Mihoko -kampai!

Arigatou. Thank you. Namaste. Che-che.

Glad you and Haruka are back, safe and sound.

Mata ne...

Montessori Natsu Matsuri

Yesterday evening there was a Summer Festival at Miki & Sami's school. The girls (including Ericka) had to wear a traditional summer ensemble called, "yukata". There was music, dancing demonstrations by students (and mothers!) and watermelon.

Summer Festivals in Japan are ubiquitous and this was the first of many we will attend. Stay tuned...

More photos from the actual event to come later.

Sam's first day of school!

Sami started her first day at Montessori school this morning! She was very excited. She is in the "Pink Class" 2 days per/week, about 2.5-3 hours each time. Beginning in September she will increase to 3 days per/week.

And beginning next week both girls will be speaking Japanese far more fluently than mama & papa!

Zelvia Soccer Game

We went to a soccer match yesterday afternoon. The team in question, Zelvia, is a local (Machida city) team sponsored by my school and Saturday's game was designated a "Tamagawa match". Recently, the founder's son of my school, Mr. Tetsuro Obara, passed away and the game was played in his memory. Needless to say, there were hundreds of Tamagawa staff and employees present (my colleagues!).

It was a great game, the weather cooperated and Zelvia won! Whoo hoo!