School Lunch

One of the reason's we chose Sydney's school was because they make a hot lunch. With school starting last year and the baby due, we knew that my time would be limited and making lunch would not be a priority. In the US you can just slap a sandwich together, fruit and a cookie and you are good to go. It doesn't work that way in Japan. Japanese mom's consider lunch boxes (obento) to be comparable to chef's cuisine. They make animals and flowers with vegtables and everything. It is very pretty, but I feel the skill may be lost on the 3-5 year old child that they send it with. I talked with one of the Sensei's at school who told me that Sydney was eating more of the lunches this year. Sydney told me that she liked the cheese in the soup and I didn't have the heart to tell her it was tofu. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Today I was invited to go to Sydney's school to meet the other moms and have lunch just like the kids do. I was only one of three American parents there. I feel it is important, though I can't communicate very well, to show that I care. It was a nice time, and the principal talked only for 20 minutes this time. I met another dad whose child is in Sydney's class and the only other American in the class. Sydney's good friend was moved to the other class so she doesn't see him all the time. Sydney was excited to walk home from school, and it only took 20 minutes and we took lots of pictures of the flowers.