Footie

This fall the Millie Girl is lacing up cleats again with the boys soccer team at school. This is MGJ's second autumn playing footie on a largely male dominated team. This year she's a team captain, and one of just three eighth graders on their rather young team of 4th through 8th graders. {EHJ, as noted earlier, was also set to play before breaking her arm.}

In Asia, our opportunities for sport where different than they are in the Midwest. The international school our daughters attended didn't have a gymnasium. They began each school day outside on the soccer pitch with a corporate Tai Qi lesson. {Here they begin with the pledge to the flag.}

In Asia the girls

swam more,
took sailing classes,
MGJ even had a brief stint with riding lessons on Mongolian ponies
and
they played soccer
{on artificial turf at the base of pink limestone mountains ... }

{Here they play on a grass field flanked by a soybean field}

So soccer ... that great global game ... remains the enduring sport that links their Eastern experience to their Midwestern one.

{MGJ scored her team's first and only goal in their first game}

Let the Summer Begin ...

EHJ studies on the porch in the fading days of May

{Summer Holidays officially begin June 1}

For all intents and purposes the girls are done with school. They may have checked out a week or so ago .... with field trips and later bedtimes and all the end of the year activities the classrooms have been buzzing. They had their Field Day today and next Wednesday they will go back for a mere hour to collect their forth quarter report cards. The summer holidays are pretty much here.

MGJ came home with the end of the year pile ... combination locks, half used erasers, tattered notebooks. EHJ skipped off to a friend's house after their early release. Bei Bei had a classmate come home with her after her picnic at the park with her Kindergarten buddies.

It feels like the end of the year snuck up on us. {They are getting out a whole month earlier than their international school counterparts in Asia}. But as MGJ sagely noted, we needed this year to end earlier ... it's been a long slog. The transiton has gone relatively well, they have friends and have found their groove ... But summer has sometimes seemed a long way off, and now that it is here we are going to dig our bare toes into the green grass and live it up.

Happy long weekend, everyone!

Cheers,

Pepero Day

Last Thursday I sat down to the computer to write about Pepero Day.

And then, of course, I realized it was also Veterans day, and I thought better of pounding out a post based on a trival holiday that emphasizes biscuits, when in other parts of the world people were thinking more somber thoughts... Except possibly in Korea*, where they were busy selling out to consumerism and buying up Pepero brand biscuit sticks to share with their friends.

In a nutshell, Pepero is a holiday created, most suspect, by the makers of this product, though Lotte (the manufacturer) denies it. Whatever the case, someone cleverly realized that their sweet sticks look like the "one" digit, and they could play up on this fact on that calendar day that reads 11/11 (think of what fun they will have NEXT year!) And, it's somewhat suspect that, according to the Wall Street Journal (in 2006), in the two months leading up to 11/11, Lotte sells two- thirds of it's annual total of these pretzelish snacks.

Our big girls got in on this holiday via several thoughtful Korean classmates who gifted them with a full box of Pepero each. However, in Bei Bei's class sweeties and lollies are not allowed. (I LOVE that she is content to take a healthy snack every single day, and that there is no cause for concern about what anybody else is snacking on because they all have to bring in something nutriuious.) However, I also see the value in a supervised sweet snack at home sometimes, and we made a pit stop on the way home from the bus to pick up a pack of Japanese Pocky for her to munch on whilst her jie jie men dined on the Korean branded product.

* It's important to note that Korea has several days on it's own calendar to honor their military heros.

May 6th Korean Memorial Day : The day commemorates men and women who died while in military service or independence movement. It was originated from the traditional customs of Mangzhong, one of the 24 solar terms. On this day, national commemorating ceremony is held in National Cemetery.

October 1st Armed Forces Day : The day recognizes, venerates, and honors military forces of the Republic of Korea. In 1950, during the Korean War, South Korean Forces broke through the 38th parallel on October 1.

Source:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_holidays_does_South_Korea_celebrate

for more on Pepero See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepero

Too Cool for School

All summer long, while the girls and I were galavanting around North America (and Mr Johnson was slaving away at his desk job in an un-airconditioned office in Qingdao or traveling on a crowded train to remote parts of the Orient visiting suppliers) I had in my mind that the first day of school was Thursday, the 19th of August.

Our return tickets where scheduled for the 18th, meaning I knew The Three would most likely miss the first day of school due to jet-lag and our late arrival the night before into Qingdao. I held strongly to this belief... my created first day of school ... even as I reluctantly allowed MGJ to go to school (albeit late) on what I continued to believe was the first day.

But guess what? School started on the 18th. Which can only mean one thing. These girlies are way too cool for school. They subscribe to the "casually late" camp. They didn't make it to the first day. And on the second day... we called a PJ day (except for my eldest... who likes to keep up appearances.)

So, in this belated fashion, here are some pics from the 'first-ish' day of school for the Johnson girlies.

A side note:

I'll give you a topic: School Uniforms

Discuss...

I have a love/hate relationship with them. They make for easy mornings (no hassle finding or arguing about clothes), but let's be honest... they kind of lack spunk. (And if you think these are bad... you should check out their Winter Uniform Kits!)

Of course, as goes for most things in life (from Crocs to school uniforms) they are exponentially cuter in the smallest sizes.)

MGJ has just graduated to secondary school which in terms of school uniform attire = the culotte. When I googled the culotte, I found that this divided skirt was at the height of fashion in the 1960s, and then reappeared again in the 1990s. Which of course offers little consolation to my tweenager who is required to wear the divided skirt aka skort aka culotte for the duration of her tenure in secondary school in this decade.

Last Week

So last week,

While a four-star brigadier general's career came to an abrupt end because of words in an article ...

and

While the once-most-popular-ever Australian PM, stepped down because he decidedly no longer so ...

Over here in our corner of the world, Mr Johnson and I were sitting on rented chairs, bedecked with skirts and bows (customary fashion in China when at a banquet or ceremony), at our daughters’ International school award ceremony.

The school body sang the school hymn. E's group played their violins. MGJ donned a motorboard and gown to mark her transition from primary to secondary, and walked across the stage. (It dawned on me that that was the moment I thought of when we named her, how it would sound in an auditorium full of people, and for the record it sounded lovely!)

We applauded E for her award for academic excellence for her age bracket, but are prouder simply of the way she loves to learn. (Not just that she’s particularly good at it.)

We applauded MGJ for her Chinese Language award. And we cheered loudest when she stretched out her hand to her teacher, and her educator instead reached out with a hug.

As General McChrystal and Mr Rudd learned the very hard way last week, status and power are not always what they are cracked up to be.

But working diligently, with the goal in sight, being kind along the way, and remaining humble can bring you a long way.

Relationships. People. Lifelong learning. These are the goals we hope for for our girls. And they are well on their way.

The First Day of Summer

It's the first day of summer. At home Little Leagues are more than half way through their seasons. The sweet corn is nearing it's proverbial knee-high height. (Knee high by the 4th of July...) School supplies will soon be creeping back onto the shelves of Wal-Marts and Targets across the nation. And my girlies are STILL IN SCHOOL. It's the first night of summer, and its a school night!!

Throwing caution to the wind we went out for supper on a school night. We caught the bus. We ate burgers and drank bubble tea @ our favorite spot @ the Marina (just east of the long row of international flags.) We toasted the first night of summer dining alfresco under the dimming rays of the dipping sun and the pearly brightness of a half moon.

The pics snapped on my mobile phone really don't do the night justice. On the other hand, when you're breakin' the rules, its best not to have crisp documentation!

Bei Bei's Sport's Day