Dear �gMy MeeMaw�h:
I will have you know that I have had to learn all the words concerning �ggrandmother�h so that I can talk about you to my students. This is a frequent topic, so they all know you as �gDin-dee sensei`s O-baaah-san!�h You have been on my mind constantly. I hope that you are feeling well and that things are starting to work out a little bit by now.
Things here are fine except that I miss you terribly. We are having a wonderful time, and it is hard to believe that three months are already gone! There isn`t going to be enough time. I love this job, and I am getting to know the kids in my classes. The hardest part is learning the names, which are SO foreign and all sound the same. Little by little I am making progress, and am anxious to start my language classes for me and Ken, but these do not start until December. It seems that by the time we really get settled, it will be time to come home again.
Jessica is doing great. So far, the home-schooling is taking care of what she is not getting at her Japanese school. Yesterday when I went to pick her up, she and two other little girls were playing in the classroom waiting for their moms. They were talking together, Jessica in English and the girls in Japanese, and it was clear that they understood each other. I nearly cried. She has friends. She talked about them all night long, and today they were waiting for her at the front door of the school. There are two other girls, daughters of one of my Thursday night students, who are constantly calling to ask if Jessica can come and play, and inviting her for sleepovers. She comes home tired from playing all night long, but she is happy. I am ecstatic that she is finally having some normal-type friendships and play groups, like all the other children. It`s just a shame that the kids in her own country won`t do the same. I have asked her several times if she is going to write letters to Ashley. She says yes, and has started several letters, and then gets busy with school work either from me or from Itoi, and it gets forgotten. Maybe when we finally get hooked up to the internet, Jessica can send an email message or two through Virginia. I haven`t asked, but I am sure that Virginia MUST be online, what with running State Farm up there and all. Almost everyone has to be online these days, wouldn�ft you say?
Last weekend we went to Kyoto. Wow. That is an amazing city! I can hardly wait for Mom-O to come and visit so that we can take her to all these places. She doesn�ft know it yet, but her trip is being planned for her once she gets here, and the time she will stay is getting longer and longer by necessity. I have promised her that I won`t make her eat anything truly strange or disgusting when she gets here. Ken and Jessica and I like Japanese food a lot, so it is not hard for us to make the dietary changes. The food is fairly healthy too?I have lost eleven pounds since coming to Japan and I haven`t tried to do that at all. In fact, I feel like I am eating MORE than I usually do, and never go hungry. The main difference is that I drink lots of water and I cook fresh veggies instead of dropping through McDonald`s on the run! I say fresh veggies because the refridgerator is very small and leftovers are impossible to keep, so you have to buy what you want to eat, prepare the amount that you can eat and then eat it all. We have the concept of �gone serving�h down to a fine science.
Speaking of mealtime, Jessica has been helping with the cooking. She has even learned how to start the washing machine, so I put her on the payroll. She makes her bed, keeps her room neat, helps with the cooking and various chores alongside us and is paid an allowance. Meager, but it`s plenty for her. We give her 500\ weekly, a little more than five dollars. They have the most wonderful �gdollar stores�h here in Japan. They are called �ghyaku-en plazas�h They aren`t like dollar stores in America, full of worthless crap. The plastics in Japan are very high-quality, and there are lots of toys, barrettes, containers, folders, stickers, stamps and markers, even origami papers and fans and household goods that you can find in these places. There is usually one in every major department store, for clearance items and such. I have furnished the apartment from these places. It`s great! So when I give Jessica her allowance, she saves it, and when she goes to these places I allow her to buy something for herself if she wants to. Usually that money burns a hole in her pocket, so I limit her to two items. That way she is able to save most of the money she has, and then has a little extra when we go to places like Kyoto!
She`s pretty good about it. She doesn�ft complain about not having enough money or argue with me over the limits I set. I explained that I wanted her to see how important it was that she learn how to save money. She seemed to understand that. I think that she is a little like I was when I was young. I would see things I wanted, but I wouldn`t ask for them. Somehow, Mom or my MeeMaw would always know it and get it for me as a surprise. She is the same way. If I watch her, I can tell what she likes, and sometimes when she is talking to Ken, I will slip away and buy it for her. I have a horde of things for her, hidden away to reward good behavior, which is a certain thing! She is such a good kid! She works hard at school and at home. We are very proud of her.
Ken is doing fine too. He is turning into a fine teacher! I worried about the transition from Army to high school a little, as he is used to making people do push-ups when they don�ft follow directions! Here, that kind of thing would be intolerable, of course! Especially since all the girls wear little skirts with their uniforms! Ha Ha! He and I plan our lessons together and then alternate who will take the materials to school first, etc. It works out, and two heads really are better than one when it comes to lesson planning! By the way, Jessica`s uniform is just a jacket that she can wear over whatever clothes she has on. Really convenient! Less expensive, also! Her sports uniform (which is different) has her name written in hiragana on the shirt in big blue letters, which makes her look like all the other children at the school with the exceptions of that blonde ponytail sticking out of the back of her cap! I can`t wait to see how she does in the school play! The other kids are really accepting, and helpful to her, showing her where to put things when she is unsure, and always trying to include her in whatever they are doing. She is learning Japanese very quickly, and is already trying to teach her thickheaded mother some very basic vocabulary. Sometimes she gets the upper hand on me, and it goes something like this;
Jessica: �gOhayo!�h
Me: �gOhio�cstate in the midwest. Named for the river running through it.
The word ohio is Native American, meaning `beautiful river.`
The three largest cities begin with the letter C. There are many cows there.
Anything else?�h
Jessica: (giving me a weird look) �gMom, no. I said `Ohayo.` It is another way to say
good morning. It is time for breakfast. Would you like cereal?�h
Me: �gGrain! They grow many kinds of grain in Ohio! That`s used to MAKE
cereal! See? I WAS talking about breakfast!�h
Jessica: (rolling her eyes) Okay Mom, whatever you say.
You see? I have to get up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on THAT girl. The trouble was that this particular morning, she was up already. I am beginning to wonder if she does that just to get my goat. It occurs to me now that it would run in the family, wouldn�ft it?
I suppose I should go for now. I dropped a lot of film off at the camera shop and now I might have to sell a kidney to get the photos out again. Developing film is very expensive here, a fact I was unaware of when I took more than 20 rolls in. I shall have to be frugal snapping that shutter from henceforth, shant I? I think about you all the time, and hope that you are doing well. Please send my love to everyone. I got a letter from Steve, who used some Japanese words and impressed me twice. Once because he knew them and twice because I did also. He said it was all the Japanese he knew. It`s all I knew as well! <grin> I send a special big hug to PowPow! If you think about it, tell Mary that I saw many great works of art in Kyoto that reminded me of some of the work she does. There were many Japanese gardens that I just knew she would want to paint, and I took a picture that I will pass on when I can afford to have it developed. Apparently it will be on solid gold paper. I`m just lucky it`s not printed on platinum! Please have somebody give you a big hug for me, and I wish I was there to do it myself! We send lots of love, as always!