I have no idea what to title this blog, mostly because I meant to post this two weeks ago right after my last post, but I keep getting so caught up in this whole being in Japan thing that writing sort of takes a back seat.  So let me start by apologizing to those who I don't get to talk to very regularly and rely on this blog to keep you up to date on my time here in Japan.  I really am sorry!  As always, the best way to keep up is to stalk the ol' Facebook, but I will try to keep this going more regularly as well.

The one thing that the last couple of weeks have taught me is that I am very lucky that I don't work until 5:00 p.m. on Mondays.  Last weekend can serve as a perfect example.  I went to a friend's sayonara party in Nagoya on saturday night, which entailed getting about 3 hours of sleep, and then Sunday I went with some other friends to a river near Tsu where we went swimming and cliff jumping for 5 hours, then we went to another party for a different friend who was celebrating his 15th anniversary of being in Japan!  I am very very fortunate that my Mondays start so wonderfully late.  I know it is super lame to be complaining about going to so many parties, but as a wise woman once said, "the life of a socialite is hard!"  *Sarah Haugen, I hope you're reading this someday.

I am also at a loss for words to describe the rest of the stuff we have been doing here.  I don't think that I have ever typed that sentence before!  I have met more people than I ever thought possible, and most of them have been pretty great.  I have been to some truly beautiful places, and I have gotten to see a lot of Mie-ken thanks to the great friends that I have made here, and I'm really very lucky in all of this.

I'm going to keep this short, and simply say the weekend ended on a fantastic note.  My mom sent me a box full of American candy and cereal!  It also had some wonderful Dove soap.  My mom is the best.  Hands down.

Good night and good luck!

Andrew