Greetings to everyone from Japan. Another great year is almost over, but for me it was filled with many great moments and remembrances, from New Years in Cazadero to Thanksgiving in Ginza, Tokyo. Even though I haven’t heard from some of you in a long time, I still think about all of you and hope to see you in 2000. Don’t forget to write back. (An international letter costs only about 50 cents)

Changes

Yes this was a year of big changes for me. First and foremost, I got married (no ceremony but completely legal). Yeah, I know you didn’t think it would ever happen but it did. I’ve heard somewhere that, if a man doesn’t marry by age 30 he only has a one-in-four chance of every marrying. I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. And, I found a wonderful, beautiful, understanding woman in Soyoko. I love her very much and she makes me very happy. Of course, we had a nice honeymoon in Fiji. (I hope you got the postcard) It was a great place to spend a relaxing time and the sunsets are awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone thinking about a South Pacific vacation. The second big change is that I am no longer a full-time English teacher. I have given up the "fast food" style English teaching business to become an Editor for Arthur Andersen Worldwide. AA is one of the top 5 accounting/financial-consulting firms in the world and has offices in all the major cities. I believe there are over 61,000 employees worldwide. My job is to edit documents written by Japanese people in English. The staff is kind and helpful. All of them speak English but sometimes their written work isn’t perfect. It can be difficult especially when they use accounting and financial terminology. Anyway, it’s nice to work in an office environment again. Of course, it is a part-time job covering only 25 hours per week so I teach at home in my spare time. Currently, I have some private students who I teach at home about once a week. It helps to supplement my income.

Travel

Future

I’m not sure what the future holds but I’m sure it will be unpredictable. I’m still enjoying life here and aim to stay in Japan at least until 2001 but who knows? We’re planning to stay in Japan for the holidays. We have dinner reservations on Christmas Eve. New Years is the biggest holiday in Japan and we’re going to celebrate it the traditional Japanese way, visiting shrines and eating special foods. 2000 is the year of the dragon according to the Chinese calendar. We expect to make a trek to California sometime next spring or summer. Don’t forget if you want to come to Japan, there is a free, but small, place to stay. Be well and have good holidays. Hope to hear from you all soon. Both E-mail and snail mail is exceptable.