So it turns out Japanese is a bit challenging. Compared to English, the word order is different (the verb always comes at the very end of a sentence), the grammar is different (it's important to learn the formal and informal ways to say everything -- it's like learning everything several times), the numbers are different (the number words you use to count flat things are different from the number words you use to count dates of the month, etc.), heck even the alphabets are different (as Japanese has several thousand more characters than we do). It's all hopelessly complicated.

And so, I'm learning to celebrate the tiny victories. I hope you won't mind if I share a few.

Victory #1: here's some of my homework this week. It's a speech I wrote about Topeka. I copied about 20% of it straight from the assignment, I had to look up a lot of the words, it's got several errors, and it only uses the 2 simpler alphabets (hiragana and katakana, no kanji)... but still, I wrote a speech in Japanese!

Victory #2: first a little back story. In my first week here, I caused a long line to form at the grocery store. Paying is hard! Here's why: first, there are two registers at the checkout. One tallies your total, the other is where they keep the money, and both have displays. Second, some of the coins don't have numbers on them. For instance, the 5-yen coin just has a bunch of kanji on it, and it's the same size and shape (including a hole in the middle!) as the 50-yen coin. So. If you're new to this system, and you're a customer, and you're not completely paying attention, and you mistake the total on the wrong machine's display for your own total, and you don't know a 5-yen coin from a 50-yen coin, you *could* cause a really long line to form while you try to pay. The very reserved checkout clerk was very nice about it. Still, no question, I caused a ruckus at the grocery store.

But! This week, at the very same grocery store, I had the very same checkout clerk. I'm pretty sure he wasn't thrilled to see me coming. But this time I was quick and I knew what I was doing and I paid with exact change. And when it was over, the clerk looked me in the eye, smiled, and said (in perfect English, of course) "good job." It made my day.

And finally: it was rainy this week, so I bought a fancy new $1 umbrella that I love because it's transparent so you can see out of it. But the other day, I accidentally left it at the convenience store. Ack! Several hours later, when I realized I'd lost it, Jake was in class, but I hurried back to the same store, explained that I lost my umbrella and asked if it was there... completely in Japanese!! The clerk looked behind the counter, found it, and handed it over. Oh, such pride! :)

Hopefully some of you had bigger successes this week than losing your umbrella and getting it back again... but for me, it was a big deal.

Every Friday, our school holds a mini "graduation ceremony" for the students who won't be back the next week. Every student gives a little speech and gets a certificate. Here's the school photo after last week's ceremony.

The people with certificates are the "graduates." I'm standing next to Tamara and in front of Mattias, both classmates from my first week of class. This week, Arno-san (front row-right) is one of my two classmates.

A few of the teachers are in there, too. The teachers rotate from class to class; we have different teachers every day, sometimes 2 or 3 or 4 teachers in a day. Yuji-sensei (far left-white shirt) was one of Jake's teachers today and one of my teachers last week, and we've both learned from Kazuyo-sensei (2nd-to-right, middle row) this week. Mae-san (front row, far left) is responsible for logistics and administration, so she sits at the front desk. We have short "good morning" and "see you tomorrow" conversations with her almost every time we enter the school or go home, she's very cheerful. In fact, all the staff is impressive -- bright, helpful, and kind.

Jake tries to win back Sam's heart from the little dog by serenading her with ancient Japanese poetry inscribed on a big flat rock.

Today we went with our new friends Dylan and Tamara...

Last night we decided to go next door to dinner. We almost didn't go in when we couldn't figure out how to get in the door. It was so very... small:

We ultimately decided to duck in the little door, which is apparently modeled after doors in traditional Japanese tea houses (and is the way you're supposed to enter). Once we got inside, the servers were very friendly and the place was very cozy. The workers kneeled here while they served us and while we ate. The food was hearty, the place was small, and the people were friendly: it felt a lot like eating at someone's house.

This style of food is called "oden." We had no idea what to order, so we asked them to just give us what they suggest. We received two servings of food and then personal little plates with a little broth in each one. Here is our first serving: (clockwise) tofu, sausage, egg, and radish. Everything was surpringly delicious!

After moving out of Hawaii, we made a stop in Kansas for my 10-year high school reunion and to visit my family. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold and missed most of the reunion, but we did get to go the tour, here we are with some of the reunion folks on the first day: