Anything to entertain the kids
Jeff was out of town this week, so it was up to me to keep the kids from killing each other and me from killing them. In true Jeff form, he left me with suggestions. We had to leave the house, obviously, and I didn't know what else to do, so I followed them.
Saturday was Sports Day at the local elementary school. Jeff had done this with the kids last year, but he had a neighbor to take him under his wing and tell him what to do. I had Kumi, a nine year old girl, who had never been to this thing before (honestly, if she hadn't expressed interest in going, I would've blown it off completely). We walked over to the school, a little late, and were confronted by that corporate Japan cliche: synchronized calisthenics. Kumi sneered that it was for obasans (middle-aged women).
I was totally confused by what we were supposed to do, as we saw people lining up for a race, so I sent Kumi to get the lowdown. We got schedules I couldn't read and was informed that you had to rush and get limited tickets for each event, some of which were for kids, some for adults. Jeff, I found out, had all his tickets handed to him by the neighbor last year, so he had no worries about this. Kumi did manage to get us tickets for a couple events, like the Bread Race and the Beanbag Toss.
My team won the Beanbag thing, and I was rewarded with a box of clingwrap (which has joined the clingwrap Jeff won last year). The kids' team did not win, but they got prizes anyway: instant ramen. D was unthrilled by this.
I can't decide if I like the fact that everyone gets a prize. I guess it's good for the kids to just have fun and learn the "it's not if you win or lose" thing. We found out then that the boys were mysteriously signed up for the big relay race, but it wasn't going to happen for another 4 hours or something, so we went home for lunch.
Once we were home, the boys didn't really want to go back, and truthfully, neither did I, so we went shopping instead. When we got home, I surprised them with episodes of The Little Rascals (man, they are timeless, I'm telling you. I found a set of 88 episodes on Amazon, and I just have to get it) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I know I saw this when I was a kid, but I didn't really remember it. I think it's stupid that it was only OK for Angela Landsbury to be a witch when she was helping the War Effort and then she gave it up after she had Done Her Part, but whatever, we still liked it and its contemporary Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-like (Gene Wilder version) effects.
Sunday, I went off the really scanty information I had on a flier about some kind of performance art thing, but we took the chance and went down to Queen's Square at Minato-mirai to see what was going on. The whole thing only lasted like 5 minutes, but it was visually worth it to see these amazingly-costumed people running around on stilts or dancing.
When they went away, too soon! we went down to the steps to see one of the constant performances that go on there. We had seen this guy before, and he is pretty good at what he does, but something about his manner really bugs me. I don't know where he is from originally (not 100% Japanese for sure), but his Japanese is like auctioneer patter, punctuated with whines about how hard he is working and pleas for applause (don't need to speak the language to get this).
He did do some cool juggling of fire, with his chin involved
and combined three juggling standards (knife, fire, and apple to take bites of) while on top of his gigantic unicycle
but my favorite trick was the simplest: he took 4 guys from the audience and asked them their names, and then proceeded to call them some version of "Johnny" based on what they were wearing (I didn't quite get the jokes, I hate that the most about not speaking the language). He had them all sit on buckets, and then lie back on one another (I'm sure they loved that, being men and strangers),
and then he took away the buckets. Voila! They balanced that way. I thought it was cool.
We went back inside, as the sun was now behind the Landmark Tower and we were in chilly shade. The kids, of course, wanted to go to the Pokemon Center. Across the way is a store with a name that cracks me up.
I don't know if I've put this one up before, maybe I have, but it makes me giggle because I think of this:
Poor Tink. Snicker. Sure would solve Peter's issues with her jealousy.
On our way back to the train, we heard some cool live surf music being played in the mall, so we wandered over to check it out. I was surprised to see a rockin' preteen girl up there with these old guys. She was just playing rhythm pretty much, none of the solos or anything, but she was perfect. Impressive. The video quality is crap, I know, but I was filming with my little camera, over people's heads:
Then we went home and watched more Little Rascals. That's pretty much the weekend.
Oh, I did discover my new favorite nonalcoholic drink. It's "for grown-ups."
The next big event is D's birthday party. Also on the horizon are Show the Non-Americans How To Do Thanksgiving and our Christmas in Cleveland trip.
I'm gonna go download some more movies now.
Saturday was Sports Day at the local elementary school. Jeff had done this with the kids last year, but he had a neighbor to take him under his wing and tell him what to do. I had Kumi, a nine year old girl, who had never been to this thing before (honestly, if she hadn't expressed interest in going, I would've blown it off completely). We walked over to the school, a little late, and were confronted by that corporate Japan cliche: synchronized calisthenics. Kumi sneered that it was for obasans (middle-aged women).
I was totally confused by what we were supposed to do, as we saw people lining up for a race, so I sent Kumi to get the lowdown. We got schedules I couldn't read and was informed that you had to rush and get limited tickets for each event, some of which were for kids, some for adults. Jeff, I found out, had all his tickets handed to him by the neighbor last year, so he had no worries about this. Kumi did manage to get us tickets for a couple events, like the Bread Race and the Beanbag Toss.
My team won the Beanbag thing, and I was rewarded with a box of clingwrap (which has joined the clingwrap Jeff won last year). The kids' team did not win, but they got prizes anyway: instant ramen. D was unthrilled by this.
I can't decide if I like the fact that everyone gets a prize. I guess it's good for the kids to just have fun and learn the "it's not if you win or lose" thing. We found out then that the boys were mysteriously signed up for the big relay race, but it wasn't going to happen for another 4 hours or something, so we went home for lunch.
Once we were home, the boys didn't really want to go back, and truthfully, neither did I, so we went shopping instead. When we got home, I surprised them with episodes of The Little Rascals (man, they are timeless, I'm telling you. I found a set of 88 episodes on Amazon, and I just have to get it) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I know I saw this when I was a kid, but I didn't really remember it. I think it's stupid that it was only OK for Angela Landsbury to be a witch when she was helping the War Effort and then she gave it up after she had Done Her Part, but whatever, we still liked it and its contemporary Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory-like (Gene Wilder version) effects.
Sunday, I went off the really scanty information I had on a flier about some kind of performance art thing, but we took the chance and went down to Queen's Square at Minato-mirai to see what was going on. The whole thing only lasted like 5 minutes, but it was visually worth it to see these amazingly-costumed people running around on stilts or dancing.
When they went away, too soon! we went down to the steps to see one of the constant performances that go on there. We had seen this guy before, and he is pretty good at what he does, but something about his manner really bugs me. I don't know where he is from originally (not 100% Japanese for sure), but his Japanese is like auctioneer patter, punctuated with whines about how hard he is working and pleas for applause (don't need to speak the language to get this).
He did do some cool juggling of fire, with his chin involved
and combined three juggling standards (knife, fire, and apple to take bites of) while on top of his gigantic unicycle
but my favorite trick was the simplest: he took 4 guys from the audience and asked them their names, and then proceeded to call them some version of "Johnny" based on what they were wearing (I didn't quite get the jokes, I hate that the most about not speaking the language). He had them all sit on buckets, and then lie back on one another (I'm sure they loved that, being men and strangers),
and then he took away the buckets. Voila! They balanced that way. I thought it was cool.
We went back inside, as the sun was now behind the Landmark Tower and we were in chilly shade. The kids, of course, wanted to go to the Pokemon Center. Across the way is a store with a name that cracks me up.
I don't know if I've put this one up before, maybe I have, but it makes me giggle because I think of this:
Poor Tink. Snicker. Sure would solve Peter's issues with her jealousy.
On our way back to the train, we heard some cool live surf music being played in the mall, so we wandered over to check it out. I was surprised to see a rockin' preteen girl up there with these old guys. She was just playing rhythm pretty much, none of the solos or anything, but she was perfect. Impressive. The video quality is crap, I know, but I was filming with my little camera, over people's heads:
Then we went home and watched more Little Rascals. That's pretty much the weekend.
Oh, I did discover my new favorite nonalcoholic drink. It's "for grown-ups."
The next big event is D's birthday party. Also on the horizon are Show the Non-Americans How To Do Thanksgiving and our Christmas in Cleveland trip.
I'm gonna go download some more movies now.
posted by Sandi at 10:32 AM
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