Hisashiburi once more. (Don't know if I've explained this before, but "Hisashiburi" roughly translates as "long time, no see", except that it can be used for almost anything, eg "Hiking hisashiburi" = "It's a long time since I last went hiking" etc�Aand therefore it is almost impossible to trasnlate directly when asked by students!)
James and I had three wonderful weeks in Thailand, which you can read about elsewhere in diary entries that I haven't quite got round to yet! At the moment I am in a bit of a panic about my Japanese studies, so am spending most of my free time learning kanji and trying to write essays rather than writing my diary. My Japanese teacher accepts essays on any subject - unfortunately this actually makes things more difficult for me as I can never think of anything! Actually... that's a good idea... I'm going to set up a section on here for submitting possible essay subjects - go on, challenge me!!!!! (Please note, any essays which require more than 70% of the words to be looked up will give me a headache!!!)
I went home for about 10 days in early August as my Grandma had a stroke and died. Fortunately I got home in time to see her again, and it was nice to be able to comfort my family and Grandpa. Just wanted to mention it in case anyone wondered about lack of contact recently.
We have booked our flights home at Christmas now, and can't wait to see friends and family, visit English shops, eat English food and to actually have a Christmas this year, unlike last year when we worked and then went out drinking! We are also going to have 3 days in the Algarve with Jim and Pat between Christmas and New Year. Can't wait!
Nic.