Australia: Sawyer cuts his hair, May 2012

Saywer had long hair.   Last year while in the USA, when Sawyer went a barber to get his hair cut, he heard that he could donate his hair to a cancer patient.  But at the time, his hair was just a little too short to be donate-able.   So he decided to wait one more year to cut his hair, so as to donate his hair.

So this year when we went to Australia, Sawyer decided to cut his hair, and donate it.     The hairdresser carefully followed the instructions from a donation website (bundle the locks of hair; tie them off, then cut).

I encouraged Sawyer to cut his hair.   But actually, when I witnessed his hair being chopped off, somehow it made me cry!  (Sawyer, didn't cry, though.)

                             We mailed the hair to the foundation who makes wigs for cancer patients. 
                                  Sawyer said "My head is cold!" So we went out and bought a cap.

                           

Grandpa's boarding school ロジャーのお父さんの寄宿学校

Roger's father grew up in India.   He went to a boarding school in the Himalayas when he was 7, and when he was 14 he and his family emigrated to the USA.
ロジャーのお父さんは、インド人です。インドに住んでいたとき、７歳から全寮制の寄宿学校で勉強しました。１４歳のときに、家族とともにアメリカへ移住したのです。
Last week we had an Spiritual Life Camp at a Christian retreat center near that boarding school.   After it ended, we took our children up a steep & curvy taxi ride in the mountains to visit Grandpa's boading school, Sherwood College.
先週、修養会はその寄宿学校の近くでした。くねくねした山道をタクシーに乗って、子供たちとその寄宿学校を訪ねました。
This is the gate of the boarding school: 
寄宿学校の門で。

Then we met the "Senior Headmaster" who is like the Vice Principal, who welcomed us & showed us around.
教頭先生が時間をとって、学校を案内してくださいました。

We went to the History room, where we found the register entry of Roger's father's admission in 1947, the year of India's Independence from the British.  Notice lines F.50 and F.51, which are Roger's father Robert and his twin brother Richard.
ロジャーのお父さんの入学が記録されたノートを見せてくれました。５１番は、ロジャーのお父さんの名前。そして、その上の５０番は、ロジャーのお父さんの双子のお兄さんの名前です。１９４７年、インドの独立の年です。

We took a family photo with a notebook (the Admissions Register) that is older than any of us!
その記録と一緒に記念写真。


Here's a view from the main building, looking at the roofs of where his dorm was.
これは、寮を見下ろした光景。

Right middle is the chapel where he used to sing in the choir.  On the right is the classroom building.
ロジャーのお父さんが聖歌隊で歌った、チャペル。

 Inside of chapel.   Roger's father may have sat in the same chairs 65 years ago.
チャペルの中。ロジャーのお父さんが６５年前に座ったいす。

Then we drove 15 min down to where the lake is.   Roger's father used to march down with other students to buy cakes, snacks and watch movies.
We went to a crowded market at The Flats (site of the cinema hall) and ate Tibetan steamed momos (pot stickers).
１５分ほど、寄宿舎から山を降りていくと、湖があります。そこの、マーケットでロジャーのお父さんは、週末にでかけ、スナックなどを買ったそうです。マーケットで、蒸し餃子をたべました。

Meena ate the aloo paratha (Indian bread stuffed with potatoes).　美奈は、ジャガイモがはさまっているインドのパンを食べました。

Then we found a cake man, in the same way Roger's father has described from his memory: a man wearing an Indian hat, selling slices of cake out of a tin trunk. We all screamed, "It's the Cake Man!" 

ロジャーのお父さんから聞いていた、ケーキマン　（インドの帽子をかぶり、アルミのスーツケースに入ったケーキを売っている人）を見つけました。

We had to taste (we ate Coconut Macaroons, though Roger's dad would have ordered a Cream Horn or Chocolate Eclair).  We thought this man might be a son of the cake man that Roger's father used to know.

このケーキマンは、ロジャーのお父さんがケーキを買った人の息子かも？

Savoring the pastry.

The lake must be the same view with what their granpa must have seen.

湖の風景は６５年後も変わりません。

子供たちとともに、おじいちゃんの歴史をたどる、有意義な一日でした。
                               We are so proud to have heritage so rich.   We love you, Grandpa!

Autralia: Meena's pie face, May 2012

The first day in Australia, as we drove from Sydney to Newcastle, we stopped at a famous restaurant at the top of a hill in a forest, "Pie in the Sky."   There Meena had her first bite of meat pie.   Since then, she has changed forever:  She fell in love with meat pie.


オーストラリアでの第１日目。ミートパイを初めて食べました。それ以来、ミートパイは美奈の大好物となりました。

There is food chain called "pie face".  Whenever she got a chance, she ate a pie.
オーストラリアにはPIE　FACEと言う、パイの専門店があります。機会があるたびに、美奈はミートパイを食べました。

ミートパイを食べると、笑顔いっぱいです。
and there would be a smile on her face.

But then who ate MEENA......?
でも、その美奈を食べようとするのは？

Australia: in front of the Opera House, May 2012

Last time I wrote this blog was 2011!   What happened?  Courage Homes happened, and the blogspot stopped.   In fact, I haven't blogged so long that it took me more than five minutes to find my own blog site!    So I decided I will start again.  I cannot catch up all last 6 months, so I will start from Australia trip.

前回、ブログを書いたのは、なんと２０１１年の１２月でした。COURAGE HOMESの開設以来、忙しくてブロクを書いていませんでした。実際、今回ブログを書こうとしたとき、自分のブログサイトが見つけられないような状態でした。過去、６ヶ月間のことを全てブログするのは難しいので、オーストラリアの写真から、はじめます。

Satoshi's poem - The Understander

The Understander

Like a brilliant sunbeam you flash
In and then out
A sunbeam into a gray box and then out
A gray box under the stormy night sky
A gray box shattered into a million sparkling shards of color
And out of the shards a seed sprouts
And from the sprout comes a sapling
And from the sapling emerges an Oak
An Oak tree strong and weathered by many storms
With deep roots and long branches that offer shade and shelter to all who receive it
Then in a brilliant flash all of this ends
But it is not the end but the beginning
The beginning of a wonderful eternity
With Him the creator of All
Who has no end or beginning
The understander

by Satoshi who can create because of Him

Monkey electrocuted

We have a few families of monkeys outside of our house.   Sometimes they sit in our balcony.  (But they didn't write those words on our window!  That was Sawyer and Meena.)

We also have a tall electric transformer in front of our house.   One day as I was sitting with all three chidlren enjoying snacks and lemonade and hearing about their day at school, suddenly we heard an explosive sound like a bamb, and saw a flash followed by sparks falling out and down like fireworks.   As we rushed to the window, we saw a big monkey falling down, almost like slow motion, to the ground.  

We had just witnessed the monkey being electrocuted.   

There were other monkeys in the trees nearby, and they all froze for a few seconds and then began to scream in panic.  We also felt a bit panicky.   They looked down at the monkey lying still on the ground and walked around, agitated, though they did not go near it. They did not know what to do, and neither did we.   Our children were traumatized.

Then I saw the monkey twiching its body.   A few minutes later, it sat up.  Some time after that, it somehow went away.    Hopefully, he learned a lesson!

家の周りに、サルの家族が住んでます。ある日、子供たちとお菓子を食べながら、学校の話をしているときに、いきなりバン！と大きな音、また、花火のような光が見えました。そして、お猿さんが、高い電灯から落ちていくのが見えました。お猿さんが電灯に登り、感電したのです。ほかのお猿さんたちは心配してパニック状態になっていました。子供たちも、お猿さんが、家の目の前で死んだのではと、パニック状態です。けれども、数分後、道でぐったりと倒れていたお猿さん。起き上がり、どっかへ行ってしまいまい、ほっとしました。電灯は、もう上らないでね。

Hiroko's watercolor - I know who you'll become

Each drop of rain carries a message from God:

I know you

I created you

I see you

I hear you

I know who you will become

You will become an "oak of righteousness"

上から落ちてくる雨の雫

一つ一つが神様からのメッセージ

あなたのこと全部知っているよ

私があなたの創造主

あなたを見ているよ

あなたの声　聞こえるよ

あなたは大きな木になるんだよ