New School Year Officially Starts!

School officially starts again today! Woke up at 7:00am, had rice for breakfast, bought lunch from Lawson, and arrived at school. We had the beginning-of-school ceremony today, and since the weather was lovely, we had it outside on the grounds. Basically the principal just said a few things, and then introduced all the staff for this year. It was pretty cute because it was also when the kids found out who was their homeroom teacher for the year, and there were a few “awh…”s when they found out their teacher last year wouldn't be with them this year, and vice versa a few “yay!!!”s when they found out that they would be getting the same homeroom teacher. After that it was the entrance ceremony for the new 1st graders, and it was a pretty big affair with all their parents coming, even some grandparents, and everyone was dressed super nicely and fancy. The little (new) baby 1st graders looked so cute in their mini suits and dresses! But seeing them all in their suits and dresses and shiny new backpacks, having a kid in Japan really does come with a lot of expenses! I helped out with handing out plastic bags for the families to put their outdoor shoes in, and man that was a lot of plastic…so sad. Anyway, after that ended it was just normal work for the rest of the day. One difference was that I finally went out for lunch today, and we (myself, librarian, tea lady, one of the teacher helpers, and the new special needs teacher aid) went and had lunch at a nearby yakiniku place – though I got bibimbap since it was a Korean cuisine place. After lunch it was back to work, and I just continued making the classroom day/month/weather/subject cards and a storage system for them.