Savoring each moment

The past two weeks, I have been with the babies and five-year-olds. The teachers in the baby class made it very apparent to me how much they appreciated having my help. They greeted me with smiles every morning and were so kind! The babies are also so cute! They’re so small and sweet! Seeing some of them clap their hands and bow before eating like the teachers do is lovely! At the end of my week with the babies, I made sure to give them all big hugs as I said goodbye, since the following week was my last full week at the nursery school. The five-year-olds were energetic, and I can tell they know I won’t be there much longer. They are extra eager to play with me, hug me, and talk to me. A funny moment was when the kids started talking in Italian brain-rot. I was so confused because understanding them was harder than usual, and then I realized it wasn’t Japanese! As I was leaving on Monday, some moms told me their kids always talked about me and asked me how soon I was leaving. On Friday, after the children did their usual routine of telling the teacher the date and weather, he had them try to guess how to say it in English (with my help). They then got to try and guess the English word for other vocabulary, and I told them what the correct answer and pronunciation were. They had a lot of trouble with words like “birthday” since it has the “th” and “r” sounds. It was cute helping them try!

Since it’s mid-July, the school did its monthly celebration for the kids who have birthdays this month. It was really cute this time because after celebrating each kid, they had a large blue plastic tablecloth hoisted upright on the stage. The teachers had stuffed animals and cutouts they would have “swim” through the “water,” and the kids had to guess who it was through the tablecloth. By the end of it a teacher would whip by pretending to swim, and the children guessed which teacher it was. After the celebration, on my way to lunch, I was stopped by two Mormon missionaries from Brazil. That was an experience I did not expect to happen to me here in Japan!

Music therapy with the babies was a success! We worked on concepts like fast, slow, up, down, and stop. We used finger play and dancing to work on motor skills to songs like “Wheels on the Bus” (using the Japanese lyrics, of course). The babies loved the egg shakers and did very well not throwing them, and instead, shook them the way the music instructed. They also enjoyed the scarves. One baby did not like the texture of the scarves, which is okay. Another baby loved exploring with her scarf and put it on her head to play peek-a-boo. 

I had off from the nursery school for one day to have my farewell lunch with my program director before she leaves for vacation. She took me to get wagyu since that is one of the Japanese foods I will miss that is hard to find (authentically and affordably) in America. It was so delicious, one of the best steaks I have had! I also got a sweet surprise at lunch. Naoko invited my host grandma! It made me so happy to be able to see her again before I have to go home! After lunch, I was able to get myself back to my host family’s house from Okazaki without the help of Google Maps! I was so proud of myself. Especially because it’s an hour-long trip!

Lately, I have had phone calls with my friends Allie, Emma, Luke, my cousin Isabel, and my mom. Just catching up and discussing all our work and progress in trying to get jobs yet again. I had two job interviews. One was late at night, and the other was early the next morning. I caught up on sleep after my early morning interview and relaxed the rest of that Saturday. 

Hiro picked me up after I got off on Tuesday so that I could help his sister with her baby. It was so much fun, and I got to meet his sister’s friends who also have a new baby. They ordered Domino’s, and I got to try all kinds of pizza and ate ice cream for dessert. I had a blast with the little baby!

My weekends were fun. I went to Don Quijote and tried KFC in Japan for the first time. My honest thoughts… not very good. I know many Japanese people love KFC, but the location I went to was not very tasty. Afterwards, I made my way down to Nagoya to see Megan one more time. Her roommate, Holly, made curry, and it was fantastic! I had a super fun time that night. When I got back, I saw Hiro at the station. The station was mobbed with people because Toyohashi had a fire festival that night.