Catie on the go: off to Nikko

This week has been really busy. We’ve spent a lot of time with last minute planning for our week long trip to Nikko and Lake Chuzenji with the SICE students (we leave tomorrow morning). Andy was busy observing his students teaching in the middle schools, teaching his own class, dealing with Earlham stuff that never seems to go away even though we are a thousand miles away, and finishing a grant proposal. I had to present at Parent-Teacher Forum at Catie’s school and then attend and be the “parent assistant” for World Friends Day. And Catie, well, was doing Catie things. It all took a bit of time, hence, no blog updates.

There really isn’t much to report. After the typhoon blew through, the weather has been gorgeous- the best we've had since we arrived in Japan! Catie earned gold stars for good behavior 2 days in a row, so she’s been pretty happy about school. FIK has been suffering from an outbreak of chicken pox- not something you hear about these days in the US! Most of the kids are back now, but their moms have been comparing chicken pox scars on them in the playground after school. As a result, mizuboso was my new word of the week. I survived my presentation and enjoyed getting to know some of the other mothers better. It turns out that the mom I see rushing by our apartment a couple of mornings each week is a surgeon at the Central Hospital across the street from us! The big surprise of the week is that the goats are GONE! We’ve been reduced to feeding sheep the past 5 days. Maybe they will return by the time we get back. If not, then I’m just glad we’re not eating in the dining hall this week :-)