Friday, Septembr 1, 2017

The flooding in  Texas has been dominating the news.  Here the local schools are  collecting necessities, kits people can put together for disaster relief.  I will see what I can find.

Boxes are piling up with stuff in them for Brianne and Daisy's new homes, and await news of when they can be picked up and driven to Seattle.  Trevor and I will be visiting my brother in Ontario from September 13, to 20.  After that I will call La Costa and see what they have for me.  Once I start being an active resident I can start moving belongings down there, even if they have to stay in boxes for awhile.  One step at a time.

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings Trevor and Robyn take volleyball lessons at the MB pier.  Fun to watch.  Robyn is improving rapidly and Trevor has got his skills back after a two year absence.

Alex goes back to MIT tomorrow  after a summer in Paris. 




Japan Story

School in Japan

The International School was the school of choice for the English speaking ex pats who could afford it.  I dimly remember kindergarten there, and a little curly headed boy called Bruno that I thought very handsome.  

When we returned from our summer travels to North America everything had changed.  We had to move from the bungalow at No.11 The Bluff  to a sem-detatched 6 unit house, 234E, The Bluff.  This is today a museum, but that is another story.

Our cat, Brownie refused to be moved.  The old neighbors,  called to say he had returned, even though our new home was at least a mile away.  We tried and tried to keep him but he preferred his old hunting grounds so we finally gave up, and arranged for the neighbors to feed him.

I attended the only English speaking school open, as the war clouds were gathering - a Catholic convent and school run by the Sacred Heart nuns.  Because I was non-catholic I did not have to learn catechism.   I was seven,  the age at which Catholics are confirmed, so many of my classmates would learn to answer questions like "Who made you?".  (Answer, "God made me.") I did  memorize the rosary prayers, and was quite fascinated that each bead had to have its special prayer.  "Hail Mary", "Holy Mary mother of God" and the "Lord's Prayer" that ended differently than the Anglican Lord's Prayer.

There were 45 of us in the class.  We sat like little ramrods,and if we didn't the nuns were quick with ruler.  The curriculum was rigorous. We learned cursive writing by the Palmer Method,  lots of circles across the page, then up and down squiggles, line after line.

We had a singing class, and actually sang in parts, alto soprano and second soprano.   We also had sewing class.  We were given cut out pieces of white cotton in strange shapes  that we had to sew together, French seams, to make undergarments for the immodestly clad natives in Africa.  

My father walked me to school only part way, as it was only a short distance from our new home, and I was learning to be 'self reliant.'  We put on running shoes and an apron, and ran around in the fenced in court.  When the bell rang we put our shoes in a locker and lined up for class.
Every month, the three top students were awarded medals, bronze, silver, and gold.
There was a German girl  who came about the second month I was there.  She spoke only German so she did not get any medals  the first month.  By the second month she had won the bronze medal, and by the fourth month she carried off the gold medal, and never missed thereafter.  I was a pretty good student, but she impressed me.

I also took piano lesson.  My father had been a professional violinist and was an accomplished  pianist.  He assumed I would inherit his brilliance.  I didn't.  I would walk to school by myself on Saturday mornings, to take  private lessons from a very plain and embittered nun.  She did not make me like the piano.  One day I was late!  That was an unforgivable sin.  She was looking away, but as I entered, she looked at me with such fury that her face was purple with rage.  Without a word she got up and walked out!  I dawdled home so my parents would not know what happened.  I never learned if they found out, but the experience haunted me for a long, long time.