http://donkeymon.net/donkeymon Merely symptomatic of your postmodern ennui. http://donkeymon.net/images/donkeymon.gif http://donkeymon.net/donkeymon 144 131 en-us http://donkeymon.net/donkeymon/index.pl?page=donkeymon&entry=DM-20080405082900 Pachinko. We put in 1000 yen for him, and the bastard hit the jackpot almost immediately. He came out with more than 7500 yen, and he could have won more if all the scary employees didn't keep coming over to say that the place was closing. Still, it's a pretty auspicious start to the visit.

After that, we mostly have been either doing tourist stuff or just hanging around. We ate some fancy sushi, and some eel. We went to Kyoto for two days (my eighth visit) and I showed him some of the sights there. We went to a soccer game and a baseball game. He even went up Tokyo Tower, although I think it's a waste of money. We had a lot of fun, but I don't think any of it surpassed that initial thrill of winning at pachinko. ]]> http://donkeymon.net/donkeymon/index.pl?page=donkeymon&entry=DM-20080325075909 http://donkeymon.net/donkeymon/index.pl?page=donkeymon&entry=DM-20080312021004
The next day was called 登校日, which is the day when existing students are elevated to the next grade level. First graders became second graders and second graders became third graders. So they all come to school and find out their new classes and meet all the new teachers. Obviously there was a lot of whining and flipping out as kids found out that had been separated from all their friends and placed with teachers they hate. But it was also their first chance to see all the new teachers, so they all crowded around the teacher's room and watched us continue trying to move all our stuff to our new desks.

The day after that (today) was the 入学式, the school entrance ceremony, held at the big performance hall up the street. Which I always found a little odd, that it's a school entrance ceremony but the students don't actually physically enter the school. This ceremony mainly involves all the new students having their names read by their new homeroom teachers. The junior high and the high school were done together, so that means my new 12-year-olds had to stand up individually in front of a thousand high schoolers; needless to say, they were scared shitless. Almost none of them exhibited any personality at all. My old students of the past two years were also there as high school first graders. Since they were the only ones who already knew each other, their corner of the hall was loud with chatting and mucking around while the rest of the place was perfectly quiet for the entire grueling three hours of name-reading.

From tomorrow, I will actually have homeroom with these kids. This weekend they will go to Orientation Camp in Izu and get to know each other. Until then, they will probably be really shy. But when they come back, they will be completely crazy, if last year's first graders are any indication. Then the fun can begin. ]]> http://donkeymon.net/donkeymon/index.pl?page=donkeymon&entry=DM-20080307162023
Of course, if I am not at school, I am at home. Hana is getting big and difficult. She's been able to crawl for almost a month now, and she's really fast! And of course, she is only interested in things she shouldn't be, like electrical outlets, wires, the special poop-only garbage can, and my collection of butcher knives that I keep under the coffee table. And she's already started to stand! She can't quite do it yet, but she sometimes tries to pull herself up onto the sofa or over the railing of her crib. It's really dangerous, so you have to watch her all the time. ]]>