I went to visit my grandmother, Maxine, in Huntsville this past Saturday. I found this old musical instrument on the desk and asked her to play for me. It's an Ocarina (From Wikipedia: The ocarina is a very old family of instruments, believed to date back some 12,000 years. Ocarina-type instuments have been of particular importance in Chinese and Mesoamerican cultures (where they are often shaped as animals, generally birds).) We had a good time talking. Then, my aunt Joann and Uncle Billy showed up for a mini family reunion.  

I made the news. Click on this pic to see my write-up in our local neighborhood paper. 

Just a quick update...

I got a job last week - after only one week home. I'll be working at a K-12 charter school close to downtown Houston as a middle school ESL teacher. They're sending me to D.C. for a week for a conference from July 31st - August 4th. Nice perk. And, since I got a new job, I went out yesterday and bought a new car - Toyota Corolla (that's it up top). Next on the list is an apartment. It's good to be home, even though it's strange to think I was living in Japan just two weeks ago. Japan seems really far away at the moment. Well, if you're in Japan, email me and let me know how things are going there. Also, I have to give a secret congrats to a friend back in Okazaki - you know who you are.