So What DO we want?

Image Credit: www.meets.com

Searching for the perfect school and finding the perfect match is tricky.  We have decided this is our year to recruit... there is no going back. We have put our notice in.  But, now we are at the mercy of what positions open up at schools that we want to work at.  John and I have pretty specialized jobs, so that right there narrows down our opportunities.

There are so many factors that go into choosing the right place.  These are our thoughts...

First and for most, we want to be safe, happy and we want our kids to flourish.
No place is perfect.  BUT, there are a lot of great places out there that we would be very happy moving to.  When positions pop up, it's definitely a conversation of positions, school and country.

If we were going to make a criteria of what we are looking for kind of in order, this is what it look like:

1. Bigger school (like 850-1500 Pre-K - 12)
2. Strong, established school with vibrant curriculum and programs
3. Library position for John
4. Safe country
5. Interesting city/country
6. Warm climate


Extra perks:

• Being able to communicate better (either a language we already speak =: English or Spanish OR I language easier to learn than Japanese, preferably with a phonetic writing system).
• Cool living space with a bit more room.  Extras:  an outdoor area, grill, pool?

We have been talking about moving a lot with the kids, so they aren't freaked out about it.  Luckily they have seen a lot of friends come and go, so it isn't as foreign as it would have been to me as a child.  When we asking them things about moving, some really funny conversations come up.  This is what the kids want in our next home:

Maximo's Wishes
1. Two bathrooms in our home
2. To be near a beach
3. A pet

Lola's Wishes
1. To move to Legoland
2. A pet

Part 1 of Our Process of Recruiting as International Teachers

What They Want to Be When They Grow Up - 2015

Maximo's First Presentation - Family Book

Maximo has a presentation tomorrow.  He brought his notes home to practice this weekend.  I think this may be the first oral presentation he has ever really done... and it's in Japanese.

June in Lola's Notes

We're getting ready to fly to Savannah in a few hours.  As always, the end of the year has been crazy.  Here's our June through Lola's notes from her daycare.  Enjoy!

30 Things You Should Know and/or Will Love about Japan Series: # 29

#29 Japanese School Children

Image Credit: www.allinjapan.org

This may seem like an odd topic for a post, but everyday after we drop Lola off and head to work we there is a sea of Japanese kids heading off to school.  They are all donning their uniforms and their randoseru. (I really wish I have taken a photo of this... when I do, I'll replace these pictures.)

Image Credit: www.townhall.com

A randoseru is a hard formed leather backpack.  Japanese children get it when they enter school... and they go for a whopping ¥30,000 (about $300 USD).  The traditional colors are red and black, but I've seen pink and blues too.  They usually only use it through primary school.

Image Credit: www.japantimes.co.jp

Also many children, especially hoikuen, daycare age, or lower elementary often wear matching hats, especially on field trips or outings from school.  

They are quite cute...  Don't you think?

Unfortunately, our school doesn't have a uniform policy.  We are one of the very few, probably in all of Japan.  Many other international schools even wear uniforms.

You will see a lot of Japanese school children when you are out and about in Japan.  They start riding trains alone when they are about six and they travel in packs to their neighborhood schools.
Depending on where you are, often times, Japanese school children will try to practice their English with you, yelling out "Hello!" when they see you.

We are sometimes baffled by the long hours that Japanese school children spend at school or in lessons.   Most of our students are involved with sports and/or activities every night.  We have frequently seen kids in uniforms when we are out on the train at 8-9pm at night.  Most schools have sports activities on Saturdays, and sometimes Sundays.

First Day of School 2013

This picture looks a lot more joyous than our morning really was, but we did get a nice first day of school picture.

Comparing it to last year...  

Our babies are getting big!

Summer is Here!!!

We finished a busy week and a crazy school year.

Lola making sushi with Masa at the Anpanman Museum.

Maximo's class party on Wednesday

Maximo's Swim Report 

Last Day of KA with Ms. Maiko and his friends

Celebrating the end of year at Kochan's with Kobe Beef

On the Rokko Liner with Dad

We're spending the weekend relaxing and tying up loose ends before we head "home".  Maximo is fighting a fever, that we hope he doesn't give to the rest of us.

Here is the end of the Spring 2013 Photo Album.

And some highlights of Maximo's school work this year.

Maximo's Conference - KA 2013

In the Spring of each school year, students share their work and learning with their parents.  It is a nice conference time as it is totally led by students.  It's amazing what a 5 year old can share and all the amazing things they did this year!

Sharing work with Dad

Showing off his class's bean plants

Showing his class's Very Busy Spider presentation on an iPad

His "animated" spider debut

Here's the actual video made by @shigetasensei (Ms. Shigeta, the AMAZING ES Tech Teacher):

The Very Busy Spider from KA-B on Vimeo.

Maximo showing off his class's garden

Japan Days

Apparently I can either take a picture a day or blog, but not both well.  We had a full work week and vacation feels far far away.

This week at Canadian Academy, were Japan Days.  There were many different activities at all grade levels celebrating Japanese culture.

Yesterday, Maximo pounded mochi with his Japanese teachers:

Today he and I dressed up in our finest Japanese clothing.  He wore Japananese (yukata) pajamas and I wore a kimono (untraditionally) as an open jacket.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures.  I'm hoping his teacher did, so I can steal the pictures!

The First Days of School - 2012

It's still about a billion degrees here, which is only truly felt in the hallways of our school or running errands on the weekends.  It's usually cool enough to and from school.

But, we have begun our tenth year of teaching...  Maximo has started KA (Kindergarten A - the four year old program) and Lola is still (LOVING) attending Yume Club (Japanese Daycare) across the street.

Day 1 (after three days of Teacher Days)
Morning Quote: "7:15 Family Photo, 7:30 Out-the-door".  And this was accomplished!
One of my favorites, but Max is now a clown during photos:

 Another one, with Lola playing coy.

 Our Funny Faces:

 Lola insisting on using a backpack - even though it is completely empty on her way to "school".

 Peeking at the bike barn.

 We had to tuck Mono into bed before we left for school.

Picking this little happy face up at the end of the day is one of my favorite things!  She's so happy to be dropped off and squeals and comes running when she sees us at the end of the day.

 Riding the train together for our annual check-ups today.

 Playing peek-a-boo with the pediatrician's rooster:

 Both of these kids took two shots each like champions!

D'Artist!

A couple of pictures from Max's Art Show this week (taken by his teachers):

Max in front of his art

Daddy asking Maximo about his art

Missing Details: Maximo's Birthday and First Weeks of School

The past two weeks have been BUSY! But even with all of its craziness, Maximo has glided through with birthday celebrations, starting a new school and a new daycare. We thought it was going to be a really rough transition, but it hasn't. It's been exhausting for everyone, but there has been very few meltdowns, which has been surprising.

We definitely feel like we made the right decision to hold him back a year. He the oldest in his class, but there are quite a few kids turning four this fall.

He is thriving at school, as you can see here:
He's so happy. His language has boomed - he can tell us things he did during his day, all of his teachers' names (all 7 of them!) and his classmates' names. His teacher posts pictures for parents every Friday, so it's been fun to see what the kids have done all week and for us to have conversations about all the cool things he's doing.

Maximo loves going to school with Mommy and Daddy. We have a morning routine where we all leave together, give kisses and drop Lola off at Yume Club (where she has yet to cry when I leave her), then we head to Canadian Academy. Maximo comes to my room for about 20 minutes then I bring him to Peter Pan, which is the childcare on campus. The first few days were a little rough, because it was hard transiting between Peter Pan and his classroom (across the hall), but now he understands that he goes to Peter Pan from 8-8:25, then the bell rings and he can go to his class. This week he was invited to full day Building Blocks Program along with about half of his class. Then after school, he goes back to Peter Pan for 30 minutes to an hour, then we pick him up!

He's been doing great. His teachers are amazing, the facilities are gorgeous and the curriculum is fantastic. We couldn't ask for anything more! He has a rotation of art class, music class, and PE class and he gets to check out books from the library. It's quite funny to see what he comes home with each week - definitely not books we'd pick out. (Some so obscure that there are not even reviews or pictures of them on Amazon.)

We went to our first Back to School Night where we weren't the ones presenting. It was nice to move around with parents of Maximo's classmates to all of their classes. Even though we know the school and the teachers, it was nice to look around his classrooms and check out the things he has already done!

Here are a few pictures I didn't get up for Maximo's birthday.
His party at school (which we could both go to!):
The invitation to his birthday party:
One of my trips to school to bring birthday supplies and food:
We got him a camera for his birthday and he took about 300 photos the first day alone!

Taking pictures of Thomas (as he watched a video):