It's Week 3 of our Family Gap Year in Tokyo™️ and it feels like we're cheating. Not because the Yen is at 158 (which means an entire sushi meal for under $50). But because my 12 year old has time traveled back into the Magic Window. When she entered Middle School we stopped being the center of her universe. Friends, extra-curriculars and her pursuit of her independence made her want to be around mom and dad way less. Totally understandable, still sad. Now 18 months later she's "reverted" back to being our little girl. Maybe it's the emotional intensity of this life change. Or the fact that we literally see each other for 14 straight hours. Or that being in a girl in a wealthy suburb speed ran her maturity. (Or maybe there's no one here to catch her holding her dad's hand!) Overall the family bonding has been pretty incredible. It's basically impossible for my wife and I to get any alone time (my podcast listening has plummeted!), yet maybe that's a feature, not a bug. A lot of our bad habits from the US have gone away. Doom scrolling before bed, 3 hour binges of Saylish Matter and rarely eating meals together. (Yet we've picked some new ones, like daily 7-11 ice cream runs and loading up on Sonny Angels.) This was the first time this trip stopped feeling like vacation and that we are living here. We crossed the threshold of enjoying eating out for every meal - despite the unfettered access to cheap delicious food. We've settled into a routine, work/school/life admin from 8-12, followed by an outing (new neighborhood, cultural exhibit, activity) and then an early dinner before coming home. We're starting to discuss the next destination for November, probably Seoul, Taipei or Bangkok. School has been mixed. Eldest is chugging away in her online school. (The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.) Youngest just DGAF about structure, routine and work. So a multi hour struggle just to get a 30 minute assignment done. It's pretty stressful, especially as it plays into my (likely ungrounded) fear that she's falling behind. She does have a Zoom math teacher and we might up the sessions to cover some writing. However, the downstream learning has been amazing. They're both obsessed with Duo Lingo and starting to practice Japanese in real situations. There's a real interest in the world beyond the US, which leads to interesting discussions on collectivism, immigration, assimilation, freedom of speech, longevity and foreign exchange. So I guess they're actually ok?!?