The schooling plan for the kids has finally been settled as we are getting so close to September. Alicia will go to a Japanese preschool two mornings a week, with only three hours each. Her private Japanese teacher will come to our home to give her lessons two other mornings, each time about two hours. She has Wednesdays free. She will also go to the Swedish Sunday school three times a month, only in the mornings.
Axel will attend the Spanish Co-op two mornings a week, each time only two hours. We can drop off him for one morning, but I am thinking that for the first two months until our Spanish-speaking aupair leaves us, she will go there with him for both mornings. After that, I will need to take over. On Thursday afternoons, me and another mom have just started a little French club where we meet up with the kids, read some French picture books, and learn some French kids songs. And on Wednesdays, I am thinking about starting a Chinese playgroup. Some friends are curious about how we communicate with each other in this house of Babel, and how I “make” kids to learn other languages. First and the most important, we don’t force or nag kids to learn languages. It all comes pretty naturally. As an inter-national couple, me and my husband already have some languages to start with. Both of us know very well English, Chinese and French. I learned his mother tongue Swedish after I met him, and I can read some Spanish. He can also understand and read Spanish, Danish and German of medium level, and knows some basics of Japanese. So when Alicia was born, Chinese, English and Swedish seemed to be the three default languages that she will speak. My husband didn’t do his due part of speaking exclusively Swedish to her but he still tried his best. I spoke almost exclusively Chinese to her, with some words in Swedish and French and English. She basically didn’t speak any English before she started an English morning preschool at almost 3. And then her English took off. When Axel was born, the situation was quite different. I still speak exclusively Chinese to him, but my husband speaks even less Swedish to him (he speaks most of the time English to kids), and his sister speaks about 80% English and 20% Chinese with him. When he turned 1 year old, we got a Mexican aupair who speaks 80% Spanish and 20% English with him. After no school at all for over one year due to the pandemic, for this school year we debated a lot about whether sending Alicia to an English preschool or a private school so she could start kindergarten. We signed up and paid the registration fees for two other preschools, but when we were informed by the Japanese preschool that Alicia could attend two days instead of one day per week, we made the decision. She has been going there for the summer camp in August and loves it, so we will go for it. Originally, she would go to the Japanese preschool for one day, and three days at the Spanish Co-op, but she has been very against learning Spanish, the reason of which we are still not sure about, because in general she is very interested in other languages. I gave up the Spanish Co-op because as I always believe, I cannot make the child to learn any foreign language. Axel will still go there. I think with the input from the aupair, he would be comfortable there. Besides English and Chinese, we never expect the kids to be fluent in Swedish, Spanish, French or Japanese. Alicia has got some basics for Swedish, so we will keep that on, as long as she’s not against it. We have been reading Swedish books to her regularly since she was born. As for Japanese, it came totally organically from herself. She was listening to Japanese kids songs and she said that she wanted to learn Japanese. We thought why not. So we found a Japanese lady to give her private lessons. We were very lucky because this lady was very nice and Alicia got along with her from day 1 in March. Then Alicia said that she only wanted to go to a Japanese preschool. So I did the research about Japanese preschools in the area and tried my best to get to know other Japanese families in the neighborhood. It is challenging for me because I don’t speak any Japanese. A Japanese mom recommended one Japanese preschool to me which I verified to have a good reputation. So we signed her up, but we were late, and she was only accepted for one day per week. But luckily they also offered the summer camp in August, so I signed her up for 9 days there, for her to get familiar with the school, and to see if it would really work. On the first day of the summer camp, I was so nervous as if I was that little me when I first attended school at age 6 and cried so hard that my family member had to sit through the day in the classroom with me. Alicia did much better than me. She went in with a bit of hesitation, and came out with a happy face. I was relieved. We took her to Japan when she just turned two years old, and my husband and I definitely enjoyed the trip. Maybe on our next visit, she could serve as our guide? As for French, it’s always my favorite language. I learned it in my third year of undergraduate studies as a second foreign language, because I wanted to do a Master in English, and a second foreign language was required. I learned for two years in university and took an advanced course with Alliance Francaise. But it wasn’t until I started working and shared an apartment with a French girl that it really came alive. Since then, there was not much chance to speak this language, but I try to pass it on to the kids. It is hard. It is one of my dreams to live in France or some French-speaking area for a year to merge myself in this language, and I am pretty confident that if we do this soon enough, the kids will just pick the language by going to the school there. My husband went to live in the French-speaking part of Switzerland for a year when he was about 4 or 5 years old. He attended the school there with zero knowledge of this language and didn’t use it any more after that. But the language stays with him. I am so jealous of his experience. Coming from a tiny backward village in China, I didn’t come in contact with any foreign langue until middle school at the age of 11. English was one of the core subjects from middle school. As far as I could remember, I scored always the first of the grade of the whole school. That honor came with lots of hard work. I spent countless hours in learning everything about the language: grammar, speaking, reading, writing, listening. I listened to English cassettes while having meals, and walking to and back from school. I memorized every detail of the grammar, and consulted the dictionary diligently whenever there was an unknown word. I worked countless test papers to practice, and read anything in English that I could find in our little town. The motivation behind all this hard work was not the highest score. It was pure interest. I simply enjoyed learning this foreign language. When it was time to choose a major in university, I had nothing in mind but English. Now looking back, if I had more information, I probably would choose another foreign language such as French or Spanish, which I could easily imagine myself enjoying it as well, and maybe even more. But at that time, English was regarded as the more promising Major for future employment. And back then in China and likely still now, there was nothing as studying for enjoyment or pleasure, it all pointed to employment. When I started to learn French and Swedish, it was much easier and I learned much faster. Probably because I have internalized a system of learning foreign languages, and I could do it more at my own pace, and less for exams. Now I have the chance to expose my kids to many languages at a very young age, I simply cannot ignore it. Because we learn so much faster as kids, the younger the better. I wish they don’t need to repeat my road of spending thousands of hours and days in learning a foreign language as a teenage or adult even if they enjoy it. They could use this amount of time for other interests or hobbies, maybe a musical instrument or sports which I never got the opportunity to learn. My husband has the doubt that if they learn too many languages at the same time, it might slow down their learning of the mainstream language (the language of the place where we live). I never had the doubt or worry, simply because I never see them struggle with any language. If a child has any language learning or speaking challenge, it’s another story. But gratefully, my kids are fine. So, learning languages can be fun, but still, what are the benefits? Does it worth the time and energy? For me, the answer is needless to say. I could not imagine how my life would be if I didn’t know any foreign languages. I wouldn’t meet my husband, wouldn’t go to study in Switzerland, and almost certainly, I wouldn’t live here in the US at all, or anywhere outside of China. I may still be able to travel to other countries, but probably wouldn’t be able to make as many connections with the locals there if not speaking their language. And for me, the most memorable part of travel is the encounters with the people, in various scenarios. I believe a language is a key, to open the door to another facet of the world. The more doors you can open, the more facets of the world you can see, the more layers of experience you can live, and the more understanding and compassion your heart can foster. If we cannot travel to other countries for another year, and Alicia missed the kindergarten entry by being just a few days younger, I think we better use this year to learn something new. Learning other languages seems to be an easy, though unsatisfying compensation to not being able to travel.
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I have been complaining a lot outwardly and inwardly about not being able to travel due to the pandemic. Family reunions and other international travels blocked by borders. All the itineraries and illusions thrown into garbage bins. I thought we would spend half of the year traveling in Asia and Europe shortly after my second child was born. I was determined not to repeat the “bound at home” experience with my first born. I imagined the kids mingling with their grandparents and cousins in both China and Sweden, and we as a family exploring adventurously in Japan, France and Spain.
After a year’s lock down, I had to be content with quenching my travel desire by staying at local state and county parks within 2 hours drive away from home. And I booked a lot of local stays, almost every weekend the whole summer. Cabins, yurts, tents, cottages and Airbnbs. I learned a lot about the park system in Washington state and about my own family. The trips in parks near home sound relaxing, perfect for a family getaway weekend. In reality, at least half of them were rough experiences with conflicts between family members (well, mostly between me and my husband, obviously). There were different expectations, surprise of the accommodation conditions, terrible Friday afternoon traffic, forgetting bedding and clothes, change of weather, noisy neighbors and barking dogs, lack of sleep, disruption of kid’s naps… The normal challenges of family traveling. I couldn’t imagine how we would survive all these on a month-long trip in a totally foreign country where we’ve never been. I am not a picky person when it comes to traveling, but when kids are involved, I become very nervous and easily irritated, especially when there are still diapers and naps, strollers and highchairs. I try to console myself that maybe in a year or two, it would be actually better to travel around half of the earth with the kids. By staying home, the kids and the adults are making some local connections, however difficult they are in these times. We had the luxury of having a Spanish-speaking aupair, and the kids, especially the little one, are picking up the language. My older one developed interest in Japanese and is now attending a Japanese preschool. We definitely got to know the local parks better and will continue to enjoy them on a daily basis. And by waiting for so many things in this age of uncertainties, I am growing more patient in many ways, one of which is not to rush the development of kids. I used to hurry to register my first born for all kinds of classes before she was ready for them. Now I wait until she has tried and expressed the genuine interest by herself. With the second born, it’s sure a much more slow and relaxed pace. When the world is open again, we hope to see and savor it in a more grateful and relaxed way. Because nothing is for granted, and for anything we can afford, it is a precious blessing to be thankful for. This year we’v been to Mount Rainier twice. Once at the end of April and once in the later half of August. Once covered in deep snow and once hidden in heavy mist. In April, I had a 1.5-year-old boy and a 4.5-year-old girl, and we brought our aupair too. We left the baby boy with the aupair at the cottage and took our daughter for a snowshoeing walk with some other friends. She snowshoed 10 minutes and decided it was better to take off those big shoes and just roll in snow. I chose to stay behind with her giving my husband a chance to snowshoe for real. It was very sunny that day, and though the snow was knee-deep everywhere, it was very warm. We severely over-dressed and had to take off all our winter clothes until the T-shirt level. The sun was very strong and we forgot the sun hats and sun/snow glasses. My eyes almost hurt. The next day the whole family did a real hike at Little Marshel Falls, not close to Mount Rainier at all, but about one hour away. It was a moderate hike with some elevation on a cold drizzling day. The big sister hiked surprisingly well, and we pushed the little brother half way in stroller and carried him half way in a hiking backpack. The waterfalls were stunning. We even walked to the cave behind the waterfall - the Middle Falls that is. We didn’t make it to the upper fall. That was our winter Mount Rainer experience. So I was determined to come back again in summer to do some real hikes on the mountain, appreciating the colorful wild flowers, the tumbling waterfalls and the panoramic views. For three days we were there, it was wrapped in heavy mist. And on the first day, we severely under dressed. I did learn to bring layers of clothes to adjust to the changing weather, but I left some in the cabin. We strolled to the Myrtel Falls and saw a family of some wild birds. We picked the abundant huckleberries on the trail and counted the colors of the wild flowers. We hastened down the mountain which got even colder and mistier after our cold lunch picnic. The boy fell asleep in the car, so the girl and the dad stopped at Longmire and did the Trail of the Shadows and part of the Rampart Ridge trail. She walked very well. She always hikes well with her dad but strikes with me. By the time they came back, our son was awake, who was now charged with energy to stretch his legs, so we did the Kautz Creek trail together. It was a very flat, wide, quiet trail, covered by fallen pine needles. Perfect for little kids to run or play. My husband carried the boy one way and he walked happily on way back with his sister. We met only 5 people during the 2 hours there. My only concern when being left behind with my daughter was the bears. I have never encountered one, but there are signs here and there reminding us of being in the bear country. I didn’t convey my fear to my daughter of course who was drawing happily with a stick in the carpet of pine needles. The second day we drove to Paradise parking lot again. Still heavy mist but much warmer. We over dressed again. It was a Saturday with much more visitors. We tried to do the popular Vista trail, which was a lot of elevation gain right from the start. Our daughter lingered behind with me while my husband and son walked far ahead. She was having an early lunch break when my husband came back looking for us. In the end, he took both kids to hike a bit more while I retreated down with a suddenly aching stomach. We debated if we should do the more family-friendly Nisqually loop trail but decided to drive back after our lunch picnic. Our son took a long nap at the cabin, and after a pie dessert, we went to Ashford County Park, and walked on the trail there. We’ve been to the park several times for the nice and quiet playground. It was our first time to walk the trail around the park which turned out to be a very nice one. Paved, almost flat, quiet through forests, and with lots of wild fruits. It was finally the season of wild blackberries, and I even found a wild cherry tree and a yellow plum tree. On the third day on our way back home, we stopped at Alder Lake park, Nisqually State Park, and Spanaway park. There was a $10 fee to enter Alder Lake park which we didn’t pay. We just stayed outside and appreciated the view from the outside boat launching dock. We walked in Nisqually State Park, not an attractive one but nice and flat for kids. There was a $3 fee for Spanaway park and no re-enter. We stopped there for the lunch break and the playground.
At Ashford, we ate twice at Wild Berry restaurant, offering Napali and American food. Good quality, delicious and fast, though not very smiling staff. We had take-out from the Ukrainian restaurant which was good too. There were fun and weird stuff for kids to check outside the Ukrainian restaurant, such as a deserted fire truck, and the skeleton of a helicopter. Both times we stayed in Ashford, which is closer to the Paradise side of Mount Rainier. If I had done the research better, I would have tried to stay at the Sunset side this time. We will take our time in the next years to explore this majestic mountain. |