Shimogo Nursery School Graduation

I suppose that one of the reasons we stayed in Shimogo so long was for the benefit of Clara. Yuki and I realised that Shimogo was the best place for her to develop in her most formative years. Shimogo has benefited Clara immensely and the care and attention given to her at nursery school has been incredible. Her time at Shimogo Nursery School could not have been bettered at any nursery school in Scotland. She has learnt so much and has had the perfect preparation for primary school. It's ironic that my best and worst memories of Shimogo are both related to Shimogo Nursery School.The worst memory was in February 2006, on a Monday afternoon. I was sitting in the Board of Education when a message came across the town PA system in Japanese. I didn't understand the message, but when I looked at the faces of my colleagues who also had children at the nursery school, I knew something was terribly wrong. It turned out that some of the students had been buried by snow which had slid off the school roof. My colleagues and I rushed down to the nursery school to help dig out the kids. The first came out unconscious and was resuscitated. The second came out about 2 minutes later and died. I didn't mention it on my blog at the time because it was just too raw to write about. Snow related accidents are common throughout rural Japan.Because the excellence of the nursey school was pivotal for us staying in Shimogo for as long as we did, it was fitting that one of our last jobs was to attend the graduation ceremony. I knew that the the ceremony marked the end of our time in Shimogo and was therefore expecting it to be the most emotional time for us during our protracted farewells.

Clara seemed composed and confident throughout the whole affair, but cracked when she was had to say goodbye to her teacher in the school foyer. That set Yuki and I off.

However, as I have said in the previous post, we are sure to visit Shimogo many times in the future and Clara will be able to maintain the friendships she has made.