I'm back in my little home in the countryside. I am content to be back. It was an extremely easy transition. I got home at around 11pm and was at work around 7:55am. Everyone in my office smiled and said welcome back and then they continued their jobs and I studied some Japanese.

People always ask me how it is over here and it's really difficult to say. Usually I just emphasize the fact that I am so isolated and sometimes I'll complain about some aspect of the educational system here, perhaps regarding my lack of real work (teaching five or six hours of every forty hours per week). But for almost every complaint there is something very good to be said about the life here. The food, the customs, the people, the students, the pay, the countryside (including mountains, streams, spas, trees, and old buildings). Not to mention the autumn leaves and flowers.

In the last couple of months I was lucky enough to meet this wonderful family that lives just 7 minutes down the road. Now, as often as I can (hopefully once per week), I go to their house for lunch or dinner and we discuss places in the world, Japan and Japanese culture, America and American culture. They are well traveled and have two adorable kids. They eat brown rice exclusively and I think that almost all of their food is both organic and farmed by themselves. They made a conscious decision to leave the city and move to the countryside. They chose Aso-gun, the region where I am located, because to them it was one of the three best regions in Japan for living in the countryside. It is really nice to have their friendship.

When I was a kid I became infatuated with things country. I loved hand-made wooden furniture and playing in the trees and being outside, picking berries wherver I went (if in season). If I am lucky I can engender some of these aspects of life into my future and then I'll be very content.

I am very tired even though it's 8:14am and I've been up for more than two hours. Soon it'll be time to go to the Kindergarten and hang out with the little ones. That'll be cool.