Culminating events

Before we came to the Christian Academy in Japan in 2005 I'm pretty certain I'd never heard the phrase "culminating events". I'm not even sure if we had a phrase when I was growing up that collectively described the various events that happen at the end of a school year.

In any case, last week we were in the middle of culminating events at school, and, of our last son graduating from high school. The week looked like:

Monday—last day of classes

Tuesday—final assessment in the form of a formal presentation about his year-long project about mental health and exercise in adolescents. The audience was a panel of two teachers, plus around 10 middle and high school students. We, his parents, were also invited.

Wednesday—parent-organised banquet for seniors and their parents (plus siblings in some cases).

Thursday—graduation rehearsal and farewell parade through the school in graduation gowns and caps.

Friday—graduation before a gathering of about 400 people in the school gym. 

Tuesday was full of emotion as we watched our youngest child finish his last assessment. It was all over by 9.30 a.m. and I came home, not quite ready to start work, so I made a cake. Emotional cooking? It was very satisfying to do, and we've all enjoyed the fruits of it.

Photo by Megumi Nakazawa

Wednesday night was the school's traditional banquet, organised by a small group of mums. We got dressed up and took the trains downtown to a Brazilian BBQ restaurant. The meal was spectacular: all-you-can-eat meat cooked in a rotisserie, plus an amazing salad and dessert buffet, plus soft drinks and juice. Of note for some were the whole pineapples, also cooked in the rotisserie. It was a late night, however. We travelled home on crowded trains between 10 and 11 (yes, Tokyo trains at that hour, mid-week, is a sight to be seen). I only got five hours sleep that night.

Thursday was quiet for parents, but the students spent the afternoon at school, rehearsing for graduation and doing a final walk-through of the school (dressed in graduation gowns and hats). Parents were left to their own devices, which for me meant making final decisions on the Summer issue of the magazine before it went to the printer, as well as editing work on the next one, the Autumn issue, plus work on social media posts for the upcoming weeks.

Friday was an emotional day. I tried to fill in the morning with tasks that needed doing but didn't need too much brain. We had significant rain all day and through the night, maybe as much as 200mm, so there were no lovely photo opportunities in the school's lovely courtyard. Also, because there is only a small car park, we walked to school (as usual). I'd already thrown away my rain boots, so I wore sneakers and socks, changing into my black flats when I got there. It was an emotional afternoon as we watched our last child walk across the stage, finishing high school.

The emotions are mixed, mostly happy, but also sad as our son says goodbye to good friends and a place that's been like a home-away-from-home all his life. 

I also think back to the last time we did this, two years ago. The differences are stark: last time was in the middle of the pandemic, so we were masked and sitting in little "islands" apart from one another, and the only people there were the graduating students and their parents, staff who didn't have a specific job stayed home. It had also been many many months since I'd been in a room with that many people, so it felt very odd. This time anyone could come (though the weather held back many, we suspect), so all the staff were there, as well as a number of other students and parents and community members. Though I felt there is another subtle difference that's resulted from the pandemic: there weren't actually many people I knew. I think that's a hole that's partly come from not having community events for a couple of years.

The other difference is much more personal and harder to write about in a public place like this. Our sons are very different in personalities and their journey through high school has been markedly different. Some of that is related to mental health and neurodivergence. Last time significant social anxiety was a very big unseen presence that came along to graduation with us and made just getting through the ceremony a big deal, and one that didn't garner any medals or plaques.

But now we're all quite tired, socially and emotionally. I've come down with a miserable cold and am struggling to get through the brain fog to continue working on my to-do list for this week.

What's Wendy been up to?

So, what’s been happening in our edge of ordinary? A few things!

It's hydrangea season. We get to look at
this every day outside our lounge window.

School finished

I guess that qualifies as interesting news? Our middle son graduated on Friday, so for the first time in many years we’ll have just one child at school, and he’s only got two years left. Empty nesting is just around the corner!

Our middle son isn’t sure what’s next, so we’ve also walked into a period that holds a lot of uncertainty. Over the last several months we’ve agonised over this, but I think we’re at a place now that we’re a bit more comfortable with the uncertainty.

Being married to a teacher, also means that from now he starts to wind down. Our family holidays start in just under four weeks, so the next few weeks I’ll be busy preparing to walk away from work for that time (it’s especially tricky taking holidays when you’re involved in time-sensitive work like social media, but I’m committed to taking a break).

Uncertainty in Japan

We sit, not just with personal uncertainty at this point, but societal uncertainty. Tokyo (as well as several other prefectures) are still under a state of emergency, at least until June 20. Who knows if that will continue? We've been under SOE since the start of the year, barring three weeks in spring. Additionally, there is the uncertainty surrounding the Tokyo Olympics. 

The former mostly affects us in terms of making summer plans. We’d love to book a camping trip or two, but facilities in Tokyo are closed and facilities outside of Tokyo are closed to those coming from Tokyo! We've got a couple of leads for private arrangements that might be doable, so watch this space :-)

The Olympics doesn’t affect us much, though we do still hold Paralympic tickets. It was very sad, however, to hear that the director of the accounting department of the Japan Olympic Committee jumped in front of a train the other day in an apparent suicide. Holding the Olympics is a contentious issue in Japan and those charged with making it go ahead are sadly saddled with a lot of stress.

Editing a novel

Yep, I've been copy editing a novel over the last four months. The only way I could fit that into my life was to do it on Saturdays, which wasn't ideal, and meant it took a long time. I estimate at least 60 hours. It's my first time to edit a long work of fiction (actually the first time to edit any lengthy book), so it took a while to find my feet. But I really did enjoy it. The author is a close friend and his reason for writing is similar to my reason for writing on this blog: to explain to others a less-than-common life experience that we've each lived. 

I think I also enjoyed having a long-term project during this pandemic that I could look forward to doing on weekends. When the state of emergency stretched on interminably and there wasn't much to look forward to on weekends, having a spare-time occupation like this was very therapeutic.

In some respects it was a lot easier than editing short, non-fiction articles, like I do at work. Because facts aren't set in stone, but also because a short article has to have a pretty tight structure and be a complete unit in itself. So I was able to edit much of it a lot faster in the end. Oh, and I had a very appreciative author, that always makes work much more enjoyable.

What's next? I don't think I'll be taking on another extra-curricular editing job for a while, I don't have a lot of spare time and editing once a week does tend to disrupt the flow, making it not the most efficient way of editing a longer work. But if someone had a paying job, I might consider it! 

However, it does open out the possibility of supplementing our income some time in the future, as editing is something that can be done part-time and from my dining room, wherever that is. Also writing coach is something else that is a possibility. It is good to have this experience under my belt now, and know that the skills I have gained from short-article fiction editing do transfer quite well, especially to copy editing. Developmental editing might be a bit more difficult (think: story arc, character development etc.)

As for long-term weekend projects? I'm thinking about maybe picking up a sewing project. We'll see.

Over the post-end-of-year hump

We've now made it over the end-of-year hump and are staring down the barrel at just over 10 weeks of holidays. 

Actually, we're still on the downward slope towards complete non-school involvement. Our youngest is doing a couple of summer-school activities over the coming fortnight, so he'll be out of the house for about three hours a day. David has bits and pieces of work over the coming weeks, nothing regular except that he teaches a summer hands-on science course for a week in the first week of July.

My work doesn't stop for the summer break, except when I make it stop (by handing it to other people or planning around a holiday) when we go away for a break. In the coming couple of months we've got two separate camping trips planned (total of five nights) and two-weeks in an OMF holiday house. So while everyone else's schedule slows down I'm puttering along at my desk in our dining room. Now the boys are older, that's easier to do, but occasionally it gets tricky, especially when they interrupt me when I need to concentrate on a longer task. A friend brainstormed with me about this, and I've decided on a red bandana (I haven't actually told them about this yet). If I particularly don't want to be interrupted, I'll put on the red bandana as a "closed door" symbol. We'll see how that goes.

We've also put together Summer Guidelines very similar to what we did two years ago. It will be interesting to see how we go now they're 14 and 16. I've changed it up by adding a periodic survey to help them self-check their use of time. It's easy to start summer holidays with good intentions, I'll report back later about how we're doing with it all. Tonight I'm waiting for our first boy-made dinner (Chicken Fajitas). I'm a little bit concerned that we might be eating at 8pm, though...

Another exciting event that's coming our way is our eldest son is visiting from next Monday for two and a half weeks between semesters. This time we'll be free-er to enjoy his company (when he came in January we were in the throes of adjusting back to Japan and in the midst of the school year). 

Here are a couple of photos giving you a glimpse of our last week.

This was another little bit of craziness added to last week. We had a boy go over on his big toe (as in, it was bent under his sole and he came down on it) as he played a ball game with friends. Thankfully not a big break, but the ligament pulled some bone fragments off. Plenty of pain and swelling, but he's recovering very quickly. Quite able to ride a bike, so this is how we got the crutches to church yesterday (though he's crutches-free from today).

The "Welcome" sign at CAJ standing stolidly in the rain as we celebrated the end of middle school for our youngest. Now we only have four years of kids left at "grade school"!

Crazy end-of-school year stuff

I’m feeling really quite exhausted today. Last night was the senior graduation at CAJ. Though I didn't have a graduate, this event doubles as a key time to catch up with a lot of people I haven't seen for some time and also to say some goodbyes. Always a bitter-sweet time. 

We must have had over 600 people in the gym last night after the ceremony at the "reception" or party. The biggest night of the year for the CAJ community. We got home after 10 and it took me well over an hour to quieten my spirit down enough to get to sleep, well after my usual bedtime.

This morning we had a Grade 8 family "picnic" lunch that turned into an inside picnic at the school cafeteria because of rain forecast. It was blessedly low-key and quite fun, a great way to quietly celebrate our graduating middle schoolers. (Yes, we've still got that coming up on Monday night.)

But when I walked into the cafeteria I almost walked out again straight away because it just felt like too much. I confessed my fatigue to another mum and she said she felt the same. So I offered to pick up some coffee from a local convenience store for us both, which helped a great deal!

This afternoon I've been finishing off the tail end of the Summer issue of Japan Harvest. I've just answered those last-minute questions that have arisen out of the 30-odd pages of proofreading that took up most of yesterday. Hopefully, we're able to send it off to the printer now and I can move on to the next one (proposals due Monday and I'm off on another editing adventure)!

This coming week is a crazy collection of celebrations and concluding school events, including two staff-spouse dinners, on top of my usual work. All good and important, but I think that my priority for the rest of the weekend should be rest so that I'm ready for it all.

Last week was a blur

As predicted, these last two weeks have been crazy busy and my head is feeling pretty fuzzy. As a way of untangling myself, I'm going to give you a quick glimpse of the bigger events of last week.

Our eldest son turned 18. It almost got lost in the busy week. 

On Monday night he stayed up into the early hours of the morning finishing his final high school presentation that we watched the next morning at school. He spoke for thirty minutes about gender inequality in sport, it was a culmination of a year's worth of investigation and writing. He did a great job!

On Wednesday night David and I accompanied our son to a parents and seniors banquet at a flashy venue downtown. I've been very involved in getting this organised, so it was almost surreal to be a part of of. All went smoothly except for the amount of food. Our group is a little different to the groups that facilities in Japan usually cater for: we've got larger boys (several over six-feet) and the party was non-alcoholic. Probably we were too frugal with our budget too.

It was fun getting dressed up (and then traipsing downtown on trains).

Thursday was a blessedly quiet day then Friday the biggest event: the high school graduation itself. I thought I'd be teary, but for the most of it I was fine. It's all a bit blurry now. There were 53 graduating seniors and about 600 people came to see it happen.

This was an extra special treat. We had several OMF colleagues, aka "OMF family" come to join us in the celebration. What a joy. Living at such a distance from our birth-families you tend to develop your own networks to survive and thrive. Over the years many OMFers have helped us in many ways and they do become a bit like an adopted family. Having these colleagues with us on Friday night was a reminder that our son didn't get to this point alone, nor did we. We've had a lot of support, both in Japan and in Australia. Many people have prayed for us and our family over the years too.

Straight after graduation we had a "mini" banquet, with a spread provided by the PTA for guests. It was crazy in a crowd that large. How many times did I get congratulated? Then just an hour after that the seniors all left on a final trip. A parent-organised all-night trip to the beach to watch the sun rise, eat breakfast and return (no sleep except on the bus). They were gone for 12 hours. David volunteered as a chaperone along with three other parents. When they got back our son slept most of the day and David had two long naps. But they did get a spectacular sunrise.

There is controversy about this particular tradition for a few reasons (not least being that it is expensive and took a lot of work to organise). I can see both sides. 

Last week I tried to explain to someone who hasn't lived overseas that graduation from an international school is a little different to a usual high school. I came away disappointed that my point didn't appear to be understood. These third culture kids (TCK) have a bond that will be hard to replicate as they go to other countries and mingle with a lot of mono-cultural kids who don't really understand what it's like to grow up in a country that isn't your passport country (or for the Japanese kids in the class, to go to a school that isn't in your native language or system and become a TCK as a result). When our boys were in Australia, it wasn't so much Japan they missed, but school. They feel "at home" there.

So for me, one reason I'm in favour of the trip because it gives these graduates time to say their goodbyes by just being together. This last week has been so hectic that I don't think there really was time for that otherwise.

And finally, we also said goodbye to my parents. Mum and Dad were with us for 12 days and on Sunday headed off on an adventure of their own. They'd booked a ten-day tour taking them to some very famous places in Japan. We're so glad they were able to come and get a glimpse of our daily life and celebrate these milestones with us. It does make me feel a bit sad and even guilty that they have to go to such trouble and expense in order to simply visit us. And then the best we can offer them is "camping" in our lounge room where they had little personal space.

So now, somehow I need to get back into ordinary life again. Our two younger boys finish school on Friday and David has a few staff days after that. I guess all of that will help jolt me back into reality, that and the list of things that got put on hold while I helped hold the household together over the last fortnight.

Last night's fancy do

This and the next photo were taken by Ush Sawada, the CAJ photographer.
It was such a privilege to have a professional to help capture the memories.

Last night we attended the banquet that I've been helping organise (since September last year). You can go back and see my post about the initial meeting here where I volunteered to write an email.

Alas it ballooned into much more than a simple email. As of now I have received at least 442 emails related to this and the two other parent-organised events we have going in these few weeks. And I haven't counted the hundreds that I've written, not to mention phone calls and just a few meetings. 

We struggled to find a venue in Tokyo that would hold us all (about 142 people)
 at the budget that we set. But thanks to one Japanese mum we found this
venue on the top floor of a downtown hotel and were able to negotiate
with the staff through her.
Isn't the room lovely? (Photo by Ush Sawada)

In that post in September I wrote "We have cross-cultural issues." We certainly did. We still did last night. But I'm not going to dwell on that because barring one problem, we had a wonderful night in a gorgeous venue with many willing volunteers who helped everything run smoothly. I think the night was enjoyed by the majority of those who attended.

A long escalator as we travelled down to the subway
for one of the three trains on our way home. Though
travelling this way wasn't odd, it was a little odd doing
it dressed up for a banquet. Thankfully I didn't have to
wear heels.

But I am thankful to have it over. As you can imagine a lot of preparation goes into something like this and the cross-cultural, bilingual team added to the challenges. My co-coordinator and I tried to stick by the principle of KIS (Keep it Simple), which meant we tried to keep extra fuss (and meetings) to a minimum. Unfortunately last night my head was mostly taken up with answering people's questions (which were important questions, and someone has to deal with that) and so I didn't have enough personal-social energy left in me to socialise as I usually do at events like this.

I'm thankful too, to my parents who were able to stay at home with our younger two boys (they watched State of Origin football, an important three-game annual series in our home state). It's interesting having overseas visitors stay, you see that what we've become used to is not "normal" to an Aussie. For example, that we travelled by train to this event, in fact we travelled on six trains. This is not abnormal to us anymore, but it was a new thought for our visitors.

Today's a bit quiet, but then tomorrow night is the main event: the graduation ceremony. Thankfully I have almost no responsibilities beyond being a mum (and daughter) tomorrow night.

Life is rushing past this week

Life is rushing on at a pace that I'm finding difficult to keep on top of right now. (Check out the schedule here.) So I'm taking a few moments today to process it a little here.

Last week we had our middle son's graduation and related celebrations. It was very good, but for me felt a bit overshadowed by what was to come this week.

Our son, who is more than happy that I don't want to put a photo
of his face here.

This week the focus is on the Year 12s. This morning our son completed his last assessment for high school career. He was metaphorically pinching himself at lunchtime, trying to realise that he'd really finished it all. The pressure has been intense over the last nine months and it's hard to believe it really is over. The rest of the week is full of various celebrations for the Year 12s, including the formal community celebration of the graduation on Friday night.

Yesterday I took my parents on a walk to a local department store
to get a couple of things they needed, on the way home I took a
slight deviation and showed them our local bamboo park. A little
haven of peace in our local neighbourhood. Only 900m from our
house, but because so much is stuffed into the space in-between
it seems like a lot further.

Meanwhile we've also had an 18th birthday here (and one boy at a 19th birthday down the road) and overseas visitors in the house. 

On top of that I've got emails zinging in and out of my inbox, many of which are related to the senior-parent-organised events that I'm helping organise. Just for good measure there are the usual kinds of emails I deal with related to the magazine, and OMF matters.

All of which are wonderful things, but I'm feeling a little like my brain has been shredded. I hope I don't make any significant errors in all that I have on the go.

I, too, am a little bit in shock that my eldest is finishing up at high school. Surely I'm too young? I need some time to process this, even though it is not an unexpected event at all.

In the meantime I'm trying to enjoy the present, moment by moment.

Enjoy having my parents as part of these significant events.

Appreciate meeting friends I don't often see.

More from the bamboo park. Such a peaceful spot and really very
close to home!

Savour the special events planned for this week.

Drink in these memory-making days.

And in the meantime, stay afloat!

Tonight we have out-of-town guests for dinner (here for the above-mentioned events). I'm looking forward to the simple pleasure of eating dinner with them and revelling in good conversation. But I really ought to go and chop up some carrots and capsicum before they get here.

Big weeks coming up

The first time my parents visited us.

Yesterday I went to the airport to get my parents. This is the third time they've visited Japan, in fact it is 14 years and one day since they first visited us in Japan.

The first time my parents visited we were living in
Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan.
We drove along the west coast of the island on an
incredible day where the sea was almost glass-like.
Great memories!

I don't go to the airport very often. It's a long way away from where we live, even though we live in Tokyo. I travelled through three prefectures yesterday. The airport isn't in Tokyo, it is out the other side in Chiba prefecture and we travelled back through the prefecture to the north of Tokyo called Saitama. The whole trip took six hours.

But it took them longer. They were up for nearly 24 hours. Australia is not as close as you think, once you factor in especially if you don't live close to an international airport. We were all pretty tuckered out by the end and a bit slow to get going this morning.

In order to blog I need my own quiet headspace to write. I can often manage it with just my family around (though I usually try to do it while they're all out of the house, at least for nine months of the year), however add two more people to the household and things get more hectic. Not to mention that it's been two years since I've seen them, so I want to spend time with them. So I won't be here that much in the next couple of weeks, but we do have some big events happening (that's why they're here):

26th (Friday): Middle school graduation (8th grade) for our middle son in the evening (along with a dinner for students and parents beforehand and dessert for everyone afterwards).
27th (Saturday): Parent-organised lunch at school for 8th graders and their extended families.
30th (Tuesday): Our eldest son's last assessment, which is a presentation that combines all the research he's done this year on a global issue: Gender Inequality in Sports. We're invited to this and he presents to a teacher panel who grade him.
31st (Wednesday): Parent-organised banquet for seniors and their parents. This one I've been very much involved in organising since September last year (I wrote a little bit about it here). It's a fancy affair and we'll have photos. I just hope it all goes well.
2nd (Friday): High school graduation for our eldest. Wow, I feel too young for this. During the week leading up to this our son also turns 18, officially an adult in his country of birth!
9th (Friday): School finishes for grades K - 11.

So I suspect that though I won't be here writing lots, I might be posting photos...

Live CAJ graduation feed

Last year's graduating class

Here is something interesting you might want to check out, if you happen to be home later today. From 7pm Japan time (8pm AEST), you can see CAJ's graduation via a live feed. You may have read my thoughts on CAJ's graduation before. I wrote in 2009 before and after for my first ever impressions of the event, and the sad event in 2011.

Today you have a chance to see it (or a bit of it) for yourself here.

Now I know what I wore last year
to graduation! Here I am with other
OMF mums who had kids at CAJ last
year. The lady on the left of the photo
has her second son graduating tonight.

40 hours of intensity

So the last 40 hours have gone by in a bit of a blur. School finished yesterday to a bit of a bang!

Old photo, these are our Australian
friends who visited last year at a
Yakiniku restaurant.

On Thursday night we took the boys out to a Yakiniku restaurant to celebrate the end of another year of school. These Japanese restaurants let you cook your own meat at the table. Very attractive for kids! A lovely hot flame in the middle of the table! This restaurant also had a drink bar and a small salad and dessert bar. Not your cheap family restaurant, but a fun place to have a celebration. We certainly ate a lot of food!

First Grade Party

Yesterday was a half-day of school, typical for a final day before a break at CAJ. I went to the usual PTA Parents in Prayer meeting at 8.30, then filled in time at the library, selecting books for the long summer holidays ahead (kids are allowed to take out 25 books each, a great policy). At 9.45 the Grade One class started their end-of-year celebration, a relatively low-key affair and just down the hall the Grade Threes marked the end of the year with a slide show of photos from the year as well as presentations to the kids and teachers. I dashed between the two, probably spending more time with the Grade Ones because they had food (!!).

Then I had another half and hour for library browsing, and then that had the so-called Elementary Chapel. It turned out to actually be the Grade Five "graduation". Yes, officially finishing elementary and they all filed across the stage getting a certificate.

By 11.30 it was all over, the whole school year was finished. My kids looked like overblown balloons that had been popped. They didn't know what emotion to feel. After being so excited all week (to the point of having trouble eating breakfast in the mornings), they just looked like they had no idea what to do next.

Thankfully I had plans.

One Grade One mum and invited the class to a pot-luck party at her small church just the other side of the train tracks. So many of us trekked over there and had a great time, although the kids were obviously tired and there were quite a number of instances of tears. We stayed there until about 3 and then I decided to quit while I was ahead and we walked home. It was the hottest day we've had yet this year, getting close to 30 degrees, and considering we've still been wearing long-sleeves every now and then, it was a bit shocking.

At 3.40 I fielded a phone call from my boss's wife about the Japan Calendar that I produce every year and which happens to be due about now. We talked for a bit and I got some other bits and pieces of computer work done. Then, all of a sudden it was 5 o'clock and we needed to get showers done and some food on the table. I didn't feel hungry in the least, but the guys had obviously not eaten as much as I had. So we had a kind of serve-your-self dinner with various elements to make your own meatless wraps. I myself had an apple and a small pot of yoghurt!

"Class of 2012", as they say.

Then we headed off to school at 6.30, dropping the younger boys at a nearby apartment to watch Japan thrash Jordan in soccer (as it turns out)! My teenager and I headed into the gym for the graduation and David joined the seniors to guide them into the gym after everyone else was settled. Graduation is kind-of like a wedding: with the graduates and teachers walking in to a processional after the audience is seated. I wrote a bit about American-style graduations here.

The other OMF mums who have
kids at CAJ, all of them boys!

The ceremony was mercifully short and then the fun began with the "reception" — again echoes of a wedding. We didn't get home with our kids until 10pm, though.

This morning I was supposed to meet a group of friends at 10am to farewell a dear friend who's going to work with her family on the other side of the island. I woke up at 9.55! Whoops. Thankfully we were meeting at a restaurant with breakfast food and the restaurant is only an 8 minute walk away! I was a little late, but it worked out okay.

Now I'm stuffed! I still am working on Japan Calendar stuff, and the bigger one, Japan Harvest summer issue. All our content was due to our designer yesterday. We got 95% of it to her, but the last few bits still are dribbling in and it is my experience that it is that last 5% that give you the most grief and takes the most time! So, before my boys finish their after-lunch-time-on-beds (otherwise known as SQUIRT time), I need to get some more work done on this computer.

Crazy Day

Today is a crazy day, last day of school. Elementary parties and so on until lunch time dismissal. Then I'm heading off to someone's apartment for a bring and share lunch with the two younger boys. Eldest is going with mates to a friend's birthday party. Hopefully we'll all get back together for dinner at 5.30, then off to CAJ's senior graduation, which is a really big deal in the school calendar. Also two of our mission's kids (I should say young men: they are miles taller than I) are graduating. The two younger ones are going to someone's apartment to watch Japan play Yemen in soccer and I guess we'll all get back together again around bed time.

I might get back here today, I might not. Hopefully I can post some photos later on in the weekend.

BANG and school is over.Then it is a 77 day wait until I can send them all off again. Good thing we have a couple of things planned to pass the days . . .

Today is graduation day

OMF families at the 2006 CAJ graduation.

Well, not my graduation or my kids' graduations, but CAJ seniors' graduation. Including the children of friends and colleagues. My husband taught this class back when they were in Year 8. 

I've only been to one CAJ graduation, and it is interesting to look back on that one two years ago and see my blog reflections before and after that event. 

Tonight will be an emotional evening at the end of an emotional week and months. One senior isn't graduating after his death on Tuesday. A seat will be left for him and I'm sure he'll be mentioned during the formal proceedings.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it all went.

Post-graduation

CAJ's graduation was pretty formal, but not unbearably so. I had the joy of sitting between friends, and particularly beside a New Zealander (we shared a few raised eye brows).

Some stuff was weird, some of the terminology particularly for example: 

•  valedictorian: dux for Aussies
• salutatorian: runner-up dux
• invocation: not sure what this was 
• commencement exercises: graduation 
• Alma Mater: school song 
• diplomas: graduation certificates 
• recessional: the graduates and teachers leaving the hall.

One disappointment was not being able to understand much of the Senior address, given by the young man who received the Public Speaking Award. We've concluded he probably mumbled a little, the mike was possibly a bit distant and possibly it wasn't his best-ever speech. Pity.

 Another disappointment was that many of the announcers of receipients of prizes seemed to swallow the names - they were hard to hear. But for the most part it was quite a satisfactory experience. Nice to have an opportunity to dress-up and act like a child-less adult for a change.

Overall the ceremony was like a combination between an Australian high school speech night and a university graduation. At least my experience of these two events. Certainly it dredged up memories of Speech Nights. For those who aren't Aussie, this amounts to lots of awards given, teachers dressing up in academic gowns (not the students) and speeches from various individuals. Thankfully we had no politicians last night!

Our boys watched a video during the ceremony, but were very pleased to be released from that and allowed to partake in the after-ceremony 'refreshments'. Cake, punch, fruit etc. And at 9.30 they were pretty hungry, again!

 From a different perspective, we had three OMF (our mission) kids graduating last night. They received so many awards, it was exciting to be there to see that! Their parents are colleagues, so in OMF circles we are considered pseudo aunties and uncles. A bit strange, but it works, especially in the absence of other extended family. We were a proud family last night. Had a 'family' photo taken too!

 One last impression of the evening is how much energy these kids have. The amount they've achieved in the last year or four is impressive. And, by comparison, how old I am! I once had that level of energy. Ran myself ragged in senior, I did. Maybe I'm more sensible (and boring) now?

Graduations

We confused our boys this morning.

You see, today is CAJ's American-style year 12 graduation. At breakfast we managed to dredge up the memories (or non-memories) of our own Australian-style high school graduations.

My husband didn't even get to parade across a stage and receive his certificate, let alone receive his dux award (the highest acaedemic award of a school, for my international readers) in front of an audience. It was announced when the Tertiary Entrance scores came out a few weeks later.

Both schools had Speech nights, but David's was very low key (non-elitist). Mine was big; lots of awards and speeches, but weeks and weeks before graduation, so not a real comparison.

 The biggest thing for both of us was the formal, getting dressed up (partners - grimmace), dinner and dancing (more grimmace). The boys were impressed with our after-party stories - that I stayed up all night watching videos and eating. In comparison their dad went home to bed!

The difference between our own experiences and CAJ's graduation is vast. Or so I believe. I've only seen photos of CAJ's graduation (like the one here from a previous year) and they look grander than even my university graduation! But tonight I'm going to end the trail of speculation and witness one for myself. Usually it is impossible for me to go because anyone who is even remotely connected with CAJ seems to go (and that includes the total field of my after-hours babysitters).

Kindy graduation

I just realised that it is a week since our middle son graduated from Japanese kindergarten. Here are some photos to prove that it is no ordinary event. Very formal. The preponderance of black. Many of the women and most of the men wore black jackets. My emerald-green blouse felt a little casual and very bright! But I was comfortable and happy. Below you see our son about to accept his graduation certificate from the head of the kindy (a priest, it was a Catholic kindy). The kids had been drilled repeatedly and did exactly the right thing the whole time. It looked better than my final speech day at high school did! During the ceremony the children made a long recitation (of which I understood little). But the impressive thing for me was that it was long and word perfect - they've been practising for months! Plenty of sniffing, but none more than when they sang the "Sayonara song". Full of phrases like, "we've played together, been sick together", "but when the cherry blossoms come out we'll be wearing randoseru" (Japanese elementary school leather backpacks). After the ceremony (which lasted more than an hour). We lined up for final class photos and then went back to the classrooms for our final final farewell with their teachers! The teachers were dressed beautifully in kimono, but their faces were sad. Again things dragged on and on, and the strain was clearly showing on the kids. One of the boys had a fight and burst into tears. His mother then burst into tears as she tried to resolve it and finish well. In the meantime her husband came over to help and she pushed him away. It was a distressing scene that all regretted. We ourselves had another important appointment in the afternoon to keep, so we got out of there as fast as we possibly could. Probably the best thing in the end. Prolonging the agony didn't seem to be helping anyone! Below you can see the classroom with all the parents gathered around. The importance of the event is only underlined by the fact that almost every child had both parents present - a rare event. Fathers took time off work to come! Now it is a new beginning. This week is spring vacation (yes, the American coming in) and on Monday we start school in our lounge room.