The kids all seemed fairly excited to be back at school. A few of the new first (7th) graders even waved at me after the ceremony was over. Of course I have been teaching them, if only a couple times a year, for two years. They were cute and small, but I'm sure that image will fade quickly as I get to see their real faces in class. One of the things I noticed this morning that I never really thought about before was that the new principal was wearing a suit jacket with tails, kind of like the prime minister does. I asked why, and was told that it's a formal suit for ceremonies. Maybe it's a step in between a regular suit and a tux. In Japan it's called a 'morning.' Wikipedia had this to say about it:

A morning coat or cutaway is a man's coat worn as the principal item in morning dress. The name derives from the fact that a common form of morning exercise for gentlemen in the nineteenth century was horseback riding and because of this it was regarded as a more casual form of half dress. Gradually it came to be increasingly acceptable as an alternative to the frock coat for formal day wear or full dress, eventually replacing it. It has become increasingly rarely worn since the 19th century, and today is normally only seen at weddings, formal funerals and, in England, race meetings such as Royal Ascot and the Derby. Also, the United States Solicitor General typically wears it when arguing before the United States Supreme Court, and male members of the cabinet of Japan wear it in their first public appearance following the formation of the cabinet.

This was all news to me. I guess it's because we don't see those kinds of suits in the US very often, and if we do, we call them, and all other formal suits, tuxedos. I thought it was pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing my dad in one. Though I'm not sure if we'll be able to find his size around here. He might just have to bring a suit from home.

Speaking of which, I went to the place that we picked to do the deed yesterday. It was really nice, and my fiance's parents have a friend there who is going to give us a financial break. Yay! He also treated us to a rather expensive dinner as a congratulations. We decided the date, and if I haven't told you yet, e-mail me and I will. I'll try to send out an informal e-mail with a little information to the people I think want it as soon as I can. Please be patient. (^_^)

So the place... since we'll be having an event in both countries, we decided...well, I decided to keep to each country's traditions...mostly. In Japan, we'll do the Japanese style with kimonos, but minus the scary wig and hat. Then in the US we'll do the regular American thing with only a few tweaks. I haven't worked out all of the details yet, but since it's apparently up to me, I'll try my best. I guess I'm pretty lucky that everyone is giving me the final say in everything. Of course if there are problems then they can always blame me. On the other hand I won't be doing much of the foot work, just telling people what I want to do mostly. In Japan, it's common to hold weddings at a special place just for weddings and other formal events, so they have a system all set up. They get everything ready for you and all you have to do is get a dress and show up. Some of the places even already have dresses to buy or rent. I will have to do very little in the way of preparation besides making decisions. Knowing that they'll have everything ready and I only have to worry about getting my family over here really makes me a lot less worried about how it's going to go. And the fact that my mom is the boss in charge of the US side really puts my mind at ease. She has had numerous offers from my friends and family to help on that end. It feels like it's really going to happen...this year even...twice!

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