Update

Ms. H, son's homeroom teacher came for the home visit yesterday.  I think we were both nervous, and one of her first questions was, "Well, are you OK with Japanese?"  I reassured her that having been here for awhile, our chat would be no problem.  Then we moved on to how son is adjusting, what his interests, etc. are, and parents' view of how everything is going.  Lovely chat, friendly, but firm-sounding teacher so quite pleased!  My goal is to keep son enthused and working hard & well this year, and keep good communication lines open with his teacher/s.  Fingers also crossed that this round of junior high will continue positively!

家庭訪問: Teachers' Home Visits

The start of a new school year also heralds a visit from one's child's kindergarten, elementary or junior high teacher.  Today is our scheduled day for a visit from son's teacher.  When I first learned of this 11 years ago, I was quite shocked.  In my country, parents would visit schools, not the other way around!  It seemed intrusive and unnecessary.  Also, it seemed a rather stress-inducing event as I listened to other mom's talk about their preparations!  As we live outside of the kids' school zone, we had visits at Grandmother's house for the first few years.  She always made a major effort to have everything "just so" (she also chided me a bit when I showed up for visits, or went to school visit days NOT wearing a suit or the equivalent...but that's another tale). More recently, I've gone to the elementary school instead of the teacher coming to my home.  For junior high though, we are in the school zone....and the teachers have come here.

So, what happens at these visits?  Well, it is often the first time to talk one-on-one with one's child's main teacher for the year.  They get a peek at what type of home environment the child is in (and most don't take a look at the kids rooms anymore-never in our case--just are in the "guest room"), and inquire about the child's daily habits, talk about how the child is settling into class and so on.  It's actually rather nice now, though a few years ago I was terrified about having a formal conversation in Japanese.  Obviously, I'm not a native speaker, but it has always gone fairly smoothly anyway.

Now, I'm off to tidy up my public room (my classroom) and get ready to meet Ms. H this afternoon.  Later!

Entrance Ceremony: 入学式

入学出きた！Son is now in junior high school! The ceremony was fairly quick, even with calling all 270+ students' names, and the requisite speeches, standing, sitting and other greetings. His homeroom teacher is Ms. H, and son's impression is nice, but very firm.  That's a good thing.  The textbooks look interesting, think I might try reading them too--still need to work on my Japanese!  (Photos soon, no time yet!)  My other lasting impression (well, reinforced impression) is how junior high in some ways is almost military-esque.  The rules for uniforms are extremely strict, and the style for roll call, the marching order, and other things.  Son is fairly pleased with his class, and I am too.  Sorry there aren't better pictures though...

The girls' wear a "sailor" uniform, and the boys, a high-necked, military style one.  I'm not sure what the proper name for it is...

The guys with their school book bags, filled with all the textbooks they have to take home and write their names on, outside they gym.  Students in the upper grade were at the school as well for bukatsu (club) practice.

New Beginnings

April is the month for cherry blossoms, and the "beginning" of the year in Japan.  The new academic year, fiscal year for many companies & businesses, as well as for the government started this month.  So, March was filled with graduations, company transfers and all that.  This month, everyone is settling into their new place. 

My family is also settling into a new pattern.  Our youngest has his junior high entrance ceremony in a couple of hours; oldest has her high school ceremony on the 18th.  (Sunday events are fairly common here...ceremonies, sports events for school, etc.)  My lovely, but difficult daughter will be attending high school in a "tsushin" course, for at least this year.  That means she won't be going everyday, but completing most of her work at home through a correspondence-style course.  It is not what I wanted, but after the trauma and rebelliousness, etc. during junior high, I'm just thankful that she is motivated to be doing this. 

Today, I'm sending my youngest off to junior high, with much trepidation, as well as hope.  But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and more....

Monday

Life is made up of good days and bad days.  Today is one where I've bruised my head running up against an unmovable opinion.  The horrible thing is I agree with the opinion, but the way it was laid out as an ultimatum has made this into a lose-lose situation.  Now, I'm trying to find a way to salvage it, while screaming inside my brain about the insanity and stupidity that lead to this.  Adages such as "a rock and a hard place" are flitting alongside "spilled milk"... Laying blame doesn't lead to results.  I believe you must deal with the situation/person who is in front of you, not the reality you want.  Ultimatums won't give you the situation or person you want, just makes most things worse.  Well, time to ponder... 

Tai-yaki

Less than a week of spring vacation left, so son and I decided to grab the chance to visit the batting cages.  He got in some good hits, and we decided to grab a treat at the tai-yaki stand just outside.  They had an amazing variety: traditional filling of anko (sweet bean paste) in a couple of varieties, popular custard or chocolate filling, and some unusual ones like potato salad or tuna & corn filling.  We were feeling adventurous, rather looking for a sweet treat, so got one with custard and one with chocolate (like a pudding).  I found the custard too sweet (son didn't, fancy that!) but the chocolate was scrumptious!

The golden one is usual style, with a crispy outside and the white one is lightly baked for a soft, mochi-mochi texture.  Crispy is my fave!

Back "Home," Spring = O-soji

I made a list of goals to accomplish while enjoying the long vacation.  One of those was to do some serious cleaning out in the upstairs rooms.  The season for "spring cleaning" (or o-soji) is before the end of the year here...love all the tips in women's magazine about how to clean the grit accumulated in the window tracks, or ensure you're pipes are sparkling all the way down! That's a half-sarcastic and half-sincere comment...sometimes they point out places I would have never even considered to be needing cleaning...and they DO need to be cleaned.  Well, starting a new year with a shiny, clean house is lovely, but the dual big holidays of Christmas and New Year's plus all the other stuff around then ensure that my house will never enter the new year in a pristine state.

For me, spring is the season.  Get some of it done before new year's, and then another massive clean right about now, when windows can be reasonably opened and EVERYTHING aired out without freezing off one's extremities, and life is good.  Well, maybe that is just a bit of an exaggeration, but it is quite nice to fall asleep in a freshly aired futon, with spring smelling sheets, no dust, no winter must, and everything actually tidily put away. Not to mention all the tidying, tossing, etc in every other corner of the house, and outside too!  I was very pleased to have my son help with tidying up all the junk the wind blew into our outside space, pull some weeds and plant seeds...flowers!

I lost track after 10 bags of "non-everyday" garbage thrown out over the past month, and am feeling quite pleased!  Hanging on to my high-school child's second grade textbooks is really pointless (the artwork is safely tucked away though!).  Also managed to get rid of tons of old toys, papers, etc.  Whew!  Cleaning is still underway...well, it's one of those things that if you ever stop, you might never get caught up on again!

The list isn't complete (and the cleaning part might actually be done by the time "o-soji" rolls around again), but feeling much lighter and springier now!