Home Again

How strange to say "Home again" and mean back in Japan. Marcia and I had a wonderful visit in East Aurora seeing family and friends. Our visit reaffirmed how important it is to maintain as much contact with every one that we know in the States. We have wonderful friends there and realize the responsibility we have to keep the channels of communication open so that we don't become a faded memory.


The number one person I miss.... My son Stephen. This picture is deceiving in that Stephen is about 5 inches taller than I am and a hulk.



Wonderful neighbors/family/friends - Larry & Deb. Don't know what I'd do without them.



Ditto except for the neighbors part - Ann & Joe.


My very old dog Abby (13 years). What can you say about a man and his dog?

These guys are the best: Don, Al, Larry, Marcia, Mark and me. They are the members of our band, Quick Shot. We were all able to get together on our visit home and have a wonderful band practice/get-together. What a great night!




We arrived back in Japan with temperatures 10 degress lower than temperatures in Buffalo and cold rain. How weird is that? This morning we awoke to bright blue beautiful skies and crisp temperatures.
View from our living room balcony.


Last night we eased back into Japanese culture very gradually with a dinner out at TGI Fridays. I had a southwestern caesar salad and Marcia had a cheese burger. Remember, I did say eased back in gradually. With the Japanese language swirling around me, I realized how little studying I did while I was in the States. However, I think the break was good for me. I realized that it's very easy for me to get obsessed with my studies and to create pressure to achieve goals that are unnecessay and counter productive. Learning is much easier when it's fun and relaxed versus stressed and forced. I guess that's going to be my only new year's resolution.....Don't study to the extent that I forget to explore this wonderful country and.... Stop being so impatient. I guess that's actually two resolutions. I haven't been a student since my graduate days in the eighties when I studied Sociology so I guess I should give myself some slack about this whole learning process. I keep saying that I'm going to blog more often. This time I mean it!

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu! (Happy New Year!)