We are at the end of Golden Week. This ranks as a big one in Japan. A week that celebrates 4 holidays which ultimately means that none of the Japanese are working and everyone takes a holiday or vacation. The 4 holidays include: Showa Day, the birthday of the former Emperor, Constitution Day, Greenery Day, but the only holiday that seemed to draw a lot of attention was Kodomo no hi, Children's Day, formerly 'boy's festival'. The Japanese fly carp windsocks everywhere. The streamers represent the hope for children's success, health and happiness. During this 'Golden Week' at preschool all the dads are picking up and dropping off except for Jack as he prefers to save his vacation days for our longer trips. Our kids all had school being in international schools, so it made sense for him to be at work. It's also much easier when you are the only one in the office. I, myself, celebrated by lying in bed with some nasty stomach bug. The illnesses here are different, can't quite explain it, just different which makes it a little scary. I am slowly returning to an actual functioning human being. I had to resurface as two days in bed = an unrecognizable apartment. One of the days that I spent in bed Connor was home with me and I later learned he had Vanilla Wafers for lunch (no, they don't sell them here, we shipped those in). Poor child. He wasn't complaining though.
To recognize Kodomo no hi the kids in both schools created their own koi no bori (carp streamers). And of course, the curse of the middle child, I only have photos of Kate and Connor, but not Nick. When I asked him why he wasn't in the picture from school he told me that was the day he was home sick. Oh well.
Connor's class created a giant carp streamer. They are usually completely immersed in their art. I only remember that Wednesday is Art with Miss Shioh because he comes home with multicolored jeans, paint in his hair and a shirt that will never be the same again even after the full body smock. They have a great time.
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