"Participation Day" and "Explanation Day"

Today was one of my busier days.

I had to be at Juhee's preschool by 10:00am for their "(Parent) Participation Day" performance. They have these days I think twice a year and today's was her last ever one as a preschooler.

They had lots of little mini performances showing the moms (and the couple of dads that came) what they've learned and how they play at preschool.  It was really cute and very Japanese-y! :)

So the preschool thing was supposed to be from 10:00-10:30 which would have left me and the one other mom from Juhee's preschool class who has a son who will be attending the same elementary school, plenty of time for us to get to the elementary school for the 11:00 "Explanation Day".  However, it ended closer to 10:45 so we RAN out of the preschool, drove down, and then RAN into the elementary school and up the stairs to the fourth floor.  We made it in just as the Vice Principal started speaking - so thankful that two other moms who have kids in the same preschool saved seats for us! But before we went in, we had to get our information packs. I said Juhee's name and the teacher at the registration desk actually went straight down the list past Juhee's name, the only name written in English. So when I pointed it out to her, she looked up at me in surprise. :) I think she was expecting a non-Asian to go with the name written in English. ;) She then asked me to speak to the VP after the meeting as there were a few things that she wanted to discuss with me.

The mom from Juhee's class has a son already in that elementary school so it was great having her sitting next to me.  I asked her questions about different things that various teachers informed us parents about, and filled in two forms with her that needed to be submitted as we were leaving.  I almost ended up buying double the number of PE clothes than I needed!  I spoke to the VP afterwards and I could see the look of mixed alarm and relief when I introduced myself to her.  I knew I needed to speak to somebody about how Juhee's name would be written and sure enough, that's what she wanted to speak to me about too.  So we discussed various options and came up with おうじゅひ.  Now I can go start making the hundreds of labels that I need to label everything for elementary school.  And no, I'm not exaggerating!

The Principal greeting the parents; The VP thanking all of the parents for attending - everyone bow!; Moms looking at PE uniform sizes - short sleeves & shorts all year round, names are all stitched on, all special order; When we were leaving, there were kids outside for PE, despite the fact that it'd been snowing earlier that morning and was still super cold, they were all in short sleeves and shorts with their school uniform blazers thrown on top of beams in the playground area of the field... 

It was nice meeting her and putting behind us the tension of who-are-the-foreigners-and-how-much-Japanese-do-they-speak from the school's point of view and how-understanding-are-the-Principal-and-VP-of-this-school from our side.  I told her that Peter and I would like to meet with the two of them sometime to officially introduce ourselves and explained that although Juhee would only be a student there for one year, that if there was anything we could do to help in terms of English, to just ask.  They both seem really nice so seriously seriously Praise God for that!!!!!

I was supposed to have lunch with the moms from Juhee's preschool class, but as I would have been very late (due to the "Explanation Meeting"), I organized a last minute lunch with the moms from Juhee's preschool who would be going to the same elementary school.  They were all up for it and we had a great time!  It's great to have friends already before going into our next big adventure of unknowns.  The moms and their kids are all really nice too so I'm looking forward to hanging out with them more.  We went to an Italian restaurant really closeby that I didn't even know existed.  The food and atmosphere were great!  Price was reasonable too.  We all found out each other's first names and decided to go on a first name basis.  Going from Last-Name-san to Abbreviated-First-Name-chan is a big step here in Japan!!!  We talked about preschool things, elementary school things, kids' after school activities...  I found out that there's one more kid from the same preschool who will be attending the same elementary school too.  We're all in a similar phase so we didn't really have a shortage of things to chat about. ;)  Today was hopefully the first of many hangouts together with these moms. :)

Lunch with the moms; my delicious seafood risotto which came with a salad appetizer, a drink, and creme brulee dessert all for about $12; lots of paperwork for me. SO GRATEFUL for God providing awesome friends who are willing and wanting to help.

Thank you, God!!! :)