Friends

Reuben has transitioned from having one friend and feeling like he needed no other friends, through a tricky time, to a time when he has lots of friends and organises "play dates" for practically every day when he hasn't got after School activities. I want to capture something of those friendships so that he can look back on them in the future.

Reuben's friend Tatsuki left to go back to Japan recently. He was Reuben's first new friend in a long time. They used to pair up in class, and play at each other's houses and have sleepovers. They had planned and drew comics together (below they are reading one out).

They wrestled

They shared books

Tatsuki's big brother, Yuta, was besotted with Naomi. She always used to call him Tatsuki, until just after the last time she saw him! Naomi called her doll (which she brought back from Maya's house because she'd loved playing with her) Tomomi, which is Tatsuki's Mum's name. One time she called her doll "Tatsuki's Mummy". On the day Tatsuki left School, Reuben ran to find him on his bus to give him a drawing he''d done of him. A few days later, Tatsuki and his family turned up at School pick up. It was the day of their flight to Japan, but Tatsuki had said that he wanted to come to say goodbye to Reuben.

The same week that Tatsuki left, I went on a School trip with the class and he had his arms round Martin, asking to be in a group together. Martin is Czech. He came a couple of years ago not speaking any English, now he speaks it perfectly. They have clearly teamed up. We invited Martin to the Easter party at the Consulate.

At "Chess Club" Reuben has been playing with Oscar, who is in Grade 4 (the grade above). His Mum is from Hong Kong and his Dad is South Korean.

They live opposite the School and he's allowed to play at someone else's house on Fridays, as long as he doesn't have too much homework for his Korean School which he goes to on Saturdays. They play chess together, set out armies of vehicles and planes, play table football and have adventures. 

Reuben got to know Sean, who's also in Grade 4 through playing football with him in at playtime. They've been to each other's houses, although he doesn't live nearby. Sean is from Malasia/China and was born in the USA. They watched a nature documentary together and acted out the animal's behaviour together. Here's some of their planning from when they were at our house, and the notes from their "nature walk" on our roof.

I let them go up to the roof first, then followed soon afterwards. They'd set themselves up in comfortable chairs overlooking the Bosphorus bridge and were sitting in the sun enjoying the view and finishing their snack.

Guy is also in Reuben's class. He is from Brasil. Reuben more often plays at his house, where they play with nerf guns ans on ipads. He lives in the same compound as Zac and Charlotte, with whom Reuben and Miriam have also enjoyed playing recently.

Maha has also always been a good friend to Reuben in his class. Her best friend recently decided not to play with her any more, so she's been left out. Reuben has said that he is going to spend some more time with her. I said I hoped that he would include Martin too, he said 'Of course, I didn't say I wouldn't play with him'. He wrote her an email the other day starting "I know you've been lonely, so I wanted to invite you to play at my house". Unfortunately, Maha lives on the Asian side, so we've had to pick the half day (on "Children's Day") for her to come over since after School play dates on normal days would practically be impossible.

At the beginning of the year, Miriam was mostly playing with Maya and Alisa. Maya is from the USA and Alisa is from Russia/Malta. They had a sleepover together when Maya was scared by Alisa's Ghost stories. Miriam kept telling them both that Ghosts don't exist.

Alisa and Oscar having tea with us

We have 'Home Group' with Maya's family, and all the children love to play together whilst the adults talk. Reuben loves to play with Maya's 5 year old brother Nathan. At the moment, Miriam is playing more with Era, who recently arrived. She's Albanian/USAmerican. She loves playing chess. Also Salome (who's Algerian and French), who plays football with Reuben and Miriam and lives nearby. 

Naomi's friends are Aria and Joel at church, Christopher in our building, Aria in our old building, Reuben and Miriam's friends, their Mums and Dads, receptionists. all the volunteers at Mums and Tots, Reuben and Miriam's football coach etc etc 

Last but not least, all our children have friends in our building - Alyza, Jasmine, Celine, Marcleon (who left), Max and Ben, Ines, Gatfar and Christopher. It's really good to now have that feeling of living in a small community, with that flow of children between the houses and to the playground.