2014 Summer Trip to Japan

We stayed in Japan over five weeks and had many exciting events in this summer.  Every single one of us got sick and some of us (mommy and Isaac) needed to see a doctor.  Although daddy and Luke did not have to go to a hospital, Luke had 103F temperature.  Isaac ended up having IV and had to miss the first couple of days for the elementary school he attended in the area.  Yes.  Isaac has attended in the local elementary school for over 3 weeks in Japan!  He has spent time with Japanese 1st-graders taught by a Japanese teacher in Japanese.  He did everything what those kids have to do, such as eating the school lunch; attending PE classes, which were somewhat different from American's; cleaning the class room before going home; going to/from the school by himself by walking; playing with his friends in a park near my parents' house with only occasional supervision.  Although his Japanese writing/reading skills were at the 6 year old level or higher, he did not have adequate conversational experiences.  Initially, he did not understand what teacher was saying and many of his friends were saying, but he picked up some at the end.  He suffered in some degree, but ended up having some friends and fun with them.  We are glad that Isaac's experience was meaningful.  Luke made some progress in his speech was spoiled by his grandparents while staying in Japan.  Luke also had a Japanese quality professional haircut!  Mommy took some Japanese classes while staying there. Daddy attended in the World Occupational Therapy Conference in Yokohama and met with some professors and classmates from SMU.  We were satisfied with Japanese restaurants that were good and chap.  Ramen and Sushi are our favorite.