Friday, April 20, 2007

Getting started

In the West we make New Year's resolutions, but in Japan everything new starts in April. It's when the school year begins, when new recruits join companies, and older personnel are shuffled and reshuffled. So this seemed like a good moment to take a tentative step out into the blogosphere, and try to create a space where friends and family can keep up with what's happening in our lives. Goodness knows we need one - both Kentaro and I are dreadful at the social niceties, and it's been years since either of us sent out a Christmas card or nengajo (the Japanese New Year's cards that are supposed to be a mandatory social obligation).

So what' s new? Kei has started elementary school, and trots off at 8 a.m. every morning with his huge black satchel on his back. He comes home in the mornings too, as the first-graders don't start staying for lunch until May. Dan is going to a nearby nursery three days a week until a place opens up at kindergarten, which we're hoping will be next month. Kentaro is still working at the Red Cross hospital in Osaka. And I'm enjoying not having to spend three hours a day going back and forth from daycare in Osaka, though with the boys home much more at the moment work time is considerably shorter than ideal. I'm looking forward to their both being in school and kindergarten for the greater part of the day! It's been some years now since my brain has been able to function effectively enough to translate at 2 a.m.

Monday, April 16, 2007