My apologies to all, especially Grams who reminded me of the fact that I have not updated my blog in a while. I would plead bussiness, or lack of access to technology, but neither is the case.

Things are going very well in Japan. I was very sorry to hear about the shootings in Virginia and elsewhere. There is a psychologist from Mito, the big city an hour and a half to the south, who comes to my Junior High school once every week or so. We discussed how frequently things like this occurred in our countries. I could tell he wanted to put the best face on Japan, as I did for America, but we both had to admit that even decent countries have some very damaged individuals. Dad, you will enjoy this, we discussed the comparative virtues of Freudian and Yeungian methodologies. Yes, his English was excellent, and yes, it was a very basic converstaion, ha ha.

I am more than half-way through my first month at my second school, and I find that I have become very attatched to the ni-ninsei class, or second-year (8th grade equivalent) at both schools. I know already that I will be sorry to leave them, or for them to leave me, however that comes to be.

I say things like, sumimasen (excuse me) and arigatou gozaimasu (thank you) without thinking, and I am beginning to at least recognize most of the elements of the kanji. Even if I don`t know it, I have at least seen and identified the parts of most of the daily ones.

Learning conversational Japanese is hard without a tutor. Speaking of which, I am now tutoring a young woman by the name of Hideko. We meet once a week and I get a free meal and a nice hourly fee to have fun chatting in English. What a gig. Her family is very kind, and they are always very happy to see me. The mother feeds me from the moment I walk in the door, and the father will get me drunk under the table unless I decline his pouring. I wasn`t able to stop him the first time... and I don`t remember much of the next morning, but after that, we found a nice balance.

I have spiders the size of small American housepets living outside my apartment... check that... hanging, nay, lurking above the walkway to enter my apartment, and on the back porch. I played spider ball with my broom last night, but one of them, which I thought I hit particularly hard, was 2/3 of her way through reconstructing her web in the same spot from which I smacked her 20 feet away. These things aren`t natural, I tell you. They`re not quite the size of tarantulas, but those at least have the decency to not hang over your head by the dozens, RIGHT outside your door. Argh.

Steven and I have developed a good friendship. We watch each others backs, have a few laughs, watch Japanese TV shows like Proposition Daisakusen (Operation Love, and do dinner together most nights. Hmmm... when I put it that way it sounds like a girlfriend. Well, I can at least say he`s not crazy, so maybe this is preferrable.

I have been making games for my students, and they have really loved them.

Souji time! (Cleaning Time) Ggrabs a broom and make it shine. Goly gee its Souji time!