New School is Cool!

There's nothing quite as intimidating as the first day at a new school when you're 12 years old. What a week of adjusting it's been for Justen.

Justen's old church school closed its doors this past summer after 6 years because of personnel and financial struggles. Now Justen is attending "Fountain of Life International School." It is a tiny church-based school (all church-based schools are tiny in Japan) of 10 students ranging from 1st grade to high school. Each student receives a lot of individual attention, tutoring and help. Subjects are taught in English as well as Japanese. And that is "cool" with our bilingual Justen.

The new school is actually a bit closer than the last one, but still requires 3 trains to get to. This time he heads into (instead of away from) Tokyo on the train at the height of the morning rush hour. Or should we say "crush hour." It's a good thing he's still small because It is indeed a very tight squeeze for a good part of the way. Sometime next year a new train line to open near our home should help alleviate part of that congestion, for a while at least.

You can write Justen a note of encouragement at justenmama@mac.com. Thanks for praying for his quick adjustment to his new surroundings.