Starting school, a public performance and a new table

Today was the first time since 2008 that my boys have all started a new school year at the same school they were at in the previous school year. That makes a significant difference. Every school year brings changes, but the changes were far less today and therefore the boys found it all easier to cope with than they did last year. 

I looked back on this day last year on my blog. It wasn't what I expected to read. I don't remember the extreme excitement I wrote about. I remember the days that followed and the grumps and complaints about homework, about conforming to the schedule and to the rules in our house that help things run smoothly during school time (like – put your lunch box on the sink when you get home before you have afternoon tea). Obviously I didn't bore you with the ugly details of our lives. I didn't remember how emotional I was at the time. It is good to look back on that and see how things are better this year. Much less transition, much more stable emotionally – all of us.

But still, they were all up early on their first day. The younger boys were ready for school more than half an hour early. In order to stop them tearing the place apart, I suggested a calming game of Triominos. It worked well, but that doesn't mean I won: I lost dismally, but I achieved my goal!

We moseyed on down to school in the rain. The boys didn't even stop to say goodbye, they just rushed off. Oh well. I know they love me, even if they aren't good at goodbyes.

Then I returned to an amazingly empty house. I had a few things in mind to do in the peace and quiet, but I did keep expecting someone to come pelting down the stairs at any moment shouting, "Muuuuum!"  First days at school are on the calendar for a long time, but they still catch me by surprise. Surprise at how quiet my house is and how much autonomy I have when they're all at school.

But I did rack up another first today. First time to play the piano at CAJ. First time to go on-stage in the auditorium and play. Scary! I don't mind playing for church or Sunday School, but playing at CAJ where I've seen amazing musical feats, where there are wonderful musicians, much more skilled than I've ever been . . . scary! 

Probably very few people at the school know I play at all. Well, the secret is out, at least in the elementary school. Today I played for one (simple) song in their chapel meeting. It went well, thankfully. I love grand pianos. Wish I had one in my house . . . the next best thing is that I have a friend who has one in her house, and she only lives a few minutes away. Trouble is I've known this for more than 12 months now and I still haven't made it to her house to play the thing!

When chapel was over at midday, school was dismissed. This is CAJ's standard soft start to school. But the two younger boys were really disappointed. They didn't want to go home so early! So they came home and talked non-stop for an hour. Then their big brother came home after cross country training and talked for another hour. By 2pm I was exhausted!

Taking apart our old table, which was really pretty small.

The last big thing for the day is that we've got a new dining room table. Our friends (the ones I mentioned here who are fixing up their "handyman's dream" house AND who own the grand piano) have been given a larger table. Their old table happened to be a little bit bigger than ours, which was getting pretty decrepit (one of our dinner guests last week had a leg break off their chair). So we decided to take it off their hands for them. The bonus was that the boys got to get their hands on some of dad's tools and pull apart the old table.

What our friends forgot to tell us until today was that their 6 seater table is extendable (you would have thought this would be a big "selling" point), so that we now have a table that can transform into a 1.37m square table, seating 8 comfortably and 10-12 a bit more squished. Amazing! All of this furniture exchange was typically missionary style – free, no money exchanged hands.

Anyway, while I'm excited about extending tables and making it through a "public" performance, the boys are all excited about going back to school tomorrow. Let's hope the joy doesn't wear off too soon, although we could do with a tiny bit less excitement. Excitement that keeps boys from going to sleep isn't really helpful.

Bits and pieces from today

Today a Japanese friend asked me if Australians wore hats a lot. Her observation was that foreigners generally don't wear hats. At CAJ that is largely American foreigners. It is true - the Americans notice the strange hat-wearing Australian family in their midst. Why other Caucasians don't wear hats, I don't know. Perhaps Australians are more sun-aware because of the high skin cancer rate in our country? 

Then later some Asian and partly Asian classmates of my sixth grader asked me why my son's skin was so pale. I didn't say a word - just showed them my winter-white arms. They got the picture very quickly! He is one of the few 100% Caucasian kids in his class.

Are you getting a picture of CAJ? A totally Caucasian family is pretty rare here.

This morning I had coffee with a couple of friends, a meeting that might not have taken place except for this blog! It was an encouraging time, one we hope to do again in September.

This afternoon the kindergarten class went on an excursion to the local bamboo park along the local "river". They've been studying river life, so it was a fun way to make that learning more true-to-life, even if we didn't see an awful lot of such wildlife on our walk. It was a pleasant walk too. A number of the mums were there, but I was the only first-language-Caucasian there (we do have a Romanian). Come to think of it, I'm not sure if there are any other such mums in the class. We have a number of such dads. I frequently found myself talking with the American teachers who were with us. Probably I have more in common with the teachers than the other parents in the class. My role at the school is mixed - not only am I a parent, I am also a staff-wife and friend of many of the staff members. It can get complicated. Speaking of hats - I often ask myself, "Which hat am I wearing now?"

Date and dried apricots, pineapple and kiwifruit.

Someone told me about a shop on the concourse at our local train station that sells dried fruit, dried fruit not being easy to get in Japan (in my local shop I can only buy raisins). I stopped in there today and found dried fruit I've never seen before. Of course they sell a whole lot of dried seafood too. Actually a lot of stuff I have no idea what it is. Plus boiled lollies (US=candy), jelly lollies and the ever present sembei (Japanese rice cracker). But I was very excited to see dates. I don't think I've ever seen these in Japan, and they're in my own suburb!?! They were about A$17 a kilo, how does that compare to dried fruit in Australia?

Now I have a cross-stitch to frame. I've finished my latest birth sampler. Will take a photo and show it to you later on (after the recipient receives it). I'm very pleased to have finished another biggish project. My next project? I have a backlog of smaller cross-stitch kits that are clogging up my craft drawers. I'm going to have a go at getting some of those stitched. It will be nice to do something smaller (and hopefully less complicated) for a change.