Huzzah!
I‘m absent for a very good reason, all of you. And here it is: I‘m in Japan. Northern Kyoto, really close to Shimegamo Shrine if you want to try Google Earth to get a general idea of it.
Lucky for me, the Fukuyama family have internet (though my comp refuses to hook up to it) and apparently it`s really cheap to call overseas here -- only 7 or 8 yen per minute! Or so Fukuyama-san says. And I can use the internet, too, just have to figure out how to type in only English. I'm using their family laptop (I'm guessing) and have to be careful which keys I hit - sometimes I end up finding a Japanese character instead.
Things are good here. I tried to e-mail my parentslast night, but I got the keys confused and Mrs. Fukuyama showed me how to switch between them now.Things still seem a bit odd, But I'm figuring out how to get around and I ride a bike to the church and get to ride in the car on Sundays. Overall, it's a pretty sweet set-up. I'm in the girl's bedroom - Asuka is at BYU Hawaii until tomorrow - and the house is two story, relatively small, but very comfortable. Right now I'm in the den of sorts and certainly can't complain, it's really roomy for a Japanese house. Mr. Fukuyama is the old Stake President and Mrs. Fukuyama is the Stake Relief Society President. Today's classes were really calm and though we covered a lot of things, I should be okay as long as I work myself to the bone to remember all the kanji I've learned and subsequently forgotten.
During our lunch break and when we would've had our culture class me and a few girls went over to the nearby shrine - the Shimegamo shrine - and walked around it. I took a bunch of pictures and we all waded our feet in one of the rivers in it - it felt amazingly nice. It got really hot today and I'm thinking I'll probably tan somewhat.
Japanese food is good, life is good, we're going to the Japanese villa/pagoda that Ipresented on tomorrow - Kinkakuji. You should look it up online, it's gorgeous! Though I'm hoping the pictures don't do it justice.
Just think, your little beloved/bobo/etc is riding bikes and wandering around Japan. Crazy. And all of our host families - and the people in the ward - are awesome.
Love you lots, thank you for always supporting me in all of my endeavors, and ganbatte! (Good luck.) I miss you guys - only a little right now - and I can't wait to tell you all about the amazing things I did. (Including the monk on the moped today - that was amazing.)
Love you,
Bel/beloved/bobo/whatever
P.S. I wish I wouldn`t have to re-type all of that to make it look normal - alas, I`m too busy to re-type it now. *weeps*