And So It Calls

September is drawing to a close, and October approaches swiftly, bring my favorite season along to settle around us--FALL! I absolutely love fall, and it makes me want to shimmy, hop-jump, and prance about with delight and unwonted abandon. The smell of the air; cool and fresh, slowly growing crisp in each day that passes. The wind whispers--stay awhile--and the sun and mood around you conspire with the breeze, playfully laying waste to all excuses put before them.
Ahh yes, I love fall. A time for preparation, reflection, cleaning, gathering, storing, preserving; becoming efficient and prepared. A time for making amends and tying up loose ends. The time to enjoy the slowing of pace life is offering.

So, what am I doing? I am enjoying arguably, my favorite time in Japan: late September through October into early November. The girls and I have planned on some forays in celebration of the season. We have on deck a handful of trips to Tokyo's Yoyogi park, Ueno Park, Hamarikyu Detached Palace Garden, and Rikugien Garden. Of course Hakone, a gorgeous area to while and relax your time away around the foot of Mt Fuji. Of course we have other things planned like mikon picking, and possibly sweet potato picking and/or rice harvesting... only time will tell. Dispite all the plans and monotonies of life, my sorely missed Love is beckoning me once again: Aikido. Finally, with my doctor's blessing, I may grace the mat once again; though I have to admit, there will be nothing graceful about getting back, but I am game.

What you are looking at is the fastidiously cleaned,--by a gracious Navy Corpsman--longest of two pieces of hardware put into my arm after I broke it: four days after my birthday (the other plate is only one hole less). Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me... Yea, me! I did post the x-rays in Found It!. Due to the lack of body mass, or as the Monterey orthopedic surgeon put it, "such a slender arm"... skinny arsed is what he professionally meant... I couldn't keep the ulna plate in my arm, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it--you can't quite ignore the bitch that it was. Now that it is out, thanks to the kind graces of the Naval Hospital here, I can return to my regularly scheduled lifestyle of lots of aikido; yet in a different way.This unplanned break in body and training was much needed. I had been on a fast track through aikido since I got a good taste of it. I found I just couldn't let it go. Well there is only so much one can do before the Universe forcefully calls time out. I planned on one, just not quite like this. It was very hard going from six to seven days of training a week, to absolutely zilch. It was like hitting a brick wall, Unfortunate style--looking one way, while running full speed in the other. I wasn't happy at all, but a forced cooling of heels, mind and spirit does a lot to the inner and outer self. I really needed time off the mat, and not the slackening of training I had planned after my birthday. My last public demonstration brought to the forefront my need to finally assimilate all that I had been learning. I can only create and execute work physically and mentally, when I have relinquished my mind from expectation and form. I thank Sensei Miracle Hands (excellent chiropractor if your ever in Monterey) for having teaching the class, and I thank our MusicMan for being there as my training partner when the Universe decided to call my time out.

Now, in all that has transpired within these last eight months, I find I have conscientiously and unconsciously garnered a few of aikido's understandings and works in my everyday, without much thought until after the fact--you could say I have been influenced.
Here are a few of the ones that have surfaced.

The Mat and Life are one and the same--to resist this truth, is a useless and futile fight; embarrassment is sure to ensue.

Stay in the Moment.

Nothing ever goes as Believed and Planned: despite the act itself, or the sentiments during or after the deed.

Get off the Line: MOVE!

Blend; regardless of how you feel--it is only temporary.

Use the energy given, then add yours to make that shift--the change within and without.

Let It go, then you can finally see what It really is to you; enabling you to finally act and be in the moment.

Be Honest... inside and out.

You don't ever know the Story behind the individual in front of you, even when you believe you are acquainted/intimate with It and them.

Shut-up! Truly Listen...

Create Space. You can't seriously cook in a dirty, cluttered and full kitchen.

Oh yes; and check the Ego at the door.

"Food, Glorious Food!" (amended)

"Don't care what it looks like -- Burned! Underdone! Crude! Don't care what the cook's like. Just thinking of growing fat -- Our senses go reeling One moment of knowing that Full-up feeling!" You know that feeling, when you are hungry--truly feel hungry and not just 'cause you're bored, or unsettled to a degree or so--fast food won't do, even frozen fast food? Yeah, you know what I am talking about; Oliver and his orphaned mates certainly knew: home cooked food. That is what I try to do for 90% of our 19 meals (3 daily Monday-Friday; 2 daily Saturday and Sunday, unless we have to be up early). {this is the amended part: Of each meal prepared, 70-90% of it is home made. For an example, one of the Unfortunate's favorite meals: Hilshire's Beef Little Smokies, rice and spinach. I cook the rice, and saute the fresh spinach to go with it. Yes, you read right, the Unfortunates do like spinach--if it is sauted or baby spinach mixed in with salad.} All meals in this home--regardless of preparation time--excluding Friday and Saturday nights, must fulfill the Trinity: fruit/vegetable, carbohydrate, protein. Of the 14 snacks in a full week, the snack needs to be fruit/vegi and/or homemade, or if it is processed, then the other half of that snack must be fruit or vegi. Let me tell you, it is a FRACKIN challenge and there are times I wonder if I am out of my FRICKIN mind?! ~~in through the nose~~out through the mouth~~ Yet despite it all, I know over half the battle is mental, as in anything truly challenging. No, I do not spend over half my day cooking, and nothing near a half of either. I am not Mrs. Clever. I was inspired to put my culinary ventures here since I was tired of emailing them--yeah, I don't email well either--and I can put up a FEW pictures for the visual learners too. The label for these postings is Epicurean Delight. They won't be much, so don't go looking for a 4 star or higher grade of cooking. Mostly I prefer easy, fast, and hot--preparation and cooking wise, you gutter-minded creatures! I hope it inspires you to fool around and get messy in the kitchen--hmm... (sorry, my mind wandered--yes again) Its lots of fun and has an easy learning curve. Ya'just might find it satisfying and fulfilling... Okay, I am going now!

Japan and Schooling

(that grass is growing out of the rain gutter at the outdoor pool building) As I have commented to Sebastian, we have started schooling and I am shamed that the disorganized side of me has laid waste to my time. Fortunately, the more "civilized" side of me is emerging, and time is becoming a better companion to me. We have been humming along quite well, despite my chaotic ways; we have our entire downstairs looking like we have lived here all along--complete with pictures on the wall and carpets on the floor—Yea!!! What have you all been up to during these last weeks of summer? Did you actually get a chance to enjoy your summer? The pictures throughout this post are of the Splash'n Dash Youth Biathlon, Eldest Unfortunate and our friend BondGirl participated in. The other pictures are of our day of Henna. The Eldest has been sporting henna'd hair since she was 5 years old. We went on a little hiatus from henna, but now we are back in the paste! Between the two girls, there was only enough paste for hair, not skin this time... I going to do up some henna for Mehindi art soon.

A few questions have been asked of me regarding living here in Japan and Homeschooling too. So I am going to try to give a remotely intelligible reply concerning both topics.

Living in Japan.
After 10 years of marriage to SailorStudman and the Navy, we have lived in Japan for nearly four and a half years. Nearly one and a half years of that was living off base--out in the economy, with no other military personnel. The rest of that has been on base, surrounded by others who are DOD personnel. Which do I prefer; living off base. We chose to come to Japan; to live in Japan and experience it all... and let me tell you we did. As to living on base, it is all about convenience; I will not lie, if your life revolves around base activities that take up over 6hrs of the day, and/or/at weird hours of the day and 5-7days a week; living on base or so damn close, is the way to go. For kids; making friends off base is hard. Japanese children seem to stick only to school and club mates--and I know this from experience. Playing outside and picking up some friends is highly improbable. Throwing your kid into something is the best way, but it is going to cost you; however if you have more than one child, and bills, you begin to look to the cost effective ways to do business—enter,

on base activities: MWR and Community Center. When the chance came to live on base around six months before we changed our duty station, we sat on saying yea or nay till the last hour of our (then) 48hr time-limit. I was the Ombudsman for SailorMan's command (loved it!). It is a very involved volunteer job, being on call and available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. With Navy her being permanently forward deployed (always gone), just throw in a foreign country, toss in people with a good smattering of everyday and not exactly everyday problems... you got yourself disgruntled, scared, angry, sad, overwhelmed, depressed, libido driven, deviant... and all the other good things people can be, stewing around and those are your charges who give a new outlook on life in the military. Being on base was MUCH easier.

So, do I feel culturally enriched living on base? Not really. Don't get me wrong, this base is a cultural all-within itself; even though Japanese aspects of life are always around you, it isn't in your face and in full force as living out in town.
Besides what exactly is cultural enrichment? Regardless of living on or off base, you get into a routine and begin to ignore what is constant and get annoyed with whatever disrupts the constant, not mater if it is Japanese or American. I have met folks who live out in town and are just as clueless of the Japanese culture as a 12th generation American who lives in small town USofA. It is what you make of it, getting off the proverbial ass, and out and about—now that is where it's at!





When we first got here to Japan, the Eldest Unfortunate was only 2.5 years old and there was nothing for us here on base, she wasn't old enough for anything and I had no qualms regarding getting out and about town. I could go days and days, without stepping foot on base. Had no reason real reason besides acquiring things that cost too much to buy out on the economy... chocolates, movies and cds for example. Later we moved on base, Eldest started kindergarten at the DoDDS school on base, I became a DoDDS substitute teacher for the high school and found a whole host of Japanese students to teach English too since I lived on base.

The Crazy Unfortunate came along, not too long after that, then we moved back to the States. Now we are back and on base, this time with out any living on the economy like I was secretly hoping for. In the end it was the best chance and decision for us. I will just be candid about this; financially we really couldn't take the hit that living off base would have gave. We couldn't immediately afford the out of pocket expense of moving out on the economy and would have had to take the loan from the government to do so. This would have hurt, a lot. A new twist to our lives here was our Greyhound, a.k.a. SuicideGirl, of whom still had a quarantine sentence that was required to be carried out on base at a home or in the kennel, or off base at a kennel. On base is far more cost effective especially given her size. 38 days in the kennel cost $698. We took her out on June 6, her quarantine is till September 11, do the math and it's not pretty.

Homeschooling.
Yes, we are a homeschooling family. This is our second year into it and this time the CrazyOne has joined the fray. Moving to a new place, literally--nearly half a world away, made socializing (that all consuming question people first ask) finding some playmates a priority. The mission: get outside and play!

All summer long I threw their butts into the neighborhood to play and into activities base sponsored activities such as: summer sessions of swimming, ballet, homeschool group; add more activities like violin, piano, swim team and Kumon; the Unfortunates are getting pretty sweet on the social level. We have found a few other homeschooling families and have met up for just unwinding a few times already— I like the parents and their kids and the Unfortunates agree too.

Our day starts between 8-9am and we are throughly finished around lunch time. So what to do with all that spare time? Art, reading, crafting, board games, all of this together or individually, or homework--blah. Sometimes, we do a short review of something that will prepare for the next day or reinforce something—that is mostly the homework. As of late, we get outside and take SuicideGirl with us to enjoy the outdoors before rainy winter sets in. We are going to work on double dutch jumping rope as soon as we get to Homes (a fantastic everything but the grocery Japanese store) for our second rope, right now we are just getting the CrazyOne learning how to jump rope. This isn't as easy a task as you'd believe; it really takes some maturity of motor-skills, which for her seems to be kicking in at last. In the mail is also our book of skipping rope rhymes along with our hop balls http://www.hippityhopball.com/ for us all! I am so excited, I am having a hard time keeping the hop balls a secret from the girls—Hallelujah Internet! I will let you know how grand the balls are and if they really hold up to 53kg person... then we shall see how they do with StudMan This is going to be fun, good thing he got skinny!

Our curriculum is this:
Math—Singapore Math with the addition of cooking, budgeting, building stuff (i.e. awesome Lego creations), and Math sheets for drills http://themathworksheetsite.com/.
History/Geography—A Little History of The World, by EH Gombrich. We use this book as a guiding light so to speak, for us to go and discover for ourselves through research of other books and a bit of internet thrown in there, since the library here is not that big. There are only so many books StudMan can handle me buying.
Grammar/Composition/Reading—Eldest is doing Shurley English; Homeschooling, Level 4. CrazyOne is just learning to read and write, so she has Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten. I bought the block and lined paper for her level. The eldest has the same except its 4th grade and I also purchased the lined paper that goes with it. She uses that paper for all writing assignments. Using this book for her cursive has helped with keeping her handwriting neat and clean. We do a lot of copy, dictation, note taking and memory work using excerpts, quotes, poetry, and paraphrasing.
Science—Eldest Unfortunate picked out chemistry for this year and we purchased Noeo Science's Chemistry (I forget which level); when we actually use it I will let you know what we think. We are covering geology and biology from our history study of prehistory. We will eventually come around to chemistry... just not right now, 'cause it doesn't fit.

Homeschooling has ups and downs, but all in all; its for us.
I must bid you farewell, and theoretically... as long as I keep to a schedule, you will once again see 1-3 posts every week. I look forward to hearing from you!