It’s time for the Summer Festival again at preschool! This evening we watched the girls dance around, ate carnival food, and stayed for the pretty impressive fireworks display! It was a grand time. I mean really, can the yukata get any cuter???
Category Archives: Personal
Today’s glimpse into Japanese culture:
As a “B-san”, Mia is learning to play the pianica at school. It’s a cross between a piano and a harmonica. To change the notes, you use a small piano keyboard, but to make the sound you blow through a mouthpiece. It’s pretty cute! I had never seen one of these before, but it seems to be a pretty popular instrument among yochien students. Preschoolers all over the island are carrying the little pink or blue cases. If last year’s music program is any indication, the kids get to be quite proficient. It’s quite a sight to see a whole stage full of 4 year olds playing a pianica concert.
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Do you know what this is?
So, one day I picked up Mia from school and she was chattering away in the backseat about seeds and growing and gardening and planting and watering and I admit, I didn’t quite catch it all. But when she ended with “…and I can be a farmer, OK?” I just agreed and kept driving. I didn’t see the seed she clutched in her little hand and honestly, I had completely forgotten about the conversation by the time we made it home. But, as soon as we pulled up, Mia jumped out of the car and popped the seed in a flower pot near the door (that already had flowers in it!) before I even knew what was happening. Then she announced that she was going to sit here and watch her plant grow. I hadn’t even seen what she put in the dirt. At this point I asked some probing questions to try and make a bit more sense of the situation. Apparently, they were served edamame (soy beans) at school and she saved one. I didn’t actually know if you could just pop an uneaten soy bean in the dirt and have anything grow, but I told her to try hard to water it every day and we’d see what might happen. Well, a few weeks later we were excited to see a tiny green plant pop up! She was proud beyond belief of her accomplishment. A few more weeks went by when she came running in from her daily plant watering (that child has a memory!) and told me it grew seeds and she wanted to eat them. I skeptically went out to look and sure enough, there they were. Perfect little edamame pods! We did pick one and cook it to taste but we left the rest in hopes that they’d grow a bit bigger. But there you have it– the story of a four year old farmer who grew and harvested a soybean plant all by herself. Oishii des!
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Another annual tradition here in Okinawa is the Dragon Boat Race in Naha. As always, it was an exciting show. The carnival atmosphere blending right into the big race! I have to apologize in advance for my serious lack of photos of the day, but here is a token shot for you.
By the way, congratulations Navy Women on your big win! There they go!
Oh, and this one just for fun. I do wish I would have gotten the chance to show you more of the festival. The food, the kids’ games, the street vendors. But I think this one pretty much sums up any festival here in Okinawa. Because it just wouldn’t be a party without Orion!
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