The big shipment of our main household goods went out today. Not a lot to report here. The men arrived on time, worked quickly, and stayed for lunch but were still out of here in about 5 hours. The weather was perfect so we had the windows and doors open. The kids were at a friends' house and the dog went to daycare for the day.
Thursday night I kept saying the worst that could happen is that they would pack something they were not supposed to (we still have another load of stuff to go to storage yet) or that they would not pack something they were supposed to. And, well, both of those things happened, of course, so we are stuck buying sheets for the kids bed and a blanket for our bed, and I´ll need to replace my entire makeup bag including travel sizes of various toiletries. (update: I found my cosmetics case where I had apparently stashed it in a suitcase, but not after I had already bought a few replacements, of course.) But at least the stuff they did not pack that they were supposed to, we caught in time to load at the last minute, to include one each of three different pairs of shoes from the front hall closet.
??
And sadly, despite their extreme courtesy, advanced English skills, and love of music (the crew foreman plays bass and guitar by ear), all redeeming qualities for sure, they are human - someone accidentally marked on the couch with a permanent marker. Someone from the company is coming out Monday to see if they can get the mark out. This I gotta see.
In other news...
The storage shipment contractor decided that they only need one day, so they aren´t coming till Tuesday. That´s the difficult part I refer to in the title line - four days and four nights in this semi empty house (as far as the kids are concerned it´s empty, all their toys and books are gone) hanging out with the kids.
This weekend is the cherry blossom festival in DC, bound to be too crowded for my taste, plus we are expecting rain. If we can survive this, maybe we have a shot at making it in a temporary lodge in Okinawa suffering from jet lag.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
poisoned well
I think I figured out why I like history so much. Now, let me say I didn't like the history courses I took in college. I like the history you see on television and find in children's books. And it's not just a format issue. I enjoy the history channel because it looks at everyday, commonplace ideas and examines how they were started and the events that transpired to further their evolution, and how they affect us today. I find the History channel and Discovery channel and the like ever more useful than lectures, chalk-on-board style, which serve only to transmit data, facts and dates, mostly on governments and nations and wars.
I recently read a transcript of a speech given by Daniel Quinn which notes some key points the history and evolution of compulsory schooling and its 'hidden agenda'. This is one of my favorite topics, as many of you readers who know me well know. This is history I can use! Mainly, to form my own ideas and opinions about where our country is headed if we continue to educate our children locked away in school buildings in the manner so many Americans have come to accept as commonplace and even necessary. Learning scads of facts and dates for what purpose? Because it certainly does not inspire them to think and form their own ideas and opinions. Quinn notes this, too, and goes on to explain that compulsory education evolved in part as a way to fill up hours in a day so both parents could go to work and further the economy.
Filler. I have been saying this for sometime now, that useless piles of facts and dates are just one way the bureaucrats can measure the 'success' of schools. You can't offer a child a standardized test on how well he thinks, or how well he functions in survival or life skills. I have heard some people say you can't compare homeschooling to classroom style schooling because they don't produce the same result.
So, I like to ask 'why' of things. My parents are quite proud of the fact that when we were children, they would never ask us to do anything without telling us why we had to do it, or explaining it to us if we were to ask. So it infects me still.
I want to know why, besides that the marketing world wants us to spend more money, do children color and hide eggs on Easter? What is the root of this strange tradition? Here's what I found, in a brief Wiki search.
Frankly, I think Walnut Creek had it right, it's not the Easter bunny. That damn bunny has nothing to do with the Christian holy day (that's holiday, people) Easter. And if I want my children to grow up asking why, it seems I would start with a true explanation of the holiday, where it started, how it became what it is now - including pertinent discussions on the marketing machine that pushes plastic made-in-china crap on us several times a year. It is difficult to explain, though, when people around us, friends and even family, participate in it, claiming the sheer fun of it. My stomach turns when I have to explain to them why we don't do it. I am firm in my beliefs on this, however I have yet to find a way to prevent the inference that those who do participate are slaves to the marketing machine. "Oh it's just for fun, it's for the children" ? The return implication there being that I am a cheap humbug.
Every transaction we make, every purchase, is a decision that what you are buying, an object or service, is worth more to you than the money in your hand. And we are all free to make these choices. I just can't see spending good money on something I don't think is a valuable goods or service, or experience, in this instance. What would the children learn from that? Because they are learning from everything around them. Every experience, every instance that they observe and are challenged to think they look to their parents, and their friends. They gather information and they use it to make their own decisions tomorrow and next year and ten years from now. I choose to send the message that it is necessary to ask why of everything. Explore the history of things that everyone else simply accepts as commonplace. And choose your course of action based on your own judgment (a valuable thing we all possess, just that some of us have forgotten), not based on what you read in a book, or what some teacher or professor tells you to think so you can pass a standardized test, or that an advertiser or retailer says you need in order to make your children happy.
If we resign ourselves to be fed facts and data, we are more likely to swallow things like mystery holiday origins and mindless consumption of consumer goods.
I recently read a transcript of a speech given by Daniel Quinn which notes some key points the history and evolution of compulsory schooling and its 'hidden agenda'. This is one of my favorite topics, as many of you readers who know me well know. This is history I can use! Mainly, to form my own ideas and opinions about where our country is headed if we continue to educate our children locked away in school buildings in the manner so many Americans have come to accept as commonplace and even necessary. Learning scads of facts and dates for what purpose? Because it certainly does not inspire them to think and form their own ideas and opinions. Quinn notes this, too, and goes on to explain that compulsory education evolved in part as a way to fill up hours in a day so both parents could go to work and further the economy.
Filler. I have been saying this for sometime now, that useless piles of facts and dates are just one way the bureaucrats can measure the 'success' of schools. You can't offer a child a standardized test on how well he thinks, or how well he functions in survival or life skills. I have heard some people say you can't compare homeschooling to classroom style schooling because they don't produce the same result.
So, I like to ask 'why' of things. My parents are quite proud of the fact that when we were children, they would never ask us to do anything without telling us why we had to do it, or explaining it to us if we were to ask. So it infects me still.
I want to know why, besides that the marketing world wants us to spend more money, do children color and hide eggs on Easter? What is the root of this strange tradition? Here's what I found, in a brief Wiki search.
Frankly, I think Walnut Creek had it right, it's not the Easter bunny. That damn bunny has nothing to do with the Christian holy day (that's holiday, people) Easter. And if I want my children to grow up asking why, it seems I would start with a true explanation of the holiday, where it started, how it became what it is now - including pertinent discussions on the marketing machine that pushes plastic made-in-china crap on us several times a year. It is difficult to explain, though, when people around us, friends and even family, participate in it, claiming the sheer fun of it. My stomach turns when I have to explain to them why we don't do it. I am firm in my beliefs on this, however I have yet to find a way to prevent the inference that those who do participate are slaves to the marketing machine. "Oh it's just for fun, it's for the children" ? The return implication there being that I am a cheap humbug.
Every transaction we make, every purchase, is a decision that what you are buying, an object or service, is worth more to you than the money in your hand. And we are all free to make these choices. I just can't see spending good money on something I don't think is a valuable goods or service, or experience, in this instance. What would the children learn from that? Because they are learning from everything around them. Every experience, every instance that they observe and are challenged to think they look to their parents, and their friends. They gather information and they use it to make their own decisions tomorrow and next year and ten years from now. I choose to send the message that it is necessary to ask why of everything. Explore the history of things that everyone else simply accepts as commonplace. And choose your course of action based on your own judgment (a valuable thing we all possess, just that some of us have forgotten), not based on what you read in a book, or what some teacher or professor tells you to think so you can pass a standardized test, or that an advertiser or retailer says you need in order to make your children happy.
If we resign ourselves to be fed facts and data, we are more likely to swallow things like mystery holiday origins and mindless consumption of consumer goods.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
buck dums
This just tickled me. One duck bum up is pretty funny, two sharing a bite to eat from the bottom of the lagoon - hysterical.
a glimmer of hope, their former selves?
The kids have not really been themselves lately, and I don't blame them - there is a lot going on here. Tim and I try to keep lots of fun things in the schedule for them. We went hiking yesterday with friends, and next week we'll go to Mt Vernon, and have some friends over to play later in the week. But there is no substitute for good old fashioned family reading time. (think: little house style, sans camp fire and fiddle)
Gorgeous weather here yesterday brought us out on the deck for a few hours after our hike. In between the non-characteristic bickering, we got these pictures of the kids.
Here, Simon has a children's book of katakana, and Mia has the hiragana book. Two different Japanese alphabets are used together, but for different categories of speech and writing. I think the katakana is used for slang, and scientific terms, and maybe something else. The hiragana is much simpler and learned first by Japanese school children. Simon knows that the hiragana is easier so that's why he let Mia use that one. Chas has the best command of the kana (symbols) at this point, Simon isn't far behind, and Mia is just concentrating on the phrases and vocabulary.
Yes, Chas is really reading the WSJ. The front story was something about the yen/dollar and the Japanese economy. He read the title, but without a decent explanation from his economically challenged mother, he quickly moved on. I think Tim managed a better explanation, but I am not sure if Chas understood or not.
In other news, we had one shipment of essentials (haha) go out last Wednesday. Believe it or not we were ready about 24 hours ahead of schedule. We had moved about 95% of the stuff into the front room, closest to the door, so the movers were here and gone in less than two hours. They used these giant tri-walled boxes, 5 of them, and then fitted those into larger standard crates. The kids were thrilled to see the size of the boxes. We promised them that they could have them for forts when they are unpacked. It is my understanding that they will go by truck over to California and then be flown to Okinawa. We will take delivery as soon as we have our permanent home, be it on or off base. Our last call to the housing office in Okinawa revealed a zero to 2 months wait for housing.
We now have less than 2 weeks until our next shipment goes, which will take about 2 months, and will go by boat from California. There are less than three weeks till we turn in our keys here and begin traveling to see family.
Gorgeous weather here yesterday brought us out on the deck for a few hours after our hike. In between the non-characteristic bickering, we got these pictures of the kids.
Here, Simon has a children's book of katakana, and Mia has the hiragana book. Two different Japanese alphabets are used together, but for different categories of speech and writing. I think the katakana is used for slang, and scientific terms, and maybe something else. The hiragana is much simpler and learned first by Japanese school children. Simon knows that the hiragana is easier so that's why he let Mia use that one. Chas has the best command of the kana (symbols) at this point, Simon isn't far behind, and Mia is just concentrating on the phrases and vocabulary.
Yes, Chas is really reading the WSJ. The front story was something about the yen/dollar and the Japanese economy. He read the title, but without a decent explanation from his economically challenged mother, he quickly moved on. I think Tim managed a better explanation, but I am not sure if Chas understood or not.In other news, we had one shipment of essentials (haha) go out last Wednesday. Believe it or not we were ready about 24 hours ahead of schedule. We had moved about 95% of the stuff into the front room, closest to the door, so the movers were here and gone in less than two hours. They used these giant tri-walled boxes, 5 of them, and then fitted those into larger standard crates. The kids were thrilled to see the size of the boxes. We promised them that they could have them for forts when they are unpacked. It is my understanding that they will go by truck over to California and then be flown to Okinawa. We will take delivery as soon as we have our permanent home, be it on or off base. Our last call to the housing office in Okinawa revealed a zero to 2 months wait for housing.
We now have less than 2 weeks until our next shipment goes, which will take about 2 months, and will go by boat from California. There are less than three weeks till we turn in our keys here and begin traveling to see family.
Friday, March 07, 2008
food, shelter, and love
"Mia? Do you know why you are in timeout?"
"It's just that I didn't see my foot heading towards Charlie's transformer, and then I didn't see my foot heading toward his head."
She's really a sweet girl. She just fixed me a cup of (pretend) tea, and earlier after unloading the dryer, she stated that she was "just going to sit down and fold this basket of clothes." And she did, about three pieces of it, anyway- including a blouse of mine which she buttoned up (inside out, but I am not complaining) from neck to hem, all the buttons lined up exactly.
Good news about our 8 hour layover in LAX - there is a USO there. A pretty big one actually, right in the airport, and open 24 hours! They serve complimentary meals, snacks, and drinks, bathrooms with showers, internet, video game systems, recliners and couches, wide screen televisions, current and classic movies, children's playroom with napping cots/cribs, and complementary "essential" items in case of lost luggage (or in our case, I am not sure if the airline will give us back our luggage for the night, only to check it back in again, we would want to shower, brush teeth, whatever.)
Reminds me of this bit about those handy airline "essentials kits" from stand-up comedian Brian Reagan (the joke is about 2:15 into the clip here...)
"It's just that I didn't see my foot heading towards Charlie's transformer, and then I didn't see my foot heading toward his head."
She's really a sweet girl. She just fixed me a cup of (pretend) tea, and earlier after unloading the dryer, she stated that she was "just going to sit down and fold this basket of clothes." And she did, about three pieces of it, anyway- including a blouse of mine which she buttoned up (inside out, but I am not complaining) from neck to hem, all the buttons lined up exactly.
Good news about our 8 hour layover in LAX - there is a USO there. A pretty big one actually, right in the airport, and open 24 hours! They serve complimentary meals, snacks, and drinks, bathrooms with showers, internet, video game systems, recliners and couches, wide screen televisions, current and classic movies, children's playroom with napping cots/cribs, and complementary "essential" items in case of lost luggage (or in our case, I am not sure if the airline will give us back our luggage for the night, only to check it back in again, we would want to shower, brush teeth, whatever.)
Reminds me of this bit about those handy airline "essentials kits" from stand-up comedian Brian Reagan (the joke is about 2:15 into the clip here...)
Thursday, March 06, 2008
med clearances close to completion; lockdown lifted...
All four of us, the kids and I, had to get vaccinations today. I was convinced that the clinic was missing records, I just know I had all of the kids vaccinated on time. Turns out there are new regulations put in place since Chas and Mia had their's done, and I still have no explanation as to why Simon was missing some - he was just in for a well child visit, with shots, last month.
It took them a while to get it all set up, they wanted to be damn sure they had every shot ready to go and lined up in the trays, etc. It was like an assembly line. Mia volunteered to go first, while Simon was frantically shaking his head no, no, no, and trying to get away, and Chas broke down in tears before anyone even touched them. Mia screamed, of course, well, she laughed first, I guess it tickled when they swiped the site with alcohol. The looks on their faces are priceless, hers was disbelief that such a pain could ever exist, or maybe it was disbelief that I would allow anyone to ever hurt her that much. Simon's expression was more of resolution of futility, although he fought us the whole time, kicked the tech at least five times, and when he finally surfaced, was missing a shoe! The techs commented that he was the strongest five year old they had ever seen. Chas, I held between my legs wrapping my arms around him; he's old enough to get shot in the arm now. Needless to say I am so glad that it's over. And of course, we treated them all to 7-11 slurpees, as promised. This nearly completes a big to-do list item for us. We are counting the days, something like 4 weeks till we vacate our rental house, and 40 days till our flight out.
In other news, the lock down on Okinawa has been lifted. The only restriction in place now is for servicemembers, not civilians and family, and it is a simple curfew from 10pm to 5am, with an additional 'no alcohol off base except in private homes'. The government is still not convinced that the Americans have learned anything, and they are, of course, calling the lockdown a 'show'. JapanUpdate has some brief articles reporting the local sentiments.
It took them a while to get it all set up, they wanted to be damn sure they had every shot ready to go and lined up in the trays, etc. It was like an assembly line. Mia volunteered to go first, while Simon was frantically shaking his head no, no, no, and trying to get away, and Chas broke down in tears before anyone even touched them. Mia screamed, of course, well, she laughed first, I guess it tickled when they swiped the site with alcohol. The looks on their faces are priceless, hers was disbelief that such a pain could ever exist, or maybe it was disbelief that I would allow anyone to ever hurt her that much. Simon's expression was more of resolution of futility, although he fought us the whole time, kicked the tech at least five times, and when he finally surfaced, was missing a shoe! The techs commented that he was the strongest five year old they had ever seen. Chas, I held between my legs wrapping my arms around him; he's old enough to get shot in the arm now. Needless to say I am so glad that it's over. And of course, we treated them all to 7-11 slurpees, as promised. This nearly completes a big to-do list item for us. We are counting the days, something like 4 weeks till we vacate our rental house, and 40 days till our flight out.
In other news, the lock down on Okinawa has been lifted. The only restriction in place now is for servicemembers, not civilians and family, and it is a simple curfew from 10pm to 5am, with an additional 'no alcohol off base except in private homes'. The government is still not convinced that the Americans have learned anything, and they are, of course, calling the lockdown a 'show'. JapanUpdate has some brief articles reporting the local sentiments.
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