I have to admit - I thought 5th grade graduation in Texas was silly ... so, I felt the same about an 8th grade graduation here in Germany ... OF COURSE my child is "graduating" from 8th grade ... He better be!! ... Well, I just quietly watch and listened to all the hoopla all year and then agreed to go to the banquet. (There are only 40 kids in the whole 8th grade, and only 4 weren't there -- 2 of them were in the states...) Now I have to admit that it was pretty nice. They had a slide show of all the 8th graders, a nice talk by Colonel someone, a nice talk by the 8th grade Faculty representative. Each kid got an envelope with his/her awards, and a frame to put a picture in. They also got a coupon for a free 4x6 picture to go in the frame... of course, Devin, being a little too much like his mother, did not want to be photographed ... I finally convinced him to go get a picture with some of his friends. While they were setting up, I took some pictures - then a different boy used his coupon for the picture. I tried to get Devin to just take a picture by himself. No ... so, I left him so he could go to the "dance" (although it is my understanding that it was more like a "stand around and talk and listen to music") ... The next morning he told me what he did with his coupon... He saw a group of 8-10 girls getting a picture, and when they were done - he got in the middle of them to get a picture!! I was shocked!! Can't wait to see the picture (I'll post it when I get it!)... Here is a picture of him and his friends -- As his friends pointed out, "he's the only white guy in the group!"
