Yes, I realize I have been out of touch. This week has been suPREmely busy and with not much that was worth reporting. Must say though, that the speech contest is over and I'm pretty happy NOT to be moving on into the next round. I think I got plenty of speech fun last year with going to the nationals and all (3 months of practicing the same speech), so the fact that the two students for this year were not quite as polished... well- no regrets.

Otherwise, I'm heading to the Shiojiri Driving Safety Center tomorrow to make my first shot at getting my Japanese Driver's Liscence. For those of you who haven't heard the story yet: in Japan, you are permitted to drive for a year with an International Liscence, then you have to get a Japanese one. In Japan, you can only go on a business day, you take the test with their car on a closed course, and everyone we've talked to has failed it up to five times. Five failures=a week's worth of vacation time, since the red tape of the procedure takes a full day. I'm more than a bit worried, since I'm already driving illegally. Wish me luck. I'm have practically no hope of passing on my first shot, so I'm more curious than nervous at this point.