What's happening

I've been writing a lot about where we've been going and what I've been seeing, but not much about life here generally. So here's a general update:

Blaine is writing a lot about North Korea, which is making his editors happy. (I'll post his latest story after I finish this post.) But he's also working so hard, and traveling a lot, that he's come down with a few severe colds. He needs a vacation! (More about that later.)

Lucinda is growing more confident in her reading every day, and she's reading faster and more smoothly. She brings home 1 or 2 short books as homework every night. Also, she was excited on Friday when her Japanese teacher assigned her first Japanese homework: writing her name in Katakana and Kanji (two of the three character-based languages that make up Japanese).

On Thursday, Lucinda will host Blaine and me for an hourlong "student-led conference" in her classroom to show us what she's learning. Nishimachi doesn't let parents volunteer in the classroom - though they gladly "let" us volunteer in the library or to raise money - which means we have to rely on Lucinda to give us scarce details from day to day.

Lucinda's other focus these days is her two best friends, Claire and Naomi. This triangular friendship sometimes causes heartburn - I assume for all three girls, but definitely for Lucinda - because shifting alliances sometimes leave one girl or another feeling left out. We talk about this situation almost every day, and I think Lucinda (with my help) has worked out a strategy that seems to help: on days when she knows the other two will have a playdate - which usually means they're wrapped up together - she has started to plan ahead to spend time with other friends. It seems to give her a sense of control on days when she's worried.

Arno is Arno: cheerful, lots of talking, enjoying school, jumping and twisting in the air. He's also really got a mommy-adoration thing going on, which is very sweet but also makes me worry that I'm not spending enough time with him. Alas, the endless parenting dilemma of time with kids vs. time alone. His class will have "family day" on Thursday, after Lucinda's parent conference, and we'll have lunch with him in the park.

Me: I'm working on pitches to a few magazines and volunteering at the kids' schools. Last week, the director of Willowbrook (Arno's school), another mom and I delivered a Volvo-load of donated groceries to a food bank, Second Harvest, here. Today I spent 1.5 hrs in Nishimachi's new library organizing books and painting props for an upcoming Book Day. Oh - and blogging when I can get it together.

Next week is spring vacation for both kids. We're flying to the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido on Sunday to ski with Blaine's translator, Ako, and her family. Hokkaido is supposed to have amazing snow: something like 900 inches/year. Lucinda and Arno will probably take lessons - should be really neat. Then we'll be back in Tokyo by mid-week to witness the height of the cherry blossoms here.