I am trying to type and this computer keeps switching to Japanese characters, sorry!!!
I may not be able to e-mail you for a while - my school is under construction and they are telling me they can't find my computer. My principal has told me that everyone is terrified of me - they are scared about charges of sexual harrassment. This should be fun.
Last weekend we went up to the north coast ocean and swam - it was gorgeous. I am mostly hanging out with the other teachers right now - you have no idea how important it becomes to have an easy conversation with someone!!! My apartment is gorgeous, clean, and big compared to most of my friends`- and I overlook a little river/creek and the forested side of a mountain - I like to sit there at night and listen to the sound of the cicadas (crickets) and the gurgling of the creek. It really is a very gorgeous area. I am closer than I thought to other teachers. OK, well I am being hurried off now (there are 140 of us trying to e-mail everyone in 1 1/2 hours... I just wanted to tell you all that i am having a blast. It is weird to be in an illiterate minority, and often very tiring. At least there is lots of cold beer (they are talking right now in my town: the new gaijin is a a drunk...) I will e-mail you as soon as i can!!!!!!! AAAAHHHHH
love,
sabine
PS one more really weird thing: my friend lives out in the rice paddies and every day at 6am, 12 noon, and 6 pm, an air raid siren outside her apartment goes off - letting the workers know whan they start, eat lunch, and go home....Next installment will be all about the size of the bugs..... Yikes!