:)

I still love it here, can you believe it? I feel like I am really getting settle into life here. I have finally learned how to tell someone how many of a certain thing I want. In Japan, they have different ways of counting things- depending on their shape, size, color, chemical make-up, place of origin, etc. Well, maybe not all of those things, but there are way too many methods of counting for me to memorize. For example, you use -hon after the number if you are counting sheets of paper, -nin to count people (Mom, tell me if I got that wrong) and something completely different to count long, thin objects. And then there is ANOTHER system if you are ordering food or drink at a restaurant. I hope I can get it eventually. This is just one of the things that is keeping me from feeling comfortable with the language. I don't think I have offended anyone yet, although I can't be sure. I start taking Japanese lessons next week and at this point, anything will help.
The job is still going well. The kids just keep getting cuter and cuter. In one of my 1st grade classes (and this made me feel pretty incompetent), there was a 5-year old boy who translated for me and the class. He had lived in America for a couple of years and was pretty fluent in English. So, the teacher pulled him up to the front, and he translated questions from the students to me. He was amazing! Another fun thing about the elementary schools is the Sports Day. Val and I went to one at my first elementary school. It's like a mini-not-so-serious-Olympics. My favorite competition was the bean bag toss. Two students and two teachers would hold baskets on long sticks in the middle of the field, and all the little kids from their teams would run out and start throwing bean bags at the baskets. Of course, a majority of them didnt make it in, and a good number of those kept hitting the people holding the baskets. I don't know if I can make it sound as funny as I thought it was, but I will put pictures up later. There was also tug-of-war between teams of about 100 students, hurdle races and 1st graders pushing a huge beach-type ball around a marker. It was great!
I don't have time to ramble on about the food, because I am at work, but that's great, too. No complaints yet!

Humidity

It's obvious that I wasn't good with computers before coming to Japan, but now it's even worse. I have tried to pull up this blog website in English but still can't figure it out. So I did write about a week ago, and somehow never posted it. We'll see if this one gets out there. I have started teaching at the schools all over the city. I never thought the job would be so fun! So far, I have only gone to Elementary schools and one nursery school, and once I get over the initial awkwardness of not being able to talk to any of the teachers, it really is a great job. The typical day is as follows: I get up at about 7:30, get ready for work, and get on my bike or to the train station by about 8:30. I usually don't have to be to the schools until 9:00 or later, then I help teach classes (i.e. show pictures and play games) for 3 hours. After the 3rd class, I eat lunch in the 3rd classroom, and the lunches are usually really good- except that I have to drink lukewarm milk (Mom and Dad, this means I may be less picky when I get back). After lunch, I either play with the kids at recess, study Japanese, teach one more class, or go home. The kids are extremely cute, and usually genuinely happy to be learning English from me. This may change when I start at the junior highs, but I think I can deal with it. I have pictures of some of the kids, but as I still don't have internet at my place, I will have to wait to post those.
Besides work, things are also pretty good. I have been getting to know my co-workers better, as well as some other English teachers in the surrounding areas. It's a pretty diverse crowd so I think things will stay interesting. We are planning on going to the World Expo in a few days, but those are the only plans I have for the future. So that's it for now!