We're back (blogging) again!

Hello one and all. I appologise for the lengthy hiatus from posting on our blog. As usual, life in Sumita has been busy for the Mino family. First off, Junko and I learned in late December that we are expecting a new baby this year. We're quite excited to have another little member in our family, and Conan will be happy to have a little brother or sister to play with (eventually). As with Junko's previous pregnancy, we won't know if it's a boy or girl until the baby is born, as the local hospital's policy is not to tell the parents. This suits me just fine, as I'm the type of person that likes (nice) surprises. Junko has been doing well and is healthy, save for a bad bout of 'morning' sickness (for her, it's more like '24 hour' sickness). As of now it has just about run it's course, though the past three months have been a long time for her. It seems we also have a knack of being consistent in our children's birthdays. Conan was born August 20 (2004), and the due date for the new baby is August 19. :)

I've also been busy at work, finishing up the school year, which ends mid-March. These days, lesson plans have been focused on reviewing the year's main grammar points and getting in some interview practice for the graduating grade nine students, who will have an English interview in addition to the standard, written high school entrance examination. I've also been working on a updated and more comprehensive English curriculum for our elementary school programme. I hope to have it adopted starting in the new year in April.

Here's a picture of my desk at one of my junior high schools from a few weeks ago. I arrived Monday morning to find a huge pile of peanuts that had been dumped on my desk. They were in fact the left-overs from an interesting Japanese tradition held annually in February, called Setsubun. It's to celebrate the end of the winter season, and the time to rid one's house (or school, as it were) of "oni" (demons or ogres) by throwing beans around the house. At schools, it's a chance for students to throw peanuts around the classroom, then clean up and eat them. :)