone all day. We had curry spaghetti, this is so good and a perfect way to use leftover curry. We had salad and a buttered and sliced fresh bakery baguette... loaf of crusty bread. Noboru was kind enough to pick it up for me on his way home from fishing. Yep he spent his free day fishing. : ) 

Bits and pieces...

This picture should have gone on here, probably 3 posts ago, hahaha. Noboru LINE messaged me this picture the day it happened and instead of putting this picture on my computer, I forgot about this picture until last night. The day after Branden's over night trip with his fellow 8th graders. The 8th graders had the day off of school, on the day after...which was a Tuesday. Since Branden was home and Noboru would be home they made a father & son fishing date. So that's exactly what they did, after Noah had went to school, the 2 of them ate a quick breakfast here and they headed out to spend the morning and early afternoon together fishing. Branden caught this fish, and then released it right back into the canal. They both came back around lunch time. Both looked like they had a blast spending time together. : ) 

Saturdays comfort food night. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli. We also had gravy.

It was nice that the 4 of us, just sat and enjoyed our dinner. All 4 of us pitched in afterwards to get the kitchen back to normal after cooking. Noah packed away the leftovers. Branden wiped the stove down. Noboru loaded the dishwasher. And since I cooked, I helped here and there, but they did the brunt of the clean up on Saturday. Which was nice.  : ) 

Chicken teriyaki night. Some black pepper and garlic salt, on 1 side only. Noboru had a thigh. 

This was so good. Chicken teriyaki, rice, mushrooms, 3 fries and some broccoli. Family dinners with lots of talk, chatter and stories from the kids and hubby. : )

Obento for Branden and Noah, on Monday. From quite a while back, I started packing them lunch daily. I know what you're thinking...holy crap...say whatttt? @_@ Hahaha. Believe me, in America you can bring a lunch or eat school lunch, you can have lunch anyway you want, however in Japan. At least as far as our school went all these 8 years. It was lunch from school only. It is now no longer like that. Are you shocked? Yes so was I.  Which now...it probably makes sense all the lunch meat buying and whatnot. I don't know where this officially started, but I can only tell you what I know. A boy named D, in Branden's class has had pretty serious allergies with food. Poor D. Since the first grade, D has brought obento about twice a week. Because in Japan you get a monthly lunch menu and so...whenever D's family or mom sees the bad thing, he's allergic to, she'll pack him a lunch, which is very smart. Then when Bran was in the 4th grade or was it the 3rd grade, a boy switched to our school, but in Bran's grade. He's also suffering allergies. And kids in other grades too, not by the hundreds just about 8 kids in the whole school type a number,  so not like a school wide epidemic, I assure you. : ) Hahaha. Noah has 1 kiddo (a girl) in his class, with food allergies as well. And when Bran entered JHS, there was 1 kid from the other school too (a kid we call the professor because he's so super smart, all the kids also call him the professor : ). Isn't this just wild? I don't think any kid, when I was growing up...ever had any food allergies.. At least I don't remember *ever* hearing anything like this before ever. Then there's 2 kids in Noah's class who just plain don't eat the lunch at all. Remember how I mentioned months ago, how many times lunch was being canceled (pack your own lunch day). Well, they finally came up with...you can decide if you'd like to eat the school lunch or bring a packed lunch. However you have to decide by the semester. You can't switch it daily or weekly or monthly. That would drive the lunch ladies crazy. Our town is really super small population wise. And our school population is small too. So what the school board decided was...you will fill out a form every semester, "yes my kid will have school lunch" or "no he or she will bring a packed lunch." Why did I decide to go for the packed lunch? Well, when Branden was in his last year in yochien we asked some friends of ours, Noboru's coworker who lives in our same housing community has 2 older kids. we asked them about the school lunches. Granted they're both from bigger cities originally, the parents. But they both laughed and said...for even them these parents...they'd personally dislike the lunches for our town. Because they are foods (her exact words, she was an exchange student in Florida the mom, so she speaks English) " the lunches are what, most old people would like and love, but not younger kids." Lots of natto. Lots of fish, and I do mean lots of fish. Oden in winter. It's very Japanese taste. And unfortunately, my kids have very western tastebuds. As do I. However I wish they had more flexible taste buds. But for whatever reason they have been ganbatte-ing and trying their best with the school lunch. Many times they will only drink the milk or just eat the white rice. So, I have to make sure I make a huge breakfast for them Mon-Fri. Undokai season worries me most...because they are outside in the hot sun for hours marching and when you have not eaten since breakfast and your stomach's all rumbly, yeah...I worried my kids would faint or something especially skinny Noah. However...I would never mention it to the school. I often picked the boys up...with after school snack in the car. And they'd devour it. : ) So...with the allergy thing happening. And the 2 kids in Noah's class refusing to eat their lunch at all, Noah was not refusing but trying to eat...pick some things but really trying. Like for 3-4 years straight. Poor kids. From what I hear from my friends in Japan living in bigger cities... their school lunches are fantastic and the kids love them. Here it's pickled root vegetables...fish, fish and more fish. How can two 100% Japanese kids (meaning Noah's 2 classmates) hate fish? I have zero idea, different strokes for different folks I suppose. It just goes to show/prove, not all Japanese folks like fish and that's okay. I'm sure not all Americans like cheeseburgers either hahaha. : )  But...maybe because our particular school makes such old fashioned Japanese food, versus what you'd find in a more modern city in Japan....or perhaps kids taste buds are changing or? I really can't explain. However....apparently it was all school wide...not just for my 2 boys classes. This was causing a problem in all grades and all classes. Kids not eating. And on top of that... the kids with allergies bringing lunches (which they had a real medical reason for needing a lunch, I fully agree and think so). Which then snowballed and caused the kids who can't eat/having difficulties eating...their parents then wanted to bring them a lunch too? And apparently this thing snowballed. To an even bigger snowball. @_@ I could hear some buzz, but as I wasn't involved. All we know...is... we all got the note. And I thought about. This is Bran and Noah's chance as well, I guess. Nobody at our school knew...that our kids were also struggling with the lunch. Is it going to be more work for me in the morning? Ummm yeah. But...no worries, though I am tough. I handled making Branden's lunch at yochien for 3 and a half years straight and same for Noah 3 and a half years straight too. And yochien was an option too...we could have had school lunch, if we chose. How did this thing come to be? Apparently because so many kiddos had allergies. The kids who had no allergies had a full reason... but then the kids who were hungry because they didn't eat lunch.... their angry parents then questioned the powers that be...why can't they too bring their kid a lunch? The school officials checked the official rules and what they found was...there was *no* written rule anywhere, that said you must eat the school lunch. It only said...every one has a *right* to lunch. So basically everyone has a right to eat. But since many were not eating (by their own choosing yes, not talking about the allergy kiddos) but...since they did have that right to eat...and since they were not eating the school lunch, that yes you could bring your lunch. But they don't want to be wishy washy.. to the lunch ladies either. Do they make enough school lunch for 100 kids or 200 kids, ykwim. So they came up with...you decide by the semester. My thoughts on this? In America this would be normal...pack a lunch or buy a lunch, your choice, nobody cares, lol. But here...I am really glad our school has come up with the rule of...they just want you to eat. So we signed the forms as did the rest of the 3 schools in our town. And now Bran and Noah bring a lunch from home daily. They say they look forward to lunch time now. They don't have any trouble concentrating in class. They get full tummy's and can concentrate better. And so...good thing for all the kids in our town. Noah says the 2 boys who didn't eat lunch the last 4 years are now eating their mom's packed lunch happily daily. Also, because this is sorta private the kid in question will be nameless...but a bigger plus sized boy, sweetheart of a kid, in Noah's class, his mom was worried the school lunch wasn't enough (quantity wise) for her child, this I heard from the actual mom herself, while at the pick up at the plaza a month or two back, a couple of us mom's were chatting and shooting the breeze, while waiting for our kids and the subject of the lunch issues, was brought up and when she mentioned her worries, I could feel her sense of worry, she's a mother and loves her son, just like we all love our kids. She was the one who introduced herself at the meeting years back to everyone "I am the mother whose kid eats the school lunch, the fastest" Aww, and she's a wonderful lady by the way, really nice : ) Hey, at least she has a sense of humor. And so now... she can pack him a nice bigger lunch, for him and so they're both really happy too, he now bring a home packed lunch to school daily. Who knew...so many folks had their own personal reasons for wanting to pack their own lunch, right. @_@ Hahaha.  Weirdest school ever in Japan? Yes, could be! Hahaha. But also...most open minded school in Japan too. But...interesting and the kids...the kids all get to eat...what they want (sandwich, a handful of their mom's onigiri, salad) and how much they want. Bran says over half of his grade now brings a packed lunch. And Noah says the same, about half his class now bring a lunch from home too. Basically, if your kid has no allergies, and loves the school lunch fantastic. But, if your kid has allergies or just plain dislikes the schools lunch, or if the amount isn't enough...or for whatever reason...fine too. Anyone is more than welcome to bring their own lunch too. Sometimes, I pack up something we had the night before. Sometimes it's sandwich and some fruit on the side. I don't make fabulous glorious lunches, but I pack lunches I know my boys will eat. I no longer have to make a big huge breakfast Mon-Fri...just a light breakfast is fine because I know they'll eat a nice filling lunch from home too. So no more worries. : )

Any other bits to add? Today is Noah's observation day and also... the emergency drill starting at 2:30-3:30pm wow that's going to be a long drill. Hahaha. I will go to his school around 1pm-ish. To observe Noah's class.

Tomorrow, all 8th graders and their parents must be at the school at 1:30pm and do yard cleanup at the local JHS. Noboru's off work tomorrow, and I have a house to clean... so he will go and cut the grass. I don't have to do that tomorrow, since Noboru's going. Phew, plus I can tackle the house while he takes his weed whacker to the school.  Meanwhile Thursday is my hair cut and color day at the hair salon.

I placed an Amazon US order a few days ago. I picked up quite a few DVD's. Mostly older DVD's from the 80's. But movies that I really love and would like to own. The only new one, I picked up was Fifty Shades of Grey. Hubba hubba, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. What else, I picked up, Blood Vows, the Story of a Mafia Wife, this was a made for TV movie with Joe Penny and Melissa Gilbert. And I remember really liking this movie and it was never for sale. Meaning they didn't make it on DVD. Now they do, so I ordered that. I also ordered, Corrina Corrina with Whoopi Goldberg. Mr. Baseball, Gung Ho (these 2, I owned on VHS and not only do we not have a VHS anymore, lol... I love these 2 movies but I fear someday they will stop making the DVD for these, so I am glad I had the chance to get Mr. Baseball and Gung Ho on DVD.) We own the Giving Tree. And if you've read it...don't you feel sorry for that poor tree. That boy is just awful to the tree! Rotten kid in the Giving Tree book, hahaha. So, I ordered the Taking Tree. I can't wait for it to get here...I hope the tree does better in this version. : ) Hahaha.

It's 75 degrees F outside right now. Branden rode his bike today. For dinner tonight, we're having that chicken broccoli fettuccine meal with some bread and butter on the side. : )  Alrighty, I better motor. I have to start getting myself ready for Noah's observation day today. : )  Have a great day you guys. : ) 

Noah’s class observation day and the yearly emergency drill at the local elementary school

Last Thursday, May 29th was Noah's observation day at the local elementary school. This was a, "you can go any time of day type of observation day!" Also at the end of the day, everyone (including parents) were to be outside on the school grounds at 2:20pm for a "practice emergency drill" I went to Noah's last class, also, I came early and the kids just finished their lunch and were brushing their teeth! Look at that little boy in the background smiling at me. His mom and I are friends. And there's Lily-chan there in the stripes in front of Noah, she is so cute! And the little girl nearest my camera gave me a big wave, after I clicked this pic. 

About to enter the class. Noah meanwhile brushing his teeth. The sensei plays a CD and the song is about brushing your teeth! Hahaha and they brush for the duration of the song, however long the song plays is how long they brush for. I entered the class. A couple kids told me, hi and waved and I said hi back...and  I also gave brushing motions with my hand..."brush your teeth...brush your teeth" (In Japanese of course) I said while smiling. The sensei nodded at me and smiled and said "yep, Noah's mama is right!" : )

Noah's shuji/calligraphy hanging on the wall outside his class. Says the 3rd grade and says Noah. : ) 

Noah's artwork inside his class! : )

Then the kids had a 10 minute recess and I went outside to enjoy watching Noah play! Here's Noah in the orange shirt playing with his group of friends! They were about to play dodge ball! 

Run kids run! Try not to get hit with the ball...if so, you're out! Hahaha. 

School grounds and school in the background! : )

The gym!

Jungle gym in the way way background and not sure if you can see the bunch of tires in the ground to the left. Noboru and the rest of the Father's Club guys, put the tires in the ground and painted them all the colors of the rainbow for all the kids to enjoy, they did that years ago.  : ) This is a very good environment for the kids to go to school in. Very country, very rural and peaceful. Now that it's almost summer Noah's class goes on nature walks with the class around the school grounds or walks about the town with the teacher, gee they do that about once a week, sometimes twice a week and they don't go too far. : ) 

Okay so this was only a practice/mock drill. Not a real one, but the school made an emergency announcement and all grades filed out of the school with their teacher, not running but they all walked quickly out.

Hi sweet pea! : )

I am always a bit freakishly early, I always have been. Started at 2:20pm and I was standing outside at 2:05pm. Okay maybe 2:07pm. Here come the parents and many grandparents. To be fair, lots of parents now days work.So just as long as someone shows up for you. The note said, to wait in the basketball court! The note says that every year! Which I did. : )

See, I did! Hahaha. Some parents did not though and the head teacher got on the loud speaker and said..."parents get in the basketball area...get in the basketball area!!!"

Is your child a 1st grader? 3rd grader? 6th grader? The flag will show you which grade. 1,2,3,4,5,you know what I mean, I hope. : ) Then the head teacher said...after a bit of waiting, now go and stand next to your child! This year I only have 1 child at the school, so I didn't have to run from flag/class to class. Hahaha. I stood right next to Noah. And then as protocol says the teacher MUST confirm you are the child's parent or grandparent. She went down the row, Noah is student #10. They do that alphabetically by your last name. Branden is student #3, however Noah's class has tons of kids in it, so he's student #10. So she went to 9 other kiddos first. I heard her, she asked each child is this your mother/father/grandparent? The child stood and said yes. And then she asked the parent...who are you? I am his mom or whoever, the person would say. When it was finally our turn, she asked..."Noah is this your mom?" "Yes", he said. She laughs doing us, not like a  mean laugh... just more of a... this is so obvious but I have to ask you anyway kinda laugh" and I know it's because I clearly look foreign/I clearly stick out : ( (hahaha) and Noah clearly looks like me, no other kid could possibly be mine in that crowd of kids and clearly we are related. But we still went according to protocol and that's totally fine, I heard 9 others go before us, I knew what to expect, it was fine. So, like I said, Noah said, "yes that is my mom." And then she asked me, "who are you?" I said, "I am Noah's mom." which is..."Noah no haha desu!" And she said alrighty and crossed us off the list, waved us good bye and we went home and that was that, over and done for another year. : ) Anyway, the practice emergency drill is complete for 2014 at least! : ) And it was a lovely observation day. : )