Kindergarten Graduation

Okay, I don;t know about all of you but the only graduation I ever remember having was my high school graduation. I probably would remember my college graduation except I opted not to go. I mean, there are a gajillion students at UF and most of them are in the College of Liberal Arts and Science so my graduation ceremony would have been about 36 hours long, in summer, in Florida. Yeah, great idea.

Anyhow, I don't remember having anything happen in Middle School, and I certainly don't remember anything from Elementary. And Kindergarten? All I remember from Kindergarten was that we had to sit at an orange table when we were bad. And I only had to sit there once. So, you can imagine my amazement today as I attended to Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony here in Semine. My first surprise was right after I showed up and was gently chided for showing up in only a white shirt and necktie. I had not worn a suit jacket. It's Kindergarten. So, I had to borrow a jacket from the vice-principal of the Elementary in order to not look like a fool.

It began with each student coming out and bowing to the audience individually before moving to their seat. Next, the principal presented each kid with their diploma after which they received a small flower bouquet and then gave both of these to their mother. After each student had been called up, there were a couple of speeches. One from the principal. One from the head of the social center. And one from the mayor. Yes, the mayor. Then they called on all of the 'guests of honor' individually and each one said "Omedetou gozaimasu" which means "Congratulations" to which the students, of course, replies "Arigatou gozaimasu" which means "Thank you." That is, everyone except for me. It was getting almost comical how everyone was saying the same thing so I took the chance when I was called on (Yes, I was a 'guest of honor as well!) to say "Congratulations" in English. I quickly followed it with the Japanese version but the kids were already confused. Still, one little girl managed to get off a "Thank you" in English which got quite the reaction. I tried not to glow.

Then the kids sang us a couple songs and each spoke for a couple seconds about what they remember as something special from their time at Kindergarten. All in all it was a really nice ceremony and I can't help but feel almost ashamed. Maybe years and years from now when these kids finally get out of college they won't remember this day (of course there will be video if the group of fathers in the back with cameras is any indicator). Maybe I did have some little ceremony back when I was five and the memory has just faded away at this point. But even if something did happen, I know for a fact it wasn't as big a deal as what I saw today. And not as big as what I will be seeing soon. The JHS and Elementary graduation ceremonies are coming up soon.

The big thing here is of course the JHS ceremony. Since you have to test into high school here, most of the kids will be splitting up and going to different places. Heck, I went to the same college town as my best friends (I had to say 'college town' because some of those slackers never actually made it through the school part). Point being, we didn't split up until our 20s. These kids will be saying goodbye at age 14-15, on Saturday. I expect tears. Heck, I expect people other than me to cry too. I'm already feeling verklempt.