Well, I know that I have not written in quite a while and I am kinda worried that I am forgetting how to write proper english. It is right now New Years EVE in Japan and I am kinda cutting it close to my promise (SORRY ROTARIANS). Anywho, I have had a blast and a hell of a busy time here in Japan. I seem to be doing as much as I can during my School break because I know that once I move for the fourth time on January 6th and start school again on January 8th I am not going to have any time to do much on my own time. (I am moving very far from most of my friends anyway). Its no big deal though, all my host families have been great and I am sure that my next one is going to be just fine. Speaking of Host families, my current host home is just the greatest! THough I consider it to be the biggest tease of all time. So here I am in this mansion of a house with my own room being the size of a small apartment. Im serious! In my room alone I have a TV, full size bed, desk, full size closet, (the standard right?), a full size refridgerator, a toilet, shower, sink, power shutters, and heated FLOOR! It doesnt just stop in my room, my host mother (just her and I) have the luxury of a house maid that is a very kindly old lady and 5 other rooms which she uses for storage. How does she manage this? Well, lets see... she owns SIX companies... yes, that would make things easy... right.. Oh yes, I have a part time job at some of her companies only during my xmas break so that I wouldnt be totally bored and have a little extra spending cash. Not lke she lets me spend any of it, I feel so bad, but she absolutely wont accept my money sometimes. I sometimes get into a tug of war on who gets to buy MY item... sheesh. BUt she is super nice, She works very long hours and before hosting me, was very lonely. Both her children have grown up and gone away to college and their carrers. I am glad that I am able to keep her company; Every night when she comes home from work I come downstairs and we talk until she is tired and wants to go to bed. She helps me with my Japanese, but we end up having mixed conversations between very simple japanese and broken english words. I believe that my Japanese is progressing, but not as fast as I would like it to. I just dont know how to study for it, I have always taken classes in a language very similar to spanish. I am fluent in English and Spanish and my french is very marginal, but Japanese goes completely offcourse pattern in the latin based languages. I expected for me to have trouble, but I am still only a basic speaker. I dont have the guts to ask for a Language school, I still want to see if I can handle this on my own. I learn at School, but my lessons there are very slow because the teachers take time off from their break to help me along. I can do the lessons in the book, but the books I have were made for a 2 year course. Go figure. I will get better, I will be severly disappointed in myself If I am not fluent by the time I return. So dont worry about me, I am still in the fight! Well, I have been all around the Kansai area of Japan and I am running out of local places to visit. I have contact with the Japanese students, but not as much during the xmas time because they spend it cramming for their exams. I dont know many Japanese college students to spent time with because not many of the High School students do anything afterschool or during the weekend. So naturally I spent most of my time either with my host family or the other rotary exchange students as we explore the rest of Japan on our own. I must say that I am having a blast and with the new year coming around I hope that more options open up to us. I know that in March I am going to Hokkaido with my school for a ski trip and that is just going to be awesome,  I have never seen snow before!!! I have been to many temples ( I recently started a Temple and Shrine book that contains the Seal of each one I visit) and I am planning to return to some of them soon enough because according to the season they change somewhat. I find myself not being able to answer the question of "So where do you want to visit next?" I feel that I have been to many places and if there is any other place I havent gone to, I certainly dont know about it. I might ask around to see if there are any events happening around in January. Something I would love to see is the Cherry Blossom season where they all fall. I have always wanted to see that and take good pictures of it. I might just buy a good camera just for such an event. Its something that you could always use for something else in the future (vauge, i know). I am taking pictures of temples so that if I ever have a project to do with Buhdism or Zen, I would have pictures to support my presentation. Stuff like that. Anywho, I hope this is a sufficient report for the lack of time I havent sent one in. Sorry for the irregularity between reports. Hhee, busy busy busyy !!! Signed Frank