SCVJCC POPS has restarted!

Yay! The bi-weekly Parents of Preschoolers (POPS) group at SCVJCC has started again. Juhee and I had a great time catching up with the Japanese moms and kids who came last session and meeting a couple of new people too.

As always, the program was packed with fun. There was a cool blue apron which one of the volunteer moms very fashionably wore while the teacher (lady in white) narrated the story. This apron turned out to be the sea, the setting for the story of Noah's Ark! The Ark and other bits and pieces like the land that appears later had velcro on them so they would stick to the apron. There were also lots of animals which the kids got to put into the ark themselves. Juhee finally went and got one but then brought it back to me instead of putting it in the ark so I had to redirect her. ;)

In line with the Noah's Ark theme, the craft that day was drawing a rainbow or playing outside with boats in tubs of water. It was a very hot day and Juhee loved playing with the boats as well as on the slide and other toys there. At one point, she was playing inside with the kitchen play set and train set and the other kids started talking to her in Japanese. One girl in particular who was a couple of years older just chatted away and Juhee actually seemed like she was trying to understand and learn! They played well together and as usual, Juhee didn't want to leave.

It was fun for me to practice my Japanese. Some of the moms know now that Juhee and I attend so we can practice our Japanese in preparation for our move to Japan so deliberately ask me easy questions in Japanese. One of the questions they asked was how old Juhee is. I answered that she's twenty one months but I didn't say the 'one' part right (said nijyuichi instead of nijyui-). Instead of telling me that I'm wrong or laughing at me they very kindly just repeated my answer ("Oh~ she's 21 months") but said it correctly. =) I got that one wrong when Juhee was eleven months old while we were in Japan for our vision trip last year too. Oops! ;P

As well as attending POPs every other Tuesday, I'll also be babysitting for them on Fridays during October for their cooking classes and English conversation classes for moms. We've changed Juhee's school schedule so she can come with me and practice her Japanese too. =DDD

God's provided us with such an amazing opportunity to make friends and experience ways of doing Japanese-style, culturally appropriate outreach programs during our time here. Juhee and I look forward to making more friends and learning lots more too! =)