Merry Christmas!

Hi folks,

I had a wonderful day today! I woke up and I first checked my email. In my inbox was a very special message from my brother, Andrew

What a great brother hey?! So of course, one of the first things I did was march to the video games store to buy the XBox 360. The game isn't out yet, so I got "Need for Speed: Most Wanted". It's a great game, but it's in Japanese! Oh well, I suppose it's a good way to study Japanese!I also spoke to the family on my webcam over the Internet. It was fantastic! While we were chatting, Wendy, Marty, Simone and Monique dropped around with some ham. I had a quick chat with Simone and Monique and it was great! My parents also got me a whole load of cool stuff, like boots, boots and ugg boots. Hehehehe. They also included some of my favourite food, like hot chocolate and turkish delights. I got some lovely jeans and a warm cardigan. Thanks soooo much!!! I'd post photos but that would take ages and I should get some beauty sleep as I am going to Kyoto on the 7:30 train tomorrow morning.

This afternoon, I went over to Sarah's place (she lives in my apartment complex) for a Christmas do. Everybody brought a dish, and I cooked up some yummy golden syrup dumplings. I had to speak American talk (all the other westerners were American), and call it "Molasses".

This is Andrew and I. I was wearing a pair of Christmas earrings from Mum. They were supposed to flash, but one of them didn't flash. I think it had turned on during postage and ran out of batteries...

This is Matsunami, Sarah and Emi. Matsunami's and Emi's English was fabulous! Emi had actually lived in New Zealand for a year I think...This is Josh, I-forget-her-name1 and I-forget-her-name2. I feel so bad that I forgot their names! They were also great at English. Number 2 had lived in Australia for a year (returned in June). She was in Sydney but came down to Melbourne for the Australian Open. Number 1 has had 4 exchange students from Australia live with her (for one year each), so her English is fantastic as well. She teaches paper doll making.

This is Emi and Number 2 singing Christmas carols. As the majority of the party was American, we couldn't go without singing carols!!!! They showed us how they sing "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" in Japanese. Cool huh?More carol singing. Josh is enjoying being the muso. Sarah had a great voice. I tried to mime my way through the singing.... Not because I'm a grinch! Only because I can't sing! duhhhhThis is Adelle. She came in a bit later, but all was forgiven as she brought some yummy muffins. They were cooked with real candy canes in them! She also topped them off with some cream. They went so quickly that I couldn't get a photo of them!!! Her mum sent her this very Christmassy vest. Why didn't you send one of them to me Mum!!???Well that's it for today. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and that your New Year's celebrations are fun! I am off to Kyoto early tomorrow morning, and I hope to return with some good photos!!!

Love you all and I am thinking of you all of the time :-X