Ocean’s grade 5 class performed in a concert on Friday as part of the Osaka International School music program. I put together this video and included a couple of visual art pieces of Ocean also. She really excels in both the performing and visual arts. It was a bit sad that this is the last year of elementary for her and for us as a family as our children grow. Next year we will have two middle schoolers and one high school and none in the elementary for the first time since 2005. A long time…
Category: Family Journal
An archive of our family’s daily life.
Owen Makes it to Homeroom On Time
https://www.flickr.com/photos/billkralovec/45605805962/in/dateposted/
One of the nice aspects of working at a school that your children attend is the opportunity to see them occasionally throughout the day. I caught Owen on video this week, hurrying to make it to homeroom on time in the morning. He is in full growth mode and struggles with his sleep patterns, staying up late and fighting to get out of bed in the mornings.
Cycling with Oliver
I’ve been trying to get out into nature every Sunday to recharge my batteries. Two weekends ago, I rode with Oliver on a loop outside of the town of Kameoka in the Kyoto prefecture. We drove 30 minutes to the town of Toyono and did a 25-kilometer loop along forested rolling hills and rice paddies. An absolutely heavenly afternoon for me, and despite his complaints through much of the ride, in the end, Oliver enjoyed it too!
There are so many great cycling routes in Japan. Drivers are very safe and much of the countryside is depopulating rapidly which makes for really good cycling. I love riding and hope to do as much as I can over the next 8 months I am here.
Oliver and I found a really nice spot for lunch. In between rice fields, a small shinto shrine was nestled between hills. The large sugi trees which are a characteristic of any temple or shrine provided shade and a quiet place to eat and talk.
There were some decent slopes and Oliver complained going up them, but towards the end of the loop back to our car, we had a very long descent through the forest that he loved. We saw many downed trees from the recent typhoon that came through here last month. Oliver doesn’t like cycling too much, but he was nice to humor me and come along.
A perfect afternoon that I wish could have lasted forever!
Halloween 2018
Halloween is widely celebrated in Japan. One sees all sorts of Halloween-related products for sale and people dress up. The modern customs of trick-or-treating and costumes are one of the gifts America has given to the world. Everyone enjoys dressing up, focusing on being scared and walking around collecting candy.
Our neighborhood, Onohara, annually organizes a Halloween festival. There are booths run by high school students at the school and families volunteer to open their homes to trick-or-treating, which is not regularly practiced here. Japanese culture is super organized and so families had to sign up their children in August. Participants are given tickets and a map to where the homes are located. It costs money to join and the neighborhood association gives candy to the homes. We supplemented our candy supply with American candy from Costco. We decorated the steps and entryway to our house and played Halloween-themed music. Many of the neighborhood children did not know trick-or-treating etiquette and had limited English so we did our best to explain to them how it works. The international school students, especially the elementary students loved seeing “Ms. Nadia” passing out candy. So many of the children were very cute and it was pleasurable to see their excitement.
Oliver dressed up as a dinosaur. We bought a blow-up costume that was hilarious and a hit with everyone. We didn’t manage to save any of the photos, however, due to storage issues on our phones. I hope to get one.
Ocean and three of her friends used umbrellas, lights and colored streamers to dress as jellyfish, which is very appropriate for seafood-loving Japan. They were massively popular with other trick-or-treaters and posed for many photos.
We finished the night with a dinner party at a friend’s house. The weather was perfect and it was a delightful evening.
The Kralovec Family is Moving
I would like to let all of our family and friends know that we will be leaving Japan in July 2019 for Uzbekistan. I will be taking over as director of the Tashkent International School. We are sad to be leaving Osaka but excited for our next adventure. Many of you may have never heard of Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Nadia and I traveled there last month and found it similar to Sofia, Bulgaria, a mix between Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is an excellent IB World School and the city is safe and seems to be a pleasant and fascinating place to live. Below are some articles about the country and a photo gallery from our visit.
“Uzbekistan: The most fascinating country you’ve never been to” The Telegraph
“8 Reasons to Go to Uzbekistan” The Independent
Autumn Cycling with Owen
Sunday afternoon Owen and I went for a bike ride up in the forested hills north of our suburb of Minoh. I just love cycling and going with my son combined with the scenery, it made for such a pleasurable afternoon. Many of the farmers we passed were harvesting rice, one of the many signs of autumn. Most of the rice fields near us our small and farmers use a harvester that looks like a riding lawnmower. You can smell the rice grains as you are riding by the fields.
We drove 30 minutes up to the village of Ooiwa and parked at a temple parking lot. We rode 10 kilometers north and turned around. There was a good mix of forests, fields, deep valleys and rolling hills. I want to ride all the way to Kameoka, a city just outside of Kyoto, which is about 40 kilometers away.
Sports Day is a National Holiday in Japan
(Oliver runs a leg in the relay race at our school.)
I love sports and being active so thoroughly enjoy the unique Japanese national holiday, Sports Day (undoo kai – field day). The government started field day in 1966 being inspired by hosting the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. They wanted to promote an active lifestyle and chose mid-October when the weather is mostly sunny and cool. It is traditional on this day for schools to host relay races, tug-of-war, and other sports. Students and parents eagerly await the day and it is the biggest crowd of parents we get at any school event, except for perhaps the International Fair.
The Japanese students take this very seriously and have extensive practices for the day. Our school does a range of events including ultimate frisbee, dodgeball and even a dance performance. The different grade levels for teams and winning the overall competition is big deal.
The elementary school students also participate but in non-competitive games. Ocean liked the swimming portion of the day but was not so excited about the field events.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day with bright blue sunny skies, although it got a little hot in the afternoon. It was our last Sports Day in Japan and I tried to get the most of the day.
Hiking with Ocean
Ocean and I had a delightful afternoon hike around the Minogawa Reservoir yesterday. With the boys out of the house with friends and Nadia still not feeling well, it gave me the perfect conditions for an afternoon with my daughter.
I had to drag her out, but by the end of the walk, I think she was enjoying it. The hike took about 90 minutes and it was not too strenuous. The weather in October in Osaka is ideal for being outside. It is so nice to have such a large wilderness area on our doorstep. Walking and talking while being surrounded by tall trees and lovely ferns is so very peaceful and recharges my batteries and clears my mind.
I now know where to consistently find Japanese macaques in the park. Once again, they were near the reservoir.
Ocean’s Elementary Soccer Team
It was my final Falcon Cup as a father yesterday! Ocean is in grade 5 and she will be in middle school next year. The Falcon Cup is the annual elementary soccer tournament held at Canadian Academy on Rokko Island. I love coaching young people and it was such a delightful day in the autumn sun. Coaching the elementary soccer teams also gives me an excuse to spend more time with Ocean. Her team lost a tough game, 0-1 but then came back to win 4-0 in the second game. In the elimination round, they lost 2-3 to the top OIS team.
Ocean is a pretty good athlete. She is tall, slender and coordinated with pretty good strength and speed. She does lack a bit of aggressiveness, I think because she has such an empathetic and level-headed nature to her. You can see from the video highlights that she is active and contributes to her team.
Even though we did not win any trophies yesterday, all 5 of our teams won at least one game and most importantly, the kids enjoyed a day of exercise, teamwork and experiencing the ups and downs of winning and losing.
I would like to thank CA athletic director Sim Cook for hosting the tournament and my coaching partner, Trevor Jones, for his work with the students and being such a good guy.
Family Journal: September 16, 2018
Most municipalities in Japan have distinctive manhole covers, usually featuring characteristics of the area. We live in Minoh and the famous waterfall and maple leaves are portrayed. Often they are also colored and it shows the attention to detail that public spaces receive from city officials. I know several expats that collected photos of the covers from the different towns they visited.
I continue to cycle often in the morning. This is at the top of the suburb of Saito Nishi. A new highway can be seen in the distance just under the cloud-shrouded hills of the Minoh Quasi-National Park.
Yesterday I devoted to Oliver and we had a good time together. We went on a bike ride around Expo Park, did some errands in town and went for a short hike in the hills. With three children, I find myself spending more time with Owen because our interests are similar but I am trying to make time for Oliver and Ocean, too.
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