10.21.2007

A Variety of Events

M was up and out early with a lunch of two types of onigiri (rice balls); salmon and wakame seaweed and pickled plum and dried perilla. I sent her off with some other moms of athletes on her team for the second day of the big metropolitan jr. high track meet. Then I came home to make a sushi salad lunch for J to take to school open house observation day at school(M was exempted from school but her team mates who didn't qualify for the track meet had to go to school). She managed to drag herself out of bed and off to school grumbling a little about not being able to go to the neighborhood field day with S, N and L. I then packed appropriate lunches for the field day group; a dish called KATSU, which is a homonym for the verb "to win" (small pieces of pork breaded and deep fried), slices of spinach omelet, simmered sweet potatoes, more onigiri rice balls in several flavors, apple slices and barley tea. That got wrapped in a large square cloth and put into a bag with the plastic picnic sheet and cameras.

L and N woke up soon after the bag was packed and we all got ready to go. I took the picnic lunch to school with S, N and L to watch the first few events before heading off to the jr. high school for the "First International Communication Event" for the 7th graders. While I was setting up our picnic sheet, the head of the management committee from our building came over to say hello and give me some tickets for free games at a nearby neighborhood festival. He'd gone out of his way to get four tickets so the kids could all play at least one game. I gave them to N and explained that she and L could go after the field event, warning her not to dawdle as the festival would be over at 4 o'clock.

I left the field day fairly early, politely declining to join the tug o'war team for my corner of the school district in favor of meeting my Bulgarian friend for an early light lunch. We then headed of to J's and M's school to help set up. Our British friend soon joined us and the fun began.

The kids made and ate lots of minestrone soup and then heard the trio of foreign women with Japanese names talk about school in our countries. The 7th graders did a great job and my friends and I managed to talk long enough but not too long, coming away leaving a pretty good impression, according to some of M's friends who reported to her about the afternoon when she stopped by school on her way home from the track meet this evening.

L and N picked up a friend, one of our students, at the festival and he was entertaining them and enjoying the cat when I arrived home around a little after 4 o'clock. S was off giving a make-up class for one the students missed yesterday due to a standardized test eating in to the usual schedule.

It looks like we'll all call it an early night and go to bed soon after such a busy day.

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