Gas stations in Japan: NUMBER ONE: Don't get out of your car. Its self service. NUMBER TWO: Pop the gas tank, NOT THE TRUNK! (stupid!) NUMBER THREE: Bring large bills. It cost me 4600yen ($40) to fill up a 1991 Toyota Corona..Imagine what an SUV might cost!!! NUMBER FOUR: Wait for the attendant to STOP traffic for you before you pull out into the street.I swear there are rules to doing everything around here and I seem to violate them all. But hey, how do we learn if not through trial and error when you can't understand a THING they are saying to you.Ya know, just when I think I'm getting the hang of things...I go to the gas station and I'm back to feeling like a foreigner. That's okay, because I AM a foreigner. I'm an immigrant as mom would say.

I went to McDonalds tonight for dinner and the manager knows my face now. I'm probably going to eat there at least twice a week. I'm still new to the cooking thing. I don't think I can do it everynight. I told a friend of mine today that I'm going to be "wife material" when I get home, but the more I think about it...no one has TASTED the food but me! Shoot...I like anything as long as I can eat. When other folks are eating your cooking there is a big difference between good cooking and edible!

My boy Reg, turned me on to this website where I can order CDs and they don't charge any shipping and handling. They are some really good mixed CDs-Soulman's World of Beats. I'm going to get a few of them. One I already heard before and this DJ has every song that was ever sampled its great! I hope that the other two I want are as good as this first one.

Times are tough when the only English speaking program on TV is some interview with Francis Ford Coppala. I'd almost rather be listening to Japanese people talk about stuff I can't understand or watch those cutesy cartoons. I think I might tape some to bring home with me. I've been watching the "Sesame Street/Barney" type shows that speak in simple Japanese. I can understand a lot of the dialogue and I'm learning new stuff with the kids. I actually sat and watched some little Christian cartoon where this white guy was singing "Michael row your boat a shore" I was cracking up as I was watching it. Christians are so funny, I mean I am a Christian too but I swear some Missionaries will try to sell a shoe to a shoe salesman ya know? A country full of buddists (that's a generalization) and totally in tune with nature and spirituality and you want to convert the converted...its wild. I guess I just haven't come to grips with the whole foreign missionary thing..but I have totally digressed. Michael was rowing his boat...yeah, and I was laughing and trying to keep myself from changing the channel. (like I had some options) If I see Big Bird on TV here I'm calling PBS!

"Who are the people in your neighborhood...they're people that you meet each day."