Japanese-English vocabulary game

To salvage what’s left of the babe’s Japanese language skills that is heavily overshadowed with English lately, I concocted a little game while we are stuck in morning traffic on her way to school. The game is so simple but her reaction to it is very amusing, it is enough to perk me up the whole day!

I start by asking her the English equivalent of words in Nihongo (then vice-versa):

Mom: “What is kuruma?”

P: “Car!”

Mom: What is “isu?”

P: “Chair!”

Mom:” mado?”

P: “window!”

… and some other words I can think of at that moment. She is brilliant to remember most words, to my surprise.

Then, while looking at the glorious blue sky, I asked her, “What is sora?”. Sora is the Japanese word for sky.

She was puzzled, downright problematic that this will be the first word that she can’t answer. My daughter has some tinge of pride with things like this, she won’t accept defeat so she begged.

“Hint, hint, mama!”

We were at the backside of the car and sitting by the window, she on my lap. I pointed to her the skies, my fingertips touching the car window.

She screamed,

P: “I know, sora is dirty car window!”

Our car window (and the entire car body) is very dirty right now because of sporadic rain. Those little raindrops that contain specks of sand made tiny little white dots all over.

Earth’s bounty

Winter bloggy giveaways carnival

Have you heard the buzz? The winter edition of bloggy giveaways carnival is up and running (mad) at Shannon’s Rocks in my Dryer!

It was launched just two days ago and now, there are more than 700 participants. What a massive carnival this will be. There are lots in store too like various gift certificates, books, which I love and some other interesting items. I have been waking up an hour earlier than my usual since it started and have entered in the contests. I hope I win something!

Have you entered too?

she’s getting good at it

We gave our daughter a bicycle on her 4th birthday last month. She was thrilled, it was the one thing she had been asking the whole year! We rarely buy toys, not because we are Scrooge but because she is hardly interested in the trivial things.

At first, she was contented to ride the bike inside our limited living room area (yes biking inside our small apartment, I am not kidding!) but when we started to bring the bike to the park and leave her to ride as likes, it has become almost a daily routine, a weekly carnival!

She has improved a lot that I find it hard to catch her when she’s at full speed. Good exercise for me!

miscellaneous

I work on Saturdays.

Just when most of the working moms shout “hurrah weekend!”, in this globally unsynchronized place where I am an expat mom, work week starts on a Saturday. Schools and other offices including my husband’s start on Sunday. What does that mean to me and my little family?

It means I have to battle the miscellaneous feelings, turning my back as I exit through the door trying to shut my ears amidst the wailing of my daughter to let me stay.

“Don’t work mom!! Stay with me, stay with me”.

Her voice echoes through the corridor week after week. I clench my keys, get on the elevator, frantic to close the thick door.

I try to wake up quietly, sneak out of bed, get dressed but somehow, my daughter knows even in her sleep, opens her eyes and cries like I am going to abandon her permanently. To say it tears my heart to see her face all wet in tears would be an understatement. I eat my breakfast with her face buried in my chest, making my shirt wet with her tears.

When I am at work I think of my child left at home, when I am with her at home (for too long especially when she is sick), I think of work and the face of my boss when he learns I am not in my desk. My heart is forever rent.

This writing exercise is fueled by the writing prompt “miscellaneous” at Sunday Scribblings.

Saturday Contest Roundup #1

CONTEST HOST: The Den of Iniquity

PRIZE: $20 Amazon gift certificate

HOW TO ENTER: (1) Leave a nice comment on the contest post for 1 entry. (2) Write about the contest with a link to the contest post for 2 additional entries!

DEADLINE: Before the night of January 28.

*****

CONTEST HOST: Thompson Outdoor Supply Blog

PRIZE: $25 via Paypal

HOW TO ENTER: Blog about the contest including a link to the contest post and the main blog.

DEADLINE/DRAW: A winner will be announced on February 1st.

*****

CONTEST LINK: Did you see that?

PRIZE: a copy of The Modern Mom’s Guide to Dads by Hogan Hilling and Jesse

HOW TO ENTER: Go to the contest host’s blog and send an email to cpamomva at gmail dot com with the answer of the question: What is the title of Mr. Hilling’s other book?

DEADLINE: January 29th.

*****

CONTEST LINK: Mommy Poppins

PRIZE: a personalized copy of the book The First Adventures of Incredible You valued at $33.

HOW TO ENTER: Leave a comment with your favorite things to do while in New York with kids.

DEADLINE: January 27th

*****

CONTEST LINK: An Island Review

PRIZE: Backyardigans Surf’s Up DVD.

HOW TO ENTER: (1) Leave a comment saying which character is your favorite for 1 entry. (2) Write about the contest in your blog including a link back to the contest post and subscribe to the feeds for additional entries.

DEADLINE: February 1st

Aloha Friday #11

We’re going totally girly today: Do you have a trademark scent? or should I say, do you have a favorite perfume?

I rarely use perfume, but I do like Pleasures by Estee Lauder. I don’t own a bottle, though. I just tried it before and absolutely liked it. I also love The Body Shop’s White Musk, this I have a perfume and a body lotion set.

*****

Aloha Friday is a weekly posting all in the spirit of fun and relaxation. No heavy, brain-stormed posts, just ask a simple question for readers to answer in the comments. Visit the Aloha Friday HQ @ An Island Life.

British in the morning, American at night

Pristine is enrolled in the nearby international school that is following the British curriculum. Her class teacher has a heavy British accent which the kids mimic her without effort. As soon as Pristine arrives from school, she talks like someone we don’t know! Instead of curling the tongue whenever an ‘r’ is pronounced in the word as in the American English we use at home, words such as door, here, are, hair, butter, etc sounds different when spoken from her mouth. The ‘r’ sound seems to be missing at the end.

It’s awesome to hear her like Hermione Granger talking in the Harry Potter films!

My non-Brit mom takes care of my daughter after her classes so they spend the whole afternoon talking and singing so the little girl’s pronunciation transforms back to the usual at the end of the day. It’s amusing.

What’s on my head?

not the typical winter I expected

It’s another cold morning for us here today. This is our second ‘winter’ but I feel that this year is exceptionally cold. I mean, it should not be like this! Cool mornings at 20C are acceptable but not below that!

Just like any other winter victims, we are finding it hard to wake up everyday. The babe starts school at 8 am and we have to leave the house at 7:20 so computing backwards and including the waking up, cuddling, a little playing on the bed, staring at blank walls, toilet, breakfast and putting clothes on, we really need to wake up at 6 am. But how hard can it be? At 6:30, it is still dark outside and the bed looks so inviting. I always ask myself “is it not Friday yet?”.