Rock On!

Here in Japan, we look forward to the smallest things. We get excited when our theater gets a newly released movie, when the commissary gets in the holiday flavored coffee creamers, or when they built a Chillis restaurant (not a favorite of mine in the states, but I admit I was excited when it opened on base). Now, we really get excited when there is a free concert in the parking lot of our bowling alley. That is big stuff!! :) Let me go back a bit.

Patrick turned 8 in September, and we got him an ipod. He really was starting to show an interest in music and seems to always be playing his fake guitar. In the technology capital of the world, we decided this would be a good gift for him. When he opened his new gadget, he was thrilled. The first song Brian put on it was "All Star" by Smash Mouth. Patrick would come home from school singing..."Somebody once told me the world was macaroni so I took a big bite of a tree. It tasted kind of funny so I spit it on a bunny, and the bunny started yelling at me." Now, I really don't think you need to know the song to know that this is not the way the song goes. But, somehow, this is what he was singing. He finally learned the words to "All Star" after listening to it on his ipod for a week.

About two weeks after his birthday, I was looking at the base website and I saw an advertisement for "Smash Mouth". They would be performing at the base as part of their 2008 Military tour. We never would have taken Patrick to this concert in the states because we would have had to pay for tickets and be amongst typical rock concert regulars. ( I am not saying anything bad about people who go to rock concerts, but seriously, they are not a place for an 8 year old). However, this event was different. It was sponsored by The Fleet and Family Service center and all families were welcome. Matthew didn't have an interest in going, but when we told Patrick, he was so excited.

The next day there was not any school- if you have read the previous post, you know that the kids don't attend school on Fridays in the Dept of Defense schools in Japan. (this is an exaggeration, but still- we've had 3 Fridays off this month already). So, we headed out to the concert literally in our "Backyard". We had a lot of fun listening to all of the familiar songs and hanging out with friends. Now Patrick can say he has really been to a rock concert. And... he really knows the words now!