Train training...

I think... if you live in big city bright lights type Japan, your train "know how" is superly high. You're probably a pro taking the train by the first grade. However, for rural Japan peeps like us, you need a car to get anywhere. We live in a *real* rural town of 5,000 people. And our town does not have a public bus like you imagine folks in big cities. Big city folks have for example a bus #28 and a bus #32 because well... they're big city folks with populations that need that many buses. But for us in this tiny town of 5000 people. Our town has 1 bus. But it's honestly, a minivan! I am kidding you not. It's a flat out minivan and probably seats 8 at most. So when folks mention that they took the #20 bus to get somewhere, I know for a fact they live in a big population place. Because folks who live in true rural towns of like legit 5000 people... we have a minivan as our town bus! LOL! So having said all that. My kids... I think have ridden the train once in their lives. So...considering Bran will now be taking the train to and from school 5 days a week. We knew that a practice run would be in order... for our country kid! So, on Sunday April 9th. Noboru and Branden caught the train to B's new school. Sunday was supposed to be a gray rainy day and as you can tell by this pic, it sure was. Noah and I dropped them off at the train station. And they went from rice fields and rural Japan views, to a big bustling city view! Noboru said...he taught Bran how to use his new Suica card/train pass and also how to get there. Bran only has to take 1 train, no transfers at all... so he's lucky! Noboru later told me...Branden was so surprised to see all the things that the big city has to offer. He saw all the food stalls at the bottom of department stores. He saw so many things that Noboru laughed and said..."it's like Branden is an Amish person going to the big city for the first time in his life!" Hearing that cracked me up! 

His school is a short walk from the train station... they reached the school and then turned right back around. They had lunch before catching the train back to our rural town. I'm glad Noboru taught Bran how to take the train to and from. And he also showed him around. And we could have got Bran just a plain train pass. But we decided to get him the Suica card so he can use it at convenience stores to make a purchase. Some vending machines take Suica cards too. McD's also takes them too. Lots of places let's you just pay via your Suica card now days. And that is a relief because if Bran needs anything or gets thirsty... he can just get it that way. And we also give him cash too, in case. Anyways, so Noboru and Bran went for lunch at an udon shop in the big city. They both said they really enjoyed their lunch, then they took the train home, where Noah and I went and picked them up at the train station.

Monday April 10th. Was Branden's first day of high school. And first time riding the train alone. He did it! His dad also had him bookmark on his cellphone... the train website to see the time table of the train in case he gets out late or gets out early. He had absolutely no problems taking the train to and from. He said when he got out of the train at the station near the school. He started seeing lots of his high school uniforms. Mostly girls. But he saw his new classmate S (he's a boy too) and they both waved and said...lets' walk to school together!!! So they both did! Today is Wednesday here and Bran has been taking the train for a few days. And so far so good.

How does Branden like his new school? Honestly you guys he *loves* it!!! I will give you a few short stories. But remember these are stories from a 15 year old's perspective!!!

He said..."mom high school is way better than JHS! It's so fun! They have vending machines at school. You can drink a lemon tea or a soda or a Calpis!!!" : ) And he also said.."you can also suck on candy too mom, in class!!!" This just made me smile hearing this! He was so excited about this, you guys! : )

And yesterday he came home with another little nugget... that just made me smile again!!! "He said..."mom, did you know my school has a small store?!!!" He was too excited you guys! I said...REALLY? He said..."yeah it's like a mini version of a Mini Stop." His exact words! I said really, what do they sell? He said, "Yakisoba. Cup Noodles. Bentos. Sweet breads. Pencils mom...they sell pencils *and* erasers!!!" And..."and they sell Calligraphy paper AND ink!!!" Oh heavens...I said. What a cool store. He told me..."it REALY is mom!!!" Oh honey...I believe you. Next time I go visit your school... please show me this wonderful store! Last fun Bran fact about the store...."oh and many kids buy the sweet breads and J bought a Snickers bar!!!" I said... J has good taste, I like Snickers too! "Yeah me too...I didn't buy one though." I told Bran...you should buy one sometime. He said. "OKAY!" Goodness. Bran's school has a store. Much like I am sure most high schools in Japan have stores. In fact my high school in America, also had a school store. But it just made me smile. How happy he was about it. : ) Kids...including teens do have such innocence still. They're so for real. And show excitement in such a pure way. I hope he never loses that!

Monday, the English kids ate in their English class and had lunch there. But yesterday. The principal had invited *all* boys in the school to have lunch in his office. Oh and...sorry I did get the correct number of boys total for the school right this time. 14 boys all grades. So...all 14 boys went inside. And the principal told all 14. "There are so few of you, you better all be super close" Because there's just not that many of you. Remember boys are not allowed in the regular courses. So these are just English (speaking) boys and Genius (course) kids. So they're all good kids. And they all get along. He had the 4 new boys introduce themselves to the older boys first. The principal said just say your name, which JHS you came from and your interests/hobby's. Bran said, his name, the JHS he came from and he said, he loves swimming and has been swimming since age 4. The principal chimed in apparently and said...I love swimming too and I also swam competitively in my elementary school days too. So they talked about swimming for a minute or two. Oh and J is a returnee you guys, which is super exciting and great. He lived in Thailand for 13 years of his life. 10th graders are 15 in April. He moved to Japan only 2 years ago. So he went to a Japanese JHS for only 2 years. So that too is exciting and a fun fact. The older boys also introduced themselves. Branden said. There is 1 boy in the English course who is 100% Filipino and he says "mom he is so funny and nice." He told Bran... if you need any help at school or need to know where something is...please do not hesitate. We will all help you. Again...they are all LINE friends. Bran said there is a 100% Korean boy who moved to Japan from Korea a few years ago and he fluently speaks English and Korean and Japanese. He said...mom the boys are so nice here. So welcoming. And he said mom so many foreigners go here. Branden is just having the best time.

There is also 1 half African American and Japanese girl. And she's a new friend for Bran too already. Just so many hafus. So many 100% foreigners. And the 100% Japanese kids who picked this school are really special and open minded. And...he just loves this school, you guys. He keeps mentioning....high school is so much better than JHS.

Also the clubs at high school. Are not mandatory. You chose if you want to join or not. And they're not 365 days a year like at JHS either. One club is twice a week. English club is only once a week. So...their clubs here at this high school are light and no huge pressure like how JHS was. Branden is still deciding if he wants to join or not. We didn't let Bran join a club at JHS because his dad doesn't agree with the system of how JHS clubs run. But it's a totally different thing at high school...or at least at the high school Branden is going to. 

Saying good bye to our playground and where it’s living now...

Friday, the week I had 2 observation days. When was that? You know... the Friday that I found out Prince had died. That day. What was the date? Hold on let me go and check. April 22nd, 2016, was the date. Anyway that was the date set to dismantle our great big American jungle gym/playground and give it to a new family. Noboru's coworker (who is the same age as Noboru but with just new kids, seems there are many people having babies in their 40's now days? no judgment it's just to give you a visual and to let ya know... the guy and his family aren't like 29, let's put it that way) Anyways back to the story, our kids went to school. Bran and Noah did go outside and take a look and last pictures of their playground before they went to school that morning. It was gray and cloudy that day. No rain just cloudy. 

The extra/spare swing, never used. The instructions and touch up paint.

Premium playground. It is. And says right here for ages, 3-11. Branden is 14, will be 15 at the end of October this year. And Noah will be 11 this July. So yes, sad but most definitely an age appropriate time to let it go. 

Noboru quickly took apart a piece of our fence because he said he didn't want to carry the jungle gym near the side of our house and hit our house on accident. So this was safer. 

His coworker came. And I went outside and greeted him and then I came back inside. They very quickly started taking it apart. Like 2 fast moving ants taking it apart. 

He had rented a truck for 12 hours to carry the playground back to his home.

I meanwhile cleaned the kitchen like crazy. I think it was just nerves. The finality of the jungle gym going away. So, some people stress eat, that's not me. I however stress clean. Hahaha. So clean I did. I started going after the windowsils in the kitchen. Yes I know, this is stove/kitchen cleaner. But, I have a huge amount of this and refill it into this spray bottle and so, I used this that day for the kitchen windowsils. I wiped and wiped.  

Aha, you see tiles here, so you know this is a different windowsil. I went after every windowsil in my kitchen that morning. 

It was this windowsil. I bleached the green counters because I love the smell of bleach plus it disinfects. It just smells so clean to me. 

I cleaned, I scrubbed, I wiped, I bleached. I mopped the kitchen floors. I wiped down the kitchen table. Noburu's coworker even mentioned loudly, "your wife could possibly be busier inside, than we are outside" Hahaha. That was true. We all laughed. Again...it was just my nerves. and knowing I would be saying good-bye to our jungle gym Yes, it was the right thing to do. But still, sort of sad you know. The end of an era.

And then it was just 1 piece left standing and then no pieces standing. While the floors quickly dried with all the windows and patio sliding window open, I turned on the oven and took out the homemade peanut butter cookie dough out of the fridge and finished up the cookie baking. I wanted Noah to take a fresh cookie for his observation day, the following day. I also wanted to bring out a fresh batch of homemade from scratch cookies and some iced tea for Noboru and his coworker. 

I brought them out 2 freshly baked still warm cookies each. They really appreciated it. And it made me feel nice, to be able to do that. 

And now it was completely dismantled and just laying in the backyard. And I started to have like this "slideshow of memory's" fill my mind. Looking back. Remembering. Remembering all the joy this playground had given to my 2 sons and our family throughout the years and now it would be... no more. So yeah, I was flash backing... to all the smiles my boys had on the playground. All the good times.

Noah sliding down the slide.

The most kindest... sweetest... happy smile.

Oh how they'd wake up on weekends and get dressed and spend the entire day outside on our playground. Hi Noah!

Noah going head first. Be careful, I'd say...

Noah went down head first...but super slowly and he had a nice soft landing. 

Two brothers in their backyard just having fun. Water filled in the rice fields down below. And it was just... peace of mind knowing I could see my boys outside in the backyard while I was cooking dinner or setting the table for a BBQ. It was again just peace of mind... knowing they were within eye sight and in our enclosed locked fenced in backyard. 

There goes Bran headfirst on the slide. He started this whole head first trend at our house. 

12 o' clock, noon lunch time but the boys asked to eat their lunch on their beloved jungle gym. There they were...just eating their grilled cheese sandwich. And just shooting the breeze... chit chatting with each other. All the fun times, they had on this! : )

All the happy squeals and giggles. All the laughter.

And yes, even all the cheesy poses! But bottom line...just little kids... being little innocent kids!

Everyone in our housing community called our house..." our last name koen" Basically in English it's like saying..."Berkley park" Or Anderson park. Everyone started calling it that. My kids friends. We never called it that ourselves. But everyone would joke and say..."oh so and so lives near "Our Last Name Park"...And yes, you have to have a pretty big yard to house something this big... because if you know.. how actually big this is...you'll know the space you need for this. This was not some puny teeny tiny little playground, this was a big one. : ) 

I remember this one...the boys would roll their soccer balls down the slide. This was their game they invented. They would do this often when they were that age. : ) 

If you are an "old school" reader of my blog, you'll remember this one. Branden was at school. Noah was outside playing but he got lonely. Keep in mind at this age...I had...but he hadn't yet seen Castaway with Tom Hanks. So this was his own original idea, he came up with, all by himself. Noah put the basketball in the baby swing. To be his "friend" while Branden was at school. I had the screen door open on the patio and I could hear the conversation from the kitchen because our street is so quiet. I was quietly cracking up inside the house hearing what Noah was talking about. 

Noah said sweetly, "would you like me to push you?" He asked..."yes?" Okay. 

"Here you go", Noah said. I'm in the house thinking...gosh what a sweetheart! Who clearly misses his brother! So much so..."he's made himself a basketball friend!" Hahaha. : ) 

Yay, another day and they could play together. 

Hi BrannyMcB.

Hi Noah with one gardening glove on one hand, hahaha!

Monkey bar fun! The other side had a rock climbing wall too.

And a wickedly cool tire swing.

When you're a little boy, it's almost required to do cheesy comic book super hero... type poses as you slide down! "Up up and away" Bran used to say. Because in his young innocent mind, he was FLYING. Aww. : ) 

Sliding down together. Oh the smiles, these 2 brothers had!

Love you guys! And thank you... jungle gym/playground for being with our family for all these years. The joy you have given to our family. You'll never know. How much we appreciated having you! : )

So yeah... like a slide show of memories filled my mind. And they meanwhile loaded it up and locked and tied everything down with that bright orange rope. I went outside and told them "goodbye." And said in Japanese "I hope it won't be too much trouble putting it back together again" Yes, I have been in Japan long enough to know... that's a good manner thing to say. And he said reassuring me.. "no it shouldn't be any trouble at all" and said "thank you for passing it on" his 2 sons are so eager to be getting this today and they can't wait. Oh good good, I said. : ) I then quickly ran upstairs to take a few pics. 

And then it was going going gone. And don't laugh but...with tear filled eyes, I snapped this picture and said..."thank you for being with my boys when they were little and thank for being with us all these years and I *hope* that new family appreciates you and loves you, the way we did, good bye" 

I took one more picture... this one. And I said..."this is the last time you'll ever be on our street again." "Good bye....thank you!" I could barely see now... with all the tears in my eyes. : ( Yes I am a dork. I know that. I wiped my eyes. And I went downstairs and had a coffee and called it a day cleaning wise. I took an hour break and then I started in on some dinner prep before the boys got off school. When the boys got home... they both just stood in the backyard and stared at the empty space... where their jungle gym used to stand. And I tried to give them the reassuring pep talk and said..."now the jungle gym has new kids to love it and play with it." I had asked Noboru one thing. To take a picture of it... when it gets set up in it's new home. That way I'd have a visual in my head for memory. 

He sent me this when they were mid way building it. Their yard is much smaller than ours, which is totally fine, no worries as long as it fits. And I see the smaller slide is now on their concrete patio on the left hand side of this picture. I did try to crop them out, as best I could. That is the mom's arm and her 2-3 year old son near that stump of a tree farthest right of this pic, their faces aren't shown but you see some limbs. The jungle gym now has 2 new little boys... age 2-3 and age 6 months. So 2 boys. He said the older boy (age 2 or 3) was so excited. Kept asking, when he could play on it. So, I know in my heart and in my mind... this was 100% the right thing to do. Our playground gets a new family and 2 new young kids to love it and play on it... all over again. It's better to get a 2nd home and be loved and played with every day, then to sit here in our backyard being ignored now that our 2 boys are too big for it now. Yes it is bittersweet... but again...it was the right thing to do. And it was time. I'm sharing this picture with you today, because so many of you have been sharing my family's and my life, cheering us on and reading and watching my kids grow up... via this blog and now you can have a visual too...of where our playground ended up. A new loving family has it now. : )

Anything new to add? It's Golden Week for us in Japan, right now. My kids have school today/Monday and then don't go back to school until this Friday. So they're off Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, this week.  Anything else? The 4 of us are going bowling this evening. Noah gets out today at 1pm and Bran gets out today at 1:30pm. So, I'd say... by 2:30pm-3pm we will already be at the bowling alley today. Anything else? We have been doing so much yard work in the backyard. All this past weekend. Any last minute info to add? I have an appointment for a hair color this Friday at my hair salon. At 2pm. Noboru will be home at 2:30pm so he'll be able to pick up the kids from school, while I am finishing up at the salon or on my way home. It's just a hair color. So it shouldn't take too long, in fact, I may even make it home before Noboru and the kids do (Noah gets off this Friday at 3:45pm and Bran 4pm, so I may just be home, before they get home this Friday). : )