Late September

Last weekend I went to ARBAT with a new friend (name wif-held), she is chatty and loves to talk in English and I must say her fluency is remarkable, but after Japanese for lunch and 4 hours of walking through streets and seeing sights the light in her eyes was justifiably fading...

She made me walk for at least 15km and by the end of the day I was exhausted.

My Lovely niece got my message to get my mum and dad up to speed on the whole email and internet chatting thing, so now they can communicate with me at any time... That lil TJ is a pearler!

All is quiet here and I must say that I will be happy when the new teacher arrives. He is another Aussie but nigh on double my age, so we'll see how much in common we have... VB maybe...

I must say I need to structure my time a little more effectively, it does take an hour to get to work and I usually don't start til 4pm, but I am wasting most of the day and morning when I could we washing cleaning shopping emailing or other worthwhile activies...

Unlike another teacher whom I am in contact, Gary, I don't report the weather each time I write a blog - tho I just might start... I send out a hello to him and ask him to drop me a line now he is back in Britian.

The Fatman should be calling me in the next 24 hours. I am keen to see a familiar face and fill it with beer and jagermeister! HA!!

I just heard a great Russian Proverb - "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." I like it.

I have read a litlle or Alain DeBotton and I must say I crave his words at present... Sure it could be called Pop Philosphy, but I like a light read that guides me to structure deeper thoughts. I was surprised to discover he had written a few novels. Any comments on him, his writing or his hairstyle are welcome...

I had a cancelled class today. That is fine with me, I get to dawdle at work and write my blog. Sure i got the internet connected at home but I find I just download files and chat there - nothing overly structured or contributing to me being a better teacher, which for me is the number one priority.

Next Saturday I am off on a personal invitation to see Tolstoy's Estate. A fellow teacher - The skipper knows the current heir's personal secretary. so I get an invite on long coat tails! NOICE!

Obi's got more culture than a 200ml Youghurt container!