Jack's Day!

Taken at an Indian restaurant around 10pm - the time we finally got to Exeter, England. Mango lassi was a big hit.
Jack's preschool officially ended last Friday, closing with a special excursion to that great park with the tunnel-slides built into a hillside. It was Jack's first roadtrip complete with lunch.

Madame Lawrence.

"Pedibus" are organized walks to and from school, where children hold hands and are guided by volunteer parents. A recent promotion to support getting around by foot and cutback on car traffic, Jack's preschool went pedibus-fashion to his outing.

Jack is more seamlessly blending French and English, counting to 10, singing Happy Birthday, asking, "sava?" ("how are you?"), and telling you, "attendre!" (stop! wait!)". He couldn't do the animal sounds in preschool (quack & moo apparently have their national dialects), but he had a blast anyway. We note that his early scrawl progressed to more intentional wiggles and curves.

The Move

The move to Westlake Village, CA was squeezed between England and Michael's final school parade. I flew to LA to move our stuff out of storage and finalize the next rental, before we all fly back in 6 weeks.

Definitely our biggest online purchase to date, it was the only place that came with furniture, so we signed. Turned out to be an exclusive neighborhood - "celebrities live here," so the realtor said - so we are moving in and up. CEO-types were jogging on Sunday in what appeared to be a non-trick-or-treating neighborhood, if you know what I mean.
It was a quick trip, but visited with the Kwongs, Uncle Tom, and Matthew, who has been helping us with every transition since moving to LA 4 years ago. Since then, we cleared out my mom's house and soon after Carolyn's dad sold the family home back in Illinois; both events yielding more "stuff."

I unwrapped gifts I gave to my folks long ago, and unloaded the chest my dad shipped after my parents left Tanami, a fishing village on the Kii peninsula of the main island (Honshu), where most early Japanese immigrants hailed from, landing (with their cargo) on the West Coast, to resume a familiar livelihood of fishing, cannery work (Terminal Island, San Pedro housed a large J-A community).

My grandparents ran a tiny general store in the village, which probably explained why my parents ran little stores in LA. My mother actually disliked fish; an early sign of her not-running-with-the crowd profile. A Japanese who didn't like fish?

The buildings and community of Terminal Island are long gone; only items like my parents' chest remains. Throw out? Keep? A small bookcase my brother made in 7th grade woodshop fared well, by comparison, finding new life as a shelf for Michael and Jack's toy store goods.

Stewart & Matt hard at it. Initially a Craigslist contact, Matt has become a real friend in our SoCal life, representing the large pool of actors, etc in LA looking for other supplemental work.
Timing is everything. I was able to celebrate Zachary's 18th birthday and graduation. Luke and Katherine below, who introduced me to
PinkBerry, an upcoming, frozen yogurt vendor in LA.

Refreshing, hip, and tasty all at once.

Westlake will be our first long-term rental, as the prior 3 involved housesitting for other Pepperdine profs who were completing their own International Program gigs.

Beautiful days now in Switzerland, as we gear-up for Michael's last week of school. After that, we head for Italy for 2 weeks, returning here for 9 days before returning home. I am already experiencing blogging-from-LA anxiety.

Fete de Bois

Michael had his big day - the Fete de Bois - a 60 year tradition in which all kindergarten classes (two years) of Lausanne march in a parade from the upper Montbenon park down to Milan Park, complete with marching bands, a clown, and proud parents of the city looking on.
Each class adopted a theme and costume, then processed in alphabetical order by school.

Michael's school - Montriond - adopted a Chinese theme, marking the Beijing Olympics. We wondered what was going on when Michael told us sometime ago, "I get to wear a long braid and a dragon."

Carolyn got some ideas for Halloween costumes.

Through the tunnel by the train station.

When Michael's class passed his school, dozens of older children began shouting, "MONTRIOND! MONTRIOND!" Then they entered Milan Park, which had been set up with free carnival rides and food for a private party of 5 & 6 yr olds until evening.

Got outfitted in the classroom first.

Michael's cahiers (notebook). These are "home jobs" - you buy a simple bound notebook and cover it.

Entries from Michael's cahier over the year:
Entry #1: self-portrait
Christmas
Michael's hook was conveniently next to the door.

Although he sort of dug his heels in French class, we are proud of how he threw himself in a foreign setting all year. I did the same when moving from a Japanese-speaking home to kindergarten in Gardena, CA. Last year, when asked how he knew what to do, he replied, "I just look around and see what everyone else is doing and I do the same thing." Early formation of what sociologists call, a "high context culture."

Not a bad skill to have, but, no more of that.

BRAVO!

England

England was unique in our travels, in that visiting there involved a family tie (ie duty, obligation, but also unmerited acceptance), as Carolyn's uncle (Don) had married an Englishwoman (Leslie), raising a family of 3 in Exeter - a craggy, spectacular landscape near the high moorlands of Devon. The eldest, Naddie, was busy with legal work in Cambridge, but Max & Jake were home.

We flew EasyJet - the super-convenient, air carrier out of Geneva, leaving an unusually wet June behind. You pay a basic fare, then add on menu items: extra bag, speedy boarding, meal, etc. Michael relishes being served refreshments on planes (poor kid was born in the wrong era), and eats with gusto food he normally wouldn't. He declined our breakfast at home that morning, later saying, "I was waiting for the airplane." At take-off and landing, he grabs your hand and announces, "Hold hands!" Our little ritual on the tarmac.
Max & Michael, Jake & Jack in front of Exeter Cathedral, which survived the bombings of WWII (the city's architectural charm was targeted by the Germans). Having grown-up far removed from relatives in Japan, I felt a certain kinship with these adult children who had also lived their lives apart from the rest of the Soule family, save one member: Carolyn (who had visited before).

The English countryside was a lush, often hedged, landscape dotted with manor homes, thatched rooftops, and pubs - where the sides of a narrow two-lane road disappeared into field grass.

Aunt Leslie guided us towards neolithic rock formations (eg Stonehenge) in the high moorlands called Dartmoor,
where wild sheep and ponies ran, oblivious to roads, cars, and us.

Back home, Jack found a guitar and pic. Both boys will be registered for Suzuki (piano and violin) in the fall.

I was never so glad to turn in a rental car. I knew I'd be driving on the left, but hadn't foreseen a reversed steering column and using a stick shift with my LEFT hand. Multiple scrapes. UGH. Then we boarded a train to Paddington Station, London, for 4 days, traversing the children's book settings of Duffy Driver and Thomas the Tank Engine.

LONDON

After the double-deck bus tour... (photo by Michael)
we saw The Sound of Music at the Palladium; it was great for us to see Michael entranced by theater, hanging on every word and note. Both Carolyn's family and my parents really loved American musicals. I always thought it a bizarre form of entertainment, but it did give me a momentary chill being where Judy Garland gave her acclaimed performances.

Pouring over EVERY detail of the program.

The London Eye is a ferris wheel with large pods with half-hour revolutions.

from the Eye

The London Tube (subway) was entertaining and efficient, as we hunted down play equipment for the boys at Hyde Park (site of the Rollling Stones' memorial concert for member Brian Jones, btw).

Men on the whole seemed better dressed - albeit conservatively - than women and I confirm all reports of mediocre British food. It would be a real culinary disaster if not for the more modestly priced self-serve chains that offer fresh salads and sandwiches and drinks for people on the go. There just didn't seem to exist a cultural standard for a great $10-15 street meal. Brits seem to really love their sandwiches; virtually anything ends up between two slices of crustless bread. We did find one pub licensed to serve minors, enjoying our final dinner in their upstairs dining room.

London had all the advantages of a large urban center - great bookstores, toystores, and some of the grand, old retail institutions, like Liberty's, which was running its annual Arts & Crafts Exhibition with Japanese prints. Liberty's was a key importer of textiles and carpets from the Oriental colonies (paisley came from India), and continues to display an exotic array of beautiful fabric and goods in an open-atrium, Tudor structure.
The Movieum was a film exhibition complex, highlighting UK productions (included Star Wars).

And a Jedi took us in a corridor for a photoshoot.

A cheap Chinese buffet hit the spot, and Jack demonstrated his technique.
A swanky Japanese restaurant named after the modernist film master, Ozu, was part of the complex.
Michael made use of the digital camera we gave him for Christmas last year; he tends to do catalog and inventory:

We were inspired by the city and Pepperdine has a program there! As you may be aware, England is experiencing its own cultural crisis, as the rising Muslim population coincides with the existing population's secularism and low birthrate, leading to talk show discussions of "What do you think Britishness is?" As for touring, you can choose to explore historic, Christian London, colonial London, theater London, literary London, etc.

As for souvenirs, after 4 days, we came home with: