Excited

Last night we received a phone call from the friends who will visit us in a couple of weeks. They are very excited. We knew that earlier this year, after reading their Christmas letter - see here, but they are even more excited now it is close. We are very excited (even if it is buried under a whole lot of finishing-the-school-year stuff that is going on). 

One reason we're excited is that we can count on one hand the number of visitors - friends or family - who have visited us for longer than a couple of days since we've came to Japan nearly eleven years ago. And we can count on two hands all the overseas visitors we've ever received. So, this is an Event. Additionally this is the first family with children who has visited us - so our children are excited too.

As we talked I realised several things. 

Yes, we miss Aussie sausages...

• Firstly, we aren't going to be able to get everything they want to do and we want to show them into the two weeks they're here. 
• Secondly, it is going to be hilarious and fun and the days will fly by. We'll be exhausted, but refreshed and encouraged at the end.
• Thirdly, it is going to be like Christmas. They and another set of friends are getting together a number of things "from home". In fact they are spoiling us!
• Fourthly, I've blocked out of my mind much of what I miss about Australian food. I really had trouble answering the questions they had about how they could spoil us. I had a couple of ready made answers, but as they dug deeper, I got really stuck.
• Fifthly, we'll get sick of their questions and they'll get sick of us answering, "I don't know." I remember this from when my parents visited back in 2003. The reality is that what we know about Japan is far outweighed by how much we don't know. It is strange that when we're in Australia we usually end up the local "Japan experts". But actually we're quite ignorant of many things.

Our two families have "lived" together before. We went camping together in Australia last Easter (2010). That time we were out of our element and they were the ones with the inside knowledge. This time the tables have turned. We'll be the ones translating, guiding, informing and organising. 

Should be interesting. Should be tiring. Should be fun! Stay tuned for news on how it all goes.

Random thoughts leads to thoughts about raising boys

Here are some random thoughts I had as I sat down to write this post:

• Today I exchanged my first real email with my 12 y.o. This morning I suggested he write to me from school to give me some important information he would find out there and he did, plus some. He's growing up.
• I have four boys after school today and for dinner. One of them is a teenager. Good thing I put a larger meal into the slow cooker.
• The meal in the slow cooker already smells good.
• Even with the internet it can take a lot of time to organise even a 15 minute praise time for a conference when no one has the same music book and we live hundreds of kilometres apart.

As so often happens after a bunch of random thoughts, I found a longer thought:

Yesterday my husband and I took the boys down to the school. Yes, on a Sunday - but it is one of the closest open areas for playing and the campus is open for students to play, supervised, out of hours. We played with them for a while and then sat and watched. Ours weren't the only ones playing. At one point on the main field there were three small groups, all playing with balls. Three different age-groups. One had a 5 and 6 y.o., one had two elementary aged children and the other had young adults (former students). 

The thing that struck me was that they were all boys. Not a girl or young lady among them. It strikes me that while we girls can be good at sport and even love it, not many of us just have to move in a way that boys do. We took our boys out there yesterday, not because we wanted too, but they were raising the roof on our house with noise and action and obviously needed some exercise (obvious only because we now have 12 years of experience in raising boys, most of those in small houses/apartments). As we talked about it we also noted that while girls will just sit and chat, guys generally don't, they have to be doing something, even if it is non-physical like playing board games.


My husband wondered about the lack of male primary (US=elementary) school teachers. He wondered particularly if boys have a harder time in school because their female teachers don't understand that need to move, particularly in those lower years. It is an interesting thought. I know (from experience) that any characteristic that interrupts a quiet classroom is a disadvantage. Be that physically restless or verbally outspoken at the wrong times.

And back to another random thought. 

Last week a friend who's pregnant with her second child, first boy, asked for some advice on raising boys. My advice was simple. The two key things about raising boys are food and exercise. If you keep those in mind you will avoid many potential problems.

Multi-storey bike park

Here are some interesting photos I took last Sunday while waiting for all the kids to turn up for our son's birthday party.

Hidden away under a building - a huge multi-storey bike park. Can you see the ramp up to the next level of the bike park? Intriguing are the "working" vehicles. Can you see the bikes with boxes on the back of them? They are delivery bikes. Not sure what for, but possibly couriers. Bikes are way faster in built-up areas and easier to park too!

 

 

Musing on graduation and the coming weeks

I enjoyed the CAJ graduation yesterday. It is satisfying to see people achieve their goals. Somehow going to graduation at CAJ helps put the rest of the school into perspective. Though it is a tiny bit sad to think that this is the end of these students' involvement at CAJ and for some, the end of their family's involvement at the school too. I realised this morning that another OMF family has "graduated" and moved on from CAJ.

They did a good job of remembering the young man who died earlier in the week. It was sad, but sensitively done.

The best part was afterwards (when I wasn't trying to locate my family in the large crowd). Yummy food and drink and lots of people to talk to. The nicest thing was all the people who made wonderful comments about the Japan Harvest edition which they've been reading in the last week. Finally, it is in people's hands! Hopefully we'll hear some comments from overseas soon. I posted some on Tuesday, hopefully those will arrive soon and we'll hear what non-Japanese residents think - people who didn't experience the earthquake and its aftermath themselves.

But of course we were late to bed - the boys, especially. So everyone is a bit grumpy today. And crying "I'm bored." And school hasn't even finished yet (even though it feels extremely close, with last night all done)!

It is going to take some adjusting to: no school for seven hours a day. 

One part of me is looking forward to it because it means not getting up as early, having a bit more rest because almost all school-related things take a break and also, of course, having my husband home more of the time. 

Part of me isn't looking forward to it because we have to work harder at keeping the boys occupied and exercised (a vital part of raising boys). And the unrelenting heat of late July through to after school starts isn't fun.

And in the middle of all that my work continues: magazine editing, mission website enquiry answering, emails and the magazine style guide that I'm working on (though this isn't urgent). And my husband has two assignments due in July plus unlimited work he could do at school, he tells me. We simply cannot just take 11 weeks off! 

So, somehow we're going to have to find a new balance to our lives for those 11 weeks. That means a lot of give and take for everyone. Great life lessons, but not always easy.

Today is graduation day

OMF families at the 2006 CAJ graduation.

Well, not my graduation or my kids' graduations, but CAJ seniors' graduation. Including the children of friends and colleagues. My husband taught this class back when they were in Year 8. 

I've only been to one CAJ graduation, and it is interesting to look back on that one two years ago and see my blog reflections before and after that event. 

Tonight will be an emotional evening at the end of an emotional week and months. One senior isn't graduating after his death on Tuesday. A seat will be left for him and I'm sure he'll be mentioned during the formal proceedings.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it all went.

Sending out the news

It's one of my monthly jobs - today I'm sending out our latest news/prayer letter.

This is a bad image. If you don't receive the real "Marshall Musings" and would like to, let me know.

Saying goodbye...again

It is the "saying goodbye" time of year again. This time we're not leaving (phew!), but others are. It is a conversation I've been having a lot recently - staying put in missionary life doesn't immune you from goodbyes. I wrote about it a little while ago here. 

Today I made some "farewell" pages for books for two couples who are finishing their time of service, one headed for retirement and the other handing over a leadership role after the maximum 10 year term allowed by our mission. In doing so, I trawled through some photos. Here is a photo taken in 2005 soon after we first arrived in Tokyo and CAJ. It is special to me, because it is an example of the "adopted uncle" type relationship that our boys enjoy in the absence of blood relatives. Here, our middle son sits on the shoulders of one of the missionaries we'll be farewelling in a couple of weeks.

18 months ago I wrote a post about missionaries and loneliness. As I look back at it, I realise the one thing I left out was the constant farewells - even when we're on the field. That does something to you. One thing it does is make you go deep quickly in conversations and relationships (see a post about that here). We don't waste much time talking about the weather (though that does rate a mention, especially on a day like today when it is something like 16 degrees on the first official day of summer!?!).

So, we say goodbye to more friends. A quick count gives me at least 10 people who I know who'll be going back to their home countries in the next couple of months, probably more. Some of those will be back after a year, others will not. I once got slightly annoyed with a friend in Australia who was getting upset because her missionaries friends were leaving for home assignment. I felt like saying (or maybe I did), "That's what you get when you make friends with missionaries." It's a strange lifestyle. You get used to it a bit, but it still hurts to say goodbye so often.