So yesterday we went to a Japanese tea party at my daughter’s pre-school. Each class sang a little song and we had noodles and tea and basically all of Japanese culture was distilled down to arigato and paper lanterns and rice. Well, I’m exaggerating a little.

It was very cute. There was no saki.

It was the end of “Japanese” week. They’re doing an around-the-world themed summer program in which they attempt to expose four-year-olds to different cultures (Native American, Dutch, Japanese, Mexican, and African [updated Jul 25]) for the admirable purposes of broadening their vision to a global scope as well as instilling respect and tolerance for people who are “different than you.” Only about a week is spent on each culture, and my daughter only goes two days a week; and really, how much can you learn about another culture in that amount of time without resorting to a few harmless stereotypes?

Today is shaping up to be a doozy. My daughter has already had two tantrums and we haven’t even had lunch yet. This is my last vacation day, then the weekend and back to work. Overall, wonderful; and despite the drama I’ll miss them all terribly sitting in my cubicle Monday morning.