I've been in the process of getting married for a while now. I proposed in December, applied for a Fiancee Visa in February. About 2 weeks later I got my first Notice of Action (NOA). The entire content of which can be summed up as "Thanks for the $500."

Since then, and let me be clear it has been 6 months since the application, our case status hadn't changed. Well, until a couple weeks ago that is. I received a piece of mail from the US Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS). "This is great!" I thought, "Finally the next step is here!" Upon opening the letter I find a page from my part of the application which a red circle around a box that had been left unchecked. Several things made me frustrated and disappointed at this point. First of all, I had made a stupid flub and had forgotten to check the box when I submitted the application. Second, I was angry that the USCIS case status website and telephone information service had failed to inform me of this. On a complete coincidence I had just checked on the case status the previous day, as we were getting anxious about the information blackout. The post mark on the envelope was from a week previous. Thanks for this.

To balance out the frustration this was certainly confirmation that they had indeed looked at our application. Additionally we surmised that this was probably the only mistake/omission on the application, and that we should see progress soon. So not 100% bad.

Today I woke up and checked my email.

"neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeews!" from Aiko. Oh? "They sent approval for our petition last Friday! Check out the case status online. Ho, ho, hoooooooooooooooo :)"

Approval is awesome. This certainly not the last step, but it certainly is the beginning of the end. So the coveted NOA2 is on its way to my house signaling the final stretch for this protracted engagement. I still don't have an answer for everyone asking "When is Aiko coming to the States?" but I can at least let you know we're closer.

I spent the last three days at a summer camp with the town's kids near Mt. Fuji. The first day we went hiking up a mountain near Mt. Fuji but unfortunately due to the cloudy weather we couldn't get a good view of the peak. Afterward we came back to the camp and the kids made barbeque pork and vegetables for dinner. It was quite different from the summer camps I remember as a kid where we would all gather in the mess hall for meals that were served to us (tho we did have two meals like that) because most of the meals the kids prepared all by themselves. They did everything from chopping the vegetables to tending the fire and washing the dishes.

That night the adults stayed up late for a meeting and then, what would a Japanese get together be without it, a small drinking party. By this time it was almost 11pm, and I had been up since 5:30am hiking and carring luggage and stuff so I was frick'n pooped. I just wanted to go to sleep, the last thing I was interested in was a drinking party considering knowing we would be waking up again at 6am the next morning... but, that is how the Japanese roll I guess, so I had a few beers with them before hitting the hay. I didn't sleep well at all on the hard wood floor in the staff's log cabin, with an exit sign glaring light in my face and two, as the other staff referred to them, "grizzly bears" snoring in the sleeping bags near me... and before I knew it we were up and moving around for the next day.

The second day we got on the bus and went to two caves where we saw natural ice formations. It was pretty hot outside so it felt nice as we descended the stairs into the cool caves. Coming back out of the caves my glasses fogged up as the temperature suddenly changed again to the patented Japanese humid summer heat. Then we went to a place called Tanuki Lake where we had lunch and the kids did a Walking Rally (or was it a Working Larry, I couldn't really tell) sort of like a scavenger hunt where we walked around the lake at a medium pace. As we finished the rally it started to rain suddenly so we got in the bus quickly and headed back to camp. The rain stopped just as we were getting back (lucky for us) and when the clouds cleared we could see a snow covered peak on Mt. Fuji. I had seen the peak in the morning before it rained also but there was no snow before the storm. For dinner the kids made curry rice which turned out very well, and then each group of kids did a skit before bed. Along with the skits I lead the kids in singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes as well as showed off some of my yo-yo skills. :)

That night it was again a late meeting discussing all the plans for the next day followed by a drinking party. But this time, after hearing my comment the night before that I like whiskey, one of the other staff bought a bottle of import White Horse scotch whiskey for us to drink together. This was my first time drinking this brand and I have to say it was quite a lovely taste. One of the other staff members joined us and the three of us finished off the bottle together having interesting conversations and growing the bonds of friendship. I had a really good time that night and thanks to the magic of White Horse I slept mighty well.

The next morning I was woken up at 6am and realized everyone else was already up and about. I got up and came outside where all the kids were already assembling for the morning meeting. We did Radio Taiso (morning exercises) and then the kids cooked Pork Soup for breakfast. After that the kids all wrote papers documenting their experiences and what they learned or enjoyed. I wrote one in Japanese also and I told the Middle School volunteers that they should write in English, but they refused on account of it being "muri" (impossible). For lunch we had a buffet at the mess hall and then we were on the bus headed home soon afterward. On the bus we played bingo and watched My Neighbor Totoro which passed the time almost exactly until we arrived back in town. All the parents were waiting patiently for their kids, but they would have to wait a little longer for us to have out "closing ceremony" in which the lead staff members each said a little something like "make sure to thank your parents and the staff for letting you come to camp" and announcements like "who's left sock is this?" Then I was planning to head home but one of the staff pulled me aside and said "before you leave you should talk to the leader in charge and say goodbye" but since he was busy I ended up getting involved in the staff's "reflection meeting" in which they all said what they felt about the camp. What went well and what didn't go well... and then after the meeting.... you guessed it! more drinking! I had to drive my car home, and after two nights of drinking at the camp I had pretty well had my fill... so I just sipped on oolong tea for a bit before taking off early. But I got the phone number of my whiskey friend and he promised we will go out drinking again sometime. :) Maybe when I am a bit more rested...

Last time I talked about drinking on here I got an e-mail from my mom saying "don't go drinking too much, it makes me worry..." :) So sorry mom if I make you worry again from this post... but it is really interesting how drinking is seen in Japan. It is not really seen as a bad thing here compared to America.. Maybe that is due to the prohibition in America or what I don't know exactly... but in America I get the feeling like drinking parties, with the intention of getting drunk, is not really a widely excepted thing for adults. Maybe for college age students... But here in Japan not only is it excepted but it is expected. The warnings to kids about drinking are always "Drinking is for people 20 years and older". Which is different from America where kids are told "Drinking is bad mmmkay". Here it isn't seen as a bad thing, and from what one of the other ALTs from England told me, Europe is the same way. It's like America is alone in their strictness of alcohol.

One of the ladies who came on the trip made a comment after the reflection meeting that she thought we drank too much and maybe we should only do the drinking party the last night of the camping trip, and pointed out how silly it was that we are putting on this trip for the kids and so they will have a good time and yet when they go to sleep we get rip-roaring drunk. Tashikani, that does seem like a very ironic thing. But as she talked everyone else remained dead quiet because I could tell this was a very heated subject. The leader of the meeting addressed it very well I think, because obviously many of the people, most of the men I would guess, like the drinking party. While that may not be the reason they volunteered, it is probably seen as a reward of their hard work and since the nightly drinking party is probably rooted in tradition I think it would cause problems to stop it completely. However, I do agree with the lady to a certain level, 'cause I was so tired, I didn't want to stay up drinking really. I thought to myself, why don't the people who want to drink drink, and the people who don't just go to bed... but then I remembered this is Japan and people can't break off and do their own thing like that because they would stand out from the group. Even in America, you would look like a party pooper if you went to bed instead of drinking, right? Or if only a few people stayed up drinking they would look like drunkards, right? So everything has to be done as a group. Anyway, the solution proposed was to have a short time of drinking after which there is an official "party over go to bed" time set. Of course, some people will still want to drink and so they can stay up drinking, but the other can go to bed. That seemed like a good compromise to me... but yeesh...

So what did I learn about Japanese culture? I learned that Japanese people are drunks who work very hard and very long. They also appear to enjoy long meetings where they waste time discussing small details. But, there is some merit to that 'cause I have to say the trip went very smooth and I think they kids had a wonderful time. I know I had a wonderful time. I had lots of great experiences, saw some wonderful things and bonded with the kids as well as some of the adults. Despite the lack of sleep and language barriers, it was a really great three days.

Today Suzuki invited me to a matsuri (festival) at the town dairy farm! It was fun! Since I'm friends with the yakuba (city hall) people I got to kick back under their tent and drink beer and eat cold cucumbers. Instead of chips and salsa, they have cucumbers dipped in miso... a bit of a different taste, but I can understand it. A cold crunchy cucumber is pretty delicious.

The highlights of the matsuri inluded my first time experiencing nagashi-somen (flowing noodles) which consists of a long chute made of bamboo half-pipes that are connected together. They runs water through this chute like a mini-water slide. You take a bowl filled with tsuyu (a type of soy sauce used for eating soba) and a pair of chopsticks and stand with other people along the length of the slide. Then they wash somen (or is it soba?) noodles down the chute and you have to catch them with your chopsticks and then dip them in your tsuyu sauce and then eat them. I had heard of something like this before but didn't understand the point of it... I think I heard someone say the noodles taste better this way... but I don't think that is the point at all. The point is it's fun! the noodles are fairly easy to catch, but then they also washed the occasional orange slice or pineapple slice down the tube and grabbing those is quite challenging and fun! :D I was thinking, they really should do this in America!! It's so much fun I bet American's would like it too!!! but then later I realized, you have to use chopsticks, so it might be pretty difficult for some Americans. It wouldn't be much fun with a fork... Too easy deshou?

The next highlight was seeing my kids! I love my little kids even though I don't remember most of their names..... But they are so cute. Most of them didn't say anything to me and I was lucky to get a wave or a smile. I think they are just pretty shy... but some of them came up to me and talked to me. The little ones are so fun and cute. "Jeff-Sensei da!" they called out when they saw me and then we have a short conversation. One of the mothers took a picture of me with some of the kids... Looking back now, I wish I had asked for a copy of the picture. Maybe if I recognize the kids at school later I can ask one of them. :)

The other cool things included Taiko drums, one of them had a little tiny kid, he must have been like 2 or 3 years old beating away on that drum! It was so cute. :D And also they had a live cow there for the kids to milk. But I felt bad for the poor cow with some many people around her and then getting milked all day long... She must have been tired!

At the end of the festival they started giving out left over dairy products, so I got a ton of Ice Cream and Yogurt... Man I ate so much ice cream today it is dangerous! I hope I will be alright for the dancing tonight! Oh yea, that is I will be going to the Bon Odori dance festival at the Mutsuzawa Sports Center tonight. I'm hoping to get lucky on the raffle and win a free trip to Tokyo Disney Land. Oh, and last night I was able to watch the Ichinomiya fireworks from my front yard, and thanks to the magic of musen-lan (wireless) Kristie was able to watch them with me. :D Thanks Dad for developing such useful technology. ;)

This year the guys had a "Progress Party" which was awesome. I think I've made some progress myself which is quite encouraging. I still have time to think about it, but pretty soon I will have to make a decision regarding next year... Maybe the obvious answer, because of my chibi, is to go home, but sometimes I think I really like it here. The people here are really nice, and I feel like especially my coworkers at the City Hall want me to stay around. They always take good care of me... They certainly aren't making it an easy choice for me.

Really at this point I feel like I have a lot of options. I mean, even though my Japanese is still not perfect, I really do feel more comfortable with it now. I really feel like I can hold conversations, at least 1 on 1 conversations. There are still many words I don't understand, especially when talking about specialized fields... but that is stuff I can learn with time. I feel a lot more independent these days than I did a few years ago. I mean, obviously I have come a long way in that regard. From the old me living with Bill and depending on my coworker to drive me to work every morning, to someone living on my own driving my own car, to someone living alone in a foreign country, teaching elementary students and making phone calls to inquire about services of a broadband internet service provider ... all in a foreign language! It is really quite impressive even though I usually take it for granted.

Actually it is something I have been thinking about more and more lately... Even though as I said, my Japanese is "mada mada", I have gradually over a long period of time gotten better and better to the point that I can actually participate in conversations about things like religion with native Japanese speakers. Since learning Japanese was such a gradual thing, it is really pretty surprising to realize one day that "oh snap, I can speak a foreign language." That is, watching these other people all communicate in Japanese, going about their daily lives speaking Japanese and not thinking anything of it... and to the average John Q. American they wouldn't understand a word they are saying. I guess maybe THAT is the really amazing thing to me. This language they speak is like a secret code, that most people don't understand. It's like when I hear Chinese and it means nothing to me (okay, so I can pick out a ma? here or there, but still I have no idea of the actual meaning) except for that this DOES have meaning to me. I understand what they are saying, I can read those funny scribbles on the signs, or even if I can't read a Kanji it still looks familiar to me and I might be able to guess at it. hmm... Basically that is amazing to me. The fact that these two groups of people, Japanese and Americans can't communicate. Their languages are completely different. Yet I, even though I am an American, I understand that secret code! I understand Japanese.... AND, I don't know when it happened. :)

Anyway, thanks to Okuhara and all my other Japanese teachers, and to Take my Kaiwa Partner, and all the other Japanese friends who have helped me over the years. I still have a long way to go, but I have come a long way, don't you think? :)

Last night I went drinking with the Middle School teachers. It was fun and afterwards we went to Karaoke.. But I think I drank a little too much... The Japanese are always so friendly to get you another drink, but sometimes you don't really need one.

I found this cool software called Switcher. It is basically an Expose clone for Windows Vista. Just like the Mac Expose counter part it allows you to view a preview of all open windows and select the one you want. It's got lots of preferences to customize the look and feel too, so for those of you running Vista I definitely recommend you check it out.

Also Mega Man 9 has been announced. Really I don't know why I am so excited over such a small thing, but I honestly think it was the biggest announcement of E3. Not that Mega Man 9 is such a huge deal. but rather this year's E3 generally sucked. But still I am excited about it, and particularly I thought the cover art they came up with was awesomely retro. Make sure to check out the trailer. They are saying this game will go back to the roots of the series not just in graphics and sound, but impossibly difficult game play also. So I think that is an exciting proposition, and I am looking forward to purchasing it on PSN. Which by the way, I hope it is a cheap price, but Capcom could probably get away with charging a lot for something like this... and they most likely will. :p