:)

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!