Have we been here for 10 weeks already? In some ways it has felt like we've beeen here for years but in other like we have just arrived.

The kids were off to school within a couple of weeks of being back. And now that Nathaniel has become five he has left pre-school for the "big kids" playground.

Christmas day in New Zealand. To be honest we could have wished for a little better. Unfortunately Nathaniel complained about a pain on the left side of his face which we didn't think much of, only that he didn't want to eat what was on his plate at the time, however on the 23rd his cheek was very swallow and there was no mistaking that there was something wrong. We took him down tot the doctor how told us that he had mumps. Knowing that this is contagious we informed all the family who were coming to share Christmas day with us and the out come was that many of the other children hadn't yet had mumps and didn't particularly want to catch them during the holiday season. ... So ... We had to have Christmas pretty much to ourselves. My mother brought us meals from the parties we couldn't now attend and we opened a few gifts ... it was like being back in Japan. Want added to the irony is that Nathaniel was fine again on the evening of Christmas eve and totally normal on Christmas day.

After living in Japanese apartment of only 45 square meters our little house of 100 square meters seems SO big. Our three bedrooms are the size the whole apartment was.
(Though the bathroom is much the same, the toilet has a window here however the extractor fan in the Japanese toilet was MORE effective at removing those unpleasant odours. Thinking of getting one installed.)

CLICK HERE to write Yoko an email message and she'll get back to you within a day or two (or I will, I'll have to tell her that mail has arrived for her anyway. :-)). She has become a lot more interested in email now that it isn't as easy to just pick up a phone and often asks if any of her friends have remembered her.

The children are often found playing together but as you see here they are reading together. Nathaniel loves the stories, they are simple enough for him as that is the same level that Machiko is now quiet comfortable to read. Nathaniel is still struggling to recognize the different letters of the alphabet. However this is still only his secound week of school.

Get our latest news HERE!