I blogged all about the testing Branden had done when he was a pre-first grader. And so here are Noah's experiences. We had received a letter in the mail over a month beforehand. Noboru said, there were 2 dates. And as he rattled off the dates, I quickly jotted down the dates on whatever scratch paper I could grab for at the time, because I knew how crazy busy we all were for the month of October and I feared if I didn't jot it down, it would surely get lost in the shuffle. This was the back of a paper plate wrapper (for Branden's undokai), lol. But that is okay. Important thing is I wrote the info down at least. It says...Oct 13 & 25th Noah testing (not a perfect sentence, but just as fast as I could, jot down the important bits that I needed to remember for that day, lol). I later wrote it down properly on the real calender. So, October 13th rolls around and that's the reading, writing, understanding/comprehension, etc part of the testing for lack of better word. They basically want to know if you are on the same level as your peers basically type test. For the test on the 13th. We left the yochien early that day. We took/pulled Noah out early. Sera's mom also pulled out Sera early that day as well. So, we took Noah out on the 13th. We had lunch from a bakery and then we went to the shogakko. Other kids in different uniforms also showed. Kouiki's little brother Kaito, etc. We all sort of walked into the genkan of the elementary. For some, like Sera's mom and him, this was the first time entering that huge school. Meanwhile for others like Kouiki's mom and I, we've been down this path once before. So, when the greeter said go to the library, we took the stairs and to the library we went. Once inside....it was basically Branden's experience all over again. There were 2 very long tables. One table had all the hoikuen kids already there. No parents needed for them, their 2 sensei's came to help them...take them to the restroom etc. And the other hugely long table was left to us...mere 5 yochien kids and parents. No sensei's accompanying us. : ( 3 from the public yochien and us two... Noah and Sera from the private Catholic yochien. And wasn't there supposed to be 1 other kid from 1 more yochien? I thought there were 6 from yochien but now I only keep counting 5. Hmm. Anyway so only 5 of us from yochien. Three head teachers of sorts from the elementary came in, they read a list of all the kids names. All the boys into this line...all the girls into this line. I was very impressed about the hoikuen little boys...they all gave 5, to all the yochien boys as they ran into the line. When the guy said, last name Kaito-kun for example. All the hoikuen boys held up their hands and said, Kaito-kun...Kaito-kun. And Kaito-kun gave everyone 5! If you recall Branden's day...it was very separated, us against them type feelings : ( and the yochien kids felt awfully excluded for the first few weeks. But this time around doesn't seem the case at all. When they called Noah...they said...last name Noah-kun. And all the hoikuen boys all put their hands out and said...Noah-kun...Noah-kun!!! And Noah got all happy! : ) He high fived all the boys in his future ichinensei class! I was very impressed and very relieved, VERY sweet kids! This seems like this is going to be a very positive experience for these kids. I am so happy for Noah. These yochien kids felt so welcomed, so wanted by their future classmates. It was just a wonderful day, October 13th! Anyway now about the test. The man said, we will take the kids in groups of 5-6. Two teachers took 1 group each. They kept the kids a VERY long time. I don't recall them keeping Branden's age and classmates THIS long. Us yochien mom's kept saying wow this is a long time. Finally the first cluster of kids came back and they called the 2nd cluster. Noah went with the 2nd cluster. When he came back, we asked Noah what did they ask you? They had 4 different cards with words not with pictures. 1 said in Japanese.. car...another an airplane, and 2 others pictures They then asked Noah which one can fly? Noah said hikoki! (sp?) So he read quite a few of those card bunches and answered the questions. He also was asked to write a few things, which he did with no troubles at all according to his tester. He also read a short paragraph from a Japanese children's book. Answered their questions if they had any. Everything went swimmingly. So they brought them back. By now, Branden was done with school and met us in the library. I had seen him earlier since the library is on the same floor as his classroom. Noah's future classmates saw Branden. Branden was quietly doing his homework while waiting for Noah to be done..they all went and surrounded Branden...wow your homework looks really hard!!! @_@ LOL, those little kids. Branden just smiled. He also said, welcome to the school. They asked Noah, is that your brother. Yes it is, he said proudly. ; ) Anyway, I was glad Noah did so well on his "what do you know" part of his test. And I was glad that Noah got to see his future classmates again. Every extra opportunity for him to see them is best. In fact I'm thinking of hosting 2 get togethers for some of the future ichinensei's at my house. Just some play dates with about 4-5 kids at a time. So anyway that was the October 13th part of the testing. The next is the October 25th testing.
October 25th, the last testing for Noah. This was the health part of the testing. We picked up Noah early once again. We went home had lunch. After that we went directly to the Plaza (town plaza..community center and place to pick up yours kids from shogakko, place for ladies in our town to get our breast exams) Jack of all trades spot for our town basically. Anyway, note said, Starts at 12:45pm. We picked up Noah at 11:30pm, same time Sera's mom picked up Sera. We had lunch. Then went to the Plaza. I was expecting to be #5 or so. In Branden's day, I was #7 or so. So, I was early-ish. Not freakishly early. Considering we sat and enjoyed lunch and stuff first. I was surprised, I was #1. Wow, wasn't expecting that. Oh yeah..before I even got to the lady, she sees me and Noah walking hand and hand, I open my mouth to give our information... who we are etc. Before I even get the chance to say a single syllable, she said...last name Noah-san, okay let me check you off as here. @_@ Here's your #. You're #1. Wow...thanks, I said. So, we sat down on the tatami.Within 10 minutes that room was bursting at the seems full! Kids running all over like crazy. A few kids sitting with their parents. Kaito was like #5. Sera-kun was #27. : ( So, Noah sat there. The 3 other kids from the the other yochien all wearing the same uniforms. The rest wearing normal clothes. And then Sera-kun came in wearing exactly what Noah was...phew! Yay, we smiled!!!! They smiled too! They came right to us. To sit. Then Megumi, the lady I remembered from all that time ago came. She sat down right next to me. We exchanged info again. And she showed me her Halloween costume in her bag...a witch! She was working earlier that day, she was a witch for her English class she teaches. : )
They then said...Number 1, 2 and 3, please come in this room. Noah and I went. First they wanted to see if your eyes were aligned. @_@. This was a cattle call, go from station to next station type mass thing. Next was the dental exam. Noah opened his mouth. All is fine, the dentist proclaimed. @_@ Okay...thank you. And then we went to the next station and here a doctor, listened to Noah's heart and checked inside his ears. Everything's fine... Okay next station. @_@ Show them your proof of immunizations. Good thing Noboru told me to bring it. I opened it, she looked...okay, looks all in order she said. Okay now go back to the tatami room she told me and wait. 2 more tests left, but the hoikuen kids have already been tested on a different day so they're done now and the last 2 tests are only for you yochien people. @_@ Wow that was more then I needed to know...but okay. : ) So, back to the tatami room we went. Now the room was super silent. Finally Kaito-kun and the other 2 kids from the other yochien came. So Kaito-kun/Kouiki-kun's mom and I chatted (the other mom from that other yochien, I also chat with too, she's very friendly and she also has an older child but her older child's not in Branden's and Kouiki's class though. Where was Sera? I wondered.: ( Anyway the hoikuen kids left. And they said...yochien kids first test.
The eye exam woman said she tests 1 at a time, but said she will take two kids in the room, even though she tests one at a time. So, Kaito's mom and I went in together with Kaito-kun and Noah. At this point, we had given our number around our necks all back. However no matter....Kaito's mom said, Noah was #1 so he should go first...the other 2 mom's said, yes that is most fair. Go first Noah-kun. Aww, thanks ladies, very fair, by the way. : ) I thanked them and so Noah and Kaito went into the room. This was the eye exam. Noah passed. And we left.
Next was the hearing test. She said, when you hear a sound, no matter how faint, raise your hand. So, Noah did that test. And right before we left, she said, can you name all the things on this paper please. Like 20 objects. So, Noah rattles the items off. Words, like button, in Japanese etc. Noah knew them all of course right away...he flew right through it. She said, Noah passed. We thanked her and went back to the place where we first started.
Noah and I brought the paper to the lady at the beginning. She stamped the paper that his test was completed. So...now that's it Noah completed both tests, both days. He did really well. As we were leaving, Sera was about to start the last 2 tests, we said our good-byes and waved and that was it basically. So not so bad. : )
So much to choose from. We left the treats on the green counter and it's fun to see who will swing by for a treat after dinner is finished. I didn't realize Noboru loves the Almond Joy as much as I do. Noah loves the peanut M&M's and Branden loves 100 Grand bars. It's nice to have a good little selection. And definitely feels more like Halloween is approaching, so thanks dad.
Trick or Treat! ; )
Also Noboru being there, we were able to get a package with out having to forward a package on to me. 2 T-shirts for me. Will wear the Mickey to Disneyland when Spring or Summer comes. With a little black Summery cardi.
Noah's jacket. Size 6-7.
Very warm.
Noboru had been researching how to set up the particular slingbox we ordered. Thanks to many of the "how to's" online. Which cord goes where types of things. Noboru read so many pages online regarding the slingbox many many nights. So, the same day after Noah's undokai. Was our day. Noboru kept wondering...will I get this up and running, or will I head back to Japan and I could not get it to work (this was our biggest fear about this). He went through everything about 50 times. Phoned my dad in the evenings twice that I saw. How long is your such and such cord? : ) My dad would answer. It was honestly a joint collaboration. We had set up a sling account on their website. And so everything was done. The boys went to sleep that night, I tucked both Branden and Noah in their beds. No school for Noah that next day because he had undokai. We (Noah and I) only had to take Branden to school. And I slept light...on purpose because I had been expecting that call from Noboru. He said he would call, he already told me what I needed to do on my end. So, I slept lightly on the couch left the computer on and the volume on skype full blast. And dozed off, next thing I knew. The skype phones ringing and it's 2:36am. I rush to answer. And it's him. "It's all set up here...Gina please log onto slingbox. And tell me if you can see the TV here." So, I did. And sure enough, I could see it over the computer. Phew, huge sighs of relief from all our ends. That was the answer we all wanted to hear. They said, switch it to channel 60, and what do you see, testing the slingbox. After switching channels and yes we both saw the same show each time. We knew.... It works. Okay, so they went to bed and I tried to get myself back to sleep. It is hard for me to fall back to sleep again but I did it. The next day, Noboru got home and we now set up the Slingcatcher here at our home. And voila. It works. It's exactly the same as what they get in Guam. Absolutely identical. Noboru had been studying the step by step and when time came...it was easy. I have a remote. I do not have to log into my account on the computer daily or anything. It is coming from my computer granted but it is going to my TV. Here is the show I was watching the other day, Long Island Medium. This lady is a medium and she reads people. In this particular picture, her daughter and her went into to buy some something and the mother starts asking...who died...yada yada. It's very interesting.
My TV guide channel. This will probably freak my dad out a bit, because this is the same guide he watches to find what's on TV in Guam. And now I can see it here too. Dateline NBC was quite good that night. I've had this only 10 days or so, and so far I've been watching Dancing with the Stars. The Biggest Loser (I flip between both those shows since they come on at the same time) Mike and Molly. And the new 2 and 1/2 Men with Ashton Kutcher. They had a marathon of the Jersey Shore the one where they went to Italy, I saw every episode of that now, am caught up with that. The Duggars reality show, I have also been enjoying. Friends reruns and Seinfeld reruns are great to watch also.
Here in Japan, we used to have Nickelodeon. They took it away 2 years ago or 3. That was really a bummer they took that channel away, because my boys loved that channel. The channels for kids are...Nick, Teen Nick, Nick Jr. Nicktoons, Cartoon Network, Disney channel, Disney XD and the variety of programs, amount of shows they have are just way more then we used to have, now that we've been watching. 5 MTV channels, a few VH-1 channels. Like 3 CNN channels. A&E channel is one of my favorites. Lifetime. The BET channel has my favorite Everybody Hates Chris show. Many cooking channels, Syfy. We have about 200 channels to choose from now. All my cooking channels I used to enjoy while visiting my dad. Oxygen, The Oprah Winfrey channel. And way more. ABC, NBC, CBS, the WB. My dad keeps asking me and Noboru also keeps asking me, what's your favorite show? Honestly, my answer is...I really don't know yet. Ask me in a month, is usually my answer. : )
Dora on Nick.
Hoarders. See the little black box with 3 glowing red lights. That's the Slingcatcher, it's about the size of a Wii. It's not a huge thing. It's not a space hog at all. It's very small, unassuming, if you didn't know what it was... you might walk right passed it. But that's the thing that "catches" all the channels for me and puts them on my TV.
This says...Think your in-laws are bad? A new show premiered on Monday of this week, called Monster in-laws.
This nice grandpa. Is in all actuality a bit of a monster-in law. He tells his granddaughter...you like grandpa's cooking much better then daddy's right? @_@ Then when the husband comes home...his in-laws are in his house. he asks, how long will you be here tonight...they answer...9:30-10pm. Yep, his in laws are at his home every single night until bed time. He never has a moments peace or second without them. And the in laws undermine his authority over his own daughter and belittle him often.
Extreme Couponing....another one of my favorites so far. You know when I lived in Denver, I'd clip coupons and save a good $15 each shopping trip. Still walk out paying $100 and something. But these people on this show. They leave the store not paying a single red cent! Some even leave with cash in pocket. Many leave with $700 is merchandise/groceries. They're smart. I take my hat off to them. And wow, I'm watching and I'm impressed. Ha ha ha. Some leave with only having to pay like $20 for the meat purchased etc. Anyway, that is our experience with the Sling box and also the Sling catcher. I know we all have different experiences. And just thought you'd like to hear our family's take/experience on this. For our family, it completely and totally works. I don't feel like I'm missing out or am behind now with any of the TV from back home.
Noboru also brought me back a 1lb container of oatmeal for my Apple crisp/crumbles that I make often. Thanks Noboru for bringing me this back. : )
Go Sakura-gumi!
The first class walk out and walk around.
All in line and about to begin with a prayer.
Noah getting the kids to stretch really high! : )
Well done kiddo!
Then they did the ball toss. This is always fun to watch. They were counting each ball and finding out, which team won during this pic.
Now the oldest class would soon get started in on the kumi tate taiso.
All of the kids did so well. Between you and me, in tiny small ways that day, I felt a bit sad..."this is the last time we'll be in this gymnasium for a yochien undokai ever." And then in many many ways, I am really ready to move on. I feel it is time. Noah gained so much... learned so much from this yochien. We have met many friends. Friends we will surely keep in touch with. But...this whole driving back and forth thing from city to our town. I'm sort of sick of the commute (it's not close like down the road, it is honestly in a city, all the way from our town twice each day for three long years). And so I am ready. We all are. So, yes, small tinges of sadness on Noah's last undokai. But for the most part...definitely ready to make that next step. So we just tried to enjoy the moment for however fleeting.
Noah's very best friend H on the bottom as well but on the left.
I knew which pompom color Noah would have since I made them, ha ha ha!
Each class gave a performance and this year they did really well.
Aha, this was for the older kids (elementary kids). Mostly older siblings who used to come here. See Branden's friend, laughing with him and pointing out some other kid to Branden? Yep, former classmate. And the little girl in the yellow t-shirt in the background, she was also a classmate of Branden's and now her little sister is a classmate of Noah's. The object of this game, throw balls into the sensei's basket on her back. These kids are so big and fast though, that the poor sensei was running for her life! @_@
Charge kids! And be careful sensei!
Lunch time. Karaage, potato salad. rice balls, meatballs tamagoyaki, shumai, fresh salad and fresh grapes. These were so sweet and no seeds! In fact I've been buying these once a week ever since Noah's undokai. What you missed, was, I worked 3 races. Well technically 2, because one was I presented the new kids who will come here next year with a snack bag. But, I did work 3 events. Noah's race, he did do with 3 other students, I got absolutely no pictures from that and I'll tell you why. I was to work, the pink and red badge races. Sakura-gumi was last. Umm we did practice this at the practice the week before hand. So, I knew after the pink badge class I'd have to run and get ready to take pics of Noah (because holding my camera while doing said job would have broken the poor camera, very jiggly runny type job is why. However so I'm standing there and they called the Sakura class (Noah's class) first! @_@ Ummm. Yeah. I was hoping Noboru would have took a picture but he's only human and he took the footage on the family camcorder and not the digital camera. I wasn't too pleased that the powers that be... pulled a fast one. And I ended up with no picture for that. But you know...sometimes it just doesn't pay to get bent out of shape for stuff like that. The important thing is we all made it to the undokai. And I would get some pics at least, not that particular race granted. However the fact that this switcherooo happened now worried me greatly about the final relay. I wondered what if they switch that one too. If I would have missed that one...yeah I would have been upset. But they didn't, so never mind. : )
After lunch, all the kids traded treats. I bought Noah a huge bags of treats to trade. And boy did he trade them. He got many treats in return.
And now the father's turn. See these 2 friends/pals. This man, loves fishing. Loves it! He's a fishing and yochien friend of Noboru's. They have the same fishing spot. And they both have little boys who are last year sakura-gumi classmates. So, they always have things to chit chat about. Always.
This in where you ride on your dad's back. Piggy back style and you try and pull off the opposing teams hat. The white hats want to pull as many red hats off and vice versa. In Branden's day...nobody ever took Branden's hat and Branden ended up with many of his opposing teams hats. Poor Noah had mighty big shoes to fill. ;P Ha ha ha. Anyway, the good news is Branden still holds the family record on this event, lol... And bright side for Noah is still nobody got Noah's hat! However Noah didn't get any ones hat either though. But it was hilarious to watch.
Kids time to jump on your daddy's backs. Father's don't konk out of gas! Don't get too tired, we are all watching from the sidelines. Ha ha ha.
See Noah's smile? He was so happy doing this! He pulled no hat, but boy did he have himself a blast!
This was Noboru's...don't pull Noah's hat off pose, lol!
They wanted Noah's hat, they did not get it! And Noah wanted her hat, they couldn't get it either! A draw on this one!
And then I went and worked the red and pink badge relay. Crowds were screaming. The tension you could cut with a knife. This last final relay has always been the biggest nail biter at our school. Facts are there are 2 fastest white hats in the last/oldest class. Noah and his best friend H. Thank goodness they don't have to compete against each other! And 2 fastest red hats. We all know who each other are. These 4 have been racing against each other for years. You should see the relay Noah won last year. It was spectacular. Anyway. 2 month's ago, they started trying to decide which white hat would close the relay and which red hat would close. It was decided Noah would carry the white teams hopes of a win, on his final lap. H meanwhile would kick start it for the white team! So H started the relay for the white team and boy he is as FAST as lightning! H can run like the freakin' wind! Giving a nice advantage to the white team. Both teams pretty neck and neck. Then the Jogo-san's daughter a fellow white hat can also run like the wind, she took off like a speeding bullet! Blammo, she ran! The tension growing. You can hear people cheering. It was boiling down to 2 kids! Noah being one of them. @_@ Gah! My poor nerves, were frazzled. Who would win....both boys are just THAT fast. It was anybody's guess.
The 2nd to last people coming towards Noah in the white sash and the other boy. Do you see their faces! That boy in the red sash wanted it badly, his arm stretched out and waiting for the person to get to him, Noah wanted that win badly too though. The heart pounding was pretty extreme at this point. I figured to just take the video. Versus take a pic, so the video of the win is below. My voice is loud on the video, but that is because the microphone is right next to me on the digi cam . In reality in the big room, not so much. Yes you could hear me, but with the mic so close it's like magnified. And it wasn't the case in real life, so just saying.
Then the medal presentation at the end. The Yayoi-sensei hanging the medals out to her kids. I have all Branden's medals saved in his yochien box and I have all Noah's medals saved in his yochien box.
They then said...today you are all winners!!! That is very important for kids this age. So they all raised their hands and we all clapped and cheered and that was it. The yochien undokai's are now done. Finished finito, the end. I was busy helping out for the 3 jobs I had to do, but I was glad I helped. And I was proud Noboru also helped and did patrols. Which that is what his arm band was, he was wearing in that pic where he was chatting with his fishing buddy. We both helped every year Branden went here. We helped every year Noah went here. I also did the PTA at Branden's shogakko for his ichinensei year. So, I am present. I may not be perfect, and boy do I know I'm not, lol.... but I do try my best.
Final/good bye prayer before the undokai ended for the year of 2011.
This poster was made by Noah's class, the oldest class. This was very popular, many parents were taking pictures of this. Each kid made their hands around it and each child wrote 1 character/piece of the message.
Noah wrote this partiular one. I'll show what he exactly wrote....
Right here. : )
Noah and the lovely Yayoi-sensei! We sure do think the world of you Yayoi-sensei. And we will miss you next year. Hope Noah's sensei next year is as great and as wonderful as you were!
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