Okay, so I`m almost out of time, because I spent to long replying to
everyone`s e-mails and reading about tomatoes.  But I figured I`d send
everyone a short e-mail to say I`m still fine.  I`ve just been busy
lately.  I`ve gotten a little frustrated, so I`ve been pushing myself
to learn japanese much more quickly, because it`s hard to keep the
drive, when I`m not in a class.  So I have to tutors now and study
with them for about 3.5-4 hrs per week.  One is an old Japanese later,
who volunteers at the KICC (something internation something center)
where they offer free japanese lessons.  She teaches me formal,
methodical japanese.  And she won`t let me slack off and assume people
will kno I`m talking about myself or my house or your this or that.
So I ahve to say the full sentence everytime.  It`s good practice and
a type of Japanese that I need to know.  My other teacher is a younger
girl, who I work with. She studied teaching in school and wants to
become a Japanese teacher, so I`m practice for her.  She is good,
because she focuses on pronunciation and making sure I understand
grammar also.  Also, she lets me use slang and less formal japanese.
So for example, I can say Boku wa or Watashi wa.  Both Japanese for I.
 There are also other forms, but I don`t know them, but if I say
Watashi a lot I sound like an old Japanese lady, because it`s more
formal.  So it`s nice not to have to sound like an old lady all the
time.  I have to work on Christmas and the next day this year, so I
don`t really have plans.  Lately works been pretty stressful, because
I have a few low level students that really like me, so I keep getting
them over and over and over again.  Which wouldn`t be bad, but they
come all the time and aren`t very good, so teaching them is tough.
Well I gotta go, I`ll try to send one later this week with more info.

Dan