Our Tokyo Adventure - Here's to a Great Year #2

A new year, a new blog background... hope you like it.

Our second school year in Japan started in mid-April, and Papa and Rosie were still here to see the kids off on their first day of school.

We were all extremely excited to learn that both Ethan and Ryan had the same teacher as in year 1.  Both of their teachers, Iwazaki-sensei and Matsuoka-sensei, had expected to be transferred to different schools.  When school ended in March, neither of them had been told where they would be teaching in April and we had prepared the boys that they might not be their teachers next year.  Suffice it to say, both Ethan and Ryan were thrilled to have their same teachers for another year.

Ethan is now a 2nd grader (ni-nensei) and no longer has to wear the adorable yellow hat.  He was also chosen as the "sub-captain" of the Higashine second grade soccer team.  One item of note: he has definitely NOT yet learned the Japanese sense of humility.  After a recent game, the coach was reviewing the game with all the players and asked who they thought the best player of the game was? He does this after most games and I'm still trying to understand the value.  Anyway, Ethan calmly and confidently nominated himself as the best player for the game, and according to Kevin, he made some very valid points as to his strengths during the game.  Thankfully, the coach smiled - at least on the outside.

Ryan and the Himawari Class

Ryan is now a "senior" in yochien (nenchou) and has graduated to the Himawari (sunflower) class.  According to Ryan, being a Himawari means "now we can use a glue gun by ourselves, and now we can leave our nametags at school."  They still have to wear their nametags everyday, but they don't have to take them home everyday and remember to bring them back every morning, like they had to do when they were mere Tulips (the class name for the 4 year old class).  I'm still baffled by the fact that they have to wear nametags at all, but don't get me started.

And it is my own little act of rebellion that I "refuse" to wear my nametag everyday when dropping off and picking up Ryan.  Nearly every other mom does it, but I just can't make myself do it - if they don't know who I am by now, we have bigger problems than a nametag can fix.  This is clearly a "rebel without a cause" situation, but it makes me chuckle on the inside every single day so I keep doing it (or not doing it, as the case seems to be).  Ahhh, the freedom I feel... I just wish I could liberate them all.

I thought it would be easier this year, since we had been through it all once before.  That was wishful thinking and only about 50% correct.  I had forgotten about the THOUSANDS of forms we had to fill out last year.  And this year, it was probably only 999!  That's progress, right?

Since the beginning of the school year, I am finding that both boys seem to have crossed some sort of imaginary line of friendships.  Ethan is often playing at other kids' houses after school and Ryan has had friends from yochien at our house twice already (and honestly, I was a bit surprised that the moms entrusted their kids to me).  Maybe, everyone realizes that they're sticking around for a little while and so it's worth the investment in a foreigner friendship?

Ryan's playdate with his yochien friends - waiting at the bus stop to take them home...

It will also be interesting to see if our lives become so routine that blog posts become too boring to even write.  School, soccer practice, grocery shopping, playdates - these are not necessarily topics worthy of a blog post.  We'll do our best, but Year 2 may not bring as many "firsts" and novel insights.

Here's to a great year #2 - whatever it may bring!