Playing catch up...Part 1.

It's been a busy few weeks since I last posted! So... instead of writing a bunch of individual stories to catch everyone up, I am going to try and sum up some past events in today's post (yikes!).

Sept. 4th: Arjun's is 2
This was Arjun's real birthday. We had his birthday party the weekend before which was a lot of fun for both Rowen and Arjun. This being Labor Day Weekend, we had planned a weekend getaway to Tokyo. That evening, we celebrated Arjun's birthday at Kikuya, a Teppanyaki/Tempura restaurant located in the hotel we were staying at, The New Sanno. Since Arjun's 'big' thing lately has been blowing out candles, especially at other kids' birthday parties (heehee), he was very excited when the staff brought out his dessert, complete with '2' candles.

The rest of weekend was just spent relaxing and swimming at the hotel. One evening, we went to our token Okinawan restaurant located very close to the hotel. Our two favorite dishes there are Okinawan Champuru (Goya (bitter melon) stir-fried with tofu, egg, pork, and bean sprouts) and Taco Rice. This restaurant is family friendly and is so quaint on the inside, but what's even better is that the boys LOVED Taco Rice. Now, anytime I ask Arjun what he wants for dinner, he says "Taco Ricesh!" or his other favorite word to say, "Sushi!", which he actually says quite clearly now!

**Also on September 4th, Rowen started his second term at Seika Yochien. He was quite excited to get back to school (as was I!) after his summer break. Our neighbor girls, 2.5 y.o. twins, Cate and Sarah started their first day at Seika, and Rowen was really excited to have them ride the bus with him. He's been a very big boy taking care of them on the bus and watching out for them at school so they can have smooth transition attending a Japanese preschool :)

Sept. 9th: Modeling Audition
Arjun was selected as one of many kids to audition for a Combi modeling job in Tokyo. I've been a little skeptical taking Arjun to these auditions, not being sure how long the day is going to be, the travel time, etc. In the past couple of months, he has been contacted for a Birkenstock ad and a Suburu Car commercial, both of which I did not take him too, b/c I was concerned that the audition day was going to be too long for a two year old. For the Combi job, I was fortunate to have a friend taking her daughter to the same audition, so we decided to go together.
After getting Rowen onto the school bus, Arjun and I were off to the train station with my friend Jen and her daughter Maeve. It took about an hour to get to Tokyo where the audition was taking place. Fortunately for us, when we arrived there, we only had to wait a few minutes before our audition and the whole process was about 20 minutes. Not bad! I was expecting it to be a few hours ordeal, but alas, it was not! We had time to grab some lunch b/f getting back on the train to Yokosuka.
A couple of days later we found out that Arjun got the job! I was pretty excited b/c I don't want to do these auditions again and happy, that after our first one, he was hired :)



Sept. 11th: Japanese language class
Twice a year, the FFSC (Fleet & Family Support Center) offers a 10 week course in learning the Japanese language. I thought about doing it last year, but seeing as how we were still living in a hotel and still getting settled, I decided against it. But this year, I decided to do it. And actually, I think it was a better decision to wait b/c I have some basic Japanese under my belt and now have specific goals of how I want/need to communicate and can express what I want to learn to my teacher.
The 10 week course is held every Friday morning for 1.5 hours and is completely free! Our teacher, Nonbuko-san is a volunteer (how nice of her!) and is a member of the Yoksouka International Association. She is very nice and has taught us a lot of useful information in the past few weeks. There are 6 women in my class (2 that are my neighbors) and we're having a lot of fun in class. While I have no problem remembering what I've learned and using it in class while my teacher is present, I'm have a terrible time of remembering anything outside of class and applying it to my everyday life!! So frustrating!!
It is amazing to me that Rowen is correcting my Japanese whenever I manage to get a phrase out and he knows more than I do! This experience is really proving to me that while I am having a difficult time at my age learning a new language, it's easy for Rowen. Kids at that age are just complete sponges that soak everything in. Ahhh-to be young again!